Closer Look: ISK300 Interior

The Antec ISK300-65 Mini-ITX HTPC case opens to reveal a 0.8mm cold rolled steel frame, with a tray designed for holding up to two 2.5" drives and a single slim 5.25" internal optical drive. The entire enclosure is nearly 13" long, which is twice the length of an Mini-ITX motherboard.

Although it's difficult for Antec to foresee all configurations, I think that the ISK300 may have consumed more internal space that it needed. The steel tray is only half-utilized, with the other half simply acting to connect the unit and offer a minimal amount of support.

Once the case has been opened up and tray removed, the Antec ISK300-65 exposes a small working space perfect for the Mini-ITX motherboard form factor along side a component power suppy unit.

One criticism I have with the Antec ISK300-65 is how the PSU component has added more length to this Mini-ITX computer case than what's really needed. There's an extra inch on each side of the unit, and it's small enough to have been mounted in place of one of the 2.5" drives. Had this been done, the nearly five-inch extension could have been shortened, and the entire HTPC enclosure would be more square and profiled to the mITX form factor.

Since Antec decided to extend the ISK300 nearly 13", when mITX only requires half that, I suspect that a full-size optical drive could have also been utilized. The price of standard form factor optical drives is usually much lower than slim internal versions; especially in regard to the new Blu-ray Disc drives.

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