Closer Look: DF-85 Exterior

Time now to get a good look at the Antec DF-85 starting with the exterior.

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The DF-85 ships in a huge box and is well protected inside, wrapped in a polythene bag and suspended between two really thick pieces of styrofoam. The box has lots of info for a potential buyer to peruse at, the main product image is on the side panel to give more room on the larger sides of the box to display important features of the DF-85 chassis.

The front view of the DF-85 shows just how big the case is, behind each 'door' is a 120mm red LED fan that is covering three 3.5" HDD bays. Above those doors are three 5.25" bays that also have a cover that swing open, more on these later. The front is constructed almost completely of plastic with the only exception being the steel fan guards. This is definitely a bold design from Antec compared to the 'Hundred' series, and is like nothing they have done before with any of their tower cases.

Looking at the side of the, DF-85, uses the same side window, design, as the Twelve Hundred chassis, although the design is the same the build is different. Antec have used a clear perspex piece in the DF-85, for the fan mount section, instead of the mesh, section seen on the Twelve Hundred,, giving you full, view of the, inside of your case. You have the option here to install a 120mm fan to cool your graphics card/s.

We are going to see a lot of similarities between the DF-85 and the Twelve Hundred as we go through this review, the DF-85 is definitely an improvement over the Twelve Hundred which will be more obvious as we look inside the case. This is a stock image from Antec, the rear 120mm fans are actually red as you will see later in the review. There is a motherboard, I/O plate, included with the DF-85 and apart from being installed upside down it looks like it is meant for a Pentium III / IV motherboard making it a completely useless inclusion. There is plenty of ventilation in the mid section where the watercooling grommets are and also on the PCI backplates.

The back side of the, DF-85, is rather plain, broken only by the embossed 'Antec DESIGN' logo in the bottom, right hand corner.,

A view from above of the DF-85 shows two 140mm, Antec TWO-Cool fans installed, the honeycomb mesh is cut out of the panel itself and is slightly pronounced from the case, towards the front you can see the clear perspex 2.5", Hot-Swap bay. From a design perspective, the top of the case looks a little naked. I have become accustomed to seeing some sort of plastic panel installed here, on most, if not all, high end, cases and it looks like Antec may have missed out on the chance to add a little more flair to this series of cases.

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The bottom of the case is equally as plain as the rear side, four rubber feet keep the DF-85, from damaging any surface you mount it upon. Notice the, omission of a PSU, vent under the DF-85 chassis, this is, something that Antec is still yet to catch on to, or maybe they know a good reason to not take air in from underneath. Either way Antec just doesn't do bottom vents on their cases.

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