Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
Like some cases we have seen recently, the Antec P120 Crystal is clearly made with right angles and straight lines in mind. The result is a very boxy design with no signs of curves to speak of. The case gives me some Lian Li vibes, especially with the open front and side ventilation, but it still looks quite interesting. The whole P120 Crystal uses a single black color with all of the steel panels coated in black. As we can tell by the "Crystal" moniker, the front facing and left side panel are made fully out of tempered glass and are relatively clear so that users can see right through it. However, they have employed a thick black rim around all of the edges so users can hold the glass on the edges while obscuring greasy fingerprints from getting in the way. This glass is slightly tinted, but still clear enough for you to see your parts inside. This would obviously be made easier if you have illuminated fans or lighting strips to brighten up the interior. There is a lack of front facing air intake, but we will see where the airflow comes from as we continue our inspection. Overall, these premium material choices of steel and tempered glass feel solid and well-built. In terms of mass, these materials make the Antec P120 Crystal unsurprisingly heavy at 10.4kg, which is quite a bit heavier than some of the recent ATX cases we have looked at. As for dimensions, the Antec P120 Crystal is also noticeably bigger at 476mm depth, 234mm width, and 485mm height. While these may not sound much bigger, this is both wider and taller than the Fractal Design Define S2, which was pretty big already.
As for front facing input and output, we have a standard set of ports here. First of all, we have a large rectangular power button with a brushed finish. Next, we have a square reset button. Unlike most smartphones nowadays, computer case manufacturers have not removed the headphone jacks, and so we have two of them for microphone and headphones. Finally, we have two USB 3.1 Type-A ports. Unfortunately, we do not have any USB Type-C ports here, which is an unacceptable for a case in 2020. Interestingly enough, we also do not have any power light or hard drive light. Instead, you can infer the computer is on because we have an illuminated rectangle surrounding the two USB 3.1 Type-A ports. I really like these lights as they also let users find their USB ports easily in darker situations. If I were Antec however, I would also remove the "Performance Series" writing here, as it seems unnecessary and takes away from the clean exterior otherwise. There also are no ventilation points at the top for any cooling options here.
Moving to the right side and back, we have some interesting things to point out. On the side, we have a large series of slits for air ventilation here. This area also has a magnetic mesh on the slits to prevent dust from entering at this point. The rest of this panel is a typical steel panel. At the back, you may notice one large difference being the power supply mounting holes. While we have seen top-mounted PSU chassis such as the In Win 305 and 101, it still is a bit of a surprise to see one here. The power supply slots in from the back so the power supply mounting solution is installed with captive thumbscrews. Underneath, we have the motherboard opening and a fan mount area for either 120mm or 140mm exhaust option. Next, we have the seven horizontal expansion slots plus an additional three for vertical mounting. We do not have any hardware provided for any vertical mounting of expansion cards, though this is not a surprise.
At the bottom, we have a few large things to point out. First of all, we have two sets of large feet with a rectangular rubber pad at each corner. This should work well in reducing vibrations between the Antec P120 Crystal and the surface it sits upon. These feet are removable with four Phillips screws. This will become a necessary feature, because the bottom also doubles as intake for the Antec P120 Crystal. You can see there is a large mesh filter in front of multiple rails and slits to mount bottom fans to. I would have liked to see a less obstructive design so that the slits are larger to not prevent airflow here. Otherwise, the mesh tray filter is removable from the front, which is a nice feature to see.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
