Antec NSK3300

dlpolnet · Post by **dlpolnet** » Mon May 29, 2006 3:55 pm

This new Antec case is very intriguing to me. It's a small tower, but the dimensions are just a little larger than the Antec Aria. It comes with a 300W PSU, front firewire input, and accepts 2 optical drives.

Does anyone have experience using this case? In particular, is the PSU fan fairly quiet?

I plan to put low wattage versions of AMD Athlon X2 or the upcoming Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) CPU in it.

There are practically no reviews of this case that I can find. I think spcr will be reviewing it, and I hope soon.

vapb400 · Post by **vapb400** » Mon May 29, 2006 4:34 pm

I am in your same exact position. I can't wait to build a Conroe rig in one of them. I almost splurged for one last week at newegg but I was a couple $ short in my paypal account. I havn't seen any reviews of it. Hopefully we will see one within th next few weeks.

I am of the opinion that the PSU is the exact same or slightly different from the SFX Seasonic PSU that SPCR reviewed and gave very high marks too. I hope it is the same.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Mon May 29, 2006 4:45 pm

I'm such a weakling when it comes to new hardware, I recently broke down and purchased this case, a Core Duo T2500, motherboard, etc.

Will probably be at least another week or two before everything arrives and can be assembled, but if people are interested, I'd be willing to post my impressions with the case and PSU (although I'm planning to use a PicoPSU + external brick for power, so I probably wouldn't do a lot of testing with the stock PSU).

vapb400 · Post by **vapb400** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:18 pm

Sounds great! Would you mind turning on the PSU for just a little and giving us an idea of how loud it is?

PICO-PSUs are sooooo coool

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:27 pm

Yup, will run the stock PSU for a bit just to get an idea of how quiet it is and let you guys know what I find out.

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:31 pm

frostedflakes wrote:I'm such a weakling when it comes to new hardware, I recently broke down and purchased this case, a Core Duo T2500, motherboard, etc.

Will probably be at least another week or two before everything arrives and can be assembled, but if people are interested, I'd be willing to post my impressions with the case and PSU (although I'm planning to use a PicoPSU + external brick for power, so I probably wouldn't do a lot of testing with the stock PSU).

oh my god pix plz

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:57 pm

Will do.

Landroval · Post by **Landroval** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 11:41 am

Umm, still haven't seen the NSK3300 in Europe. Any idea when it'll become available?

dlpolnet · Post by **dlpolnet** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 2:39 pm

I couldn't wait any longer, so I went ahead and bought it from Securemart.com for $60+17 shipping. I recently bought a CPU-mobo combo for $60 from Fry's electronics. Hence the system consists of:

antec nsk3300 with included psu
ecs mATX socket 775 mobo with integrated graphics
intel celeron d 326 at 2.53ghz
stock intel hsf
512 mb ddr400 ram x 1
maxtor 250gb sata hd
cd-rom drive

appearance:
the case looks very simple, maybe a little too plain. it's certainly small for a tower case, which is a major reason i chose this case.

installation:
by unscrewing 2 thumb screws, you can easily remove the top and side panels. the mobo fit easily. i wanted to use my scythe ninja heatsink, but it would not fit. the panel that divides the case into 2 compartments is right adjacent to the mobo edge, and the ninja was too wide to fit. thus, i used the intel hsf.
there are 2 slots for hard drives, 1 in the psu compartment, the other in the mobo compartment. i chose the psu compartment, leaving room for just 1 optical drive, which was placed on top of the hd.
the included 120mm tricool rear fan was set at the lowest speed.

heat issues:
using pc wizard 2006 (freeware), i found that the hd temp started at 50 degrees C and quickly rose to 54. the top compartment and optical drive felt very warm to touch. i will have to move the hd to the main compartment.
cpu temp stayed at 40 C and the heatsink did not feel very warm to touch.

noise:
i was pleasantly surprised by the relatively low noise of all 3 fans, the psu, cpu hsf, and rear case fan. my last experience with an intel hsf was 2 years ago with a pentium 4 prescott 3 ghz, which was loud and annoying. this new celeron D 326 hsf is quiet by comparison, and spun at only 900 rpm according to pc wizard. putting my ear against each fan, i still think the hsf is the noisiest by a small margin, but totally acceptable for the room with relatively high ambient noise.
overall i am fairly happy with the noise level of the stock fans. with the pc placed under the desk, the system is fairly quiet and not at all annoying.

summary:
overall i'm satisfied with this low cost system and particularly happy with the cpu. though the tdp of this model is around 80 watts, it appears to be easily cooled with the fairly quiet hsf. the antec case is cheap, small, easy to work with, and comes with decent psu and fans. now, i'm probably not as picky as some members of spcr with regard to noise levels, but if your room has some degree of ambient noise, i think you'll be very satisfied with the nsk3300.

vapb400 · Post by **vapb400** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:54 pm

Thanks for the review!

So I take it you put the HD in the 5.25" bay? would it fit in the 3.5" meant for the floppy drive?

Too bad the compartment is adjacent to the motherboard

dlpolnet · Post by **dlpolnet** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 8:15 pm

i should clarify. the case has 2 compartments: the top compartment contains the PSU and space for 2 optical drives, or 1 optical drive and 1 hard drive. the hd gets too warm in this small space with poor airflow.

the other compartment houses everything else and includes a hd mount at the base of the case, and a floppy drive cage which i'm not using. i could not put the hd into the floppy cage, so i put the hd at the base. now the hd is at a constant 40 C.

running prime95 for 30min, the cpu temp is at 61 C. idle is 39 C.

i must say this is the quietest stock system i've built so far. the antec fans are very quiet, and even the intel hsf is great.

vapb400 · Post by **vapb400** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 10:40 am

Wow, I didn't realize that the floppy was in the lower compartment. Any chance we could get some pics?

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:15 pm

vapb400 wrote:Wow, I didn't realize that the floppy was in the lower compartment. Any chance we could get some pics?

The lower compartment is by far the larger. Here you can download a mechanical drawing PDF that provides excruciating detail.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:52 pm

My case arrived about a week ago (ordered from Securemart as well, they always have the best prices on Antec cases), but unfortunately I have not had a chance to set my system up yet. The ASUS board was DOA, so I sent it back for a replacement. Hopefully should be able to get everything set up next week.

But I did discover something very interesting. Looking at the NSK-3300's power supply, I noticed that the internal heatsinks looked very similar in design to the heatsinks in my S12-330. Upon further examination, the power supply appeared to be almost idential to the SS-300SFD 80 Plus reviewed last year by SPCR, same heatsinks, even a square vent on one side of the casing. Looked up the UL#, and sure enough, this is an OEM Seasonic!

Which is fantastic news, as the SS-300SFD 80 Plus is one of the most efficient power supplies ever reviewed at SPCR. Noise doesn't seem to be too bad either, 22dBA up to 90w, 25dBA at 150w, after that it gets pretty bad, though. Then again, with the separate chamber in the NSK-3300, the unit should always be receiving cool air, which should help keep temps and fan speed down a bit.

vapb400 · Post by **vapb400** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 7:06 pm

That is great news!

How many SATA?
How many 4-pin IDE connectors?
Does it have a PCI-E 6-pin connector?

Sorry for all the questions, I hope to be picking one up shortly. I really appreciate it.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 7:16 pm

5 IDE
1 floppy
2 SATA
0 PCI-E

Linus · Post by **Linus** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 8:42 pm

frostedflakes - I'm confused. The case has a separate chamber for the PSU, implying a front-intake, rear-exhaust PSU. The SS-300SFD SPCR reviewed seems to have a bottom-intake, rear-exhaust design. What gives?

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:29 pm

It's a bit different than the chamber of a P180. There are vents for the top chamber at the front of the case, but the majority of the air will be coming from a vent in the top of the case. The PSU is installed fan side facing up, with about an inch of clearance between the fan and top vent. In theory, some air should be provided by the front vents, which would ensure airflow for a hard drive if installed. However, in practice, this doesn't seem to be the case, as dlpolnet mentioned his hard drive got pretty hot in the top chamber. Not a hard fix, though, you could tape off part of the top vent to force more air through the front, or install the hard drive in the bottom chamber instead.

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:51 pm

dlpolnet wrote:i should clarify. the case has 2 compartments: the top compartment contains the PSU and space for 2 optical drives, or 1 optical drive and 1 hard drive. the hd gets too warm in this small space with poor airflow.

Where does the air come in for the PSU? I can see a vent on the top of the case. Are there also openings around where the optical drives are at the front? If you blocked off the top vent, would it force the air to come in from the front, thereby colling the HDD more? Or would that not allow enough air through?

edit: I can see frostedflakes has already answered most of my questions

dlpolnet · Post by **dlpolnet** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 10:23 am

Frostedflakes is correct about the vent openings. However, I don't think you'll get enough airflow to cool the hd even if you block the top vent, because there is practically no space around the hd and optical drive.

For this case, I really think you should limit yourself to just 1 hd. If you really need lots of hd space, get the new 750 GB perpendicular drives. They predict that hd will hit 1 terabytes next year.

I am still patiently waiting for Conroe and the new mobos to come out so that I can swap out the Celeron. I need the power of dual core for audio and video encoding. Fortunately I don't play games, so I'll be sticking with integrated graphics.

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 1:38 am

dlpolnet wrote:For this case, I really think you should limit yourself to just 1 hd.

My OS drive is always a 2.5 inch notebook drive, maybe a notebook drive wouldn't heat up so much in the top compartment.

dlpolnet · Post by **dlpolnet** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:55 pm

i agree that a 2.5 inch drive should fare better in the top compartment. you could also probably fit it inside the floppy cage with minor modification.

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:59 pm

Does the front panel come off this thing? Can't seem to work out how to remove it.

It's certainly a very solid/ sturdy case despite its small size. The frame is very solid, and the side panels are steel and don't wobble or shake at all.

dlpolnet · Post by **dlpolnet** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:37 pm

the front panel does not come off.

you first remove the top panel, then the side panels.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:23 pm

Finally got my new system all set up. Have to say that overall I'm pretty pleased with the case. My only real gripe is that the ATX connector is ridiculously short, for it to reach my motherboard I had to leave the plastic separator for the top chamber partly open and tape off the rest. I know there isn't much Antec can do about the cable length, but I think there are a few things they could've done with the separator design to give the cable a longer reach. But oh well, not a big deal. Otherwise installation was pretty painless.

I went ahead and installed the HDD in the top chamber, and don't seem to be having the issues dlpolnet was. My Samsung SP2504C stays at ~40*C during normal usage. So maybe the Maxtor runs a bit hot, or the sensor is in an area that gets warmer?

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:36 am

frostedflakes wrote:My only real gripe is that the ATX connector is rediculously short

another minor gripe: there is a very close fit between the upper edge of the motherboard and the floor of the upper chamber; this meant I wasn't able to attach the heatsink with the motherboard in place in the case (it had to be attached before placing the motherboard in position in the case).

Other minor gripes: no speaker.

Makes troubleshooting problematic new installations that bit more difficult.

I wonder if you can buy a case speaker from somewhere.

I do think that another drive cage for two more 3.5 inch devices could have been fitted into the lower compartment, there is still plenty of room down there going to waste. Maybe people will use the space to suspend a drive or two.

Apart from these minor gripes, I think this case is a great new product - it is a sturdy, yet petite (Antec's word on the packaging) case that is "quiet enough" for my circumstances.

PhilgB · Post by **PhilgB** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:06 am

Pictures!!

You can get PC speakers which dangle directly off the mother board where you would normally just plug in the case speaker. Most PC shops should carry this.

Can't wait to get mine. How is the noise of the power supply?

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:31 am

PhilgB wrote:Pictures!!

hopefully someone else can provide some, I don't have a digital camera here.

PhilgB wrote:Can't wait to get mine. How is the noise of the power supply?

I find it satisfactory, but I hesitate to comment much more than that, as I have a bit of ambient noise here (traffic and air conditioner), and what works for me might not work for others. Hopefully SPRC will review the case, and give a more objective appraisal of the noise made by the power supply than I can.

The HDD mounting mechanism with silicon pads seems to be quite effective, I can't feel any vibrations in the case from my aging Samsung 3.5 inch 120 Gb PATA hard drive.

PhilgB · Post by **PhilgB** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:16 am

I was pleased to hear that it is in fact a Seasonic but I was prepared to swap the fan anyway.

I believe it is on the SPCR future review list.

I'm not too worried about the hard drive mounting seeing as there is so much room for suspension. Should be a good case.

dlpolnet · Post by **dlpolnet** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:38 pm

Frostedflakes, I'm surprised that your hd stays at 40 C in the top compartment. Did you put an optical drive on top of the hd like I did?

My temp reading is from a program called PC Wizard 2006 (freeware). I believe it's accurate because the hd felt very warm in the top compartment (reading 50-55C), whereas it was much cooler to touch in the bottom compartment (registering 40C).

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