Antec NSK2400 Media PC Case

stuart.cookson · Post by **stuart.cookson** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:59 am

I'm seriously considering an HTPC in the near future, and this forum is proving very useful in my research. As it is to sit in my front room, it has to meet pretty strict criteria:

1. Must look good
2. Must be quiet
3. Must connect to my amp

On the first count, in my opinion only the Antec Fusion will do. I think it looks great! And from what I understand it's pretty good on the second count too. I'm a bit confused, however, on the third count: I want to connect it to my Denon AVR1803 amp.

Quoting from the review:
"...the volume knob did not work with the ASIO driver that we tested... ...That is a problem, since ASIO (or Kernal Streaming) is necessary to pass Dolby Digital or DTS signals out to an external receiver via S/PDIF..."

That sounds like it could mess my plans up somewhat!

"...when the Fusion knob was cranked to zero, the original signal could still be controlled externally... ...The obvious solution to these problems is simply to disable the volume knob, but â€” as noted â€” the software does not provide a way to do this..."

Can I please clarify: with the VFD running (and I'd like it to be), and the volume knob cranked right down to zero, will this setup work properly? I would have no use for the volume control on the PC as I would control that on my seperate amp. Therefore it would be no hindrance to leave it permanently cranked to zero.

Rusty075 - is this pretty much the kind of set up you have?

jimmyfergus · Post by **jimmyfergus** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:19 am

stuart.cookson wrote:I want to connect it to my Denon AVR1803 amp.

The volume nob only has effect in software - if you just don't connect it, and/or don't configure software to use it, it will have no effect at all, and the sound output will be entirely down to your motherboard or soundcard.

stuart.cookson · Post by **stuart.cookson** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:40 am

My concern is that the review states:

"...The obvious solution to these problems is simply to disable the volume knob, but â€” as noted â€” the software does not provide a way to do this. As a result, the only way were were able to restore functionality was to disable the VFD software altogether â€” and lose the ability to use the VFD..."

I don't want to have to disable the VFD altogether, I want its functionality. I just don't want to use the volume knob. Will it be possible to have it connected, but just leave it at zero?

jimmyfergus · Post by **jimmyfergus** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:41 am

stuart.cookson wrote:My concern is that the review states:

Sorry, forget my comment - it was uninformed.

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:08 pm

For those interested, I've put all my HTPC gear into this case replacing my Silverstone LC11. Went with the NSK2400 and not the Fusion as I use the remote control to change the volume (I'm a couch potato) and you can't see the display once the equipment cupboard door is closed.

viewtopic.php?t=37103

Regards
Tim

Devonavar · Post by **Devonavar** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:08 am

stuart.cookson wrote:Can I please clarify: with the VFD running (and I'd like it to be), and the volume knob cranked right down to zero, will this setup work properly? I would have no use for the volume control on the PC as I would control that on my seperate amp. Therefore it would be no hindrance to leave it permanently cranked to zero.

Yes, it should. However, I'm still investigating the reason for my own experience. It's possible that my problems were isolated to my own system. After all, Russ' system apparently works just fine, albeit with Vista installed.

svortevik · Post by **svortevik** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:42 am

Can someone please tell me if the height at 140mm is including the feet?

timbo · Post by **timbo** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:22 pm

svortevik wrote:Can someone please tell me if the height at 140mm is including the feet?

I measure 150mm from the shelve to the top of the case....

Regards
Tim

dv8ed · Post by **dv8ed** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 11:17 pm

Jasper wrote: The CPU cooler in my system is a passive modified Ninja (Arctic Silver 5). I removed the little 'bolthead' decoration on the heatpipes, removed 8 out of the 23 fins, and then bent the heatpipes around a screwdriver shaft as mandrel, the ones that were close to the fin edge to the inside and the other ones to the outside. It seems to be keeping my CPU cool very well with the Tricools on L, more data once I have a running system on it.

hey jasper,

do you have any pics of the modification? i am interested in doing something similar. what did you use to cut off the bolthead decorations?

dv8ed · Post by **dv8ed** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:46 pm

MikeC wrote: Also, the Thermalright SP120/90 work quite well in the NSK2400 if the HS mounting scheme allows the fins to run side to side.

will the case cover close if a fan is added on top of the SI-120? you mean SI right? i don't see any SP120.

looks like for thermalright the best one i can use is XP-120 with a fan.

if not what are some passive heatsinks that i can run a fan just incase during hot summer months.

also i want to use this video card.
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_sp ... &class=vga
with a zalman vf900-cu will the zalman cooler fit into this case?

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:16 am

dv8ed wrote:
MikeC wrote: Also, the Thermalright SP120/90 work quite well in the NSK2400 if the HS mounting scheme allows the fins to run side to side.
will the case cover close if a fan is added on top of the SI-120? you mean SI right? i don't see any SP120.

looks like for thermalright the best one i can use is XP-120 with a fan.

I must have meant SI or XP 120/90 -- w/o a fan. The case fans in the 2400 are so close that if the fins are running side to side, there should be enough airflow for good cooling with most CPUs.

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:40 pm

I'm looking at making an AM2 system with this case. Can any one recommend a heatsink?

JAH · Post by **JAH** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:19 pm

Anybody know if a GeForce 8800 GTS will fit in this case?

siak · Post by **siak** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:04 am

I ordered the Silent XFX Fatal1ty GeForce 7600GT for the fusion. Unforntunately for me I found this thread after I ordered the card.

Anyone with suggestions on modding/replacing the heatsink to get it to fit in the case? I don't think I want to cut a hole in the cover.

derw · Post by **derw** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:00 pm

Soon I will buy these:

PC Antec NSK2400-EC - BoÃ®tier desktop 380W
ABIT Fatal1ty F-I90HD (ATI Radeon Xpress 1250) - Micro ATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 - Dual Core ! Socket 775 FSB800 cache L2 2 Mo
Thermalright LGA775-RM - Socket 775 (pour XP-90/XP-120)
Thermalright XP-120

But Have anyone try to put the XP-120 on this Mother Card ?

Send me your good advices

obvious · Post by **obvious** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:55 pm

Hi All! I've just ordered one of these.

How much clearance is their between CPU and the case top? Just trying to establish maximum HSF height. Thanks

obvious · Post by **obvious** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:59 am

derw wrote:Soon I will buy these:

PC Antec NSK2400-EC - BoÃ®tier desktop 380W
ABIT Fatal1ty F-I90HD (ATI Radeon Xpress 1250) - Micro ATX
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 - Dual Core ! Socket 775 FSB800 cache L2 2 Mo
Thermalright LGA775-RM - Socket 775 (pour XP-90/XP-120)
Thermalright XP-120

But Have anyone try to put the XP-120 on this Mother Card ?

Send me your good advices

This is very close to the system I'm getting. 'Sneaky' over at xtremesystems is running an i90hd with an XP-120 according to his sig :- http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=104550

Still wondering what the clearance is between top of case and cpu socket on the NSK2400. Also, I dont suppose anyone has heard anything more about the Scythe Mini Ninja?

obvious · Post by **obvious** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:16 pm

obvious wrote:Hi All! I've just ordered one of these.

How much clearance is their between CPU and the case top? Just trying to establish maximum HSF height. Thanks

Little help here

hubs99 · Post by **hubs99** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:22 am

I was wondering if anyone has tried fitting a fullsize ATX board into the 2400? I'm hesitating buying one because I feel like the motherboard options for matx intel boards is fairly limited.

Would it be possible to elevate the power supply, not use the lower 5.25 drive bay, and remove some of the wall between PSU and motherboard?

Any opinions/suggestions would be highly appreciated.

pyro2003 · Post by **pyro2003** » Mon May 07, 2007 12:22 am

Read through most of the NSK2400 threads and I'm now totally confused due to info mix-ups

I'm using a Intel D865GLCLK S478 mATX to rebuild an HTPC using older chips/ram (2.8 or 3 G), but want the most quiet performance (without buying another PSU), as it is sitting next to my bed

- is the Thermalright XP-120 (or similar / smaller) workable with fans (not counting the side fans) ? I don't want a 100% fanless solution for the CPU. If not is the cooling (using the side fans) better than the Zalman 7700 with Scythe fan mod ?

- for replacing the PSU fan, what is a good choice at 80 mm ? Has anyone done 120 mm ?

- are Noctua best as the case fans, or they would be good for the PSU also ?

some vendor names is appreciated as I'm ordering from overseas

thanks / this is a great forum !

zepper · Post by **zepper** » Tue May 22, 2007 12:11 pm

Your review caused me to hit eBay in search of one - snagged for under
$30.00 shipped! Tell me where else one can grab a PSU with aPFC and
full-range AC sensing/compensation for that money? And there were
several that could be had for around that figure. Too bad they didn't
read your mini-review first - could have saved them buying an
unnecessarily overpowered and expensive PSU. This can easily handle over
90% of PSU needs in recent systems (12V dependent) - plus you hit the
efficiency sweet-spot with most normal systems. As far as I can tell,
this unit is very similar to Antec's Earthwatts unit of the same power
and the similar SuperSilencer, Seasonic-branded units.

A few things you may want to add to the review - verify with your own
sample.

1- The main filter capacitor looks to be Rubycon - good and the same as
the Seasonic branded unit in your pics.

2- The fan in my unit had the fan mfr's label on the rotor of the fan
instead of the frame. It was off-center (as I've found that most applied
to the rotor are) and it's massy enough (relative to the mass of the
rotor) to contribute to vibration and noise in proportion to the speed
of the fan - the more it would ramp up in the PSU due to heat, the more
you will notice the additional noise from the eccentric label.

I initially noticed this "feature" on a fan that came with a Silverstone
CFP51 HDD cage that I had here for review (
http://www.techimo.com/reviews/ ). I could both feel and hear the
contribution of the label to the noise of the fan. Tony Ou said SPCR
commented on the same fan as part of some review here - perhaps a case.
I don't think Silverstone will be sticking any "unbalance weights" on
their fans any more...

I suggest that you remove that rotor label (carefully so as not to
damage the bearings) and revisit it as it was quieter than most of the
fans I've had here (including Yate Loon) especially LED units. It also
has a 52 Ohm resistor internally which can be bypassed if you need a fan
with more output - the resistor drops the actual fan voltage to ~8V. May
be nice to use a bypassed unit with a fan controller so you can have
quiet as you need and yet more air when needed. Just the same way I use
my Sanyo Denki that is capable of over 100 CFM and very quiet at 5V
while still moving some air (120x38mm).

In any case, I now remove all labels from fan rotors (the Y-L come with
them too) and I can notice the difference more or less depending on
degree of eccentricity and mass of the label. It is a shame that the
engineers go to a lot of trouble creating molds to yield nicely balanced
fan rotors, and then their marketers stick labels all over the place,
willy-nilly. In the case of the SU-380 it was Antec who had the Adda
label put on the rotor so they could have their own label put on the
frame where the users could see it peeking out from inside the PSU -
really stupid! I hear that SPCR is close to Antec - so give them this
piece of my mind for me.

Thanks for saving me a BUNCH of money on a new PSU - I have been running
my machine with my ancient backup Sparkle FSP-250ATX with only 13A on
the single +12 rail. A couple days ago when the local temps went
freakishly (for central NY) into the mid-80s the poor thing started to
heat up a bit to where I could actually hear the fan - their noise
killer feature really works when the unit is cool. I know if I were to
add another HDD, it couldn't handle it. Got this one just in time.

.bh.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:55 am

Does anyone know the differences between Antec Fusion, Antec Fusion Black (except the color) and the Antec Fusion V2?

okay · Post by **okay** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:14 am

The new models got built in MCE IR-receiver I think.

Check out Antec's homepage.

EDIT:

BTW - check this:

Full ATX in a Fusion....

Source: http://www.diskusjon.no/index.php?showtopic=758226&hl=

Bugsi · Post by **Bugsi** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 11:24 am

3 typo corrections:

"The unit weighs feels hefty, as a steel chassis would."

(probably meant as "The unit's weight feels hefty. . ." or alternatively just "The unit feels hefty. . . ")

"This means an thermally controlled fan..."

("an" should be "a")

"The separate chamber and closely position intake vents worked very well."

("position" should be "positioned").

buzzlightyear · Post by **buzzlightyear** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:47 pm

Bugsi

This is your first post??

Bugsi wrote:3 typo corrections:

"The unit weighs feels hefty, as a steel chassis would."

(probably meant as "The unit's weight feels hefty. . ." or alternatively just "The unit feels hefty. . . ")

"This means an thermally controlled fan..."

("an" should be "a")

"The separate chamber and closely position intake vents worked very well."

("position" should be "positioned").

JohnS1111 · Post by **JohnS1111** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:05 am

Are there multiple versions of the Antec NSK 2400?

I am a little bit pissed, because I bought an Antec NSK 2400 and all other new hardware for my HTPC, mainboard Intel DG33TL, and the power supply of the Antec is missing the required 12V 4 pin connector for the CPU core power.
So I guess I either have to try to exchange the case or to buy a new PSU which kind of blows the whole good deal of buying a case including a PSU...

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:17 am

JohnS1111 wrote:Are there multiple versions of the Antec NSK 2400?

I am a little bit pissed, because I bought an Antec NSK 2400 and all other new hardware for my HTPC, mainboard Intel DG33TL, and the power supply of the Antec is missing the required 12V 4 pin connector for the CPU core power.

That doesn't make any sense. The 2x12V connector has been required for all ATX12V PSUs since the spec was first defined some 5-6 years ago. It's what the "12V" portion of the spec name stands for. I think you should probably take another close look at those cables.

JohnS1111 · Post by **JohnS1111** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:31 am

MikeC wrote:
JohnS1111 wrote:Are there multiple versions of the Antec NSK 2400?

I am a little bit pissed, because I bought an Antec NSK 2400 and all other new hardware for my HTPC, mainboard Intel DG33TL, and the power supply of the Antec is missing the required 12V 4 pin connector for the CPU core power.
That doesn't make any sense. The 2x12V connector has been required for all ATX12V PSUs since the spec was first defined some 5-6 years ago. It's what the "12V" portion of the spec name stands for. I think you should probably take another close look at those cables.

I did... there are several connectors:
- 24 pin power connector where a section of 4 pins is detachable
- a 6 pin PCI-E power connector looking like this: http://www.mechbgon.com/build/PCIeVCS.jpg
- several other connectors for HDDs and so on

what is missing is this one:
http://pinouts.ru/photos/atx4f.jpg
I am currently at work, but I will recheck later again, but there are not that many cables comming out of the PSU and I do not have a serious eye illness either

The PSU just doesn't have it - question is, does it usually have it? If so then I will look closely later if somehow there is a different PSU in the case, although it looked properly sealed as I bought it.

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:24 pm

JohnS1111 wrote:The PSU just doesn't have it - question is, does it usually have it?

Yup, sure does. See bottom pic on this page of the SU380 review.

JohnS1111 · Post by **JohnS1111** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 1:29 pm

OK, I just drove home and took another look at the case and... well, I must have been blind or an idiot or both yesterday night as I build that thing - of course that connector is there, it got stuck under the PSU, though.
Problem solved, cause: idiocity

Antec NSK2400 Media PC Case

8800 GTS

Has Anyone?

old wine in new bottle

Copy of message sent to Mike Chin