Antec MINUET 300

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:33 pm

What do people think of this slim, relatively small micro-ATX case by Antec?

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15102
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811129013

It has two fans - an 80 mm "TriCool" fan (interestingly positioned at the top of the case) with the usual (for Antec) 3-speed switch control, and a fan in the power supply...

The power supply looks rather small - is it an "SFX" form factor? I wonder what size fan it contains?

I wonder how noisy or otherwise the case would be with a low powered pentium III system inside it? I guess the main unknown factor is be the amount of noise generated by that tiny looking power supply...

Trunks · Post by **Trunks** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:56 pm

Personally I would not get a mATX, half height case unless I really really knew that full height would be impossible for the situation.
You are limiting your options with that little PSU, and the lack of full height card support.
Oh and lack of large HSF options.
I just think it has such a limited upgrade path.

Landroval · Post by **Landroval** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:53 pm

Not everybody needs an upgrade path. Some nice mATX mobo with integrated graphics will be just fine. Or if you need 3D get something like this:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productf ... image2.jpg

I wonder if Thermalright XP-120 will fit in that case.

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:19 pm

Trunks wrote:I just think it has such a limited upgrade path.

I don't want to stuff an htpc or gaming rig in there, just a low powered system for web browsing & email.

geckokarma · Post by **geckokarma** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:25 am

aidanjm2004 -- I considered the Minuet too. I didn't end up going with it but I guess for your purposes it could work.
Any idea what size fan(s) the PSU has (no obvious answer on Antec's site)?
If its 60mm, that's a concern, but maybe not a showstopper for you.
There's a good chance you'd want to swap whatever it is.

Given your PIII solution, you probably don't need a ginormous HS/fan, and therefore you probably could fit some solution in the Minuet.
I have a P4 Celeron Northwood, which is fairly cool but likely not at P3 levels.
I found I needed an XP-90 and Nexus 92mm at ~7V to do the job -- this takes a lot of height.
(My needs are light, too, mainly playing music and surfing -- I'd rather have a PIII!)

I'm guessing the XP-120 wouldn't fit, either due to vertical clearance or horizontal.
In my case (lit., see below), the horizontal limitation is due to the relative locations of the
PSU and CPU -- just barely enough room for the XP-90.
I've barely got enough vertical clearance as well, and since my case is taller, I guess it
wouldn't fit in the Minuet. But who knows; shouldn't be hard to run the numbers.

Any ideas on what HS/fan you'd use in it?

For comparison, I can recommend the Enermax Venus (aka CS 10068). Its bigger than the Minuet but allows 2 x 80mm case fans.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:24 am

aidanjm2004 wrote:What do people think of this slim, relatively small micro-ATX case by Antec?

The 300W power supply is totally unneccessary--get the Minuet II if it is cheaper. Mine could run an overclocked A64 3200+ and X800GTO just fine. Of course I could put the case together with the X800GTO in it. A Zalman 7000Cu fit with plenty of room.

Personally, I had the Minuet II for a couple of weeks, and it is a nice enough case... Not terribly loud, but hard drive mounting/placement is horrible. Overall, the Minuet is just too big for its limitations. It is just worth about $50 IMHO, which is about what I got for mine when I eBayed it.

If you really want small look for something much smaller.

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:58 pm

geckokarma wrote:Any idea what size fan(s) the PSU has (no obvious answer on Antec's site)? If its 60mm, that's a concern, but maybe not a showstopper for you. There's a good chance you'd want to swap whatever it is.

I didn't see any info on the fan size at the Antec site.

geckokarma wrote: Any ideas on what HS/fan you'd use in it?

I use a Spire Whisperock IV for socket 370/ Pentium III which is extremely quiet used with a Zalman fanmate turned down to the lowest voltage.

geckokarma wrote: For comparison, I can recommend the Enermax Venus (aka CS 10068). Its bigger than the Minuet but allows 2 x 80mm case fans.

Interesting looking little case.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:55 am

aidanjm2004 wrote:
geckokarma wrote:Any idea what size fan(s) the PSU has (no obvious answer on Antec's site)? If its 60mm, that's a concern, but maybe not a showstopper for you. There's a good chance you'd want to swap whatever it is.
I didn't see any info on the fan size at the Antec site.

The Minuet II had two 80mm fans. One in the power supply and one case exhaust fan (Tri-Cool) just in front of the power supply. There is no reason to expect that to change with the 300W power supply. I checked the pictures at Newegg and they don't show either fan well.

Weldingheart · Post by **Weldingheart** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:28 am

review
no noise&temp test, but quite complete on installation section compared to another 'photo gallery only review'

Antec MINUET 300

Antec MINUET 300

Re: Antec MINUET 300