ANTEC ISK 300-65 EC ITX

Has anyone tried mounting a Big Shuriken or a Shuriken Rev. B without the fan (passively) on a S775 or LGA1156 board in an ISK 300-65/150? Does it clear the HDD/ODD Bracket?

I ask as I saw emax's attempt here with the fan on . . .
emax said:
Yes, is a Big Shuriken ; only little cut here :

img0079f.jpg
Click to expand...
. . . and it got me thinking as to whether it would work passively without cuts.
 
Thought I would share my setup.

Specs:
Core i3 540
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3
G.SKILL ECO 1600MHz CAS7 RAM
Corsair Force 40GB Sandforce SSD

Setup:
-0.225 Dynamic Vcore reduction (~.85V in BIOS), CPU @ 2GHz w/ hyper threading enabled to support undervolt.
1.1V for the GPU (stock speed)
1.3V for the ram (stock speed)

Idle power draw = 27W from the wall
Max power draw (furmark + prime95) = 66W from the wall

Really fast/snappy system. Perfect for a HTPC, and really does well on power consumption. The ~45% load on the PSU at idle is really just about perfect for maximizing efficiency from the PSU, and max load is about 85% of PSU capacity, which is exactly where I wanted to be.

Everyone always wants to go with a bigger power supply... bigger isn't always better.


4906901779_102bb73ab8_b.jpg
 
Really nice build :)

-0.225 Dynamic Vcore reduction (~.85V in BIOS), CPU @ 2GHz w/ hyper threading enabled to support undervolt.
Click to expand...

would be nice to se a cpu-z pic of this
 
Anny how, its just great that gigabyte is setting the standars for a propper undervolting bios. Going mITX in a small case its jus essential :)
 
leifeinar said:
Anny how, its just great that gigabyte is setting the standars for a propper undervolting bios. Going mITX in a small case its jus essential :)
Click to expand...

Yup, undervolting definitely works. I still have more tweaking to do, we'll see how it goes.
 
Undervolting is definitely a nice capability to have, and something I'll do right away when I eventually get the board (though it's not destined to an Antec 300) just like I do with my current one. After all, no matter what sized system, power savings is still power savings, even if it does have additional benefits in a small system.
 
tvih said:
Undervolting is definitely a nice capability to have, and something I'll do right away when I eventually get the board (though it's not destined to an Antec 300) just like I do with my current one. After all, no matter what sized system, power savings is still power savings, even if it does have additional benefits in a small system.
Click to expand...

Just remember, undervolting doesn't do anything at idle, only under load.
 
duyfken said:
Has anyone tried mounting a Big Shuriken or a Shuriken Rev. B without the fan (passively) on a S775 or LGA1156 board in an ISK 300-65/150? Does it clear the HDD/ODD Bracket?

I ask as I saw emax's attempt here with the fan on . . .

. . . and it got me thinking as to whether it would work passively without cuts.
Click to expand...

I remember reading on another forum that yes it would work and the fan part is the only thing in the way.
 
I'm debating on whether I should do two noctua case fans or a single big shuriken. All three seems a bit overkill for my X2 250. What do you guys think?
 
irev210 said:
Just remember, undervolting doesn't do anything at idle, only under load.
Click to expand...

I think you are being a little too conservative with your undervolt. Furmark is a totally unrealistic GPU load, so if I were you I would shoot for Prime + Furmark closer to 100% (maybe around 95% to be on the safe side), which should in turn allow you to raise frequency and voltage a tad.
 
NichoTL said:
I think you are being a little too conservative with your undervolt. Furmark is a totally unrealistic GPU load, so if I were you I would shoot for Prime + Furmark closer to 100% (maybe around 95% to be on the safe side), which should in turn allow you to raise frequency and voltage a tad.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's good advice. With stock settings, I can actually fire up prime95 and pull 81W from the wall. I think I'll end up tuning the system to pull a max of ~75W. That gives me that margin of safety. I know 99% of the time it won't go over ~45W, but the system is way overkill as it is for a HTPC.

I've been trying to get everything dialed in. I discovered that power consumption is the same if I disable "speed step" at idle and just set the voltage in the ~.9x range. I am currently trying to figure out what the fastest most stable setup I can run with <1V. Messing around at ~.95V I am currently at 2.4GHz pulling 55W from the wall under prime95 load. It's not 100% stable, so I am probably going to settle around 2.2-2.3GHz.
 
I'm debating on whether I should do two noctua case fans or a single big shuriken. All three seems a bit overkill for my X2 250. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

If i remeember correctly the big shuriken is so big that u have to remove the bracket holding the two fans. it allso needs to use the dremmel, The normal shuriken might let you use the 2 8cm fans but as u said. maby overkill?


Has anyone tried mounting a Big Shuriken or a Shuriken Rev. B without the fan (passively) on a S775 or LGA1156 board in an ISK 300-65/150?
Click to expand...

Ive tried this with the thermalright axp 140, temps are high. lga 1156 and big shuriken is a no go if u dont have hte DFI board



as for undervolting goes, Im running my i7 920 @,94V in cpu-z. I want a m-ITX from Gigabytew :)
 
irev210 said:
Yeah, that's good advice. With stock settings, I can actually fire up prime95 and pull 81W from the wall. I think I'll end up tuning the system to pull a max of ~75W. That gives me that margin of safety. I know 99% of the time it won't go over ~45W, but the system is way overkill as it is for a HTPC.

I've been trying to get everything dialed in. I discovered that power consumption is the same if I disable "speed step" at idle and just set the voltage in the ~.9x range. I am currently trying to figure out what the fastest most stable setup I can run with <1V. Messing around at ~.95V I am currently at 2.4GHz pulling 55W from the wall under prime95 load. It's not 100% stable, so I am probably going to settle around 2.2-2.3GHz.
Click to expand...

Personally (I have an almost identical setup), after conducting tests with an external PSU, I've reduced the voltage by only 0.15V for the moment (with my i3 530 at stock frequency) to be able to get it in the 300-65. Then I'll try to reduce voltage a bit more: with a low wattage high efficiency PSU like the one in the Antec, you get much better accurate readings than with a normal PSU (I have an Enermax Modu82+ 525W). But that takes me still way above 1V (something like 1.08V), so I'm guessing (from what you say) that the Core VID has been lowered with the new 540 (better stepping, maybe?).

Even if I fry the power brick, it won't be the end of the world as the DC-DC converter can supposedly handle higher wattage so I can just go out and buy a 90W laptop AC adapter.
 
leifeinar said:
If i remeember correctly the big shuriken is so big that u have to remove the bracket holding the two fans. it allso needs to use the dremmel, The normal shuriken might let you use the 2 8cm fans but as u said. maby overkill?
Click to expand...

When you tried using the passive AXP 140, did you use case fans also? Maybe I should clarify that the two case fan setup would have a passive heatsink. I think I may try the big shuriken w/ no case fans and see how that fares.
 
NichoTL said:
Personally (I have an almost identical setup), after conducting tests with an external PSU, I've reduced the voltage by only 0.15V for the moment (with my i3 530 at stock frequency) to be able to get it in the 300-65. Then I'll try to reduce voltage a bit more: with a low wattage high efficiency PSU like the one in the Antec, you get much better accurate readings than with a normal PSU (I have an Enermax Modu82+ 525W). But that takes me still way above 1V (something like 1.08V), so I'm guessing (from what you say) that the Core VID has been lowered with the new 540 (better stepping, maybe?).

Even if I fry the power brick, it won't be the end of the world as the DC-DC converter can supposedly handle higher wattage so I can just go out and buy a 90W laptop AC adapter.
Click to expand...

I stopped using the dynamic voltage adjustment and just switched to manually setting. Speedstep/dynamic VID doesn't seem to save ANY power and just seems to cause stability issues.

Try setting voltage to .95 and see how fast you can go :) I topped out at 2.4GHz.
 
irev210 said:
I stopped using the dynamic voltage adjustment and just switched to manually setting. Speedstep/dynamic VID doesn't seem to save ANY power and just seems to cause stability issues.

Try setting voltage to .95 and see how fast you can go :) I topped out at 2.4GHz.
Click to expand...

I'm taking it easy. My interest so far is to try and stay at stock frequency and lower voltage as much as possible. So far I have reduced manually voltage by 0.2V from normal setting (so I am around 1.04V or so) and so far it has proven stable. I ran 3 hours of OCCT (in the ISK300-65) and it held. Doesn't mean it IS stable but that's a good start.

Baby steps...
 
irev210 said:
Thought I would share my setup.

Specs:
Core i3 540
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3
G.SKILL ECO 1600MHz CAS7 RAM
Corsair Force 40GB Sandforce SSD

Setup:
-0.225 Dynamic Vcore reduction (~.85V in BIOS), CPU @ 2GHz w/ hyper threading enabled to support undervolt.
1.1V for the GPU (stock speed)
1.3V for the ram (stock speed)

Idle power draw = 27W from the wall
Max power draw (furmark + prime95) = 66W from the wall

Really fast/snappy system. Perfect for a HTPC, and really does well on power consumption. The ~45% load on the PSU at idle is really just about perfect for maximizing efficiency from the PSU, and max load is about 85% of PSU capacity, which is exactly where I wanted to be.

Everyone always wants to go with a bigger power supply... bigger isn't always better.


QUOTE]is this with stock PSU
Click to expand...
 
How good is the psu in the Antec ISK 300-150w ?
I'm thinking of a new build including this:
*Zotac H55
*Core i3 530
*2x2gb ddr3
*80gb intel ssd
To day i have a nvidia 8800gt that works fine for all my needs. But since the isk-300 only takes low profile expansion cards my 8800gt wont fit.

Will a Sapphire HD 5570 1GB preform equal to my "old" card? I only play hl2, stalker and some old hl mods. ?

The final question is if the isk 150w psu will have enough power to run this rigg?
 
The 5570 is slower than a 8800GT, but it runs the games you mentioned just fine.

Does the Zotac have undervolting options? If it doesn't, I'd suggest going with the Gigabyte that does, and undervolt the CPU at least - undervolting the GPU if possible would certainly help, too. That way you should stay at under 150W with some safety margin, to boot.

For the record, HD 5570 has has a TDP of 43W, and an i3 530 has 73W. Actual power draw is less than that at least for the CPU, especially since you can disable the IGP of the CPU. Undervolt them, and it's definitely less. The SSD draws very little power, and the RAM too. Not sure how much the board itself draws, but I think you should be ok even without undervolting, but with it, should be fine and dandy. Keep in mind that people have been running systems similar to yours, minus the IGP, with the 65W PSU.
 
tvih said:
The 5570 is slower than a 8800GT, but it runs the games you mentioned just fine.

Does the Zotac have undervolting options? If it doesn't, I'd suggest going with the Gigabyte that does, and undervolt the CPU at least - undervolting the GPU if possible would certainly help, too. That way you should stay at under 150W with some safety margin, to boot.

For the record, HD 5570 has has a TDP of 43W, and an i3 530 has 73W. Actual power draw is less than that at least for the CPU, especially since you can disable the IGP of the CPU. Undervolt them, and it's definitely less. The SSD draws very little power, and the RAM too. Not sure how much the board itself draws, but I think you should be ok even without undervolting, but with it, should be fine and dandy. Keep in mind that people have been running systems similar to yours, minus the IGP, with the 65W PSU.
Click to expand...
Ok, the thing is that i only play games on my computer a few times a year and when i do it its:
*Hl2 "orange box"
*Stalker (1 & 2)
*DoD:source

Will i be able to play them in 1680x1050 and in medium or high settings? I don't want it to look like a old sega mega drive game when i play it....;)

Would a 65w isk psu + a 60w pico-psu be able to run as a "dual psu" config or is it just waste of money.

Would a Sparkle GeForce GTS 250 1gb be a better choice in terms om performance and power consumption?
The psu power is more than enough so i can probably under volt it to save some precious watts?

Antec ISK 300-150 Mini-ITX
*Intel Core™ i3 Dual Processor i3-530
*Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 4GB CL9
*Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3, H55, Socket-1156
*80gb intel ssd
*Ati 5570 or GeForce GTS 250?

I'm guessing that the isk150w will preform better than a Picopsu 150XT + 110w adapter? even if i run them as a dual psu setup?
*150w for atx & 250gts
*60w for ATX12V & ssd?

Just throwing out ideas to find a nice solution to the "watt" problem....
 
You'd be fine power wise. The Gigabyte board is better on power consumption. Zotac H55 boards always force a high Vcore leading to high power consumption.

5570 will be fine for source games at 720p I guess. Nothing else I think
 
I wold go for the gigabyte board.the isk has limited room, so undervolting really helps in the thight places.
 
fr500 said:
You'd be fine power wise. The Gigabyte board is better on power consumption. Zotac H55 boards always force a high Vcore leading to high power consumption.

5570 will be fine for source games at 720p I guess. Nothing else I think
Click to expand...
Will a gforce 250gts preform better in terms of performance and power consumption?
 
fr500 said:
5570 will be fine for source games at 720p I guess. Nothing else I think
Click to expand...

My previous card was a HD 4670, which is marginally faster than a 5570. I played HL2 with maxed quality settings at 1920x1080. Keep in mind, it's an old game already.

Stalker... can't remember if I played it at high or medium at 1920x1080, but it looks fine regardless.

So, overall, the 5570 is fine for what he intends to do with it.
 
EnderW said:
thought it was only 65 watts
Click to expand...

It is, but that's the DC output (from the PSU to the computer). That's the quoted power in all PSUs. AC power consumption (from the wall to the PSU, that's what is usually measured with a kill-a-watt) is different: in a perfect world (ie 100% efficient PSU) the DC output power would be the same as the AC input. But the less efficient a PSU is, the more power it needs (from the wall) to be able to output the same DC power. A corollary to this: the less efficient it is the more heat it produces.
 
can you use thicker 2.5" drives in this case? like a velociraptor?
 
If you use the standard HDD tray, it looks like one of the 2 drives can be thicker: a 12.5 mm would probably fit. But (and that's just me eyeballing it) I don't think a V-raptor (which is 15mm thick, right?) would fit. Unless you remove the HDD tray.
 
I could use a few opinions ..

System:
Antec isk 300-150
Zotac 9300 itx (lga775)
e6300 o.c. to 3.4ghz
Samuel 17 cooler w/Scythe Kaze slim120mm x 12mm 1200rpm
(2) Noctua 80mm case fans at 800rpm each
Sapphire hd5570
WD Scorpio Black 320GB internal HDD
external 1.5 TB HDD (eSata)

Everything was great and then no wired network, no wireless network, usb problems; removed the 5570 and drivers - didn't help but system still ran fine; then BSOD (something about a power issue), and immediate shutdown and no restart.

I put everything back in my Morex t1500 (minus the 5570 because it won't fit) with Morex 150w brick. The system runs Great! Wired and wireless networking work fine, no funky usb problems.

I assume I have a bad PSU in the ISK 300-150

My question is - Should I:

1. Go to through the hassle of returning the case and PSU just to end up with a crappy PSU;

2. Get a pico PSU (150w or the new 160w)

3. Replace the PSU with something like the Fortron Source 270w 80+ psu(or other recommendation)

Having a virtually silent low power system is important to me, yet it must be stable. I will probably upgrade to an lga1156 board with i3 or low power i5 at some point in the future.

Any opinions would be appreciated.
 
Complex problems here, and i have no answers :D

first of all, 150w pico psu is great but i find the huge powerbrick annoying, gets me thinking i should use a silverstone sg05 instead :) in other words, i wish the 150w pico was internal.

. Go to through the hassle of returning the case and PSU just to end up with a crappy PSU;
Click to expand...

this is the best option i think, but its as U say a hassle, and it takes time. but maby contact and they might send u a new psu?

Replace the PSU with something like the Fortron Source 270w 80+ psu(or other recommendation)
Click to expand...

theres a 270w psu that fits? im sure that the 350W psu thats in the sgo5 fits,but it needs modding. and i think that chieftec has the same psu but much cheaper. Ill serach for a link

http://www.chieftec.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=302
 
Check that your setup hasn't moved the GF9300 heatsink: it happened to me once. The chip produces quite a lot of heat and if the heatsink doesn't make good contact, it can't get rid of the heat and then will force shutdowns.
 
leifeinar said:
Complex problems here, and i have no answers :D

first of all, 150w pico psu is great but i find the huge powerbrick annoying, gets me thinking i should use a silverstone sg05 instead :) in other words, i wish the 150w pico was internal.


this is the best option i think, but its as U say a hassle, and it takes time. but maby contact and they might send u a new psu?


theres a 270w psu that fits? im sure that the 350W psu thats in the sgo5 fits,but it needs modding. and i think that chieftec has the same psu but much cheaper. Ill serach for a link

http://www.chieftec.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=302
Click to expand...

Thank you! Yes, a few pages back someone put a Fortron Source 270w 80+ in the Antec Isk and someone also recommended the Enhance 300W FLEX-0130B. Of course, I would still have to modify to take care of the noisy fans they come with.

I hate to spend the money, but at the moment I am leaning towards the 160W Pico, my system would then be basicly inaudible from .5 meters away. Our systems are similar, we should have pretty similar voltage and current needs. Your Pico psu seems to be performing well for you(I can deal with the big power brick, I would rather have quiet)

Edit: Actually, at 70mm x 171mm x 40mm you could probably fit the power brick inside :) you'd probably need to do some rewiring though.

NichoTL said:
Check that your setup hasn't moved the GF9300 heatsink: it happened to me once. The chip produces quite a lot of heat and if the heatsink doesn't make good contact, it can't get rid of the heat and then will force shutdowns.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but the board is working perfectly with the Morex 150W psu : GPU 40C idle, 52C heavy load.

The only variable that has changed is the PSU.
 
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