We all know Antec from the many computer enclosures that they’ve put out over the years. Words like cable management, great thermals, and phrases like “man, I love that case!” are often associated their products. They used to love designing clean, sharp, and highly refined enclosures. That was until some of their engineers found themselves exploring the deepest recesses of space and returned with the new Antec Dark Fleet series enclosures. Let’s take a closer look at the fleet admiral in the line up, the Antec DF-85 enclosure.
Features and Specifications
If you loved the features of the Antec Twelve Hundred, then you’ll really like some of the new features found in this chassis. For starters, the biggest innovation is something called Fleet-Release. These are access doors on the front bezel that allow you to service your fans and wash filters as needed.
The DF-85 offers three other new features which include changeable 4 x 3.5″ Fleet-Swap bays, 1 x internal bottom mounted SSD drive tray, and 1 x external top 2.5″ hot swap SATA drive bay. And, there’s also a USB 3.0 compatible port built in to the front panel. The CPU cutout in the motherboard tray returns, as well as the bottom mounted PSU bay supporting any size PSU including their very own CP series. Of course, plenty of rubberized grommets to help silence what you put in the DF-85.
Other features include a total of seven cooling fans. There’s 2 x 140mm top, 2 x 120mm rear, and 3 x 120mm front TwoCool red LED fans. Antec uses really good fans, so this should provide more than enough cooling. Cable management seems spot on and lockable access doors make it hard for sneaky hands to get at your precious components. Many of these doors and parts are also completely removable and the plastic used is easily paintable offering modders an easy tapestry to create with.
For those of you into more specifications and details, you can find them on the product home page. The Antec Dark Fleet DF-85 retails for $189.99 US or less.
What’s Inside the Box?
Even though the DF-85 looks a lot like the Performance Series Twelve Hundred enclosure, it actually has a much simpler interior design which means far fewer parts needed for assembly. The DF-85’s case bundle comes in a single zip lock bag along with the chassis manual. It includes a few screws, standoffs, washers, and a few ties to help manage wires. The enclosure already has a few black slip-zip ties attached to the back of the motherboard tray where you’re going to stuff wires.
So, really, the case just needs minimal rummaging of the accessories bag to get started.
Exiting Dry Dock
To be honest, the Dark Fleet series is a little wild for Antec. The DF-85 looks very similar to their Twelve Hundred in stature but leaves behind the clean appearance of the Performance Series. Locking Fleet Release bezel doors help secure more than just the doors in the case of the Dark Fleet DF-85.
As you can see, it’s a whole new facade with Fleet Release doors featuring the removable fan filters and variable knob controlled red bladed 120mm LED fans. That should come in handy keeping the dust out of your case and off your hard drives. The top doors don’t use them since the optical drives fill in the space and have solid face plates. To open these doors and access your drives, you have to first unlock the doors from the inside. That should keep your drives more secure from prying hands.
The Observation Deck
The right side panel features a window very similar to the Antec Twelve Hundred with venting for an optional 120mm cooling fan. It only takes two screws to mount said optional fan. Personally, I would rather see a fan there by default for better cooling for your video card. You’ll see why it would help cooling and noise later on in testing.
The Aft Section
The back side reveals ports for water cooling, the two rear fans and literally any size power supply including Antec’s very own CP series. The two red bladed LED TwoCool fans include speed control switches mounted to the chassis and also control the top 120mm ones. Other nice touches include vented slot covers and a glimpse of the fully blacked out interior.
Docking Clamps Engaged
Integrated in to the top chassis is a hot swappable 2.5″ hard drive bay. It works with notebook and SSD drives alike. All one has to do is make sure it’s plugged in to a corresponding SATA port on the motherboard along with some power and you’re good to go.
Infiltrating the Dark Fleet
The two top 120mm TwoCool fans could be removed to accommodate a dual 120mm radiator if one feels the need to move to liquid cooling. There are also a lot of cut outs for effective cable management, especially behind the motherboard tray. There’s also a nice LARGE cut out to make swapping future CPU coolers easy.
You can also see the two internal Fleet Swap SATA two bays up top and at the bottom. They are passthroughs so feel free to plug in your favorite SATA2 or SATA3 hard drives of choice. Once they’re installed, you’ll have to secure them via screws and the same goes for the optical drives.
The bottom of the case offers plenty of room for your PSU as well as four thick rubber bumpers to comfortably sit on without scratching the PSU. To the front there is a spot for mounting your SSD.
Behind the Engine Room
Behind the motherboard you can see there’s about 3/4 of an inch of space meant for organizing wires. All one has to do is tuck the extra slack inside and find one of the slip-ties to keep them in place. This means that whether you can be just as tidy with a modular or non-modular PSU.
Test System Setup
In order to test out the DF-85’s prowess as a competent enclosure we’ve assembled some of the hottest and loudest components available. Why? Because, it tells us how well an enclosure can manage a worst case scenario. Pun intended. Here’s what our permanent case testing system looks like:
- Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (140W) AM3 CPU
- CPU Cooler: Stock AMD Heat Pipe
- Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD Pro USB3 AMD 890GX Motherboard
- Memory: Patriot Memory 4GB 2000MHz ViperII DDR3
- Graphics Card: eVGA NVidia Geforce 8800 Ultra
- Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATAII Hard Drive
- SSD Storage: OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
- Power Supply: Antec SG-850 Modular ATX
Our operating system of choice is of course Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64 bit. In order to ensure optimum operations all the latest BIOS and drivers were used as of the launch of this article.
To measure thermal performance we used four sensors connected to a Zalman ZM-CMF1 Fan Controller. We’ll be updating this to the NZXT Sentry LXE in a future case review. You can check out an unboxing of that unit on our YouTube Channel. To measure noise, an IEC sound meter was used. We’ll go into specific placements in the test sections.
Installation Notes
Installation was quick. Compared to the original Antec Twelve Hundred, even simpler due to the lack of necessary hardware assembly. I especially found the Fleet Swap 2.5″ and 3.5″ docking ports to be very handy and I also confirmed the top 2.5″ drive bay docking station worked using an OCZ Agility SSD. Windows quickly found the device and access was permitted. While the 2.5″ bay works, it’s not exactly a common place thing to have small drives lying around. However, the two Fleet Swap internal bays were quite handy for connecting the Seagate SATA test drive.
One thing that did concern me were the front 5.25″ drive bay doors. They’re not solid doors and flex a bit. Like any bezel door, they probably won’t withstand too much direct abuse. Just make sure you unlock the front bezel via the internal sliding lock first.
Thermal Performance
The system was left to idle for an hour before recording. Then, using FurMark and OCCT, the system was put under load for an hour before again recording temps.
Based on the results the case manages the insanely hot system just fine. What was interesting is that the system cooled better by a degree or two when leaving the top fans on low at all times. Typically air rises, but this enclosure managed temperatures better with front to back air flow.
Noise Performance
I usually like to see how much noise a case can block. Keep in mind, some cases are meant to block noise like Antec’s Performance Series and some are designed for gamers who typically don’t care. This is more gamer based, so keep that in mind while checking out the results below.
As you can see, our loud test system resonates like mad at all times. In fact, I could hear the CPU fan over the video card fan at all times. The case naturally blocks some noise, but given all the extra venting, it doesn’t block a lot. This is to be expected of cases intended for gamers and enthusiasts. Closing off the top fan ports entirely helped cut back on a lot of noise so there is potential to reduce noise.
Final Thoughts
What separates a case from the rest of the pack is by doing more than just including a few bezel lights, mesh grills, or changing the placement of the front panel ports. It helps to start with some shock and awe and in a sense Antec has done that because the DF-85 is so unlike any other case they’ve created. What we get is some of Antec’s impressive quality and sprinkled with innovative functionality along with some futuristic creativity.
The DF-85 full tower case offers an impressive array of innovative refinements from water cooling access, expansion, chassis function, and thermal performance. Users will definitely enjoy the level of thermal control accompanied by the latest ship in the fleet. Most importantly, it’s something different for Antec fans to enjoy.
Even with all the many extra features, Antec managed to keep the DF-85 price tag down to $189.99US or less. While not a great value, it’s definitely a solid offering. And while the red and black motif has been done to death, it’s still different enough to deliver a fresh experience. More pics after the jump!
Pros
- Daring design for Antec designers
- Fleet Swap (hot swappable) hard drive bays
- Fleet Release drive bay doors w/ removable filters
- Controllable fans
- Excellent cable management, CPU cooler cut out, and USB 3.0 port
Cons
- No tooless drive bays
- Top 5.25″ drive bay doors a tad flimsy
Overall Rating: 8.75 / 10.0
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Antec DF-85 Dark Fleet Series ATX Enclosure – Photo Gallery
Looking for the conclusion? It’s the one before this one. Otherwise, enjoy the pictures!
