Introduction

I would like to thank Antec for supplying the review sample.

Antec's website has a very refreshing "About Us" page, with the following text:

The year was 1986. Starbucks had only a few stores. Don Johnson was actually cool. The average PC had less memory than today’s cellphones. And in Fremont, California, a little company named Antec was born. Antec’s first employees never imagined that their upstart firm would rise to the very top of the high-performance computer components industry. But rise it did. And rather swiftly, too.

So what can Antec do for you? That depends on who you are. If you’re a computer user, and you’d like to upgrade your existing computer or build a new one yourself, we’ve got the computer cases, power supplies, cooling fans, lighting components, and accessories that you need. If you’re a system builder or VAR, we’ll help you deliver reliable and cost-effective systems to your customers. And if you’re a retailer, we’ll help you reach an explosively growing market: namely, “do-it-yourself” computer users who enjoy building and upgrading their own computers.

How do we do all this? Our product lineup includes a wide variety of unique computer cases, such as the elegant Veris series of Media PC cases and accessories, ultra-powerful Performance One series, sturdy Server line, and the cost-effective New Solution Series. Our world-class power supplies – including the Neo Power, TruePower Trio and EarthWatts lines – have won countless international awards for their reliable performance. Our flexible rackmounts are ideally suited to the demanding ISP, telecom, and networking markets. And for those of you who’d like to add a little visual flair to your computers, we offer an eye-catching range of fans, lights, and other PC accessories.

We’re headquartered in Fremont, California, with additional offices in the Netherlands, Europe. We’ve also established distribution partnerships throughout Australia and Southeast Asia. So you’ll find Antec products in over 25 countries. But no matter how large we grow, we’ll never forget our mission: to give you the power you need to create the computer you really want. That’s the Antec way. That’s the Power of You.

We are taking a look at the ISK-100 which is the smallest of the ISK series, but also features a distinctively different look an feel.

Packaging

Antec ships the ISK-100 in a simple, brown cardboard box. A drawn image on the top shows you what the chassis looks like, while the table on the side lets you know simple things like quantity, weight and dimensions of the chassis. It would have been nice to have a slighty more informative package, especially as the ITX enclosures are generally not so clear cut in terms of compatibility as traditional ATX variants.


The case comes neatly packaged, held in place by two thick foam spacers. A little box has been placed next to it, which holds all the contents and extras of the chassis.

Contents

You will receive a detailed manual to get you started, a sturdy plastic stand along with a bag of cables and one with screws. Antec also includeds two strips of insulating tape so that you do not need to worry about shorting the hard drives on the metal frame. I only realized that there was a second strip after the review was complete - my sincere apologies.


The chassis also includes a converter within the case itself, but the power brick which supplies the juice is nothing out of the ordinary. It is neither too big or incredibly small. It can deliver up to 90W, which should be fine, even if you use the most powerful components possible.