just built mine. got it from amazon in a couple days. the design is very nice. well thought out. easy to put the covers on. it is cramped! very tough to work in. I also have an nsk2400 and that was a breeze by comparison because it is roomier. this is pretty silent. I swapped out the 120mm fan for an orange nexus. i have a 92mm nexus up front. the fan screws supplied are very clever.

I would suggest a very small heat sink. I used an xp-90 and I had to fight it the whole way. My temps with the hd mounted in the bottom are comparable to the nsk2400 but I have the nexus blowing on it in the 3300.

once together its a very satisfying case. my build is exactly what it is designed for. one optical. one hd. low power vid. sempron64. but it is an ordeal to get it together.

I like where antec is going with their products. they "get" it. coincidentally it started about the time they started consulting with Mike.

A nice product. very compact and light. just what I was looking for,

aidanjm2004,

How easy (or difficult) is it to fit the alpine 64 into the case? Is there comfortable clearance at the top?

I am guessing you look at the efficiency figures of the 300W SFX PSU that SPCR reviewed recently. The PSU in this Antec NSK 3300 is not the same PSU. The PSU that was reviewed, is an 80Plus approved model. If you look at the Seasonic website, then you can see that 80Plus approval is an optional feature. I doubt that Antec has put the (more expensive) 80Plus approved PSU in this budget case, especially not without mentioning it.

The case is 7.8" wide! You could mount a Ninja in there and have enough room left over to rent out as a loft!

The width makes it look even shorter than it is in the pictures I've seen. I didn't make myself clear enough in my question about heat sink clearance. What I meant was, is there any clearance issue between the Alpine 64 and the bottom of the upper chamber, as there is with the cooler used in the review?

Aha! That's what I think of as a "side clearance" issue since I work on my computers when they're lying on their right side. Regrettably, there isn't a single answer to your straightforward question. That's because not only is the width of the HSF in question, but how close to the side of the mobo the CPU socket is - and that varies widely from mobo to mobo.

The Alpine 64 is a small device so the outlook is probably favorable. Just exactly how tightly does the CPU socket hug the edge of your mobo?

I'm getting an Asus M2NPV-VM, and I am considering using the Alpine 7 cooler with it because it has a 4-pin fan to match the fan header on the mobo.

The fan frame on the Alpine 7 does protrude past the heatsink itself, but it's hard for me to tell just how close it gets to the edge of the mobo, or if it would get in the way of the PSU wires coming down through the hole in the upper chamber of the case.

they are promoting it as an "eco friendly wonder"... whatever that means

There's just one thing remaining I'm wondering about: IDE cables.
Anything particular to note about getting an IDE cable up into the upper compartment ? As a seperate hole for such cable seems to be lacking, I was wondering if any users with this case ran into specific problems, or have some pointers on the issue ?

I have a m/b with socket very close to the edge. this makes using a large
heatsink problematic. I am trying to install a MINE and it keeps bumping
up agains the bundle of wires coming from the psu. this case is a reasonable choice IF you want to use a stock cooler or a small cooler. A large cooler drives you crazy!! The short cables are another problem. The routing system and short cables are the achilles heel of this otherwise very nice case.

regards


note: I was able to install the mine in the case by taking the m/b out of the
case and then pushing the bundle of wires flat against the upper
chamber. in the end I went back an installed my ALPINE cooler as I got
better temps thank my MINE at 12v. My ide temps are about 37c for an 3400 sempron and 36c for my hd in the lower position. its a great little case once
you learn how to work with its nuances. THe Alpine is a great cooler for a case like this as it installs without m/b removal and it is relatively small compared to most after market coolers these days.

I've just put together a little system based around this case, and I thought I'd chime in.

Overall I'm very impressed. It's not silent, but it is admirably quiet for an out-of-the-box experience. My system specs:

Athlon 64 3200+
MSI K8NGM2 motherboard
1GB RAM
80GB Samsung h/d
Zalman 7000 HSF

I'm using the integrated graphics on the mobo, which is more than sufficient for my purposes. The Zalman fits fine, plenty of space around it. I've mounted the hard-drive in the upper compartment and remove the 3.5" tray from the lower compartment (I don't bother with FDDs these days!). With that gone I found the lower chamber very roomy to work in -- but not so the top chamber, boy was that cramped!

One thing which I did find to be a struggle though...



...getting the IDE cables in to the top compartment. The little slidy flap-door effort between the two compartments isn't "full width", it only extends about 2/3's of the way across the case (from the left edge). The hard drive I was using had the connector on the right-hand side, so ribbon cables get all crumpled and bent. I settled for a rounded cable in the end, but that was a bugger to fit as well due to the bulkiness of the strain relief bits around the plugs. Serial ATA is definitely the way to go with this box.

Temperatues are fine so far, the CPU is at 43C after an hour or so of Prime95 (the fan on the Zalman is on the lowest setting). HD temps is 48C, which isn't that suprising given the challenging airflow in the upper chamber.

So... great little box!

I guess the Alpine is fairly inexpensive, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if it didn't fit. I would be surprised if it didn't fit with that motherboard + the nsk3300, tho. I mean it isn't a huge heatsink. Let us know how you go.

Maybe see if you can find a "round" IDE cable to avoid any problems? That is what I did.

MikeC: FYI, the updated cases page has a link for the NSK3300, but it redirects you to a review of the Antec 3700bqe, and the NSK2400 takes you to the SilverStone SST-LC01 review

You're right, thanks for the feedback, they're fixed.

I just put this all together yesterday, and as it turned out, I didn't have any problems at all with the Alpine 7. It had been more than four years since I last put a computer together, and it was such a pleasure not to go through that moment of fear I used to have when struggling to clamp a heatsink onto a processor. As for clearance, the Alpine 7 is short, so the cables coming down fron the top compartment were above the fan, and the cable tie that is attached to the bottom of the top compartment came in handy in pulling the cables up and away from the fan. I used the ribbon IDE cable that came with the motherboard for the DVD-RW, and had no problem getting it through the hole in the upper chamber along with all the other cables.

As of now, I'm using the Tricool fan set to low, and it's pretty quiet. The heatsink fan is not under any sort of control, and runs continously at just under 1200 RPM. It's louder than the case fan. At least I think it's louder. It's not easy to distinguish which fan is which. In any case, the sound is not unpleasant. It's on an Athlon X2 3800+, and the CPU temp hovers around 35C.

The only annoying thing about this setup is the sound of the hard drive (Samsung SP2504C) seeking.

I have an Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard in this computer, and I know that lots of people have had memory incompatability problems with this board. Mushkin HP2-5300 works fine with it.

Is your drive in the upper or lower compartment? I suppose you could experiment with resting the drive on a piece of foam or rubber instead of using the supplied mounting mechanism. I almost always use a notebook drive for my operating system drive, to eliminate the constant seek noise due to the operating system accessing it's system files or page file.

It's in the lower compartment. I'm using the mounting plate on the bottom of the case.

DGard,

I'm thinking of making a similar setup to yours, but I want to use a PCI slot for a wireless ethernet card, and I may want to put a PCIe video card in there in a few months - do you think there would be room for those?

The final setup would be:
AMD 3800+ X2
Samsung 250GB HDD
1GB RAM
DVDRW
Wireless Ethernet PCI
**possible passive 7600GS or similar

The review suggested it might be kinda tight. The alternative would be an NSK4400 I suppose, but I doubt it would be even close to the same decibel level (which is why it's cheaper).

Your thoughts?

If you're planning on getting the M2NPV-VM, you shouldn't have a problem using those slots as long as you don't put the hard drive on the bottom floor of the case. As the review stated, it does block the first PCI slot. If you look at the picture in the review of the finished build, you'll see the cable for the front panel audio (I think) snaking across the PCIe slot, and second PCI slot of the DFI board. You won't have that problem with the Asus board, because all the headers for the front panel cables are located along the bottom edge. When the cables are plugged in, they don't obstruct the slots at all.

Just built together my NSK3300, it worked out pretty nice.

I run a:
AMD64 3200+ with Q&C on, cooled by a Ninja.
A nvidia 7600GT with a VF900.
And a Hitachi HDD on the floor of the case.
DVDRW, 1GB ram, stock PSU.

I did some modifications to the case.
*Reversed the cover between the chambers to get "longer" cables inside the main chamber.
*Added rubber-mounts to all fans (except PSU).
*Added a fan duct between the Ninja and rear fan, to reduce number of fans.
Things to get modified in the future.
*Add some switches to be able to turn front fans on or off.
*Mount the HDD somewhere else, instead of floor or in top chamber.
*Change fan in PSU.

At the moment I just hear a soft hum and a bit of air noise. I'm pretty satisfied with this configuration, because it's cool, fast and quiet.

Can anyone recommend a fan to replace the one in the PSU of this case? The one installed as standard is an 80mm.

Or any other suggestions of how to quieten the PSU further would be appreciated. New to this whole 'silence' thing.

what exactly is the optional 80mm chassis air guide??? thanks ~

I don't know, could you be more specific? Try quoting and linking to the page where you saw the phrase.

He's referring to the list of features on the first page of the review. It mentions the CAG without ever giving any details on it.

ETA: I didn't really see any more info on Antec's site, but they were probably talking about a CAG similar to the one in the original P180 and Sonata II designs. Seeing as how they were useless, they pretty much dropped it. The holes in the back of the case are probably meant for air to get pulled in through the CAG, as that's what the same holes in the same location of the Sonata II and P180 were meant for.

yes, this one...

Cooling System:
- Up to 3 Fans
- 1 rear 120mm TriCool (standard)
- 2 front 92mm (optional)
- 1 80mm chassis air guide (optional)

what is it? what does it look like? how much? and where is it available?

just to add to the list of setups, mine's:
- asus a8v-mx
- 3800+ w/ stock hsf
- 2x512mb corsair 2-2-2-5
- 9800pro w/ ac
- seagate 320gb sata (top chamber)
- samsung sh-s182m dvd+/-
- mitsumi floppy w/ card reader
[- dual xp/ubuntu]

no extra fans so the system is quiet. only the stock hsf is audible [which i might replace]. i'd also like to put filters on the front grills. anyone have suggestions? all the ones i've seen are tacky .

so anyway, aside from the cables, the case looks rather bare inside. i thought perhaps an "80mm chassis air guide" might just be the useless piece of eye candy to complete it.

thanks ~

Can't say for sure, since our review sample didn't come with one, but I suspect they are talking about a fresh air duct directly above the CPU socket, as recommended by Intel here.

Some of Antec's other cases (notably the SLK3000B) have had this sort of duct, and Intel's official term for it is "Chassis Air Guide".

As for how much and where is it available, I'm afraid I have no idea. That particular idea of Intel's never really caught on, so you may not ever see it. Antec does sell parts for their cases (spare side panels & bezels, etc.), but I don't see any parts for the NSK3300 on their web site. If you really want to know, I suggest e-mailing them.

there are no holes on the side panel, but i understand what you're describing -- i own the slk3000b. i'm figuring it would be similar to the ducts dell uses, which draws air from above the pci slots -- and the nsk3300 has a grill there.

thanks for the answers ~

one other thing...

i noticed that adding a hard drive in the bottom chamber renders the last pci slot of the motherboard unusable. have you (anyone?) tried to fit a notebook drive in that location? i've not seen one so i'm not sure whether the screw holes will match. if it does fit... does it leave enough to use the last pci?

No, the screw holes for laptop drives are not the same.

By the way, I should clarify what I meant before. I am aware that the side panel does not have a grill over the CPU, but given that the "Chassis Air Guide" is an optional feature, I would expect Antec to supply a vented panel for purchase. No word on whether it is actually available.