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When I removed this case from it's box I knew I had something nice in my hands. The case feels sturdy and solid compared to it's aluminum counterparts. There are two vents on the side, one for the CPU intake and another to add a fan to help cool today's raging hot video cards. The handles that are used to open the case that were once located in the center as a single handle have now been changed into two separate smaller handles at the top and bottom of the case.   While looking at the front of the case we see that all of the external drive bays are hidden behind the door. The door on the case is double hinged and needs a little bit of pressure applied to open it. Once opened we see the cases four external 5.25" drive bays and it's two external 3.5" drive bays. We also notice the case comes equipped with four super bright LEDs to indicate HD Activity, Power Status, Network Activity and one optional LED. The power and reset buttons are also located in their same familiar locations. The front door is also lockable to help secure your internal drives.     The TX1050B also offers connections for front USB/Firewire and front audio connectors for your headphones and mic. They are hidden behind a small door labeled Antec on the front of the case. Installing your CD-ROM and other drives into the 4 external 5.25" drive bays is easy and almost tooless. Simply attach the included drive rails to your drives and slide them into the drive bay till they click.  The rear of the case offers the same amenities as any modern day ATX case. It has the standard 6 slots for all of your PCI/AGP needs. Also on the back of the case you see the standard 120mm fan where you used to find the two 80mm fans on it's predecessors. The use of the included 120mm fan makes this case very quiet and keeps things cool.   While a lot of today's cases offer flashy windows and fan grills to catch the eye, that isn't the goal of the TX1050B. The goal of the TX1050B is Performance and it aims to achieve that by including a duct that supplies cool air directly to the CPU that accommodates up to a 92mm fan. It also has an additional vent just below the CPU duct for an 80mm fan that can be used to help cool your video card. The front of the case offers the same two 80mm fan slots as the Performance II line but has something they don't. The TX1050B has built in screens to help keep the junk out of your case. We see that this screen is easily pulled out of the bottom of the case by squeezing two tabs which release the filter for cleaning. It would have been nice to see another 120mm fan slot up front like the one in the rear, but the included slots will still get the job done right. |
