Antec Torque Case Review: Pretty Vacant

Hardware Installation and Test Configuration

Antec Includes various screws and a printed manual in a small white box with the Torque.

Test Configuration

Drivers & Settings

Interior

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There is one large cable pass-through hole in the motherboard tray for cable management, and a few scattered smaller holes that can also be used for routing fans cables and other smaller wires like audio and USB cables. You'll also find a large hole in the motherboard mounting plate behind the CPU socket area to facilitate heatsink changes without removing the motherboard.

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As previously noted, the open-air styling of the the interior of this chassis is very similar to that of the Cougar Conquer, Cougar Conquer Essence and comparable to the Thermaltake Core P3 and Core P5 cases.

The Torque's seven expansion slots will accommodate graphics cards up to 450mm, even in multi-GPU configurations. CPU air coolers up to 215 mm can be fitted in this case, making coolers such as the be quiet! Dark Rock 4 and Cooler Master MasterAir MA410M solid choices for this chassis.

We tested power supplies up to 220mm in length without any issues in the Torque. There is no power supply shroud / tunnel to conceal cable mess, so extra care must be taken when routing cables to maintain a clean, uncluttered look to your system build. 

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The chassis supports only one 2.5-inch drive and a single 3.5-inch drive, and both are located behind the motherboard tray. And the motherboard covers the 2.5-inch screw holes, meaning you must remove it if you upgrade your SSD.

Again, due to the open nature of this case, there isn't really anywhere good to hide cables, making cable management much more difficult than usual. Even if a modular power supply is used, careful planning and routing is definitely a must.

Cooling

As with most open air cases we've tested in the past, we were disappointed that the Antec Torque doesn't ship with any fans from the factory. We are well aware that this can be remedied by the end user, and we also know that many enthusiasts prefer to install fans of their choosing anyway. But it would have been nice to see at least a couple fans included with a case that costs $350. In total, this chassis can be equipped with up to six 120mm fans. But of course that increases the overall cost significantly.

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Both the top and front mounting locations can easily support radiators up to 360mm sandwiched between fans in a push-pull configuration. You can even install a 360mm radiator in the top and front simultaneously.

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