The Little One - Antec ISK300-65 Mini-ITX Casing
The new ISK series from Antec is a new line of casings designed specifically for mini-ITX motherboards and the ISK300-65 is their maiden offering. We take a closer look at this pint-sized casing designed specially for mini-ITX and HTPC enthusiasts to see if it fits the bill.
A New Beginning
Mini-ITX motherboards, while decidedly still a niche market, are gaining popularity and interest these days thanks to Intel's Atom and NVIDIA Ion platform. These two innovations have made it possible to build small, relatively efficient and adequately capable systems, making them popular amongst HTPC enthusiasts and those setting up simple compact systems. However, despite their accumulating popularity, mini-ITX enclosures are few and far between. Fortunately, California-based computer peripheral specialist, Antec, believes that the increasing popularity of mini-ITX motherboards is significant enough to warrant a creation of a whole new line of casings. So behold, the ISK series is born and among the first of them is this ISK300-65 which we've chosen for review.
On first impressions, we were surprised at how compact the ISK300-65 is. It is one of the smallest casings we've ever come across and is roughly the size of a shoebox. However, its small size also means that it has some special requirements in terms of components that can be used with it (more on that later). To add on, you may call us boring, but we thought that the ISK300-65 looks rather good with its simplistic, understated design. So to begin, let us first take a look at the specifications of this wondrously small casing.
This is the Antec ISK300-65, the first casing from Antec's newly created ISK line, which was conceived specifically for mini-ITX enthusiasts. On first glances, it looks like an oversized external optical drive unit.
Compact Exterior
Compact is perhaps the best word to describe the Antec ISK300-65. Weighing only slightly more than 3kg when bare and with dimensions not exceeding that of a large shoebox, it should fit on desks or into audio-visual cabinets with ease. Aside, it seems that Antec's approach to the ISK300-65 was to keep it simple, as evidenced by its exterior outlook, which is markedly functional.
The front I/O panel of the Antec ISK300-65 consists of two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, headphone and microphone jacks, reset and power switch. This should be good enough for most casual users.
Note that the 5.25-inch optical drive is of the slim variety. This means you won't be able to fit your standard-sized optical drives.
Moving to the side, we can see the ISK300-65's solitary fan. You can add an additional fan by removing the bracket next to it.
There's nothing of significance at the top of the ISK300-65, save for the vents located in one corner.
Nothing special around the back either. Note the single half-height expansion slot to the right. That means you won't be able to fit any full size cards into this case, thus limiting the expansion slot's capabilities.
The ISK300-65 has a 3-speed fan selector, allowing you to turn the fans up should you think your system is running too warm.
Claustrophobia
How can the Antec ISK300-65 be so small, you may wonder. The answer becomes apparent once you peel away the casing and look into its belly. Soon, it becomes obvious that the ISK300-65 cannot accommodate 3.5-inch hard drives and normal 5.25-inch optical drives. Instead, its drive cage is big enough only for 2.5-inch hard drives and the slimmer variety optical drives more commonly found in notebooks. Additionally, instead of a traditional PSU, it uses a 65W external AC-to-DC power adapter as its power source and a DC-to-DC ATX power distribution module affixed within the chassis. And lastly, the ISK300-65 only has space for half-height expansion cards. Little wonder then it is small.
Removing away the drive cage, this is what we see. The space on the left is for the motherboard, whereas the power distribution unit is on the right.
The PSU component or to be more accurate, the power distribution unit on the Antec ISK300-65 is marked MD-135 and it helps supply power to the various components in the system requiring various voltage level inputs. In turn, the various power connectors are connected to it via a standard ATX connector.
The Antec ISK300-65 uses Antec's very own 80mm TriCool fan. It has a 3-speed selector and it is very quiet at its lowest speed setting.
Piecing the system together was easy enough, but trying to stow the cables away was a different story. They were bulky and some, like the 24-pin ATX power connector, was obviously too long and too bulky to be stowed or stuffed away neatly.
Also, we must note that with a PSU component that is rated at a measly 65 watts, which means there's little hardware you can pair with it. In fact, there are really only two setups you can readily 'choose' from:- Intel's Atom motherboard kit (Intel D945GCLF2 ) or NVIDIA's Ion platform (which also use the Intel Atom processor).
Here's our system installed with Intel's dual-core ATOM D945GCLF2 kit.
From this angle, we can see that the insides of the Antec ISK300-65 is actually quite spacious. However...
... despite the space, it was difficult to get any decent sort of cable management done. The wires are too bulky and Antec could have helped by meshing the individual wires on the connectors together. Or better yet, they could have pre-routed the cables for us.
You can try mating the Antec ISK300-65 to an enthusiast class mini-ITX board like the Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi we've reviewed, but that would be pushing the limits of the ISK300-65's puny PSU, considering that we measured the Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi to have an idle power draw of 56W when equipped with a fairly capable but still dual-core based Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor. Moreover, that figure rises to 86W when running graphically intensive applications. Of course you could opt for a very low end Intel processor like the E5000/7000 series or the Pentium Dual-Core series to bring down the power levels, but this will still push the supplied PSU to its limits.
Ultimately, the choice of providing the Antec ISK300-65 with a lowly 65W PSU is puzzling given that it is possible to squeeze even a full height cooler into the case to tame more powerful processors and it can even be outfitted with a half-height discrete graphics card as we attempted to outfit the chassis to test its limits. Of course we don't expect users to actually squeeze it with a full height Intel cooler like in our trials, but given that even the standard half-height Intel coolers can accommodate entry-level quad-core processors, it clearly shows that the Antec ISK300-65 has a lot of untapped potentially held back by the PSU choice.
The Antec ISK300-65 is clearly capable of accommodating an enthusiast class mini-ITX board like the Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi, so why Antec would choose to pair it with such a low-powered PSU is beyond any of us.
More Power, Please
The Antec ISK300-65 has a very attractive size, but getting it to work would require some compromise. For starters, 2.5-inch hard drives aren't that much a problem as they are easily available (although they do cost a little more), but slim form factor optical drives are a different story as they are not readily available in your usual DIY stores. Chances are, you'll need to get them from notebook vendors or other specialists. Even then you might need to make some modifications to make it fit into the Antec ISK300-65 as we've found out first-hand.
Also cable management was a nightmare as the power connectors were too bulky. Antec should have made them less voluminous by tying the individual wires together or braiding them tightly. Alternatively, they could have varied the length of the connectors since some of them need not be that long. In fact, they could have pre-routed them which would have been most ideal.
But more than any of the above, the single most restrictive component on the ISK300-65 is its severely underpowered 65W PSU. With so little juice available, users have very few ready choices which are mostly Intel Atom processor based setups (this includes NVIDIA's Ion platform too). This totally defeats the purpose of an enthusiast Mini-ITX chassis, really. Since system customization is mostly out of the question, you're perhaps better with off-the-shelf products like ASUS' Eee Box or Acer's AspireRevo , both of which are significantly sleeker than the Antec ISK300-65. True that the Zotac GeForce 9300mGPU Mini-ITX is an ideal choice, but what about mating the right CPU such that it doesn't overpower the supplied power adapter? Then there are other considerations as mentioned above.
Apart from the bulky cables, the Antec ISK300-65 would have been a good casing. But alas, the 65W PSU it comes with severely cripples it.
Still, at a price of US$89.90 (S$131), the Antec ISK300-65 is rather reasonably priced and sturdily built. Moreover, ventilation was adequate and the option to adjust fan speeds and add an optional extra fan is much welcomed. That said, the weak PSU is a real pity and perhaps Antec would do well to take note of it, and in future allow users to spec more powerful PSUs with their casings. The ISK300-65 would have been more useful if it only had more power. This of course brings out the modding scene to source out better PSU components, but ideally Antec should have had their own option.
** Updated on 29th July 2009 **
We just received an update from Antec that there will be two more variants of the Antec ISK300 chassis with 150 and 250 watts power adaptors. This brings the total number of variants to three, each suited for different needs and budget. No word yet on the availability of them, but we were told it wouldn't be long. At least it's good to know Antec is listening to consumer needs.
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