Antec DP31 Micro-ATX Mini Tower Case Review

A Closer Look – Interior

The side panel is easily opened by pulling on the bottom edge, and the magnetic locking system works really well.

However, if you want to, you can also open it then lift the panel off the hinges at the rear, giving you a lot more elbow room to install your hardware.

The case interior is surprisingly spacious, with room for a mini-ITX or mATX motherboard. There’s a good range of cut-outs for cable routing too, and a larger one behind the motherboard for changing your CPU cooler.

There’s a full-length PSU shroud built into the case too, so all the excess cables can easily be hidden out of sight. However, there’s a cut-away on the side, so you can still see the PSU from the left side.

There’s plenty of ventilation on the shroud too, which is good, as this is a small case already, so keeping airflow moving around it is important.

The front of the case doesn’t have any fans, but with a shorter design, a GPU could pretty much pull air passively through the front ventilation. The vents are nice and open, so airflow is very good here. However, the front is certainly a good spot to mount a 240mm AIO. There’s good passive airflow at the top too, with that large ventilated section.

Plus, the rear 120mm exhaust fan will shift all your unwanted heat out of the way too. I know more fans as standard would be ideal for some of you, but keep in mind the price of this case is very low.

Behind the motherboard, you’ll find a modest amount of space for cable management. However, keep in mind that you’ll be able to cram some excess cables under the PSU shroud too.

There are a few cable tie-down loops near the cable-routing holes too, ensuring you can keep things neat and tidy.

The cable routing holes are just that, holes, but the edges and corners are all nicely rounded so nothing gets snagged.

There’s a dedicated SSD mount behind the motherboard, with a removable plastic bracket.

Plus an additional mount in the bottom of the case, which can support two HDD, or one HDD and one SSD.