O11 alternative? Antec P120 Crystal Review – Sign of life of a traditional manufacturer

1 - Einführung, Spezifikationen und Unboxing 2 - Qualitätseindruck und Features 3 - Einbaubericht und Bautagebuch 4 - Kühlperformance und Fazit

Thermal performance

Here, unfortunately, I have to rely on simple sensor data and my feeling, which is why I cannot provide correctly measured values or make concrete comparisons. At a room temperature of approx. 21 °C (+/- 0.5 °C, that’s how far my three existing room thermometers were scattered), I ran through various scenarios in order to make a rough assessment.

Desktop = A few browser tabs, a word processor and a VLC player instance CPU Be
nch = 30 minutes Cinebench R23 Loop Ga
ming = 60 minutes Red Dead Redemption 2

* all approximate values, pump and fan at fixed speed

During CPU Bench testing, I was able to see that even at 100% CPU load (=output 135W package power), the air flowing into the case through the radiator was still cooler than the air inside the case through Cinebench. That’s probably why the graphics card’s temperature didn’t change over the entire test duration, even though its Zero-RPM mode was enabled.

The fact that the water temperature rises in gaming mode, even though the CPU is not so heavily utilized, is probably due to the generally much higher case temperature. The graphics card emits a not inconsiderable amount of waste heat during gaming, which even heats up the side panel noticeably. Already a few minutes after quitting the game, the side panel as well as the water temperature and the power supply’s waste heat dropped back to “idle” level.

Overall, I could not find any significant weak points in the cooling concept – all determined values were deep in the green range. Although it’s not the height of summer yet and the graphics card is a rather frugal model, I still see enough reserves to adequately accommodate more powerful hardware.

Criticism

Before I get to my conclusion, I’d like to touch on a few solutions that I didn’t quite like. Everyone probably noticed the elephant in the room at first glance – Antec based the design of the P120 Crystal heavily on Lian Li’s O11 Dynamic. However, they have not copied without ideas, but have predominantly incorporated their own solution approaches into the housing. As mentioned above, there are some really clever features on board and I’m very pleased to see Antec regain their footing in this regard. However, they also aimed for a price point below the competition and thus had to make small concessions in some corners.

The solution with the power supply “on top” makes me belly ache, for example. I’ve honestly been glad that for many years now, people have tended to place the PSU at the bottom of the case, and usually even tuck it away under a cover, shielding it from the rest of the hardware. This way, the PSU stays significantly cooler and thus quieter than if it had to carry the majority of the waste heat from the rest of the components out of the case. This is quite noticeable in the P120. My oversized Seasonic PSU normally only breathes a lukewarm fan out of the rear, while in the Antec it blows much warmer air out of the case.

Logical, because it sucks in the rising heat from the other components and has to transport it out. Another disadvantage of this solution is that there is no more space above the mainboard to the PSU shroud and thus plugging and unplugging the 8-pin EPS connector can become a frustrating fumble.

My other two points are minor things that would probably be relatively easy and inexpensive to fix. Firstly, the buttons and “front” connectors are placed almost centrally on the large lid of the case. An optically sophisticated case with so much glass simply belongs on the desk and while I can comfortably reach all buttons and ports in a normal arrangement while sitting down, I have to stand up on the P120 so that I can even see the wonderfully illuminated, but just awkwardly positioned USB ports.

The last point of criticism concerns the case’s feet. These are sufficiently high dimensioned and should therefore guarantee a good air flow from below. Unfortunately, they are so awkwardly shaped that they significantly block the two outer fan slots, which immediately ruins the good idea. More filigree feet, or even small “blocks” at each corner, would probably allow the fans to breathe much better.

Summary and conclusion

The Antec P120 Crystal leaves a high-quality and very robust impression. Sure, it’s not an absolute state-of-the-art product, but considering the price, you really get a lot of case for your money. Visually, it is undoubtedly very similar to the O11, but so many individual solutions have gone into the Crystal that it is simply not possible to compare the two cases directly with each other. At least not in a fair way.

The P120 is extremely spacious and if you equip it cleverly, there is room for two 360 mm radiators, with which you can adequately cool even a high-end system. It also comes up with a contemporary look and many clever details like an integrated graphics card support or illuminated USB ports. The P120 Crystal probably won’t go down in the history books, but it certainly brings back some of the company’s former glory, which I personally consider a great success after such a long time.

Antec P120 Crystal, schwarz, Glasfenster (0-761345-81200-9)

	Zentrallager: verfügbar, Lieferung 3-5 WerktageFiliale Wilhelmshaven: nicht lagerndStand: 18.04.24 15:37	117,63 €*Stand: 18.04.24 15:38
	Lieferzeit 5-7 Werktage	117,64 €*Stand: 18.04.24 13:17
	Alsdorf: bei Vorbestellung in ca. 24h - 48h lagerndVersandlager: lagerndStand: 18.04.24 14:45	118,90 €*Stand: 18.04.24 14:48

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