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Intro
While there are many cases that may claim to be unique, nothing on the market is quite like the Antec Skeleton. Many people have looked at a normal enclosure and said to themselves that there is just too much protection for that little computer inside. If you fit that mold, this case is for you. While other enclosures might have windows to show off components, the Skeleton goes a bit further and leaves the entire thing out in the open. It is known as the Open-Air design and is more of a rack than a case.
Box
No review at ASE Labs is completed without showing the retail box and this is what would be seen at a retail store. It is black with yellow accents. It is smaller than traditional case boxes since the design is like a square.
Inside the box is enough padding to protect the box in transit. Antec usually does a good job of making sure their cases arrive at a destination in one piece.
Extra Parts
A hard drive fan, wire ties for cable management, a load of screws, and some hard drive hangers (yes, you read correctly) all take stage with this case. Strangely missing is a manual. All that was in the box was a single sheet of paper saying how to get the manual. The case is unique enough that the single sheet should have had quick start instructions. Thankfully, this review will contain that.
Skeleton
Normally, case reviews at ASE Labs focus on the exterior and then the interior of the case. The Skeleton is a bit different. It is so open that the entire case is the exterior and the interior at the same time. It is for this reason that there is no separate section for each.
While this might look like some strange remote control type of helicopter, it is actually the Skeleton in its full glory. Skeleton is a metallic gray case with black interior components. The major eye catching part of the case (other than the case as a whole) is the huge 250mm fan on the top. If you thought the »Nine Hundred has a big fan, it was nothing compared to this. The fan also has some extra light modes for nice effects when the system is on.
The front also contains the power and reset buttons as well as the various ports for USB, Firewire, audio, and eSATA. The led theme of this case is blue, but not the ultra bright type that burns eyes out. The bottom front contains the racks for hard drives and optical drives. Technically, the case itself holds two hard drives and two optical drives.
This case isn't screw-less. For the two sets of drives, a special screw will need to be installed for the drive to slide in and lock. This should be considered a slight design flaw as there are better ways to accomplish the same thing without special screws that are easy to lose. The left bag indeed says external drives.
Those hard drive hangers could actually be "installed" on this mesh on each side of the case to give you four extra drives. This is pretty ridiculous. Drives are much more important that any other component in the system since irreplaceable data is on them (though, if you backup, this shouldn't be quite a big issue). Having them hanging on the side of the case to get hit with no protection is not something that we recommend here at ASE. If you do have a need for more than two drives, this case is not for you.
The back of the case contains the removable motherboard tray and on the bottom, the PSU sliding tray. The PSU mounts sideways (in this shot, the power would be coming from the right) and can be mounted upside down if need be due to the exhaust fan on the PSU. That is a worth while feature about the design since many power supplies have fans in different spots (Antec for one). The clear plastic piece is the bracket to hold expansion cards such as a video card.
The opposite side is almost a mirror image. The only difference is the top near the fan contains the two controls. There is a variable speed switch for low, medium, and high speed settings. The second function is a button which controls the color (and can turn the light off) of the fan. The fan has a multiple color mode that looks amazing.
The case can be carried very easily with the handle holds at the top. This is another reason that you wouldn't want drives hanging off the sides of this case. It is just asking for trouble. Walking into a room with this will cause heads to turn.
Intro
While there are many cases that may claim to be unique, nothing on the market is quite like the Antec Skeleton. Many people have looked at a normal enclosure and said to themselves that there is just too much protection for that little computer inside. If you fit that mold, this case is for you. While other enclosures might have windows to show off components, the Skeleton goes a bit further and leaves the entire thing out in the open. It is known as the Open-Air design and is more of a rack than a case.
Box
No review at ASE Labs is completed without showing the retail box and this is what would be seen at a retail store. It is black with yellow accents. It is smaller than traditional case boxes since the design is like a square.
Inside the box is enough padding to protect the box in transit. Antec usually does a good job of making sure their cases arrive at a destination in one piece.
Extra Parts
A hard drive fan, wire ties for cable management, a load of screws, and some hard drive hangers (yes, you read correctly) all take stage with this case. Strangely missing is a manual. All that was in the box was a single sheet of paper saying how to get the manual. The case is unique enough that the single sheet should have had quick start instructions. Thankfully, this review will contain that.
Skeleton
Normally, case reviews at ASE Labs focus on the exterior and then the interior of the case. The Skeleton is a bit different. It is so open that the entire case is the exterior and the interior at the same time. It is for this reason that there is no separate section for each.
While this might look like some strange remote control type of helicopter, it is actually the Skeleton in its full glory. Skeleton is a metallic gray case with black interior components. The major eye catching part of the case (other than the case as a whole) is the huge 250mm fan on the top. If you thought the »Nine Hundred has a big fan, it was nothing compared to this. The fan also has some extra light modes for nice effects when the system is on.
The front also contains the power and reset buttons as well as the various ports for USB, Firewire, audio, and eSATA. The led theme of this case is blue, but not the ultra bright type that burns eyes out. The bottom front contains the racks for hard drives and optical drives. Technically, the case itself holds two hard drives and two optical drives.
This case isn't screw-less. For the two sets of drives, a special screw will need to be installed for the drive to slide in and lock. This should be considered a slight design flaw as there are better ways to accomplish the same thing without special screws that are easy to lose. The left bag indeed says external drives.
Those hard drive hangers could actually be "installed" on this mesh on each side of the case to give you four extra drives. This is pretty ridiculous. Drives are much more important that any other component in the system since irreplaceable data is on them (though, if you backup, this shouldn't be quite a big issue). Having them hanging on the side of the case to get hit with no protection is not something that we recommend here at ASE. If you do have a need for more than two drives, this case is not for you.
The back of the case contains the removable motherboard tray and on the bottom, the PSU sliding tray. The PSU mounts sideways (in this shot, the power would be coming from the right) and can be mounted upside down if need be due to the exhaust fan on the PSU. That is a worth while feature about the design since many power supplies have fans in different spots (Antec for one). The clear plastic piece is the bracket to hold expansion cards such as a video card.
The opposite side is almost a mirror image. The only difference is the top near the fan contains the two controls. There is a variable speed switch for low, medium, and high speed settings. The second function is a button which controls the color (and can turn the light off) of the fan. The fan has a multiple color mode that looks amazing.
The case can be carried very easily with the handle holds at the top. This is another reason that you wouldn't want drives hanging off the sides of this case. It is just asking for trouble. Walking into a room with this will cause heads to turn.
Page 2
Skeleton Continued
Zooming in on the back shows the PSU mounting cage with the latch to remove it. It slides out and back on with ease, but the cable routing on this case needs some work since it is a bit cramped to get the thick ATX and other such cables through small holes to the motherboard. There are two thumbscrews on each inside to unlock the sliding tray.
Once the screws unlock (they don't come off so they won't get lost), the tray slides out and a motherboard can be mounted. The motherboard tray can be removed, but there is no need to when the case is completely open like this. Strangely enough, you can't install the expansion cards without doing some fumbling around (or removing the clear plastic expansion card holder temporarily). It seems a few things on this case just weren't thought of properly.
Use
This Asus P5T-Deluxe has no problem fitting on the full size ATX motherboard tray. Interestingly, Antec only screwed in enough standoff for a weird sized mATX board. The remaining three standoff are located in the screw bag. We would suspect that the majority using this case would have a full size ATX case.
Completely built and ready to go. The Skeleton houses a normal build without issue. The hard drive fan (seen on the bottom right) snaps in to give the drives some extra cooling. Even though there is that huge 250mm fan on the top, the motherboard is blocking vital airflow to the drive area. The middle between the drives is the only space to use to port cables to the motherboard. Hopefully the Skeleton is paired with a power supply with long enough cables to route everything properly.
The case has some issues with external connections. The audio external cable was not long enough to be mounted on this motherboard and this is a fairly standard type of layout. A couple of inches more would have been fine. It is not too often that we've seen cables just not reach. In addition, once hooked up, don't expect the motherboard tray to slide out to work on the system. All the connections will have to be removed again which is another fatal flaw considering the case looks to be targeted the test bed type of build.
The case is fairly quite when the fans are on the lowest speed setting. Even at that setting, the size of the fan means that there will be a considerable amount of airflow moving around the components. Even so, this airflow is not as directed as a normal case. Thankfully, the fan covers the entire area for adequate cooling.
Conclusion
This is a difficult case to recommend for a few reasons. The first one is that since the case is completely open, dust and other electronic harming elements will be able to get into contact with the components without going through any extra layers (like a fan mesh on most good cases). This is a very bad thing. How about if a paper clip or some other metallic object falls on some leads? On the plus side, a shot of compressed air will take of the grime getting on the components. While Antec might be targeting the power user crowd, it looks more like someone looking for a test bed would be interested in this. Even for this niche, the case has some flaws.
The fact that the case is extremely rigid once built is a complete turn-off. Once all the cables are hooked up to the motherboard and drives, the tray will not slide out. If it does, some of the headers will get ripped off. The way the power supply cabling must be routed is a bit awkward, but necessary since the case space is limiting. The good points about the case are the looks. The fan with its lighted modes is very nice to watch. Yes, it will be a hit at a lan party, but don't consider it for a normal build. Most people should walk away, but if you want to really show off your computer, this is the case is for you.
ASE Labs would like to thank the Antec team for making this review possible.
Skeleton Continued
Zooming in on the back shows the PSU mounting cage with the latch to remove it. It slides out and back on with ease, but the cable routing on this case needs some work since it is a bit cramped to get the thick ATX and other such cables through small holes to the motherboard. There are two thumbscrews on each inside to unlock the sliding tray.
Once the screws unlock (they don't come off so they won't get lost), the tray slides out and a motherboard can be mounted. The motherboard tray can be removed, but there is no need to when the case is completely open like this. Strangely enough, you can't install the expansion cards without doing some fumbling around (or removing the clear plastic expansion card holder temporarily). It seems a few things on this case just weren't thought of properly.
Use
This Asus P5T-Deluxe has no problem fitting on the full size ATX motherboard tray. Interestingly, Antec only screwed in enough standoff for a weird sized mATX board. The remaining three standoff are located in the screw bag. We would suspect that the majority using this case would have a full size ATX case.
Completely built and ready to go. The Skeleton houses a normal build without issue. The hard drive fan (seen on the bottom right) snaps in to give the drives some extra cooling. Even though there is that huge 250mm fan on the top, the motherboard is blocking vital airflow to the drive area. The middle between the drives is the only space to use to port cables to the motherboard. Hopefully the Skeleton is paired with a power supply with long enough cables to route everything properly.
The case has some issues with external connections. The audio external cable was not long enough to be mounted on this motherboard and this is a fairly standard type of layout. A couple of inches more would have been fine. It is not too often that we've seen cables just not reach. In addition, once hooked up, don't expect the motherboard tray to slide out to work on the system. All the connections will have to be removed again which is another fatal flaw considering the case looks to be targeted the test bed type of build.
The case is fairly quite when the fans are on the lowest speed setting. Even at that setting, the size of the fan means that there will be a considerable amount of airflow moving around the components. Even so, this airflow is not as directed as a normal case. Thankfully, the fan covers the entire area for adequate cooling.
Conclusion
This is a difficult case to recommend for a few reasons. The first one is that since the case is completely open, dust and other electronic harming elements will be able to get into contact with the components without going through any extra layers (like a fan mesh on most good cases). This is a very bad thing. How about if a paper clip or some other metallic object falls on some leads? On the plus side, a shot of compressed air will take of the grime getting on the components. While Antec might be targeting the power user crowd, it looks more like someone looking for a test bed would be interested in this. Even for this niche, the case has some flaws.
The fact that the case is extremely rigid once built is a complete turn-off. Once all the cables are hooked up to the motherboard and drives, the tray will not slide out. If it does, some of the headers will get ripped off. The way the power supply cabling must be routed is a bit awkward, but necessary since the case space is limiting. The good points about the case are the looks. The fan with its lighted modes is very nice to watch. Yes, it will be a hit at a lan party, but don't consider it for a normal build. Most people should walk away, but if you want to really show off your computer, this is the case is for you.
ASE Labs would like to thank the Antec team for making this review possible.