Antec Skeleton Open Air Case Review

Impressions


Once we had the Skeleton unpacked, we were greeted with perhaps one of the oddest looking cases we’ve ever set our eyes upon. The heavy-duty plastic frame and sturdy construction left us with a very positive impression as far as build quality was concerned. The frame itself is very strong and suitable for picking up the skeleton by.

We think that “Skeleton” is definitely an appropriate name and theme for this case, but it also would look just as at home wedged between two opposing river banks with cars driving across it—sorry, we couldn't resist.


The large 250mm fan dubbed “Super Big Boy”—no, you did read that correctly—dominates the top of the Skeleton and is one of the Skeleton’s most touted features. It seems that 120mm fans have really become completely common place and manufacturers are moving to grossly oversized fans to provide consumers with new levels of silence and airflow. Antec is no stranger to oversized fans as their very popular “900” case was one of the first to break the 120mm mould. With an area covering almost the entire motherboard tray, Antec hopes to provide a great deal of airflow to motherboard components and video cards.

The Antec logo at the front of the fan cover is a cut-out that allows light from the LEDs in the “Super Big Boy”—we cringe every time we say that—to illuminate the logo.


At the front of the Skeleton we find several ports including firewire, a pair of USB ports and even an eSATA port. The essential AC97 headphone and microphone jacks are there as well as a power switch with an integrated power LED are also found on the front of the frame.

At the top of the frame, we find a 3-way fan-controller for the “Super Big Boy” as well as a switch to toggle between the various LED colour combinations.


The rear of the Skeleton is pretty bare with no IO shield holder and a plastic expansion card retention frame. This plastic frame is very flimsy and Antec warns buyers not to try to pick up the case using it; we can guarantee that it will snap if you try. The bracket frame is held in place by two screws and can be removed if a bit of extra clearance is needed during hardware installation.


The PSU mounts sideways in a metal tray with foam standoffs and a metal clip locks the tray in place. Airflow for power supplies with bottom fans should be sufficient but it would have been nice to see a less restrictive opening at the bottom of the tray. Those concerned with this can mount the PSU upside down as mounting holes exist for both standard and upside down mounting.