Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
At first glance, this boxy black monolith seems just that. It has a smooth glassy surface from front to side. How is this achieved? This smoothness is due to Antec’s panoramic glass design that proudly displays the C5 ARGB’s internals through the tinted front and side panels. Both removable front and side panels are tempered glass and have a 45-degree bevel that helps to reduce the gap between the two transparent panels. The front and side glass panels have a small gap in between them, which may enable dust ingress. With a positive pressure setup, however, this should not affect unfiltered dust intake. The front glass panel is actually slightly angled outwards via a plastic frame that holds onto the glass even though the case appears to be a rectangular box. There is also an addressable RGB LED light strip that adorns the right side of the front panel behind the glass, and is visible when it is turned on.
The C5’s dual-chamber design is squatter and wider, unlike more traditional mid-tower that are quite slim and tall. It is still quite compact, with measurements of 469mm in depth, 285mm in width and 400mm in height. The Antec C5 ARGB is similar to other smaller mid-towers at a listed weight of 7.6kg or 16.8lbs. This might be lighter than other dual-chamber compact cases, however, it has good structural integrity and quality without compromise through my experience in handling and building with the Antec C5 ARGB. The steel frame holds everything together sturdily, even in areas that do not seem to be reinforced.
Working our way up to the top, we can find a large rectangular grilled opening for heat expulsion. It is covered by a nice magnetic mesh filter with very good fitment. Along the right edge are the case’s control buttons and front I/O ports. Front most is the square power button, followed by a bright blue power light and a red hard drive activity light. Next, there is a smaller square LED control button that is connected to the internal ARGB and PWM fan controller. It is able to cycle the lighting of the fans and light strip connected to it. Both the power and LED control buttons are either aluminum or brushed plastic with a concentric circle finish. For the input and output ports, there are two USB 3.0 Type-A ports. Sandwiched in between are separate 3.5mm audio and mic jacks. At the very end, we have a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, which is great for high-speed data transfer, provided your motherboard has the header to support it.
The right side of the Antec C5 ARGB is not too interesting. There are two symmetrically sized, large vertical rectangular grilled openings for air intake. The forward intake is for the three side mounted fans and the aft intake for the power supply unit. The side panel grille hole size at about 2mm is larger than the top and bottom magnetic mesh, which is about 1mm. The dust filtration will be worse due to the larger hole size and lack of the finer removable filter. On the bright side, the panel is easily cleaned from the outside.
On the back, there are a lot of various openings as to be expected. There is a single 120mm fan rear exhaust. The power supply exhaust is also located here on the top left side. Seven removable and vented expansion bay plates are here as well. Each plate is screwed onto the side support. There is an extra removable support plate beside the bays to clamp down on installed cards. Above this is a sizable “Made in China” stamped into the metal in all-caps. There are additional vents along the top edge of the back side as well as on the bottom left near the internal hard drive bays. The two thumbscrews for each side panel are located along the edge. These are not captive thumbscrews, so be careful not to lose them. Vertical GPU mounting is not supported here.
Finally, we have made our way down to the bottom of the Antec C5 ARGB. We find four plastic feet that are 19mm tall topped with what feels and looks like ethylene-vinyl acetate, or EVA, foam rather than rubber, for an extra 1mm height. This decision might be for better sound or vibration dampening, but it will slide easily on smooth surfaces. There is a large rectangular grille with a removable magnetic mesh. In the stock configuration, this is used as intake for the 3 bottom fans. A few holes and rivets are also found dotted around the bottom. The screw locations for optionally mounting an additional 2.5” and 3.5” drive are found here. A small white sticker with the model and serial number is found in the front corner.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
