The Antec Performance TX1050B Case Review

External Impression

The Performance TX1050B featues the same sturdy design as the Titan 550 I covered last week. Using 1.0 mm steel, Antec placed the emphasis on durability instead of lightweight design. Weighing in at just over 30 pounds the TX1050B will probably not be making many LAN party appearances. As far as color schemes, the 1050B comes in the now familiar matte black, although its sister case, the 1088AMG comes in a metallic grey.

The front panel also features a familiar Antec design with a plastic front bezel and door assembly. As with the Titan 550 I am a little confused by the use of a plastic front after the rest of the case is so solidly built and attractive. In my opinion plastic gives the impression of cheap and breakable, though this only slighty bothers me and doesn’t sway my overall opinion of the case. securing the door assembly to the case is Antec’s newest design feature and something used on every one of their 2005 cases I’ve seen so far, a multi-swivel hinge that allows the door to be opened a full 270 degrees, limiting the chance that it can be damaged while in the open position, and in fact folded back along the side of the case and left open full time.

Hidden behind the front door are four external 5.25 and two 3.5 drive bays, four LED activity lights, as well as the power and reset switches.

just below the door assembly, Antec placed the front I/O ports behind a small spring loaded door. Here you will find a pair of USB ports, a 1394 firewire port, and jacks for speakers and headphones.

Below the I/O port is grill that covers the internal 3.5 drive bays where your HDDs are stored, Beneath the grill is a washable filter which itself covers a pair if 80mm fans we will cover more in depth when we get to our internal look.

Just as with the Titan 550, Antec chose to use plastic rails secured by screws to mount your external drives. I do like the plastic tabbed rails, but again, they break way too easy, and Antec’s cases so far seem to put functionality and durability above all else.

moving around to the rear of the case, the 1050B further demonstrates its solid design. One thing I always look at is the rear I/O and PCI slot covers and their strength. while most light weight cases are really flimsy in this area, the TX1050B features the same strong 1.0MM steel featured everywhere else on this case.

For security purposes, antec uses a keyed locking mechanism on both the front door and removeable side panel. Although Antec did use spring loaded side panel lateches, they did not use the same spring loaded thumb screws found on the titan 550. Pity, as those were an excellent idea I’d like to see on all cases.

Lastly, with a case this heavy, I’d like to see the option of using wheels. Antec uses the standard adjustable legs for the TX1050B, the option to use wheels would have given this very heavy case the ability to be moved around easily. this may not be an issue for most, but my Razor mouse occasionally needs to be reseated as it is not powered on every time the system restarts……it was only then that I had an issue with the lack of wheels, the cases overall weight really made moving it a hassle on my carpeted office floor.

I can’t emphasize enough how good this case looks, even with the plastic front bezel. I really think Antec is onto something with the double hinged doors, I think it is a great design feature.