| | |  | | Home » Antec ISK 310-150 Black Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 150 Watt Power Supply | | | | | | | Description: | | Mini-ITX is the next "big" thing. And now, Antec introduces the ISK 310-150, designed exclusively for Mini-ITX motherboards. With three drive bays, an 80mm TriCool fan, and a stable 150-watt power supply, the ISK 310-150 can handle many of the tasks of a traditional PC, in a fraction of the space. And with a 0.8mm cold rolled steel frame, the low-profile ISK 310-150 is not only nimble, but durable. | | | Features: | |
• Mini-ITX case designed to work with the Mini-ITX motherboards. A 150-Watt external PSU keeps the size small!
• Three drive bays, 1 x slim optical 5.25 inch external, and 2 x 2.5 inch HDD internal bays!
• Cooling is handeled by an 80MM TriCool 3 speed exhaust fan. Features 1 half Height expansion slot.
• Conveinent front ports include, 2 USB 2.0 and 1 eSATA. Feature front USB 2.0 x 2 and 1 eSATA connector.
• Silver front bezel.
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 12.9 inches | | Product Width:
| 8.7 inches | | Product Height:
| 3.8 inches | | Product Weight:
| 7.4 pounds | | Package Length:
| 15.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 11.9 inches | | Package Height:
| 9.0 inches | | Package Weight:
| 10.55 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 5 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 5 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 very good use of space, thoughtful designMay 17, 2011
By Sean Rostami
There are a few details of the case that I would change, but none of them deal-breakers and I don't think they warrant a lost star.
As other people have said, the power-supply is *internal*, and the "door" to the optical drive is kind of flimsy (I broke it within the 1st 15 minutes of unpacking, but I probably would have removed it permanently anyway, for personal reasons)
Probably the main thing people worry about with this case is the power-supply. It is only 150W and most hardware recommends more power. Some reasons why this power supply is sufficient (or can be made so):
(1) Some processors have integrated graphics and this contributes to their higher power recommendation (for example, I am using an i5-2400 processor and intel says its max power usage is 95 W). If you intend to use a dedicated video card, adding the estimated power usage of the CPU to the estimated power usage of the video card is not accurate: something like 1/3 of the CPU estimate comes from integrated graphics, and this is disabled when a separate video card is in use.
(2) A solid-state drive is expensive, but also awesome, and helps a lot with the power consumption. I think various traditional hard-drives use something like 5-40 watts depending on what the drive is doing. This is significant for a 150W power supply. On the other hand, the power use of a solid-state drive is trivial (for example, intel says that my 80GB SSD uses 150 mW while active)
All told, my system has an i5-2400 processor, the motherboard and storage/optical drives listed below, and a Gigabyte HD4350 video card that I didn't really plan for. The system's idle power usage is about 65W and occassionally spikes to at most 110W while it's booting up.
There are a few small design flaws, and also some simple ways to work around them:
(1) As many other people on the internet have said, the "placeholder" for the 2nd case fan actually blocks the motherboard. It has these pins that hold it in place, and it is likely that your motherboard will not be able to move into its proper position because some part of it will bump up against one of these pins. There are two solutions: remove the placeholder, or saw off the offending pin with a razor blade or something. If you want to remove it, it seems like all you need to do is squeeze those pins, but actually you will have to remove the power supply and the frame that holds the case fans first. It's not hard, you only need a screwdriver, but you must do this FIRST, before anything is installed.
(2) This case allows a single "slim" optical drive (for example, the Sony Optiarc 7700S slim DVD-RW). This drive receives all of its data and power via a "slim SATA" connector. You will need some kind of adapter to use it with this case. There are two kinds of adapters: search Amazon for product B001MYPI8M, or for B002O1W6ZK. The 1st one can be done, but I don't like it. The reason is because this case has only one 4-pin power connector and a lot of things must share it: the case fans, the light for the power button, and possibly the optical drive. To make it all fit at once, you must remove the power pins (red/black for the optical drive, blue/white for the power light) from their plastic enclosure and plug in all 4 pins manually. Also, you have a bunch of extra cable taking up precious space, and the SATA power supply that this case has is unused. I like the 2nd adapter much better. But it also has a problem. This adapter is just a little bit too wide for some drives (for example the above Optiarc), because the connector on the drive is too close to the edge, and the frame in which the drive sits cannot accomodate the width of the adapter. The solution is to slice of a tiny bit of plastic from the appropriate side of the adapter (again, with a razor blade). You will also have to secure the SATA cable with some kind of tie, since the frame in which the drive sits will normally push the SATA cable slightly out of its socket.
(3) The stock case fan does not have a motherboard controller, only a manual switch to control the speed.
(4) There is a stupid curly metal thingy whose purpose is to secure the PCIe card. The existence of it is fine, but the "curly" part has no point whatsoever and with my board/video-card combination, this "curly" part partially blocks the HDMI port. You can snap it off pretty easily by bending it back and forth, but it would be better if the metal just didn't curl around. Search for photos of the back of this case to see what I'm talking about.
It takes a long time of fiddling with the wires to get them in a good position, but I think there is no way around this with such a compact case.
The cooling of this case (unlike some others) is very well organized. The case fans and the air intake vents are placed on either side of the probable position of the CPU. I used the i5-2400 with its stock heatsink/fan and some Diamond thermal paste, and my CPU temperatures (there are 4) idle at around 35 C and go up to 50-60 C when stressed. It's possible that I did a bad job applying the thermal paste, but this is ok for now. The PCI-express slot is placed so that the possible video card heatsink/fan is next to an air vent.
I think a very nice motherboard for this case is the ASUS P8H67-I Deluxe.
You will probably also need one of those super tiny screwdrivers to secure the optical drive in place. I didn't have one, so I had to use... a razor blade.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Good Media PC CaseDec 20, 2010
By Yoon S. Chung
It's a nice form factor and stylish case, and reasonably roomy to work with, or at least as roomy as one could expect and still be a small form factor. Yes, it's tight in certain places, but unless you have gorilla hands, it's manageable. The only gripe I have is that the front drive door latch is a very flimsy piece of plastic, and can break/wear off easily (that what happened to my first one). For the price, I recommend this case highly. Rarely do I go wrong with an Antec case.
Everything fits, but just barelyMar 16, 2012
By super-elastic
In case it's useful to anyone, here is my build using this case:
1 x NBMEM 4Gx2|KST KVR1333D3SOK2/8GR RT
1 x MB ASUS|P8H67-I DELUXE (REV 3.0)
1 x CPU INTEL|CORE I7 2600K 3.4G 8M R
1 x SSD 80G|INTEL SSDSA2CW080G3K5 320 R
1 x HD 1T|ST SATA6.0 32M ST31000524AS % - OEM
1 x BD BURN SONY OPTIARC | BD-5740H-01
1 x ASUS ENGT430/DI/1GD3(LP) GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
It's been stable now for about a year, though I only recently added the video card. (The video on the mb is fine with respect to Windows Experience index, but in this version of the mb, has limited resolution for supporting larger monitors.)
Surprisingly, perhaps, everything works with the 150W power supply. A couple things to keep in mind, there's room for 2 hard drives, but they need to be notebook-sized. There's also room for a video card, but it needs to be low profile; width is also an issue, as my card just barely fit.
Only 3 gripes. First, there's a plastic clip on the case near the fans that will have to be unseated and improperly mounted in order to make the motherboard fit. Second, the CD drive is only held in place by one tiny screw and wobbles. Third, There is an unnecessary curved piece of metal over the back that does nothing but block the HDMI port on my video card and will have to be broken off the back if you want to use that port. Metal edges are a little too sharp; be safe.
10 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 FYI, the PSU on this model is NOT external.Mar 16, 2011
By James Robert Angove
I gave the product 3 stars because I haven't used it yet; it may end up being great or terrible.
I purchased this after reading the March system guide from Techreport.com; I am looking to build my wife a -a Mac user- a low power Win7 machine that she could use to work from home, since her office's remote connectivity is windows only (and cranky at the best of times). That guide led me to realize that I had almost all the components I needed, leaving only the enclosure and a low power motherboard/cpu combo to order. The TR article recommends an Antec 300-65, which comes with an external 65 watt power brick. That item, however, is not available on Prime/Amazon shipping, and after difficult experiences with some 3rd party vendors regarding returns, I've come to strongly prefer dealing with Amazon --who've always been very good to me on such issues. I assumed (foolishly, and I would have known better, had I read a little more carefully) that the Amazon supplied 300-150 was simply an updated model.
Its not; the Antec 300-150, is a different case in the same line, with 150 Watt power supply; that PSU is internal. This isn't the end of the world, and for some people/applications its a decided plus. But it does mean that the case is more cramped than you would expect and will have somewhat higher power draw. The major reason I'm writing this review, however, is because the product description is incorrect: it states that this unit also has an external power brick; this is not correct. I haven't decided if I want to return the product, but I do feel future customers should be aware of the discrepancy.
TL;DR?
1) The PSU on this, 150 watt model is INTERNAL
2) The current features/specs list is incorrect. (as of 3/15/2011)
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Nice looking caseApr 06, 2011
By PCpal
First one came with a bad PSU, got the second one and had it running in no time. The interior is a bit cramped, but over all it's a pretty good case, it can take 2 x 80" fans and 2 x 2.5" HDDs which is a plus for a case this size.
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