** New toy in the office ** Antec mITX Mini-Skeleton Review!

Soldato
Joined
8 Sep 2003
Posts
23,094
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Was 150 yds from OCUK - now 0.5 mile; they moved
Hey guys. Thought I would show you a little toy I've been send to look at and play with.


Overall Build Quality - The case seems very well built, the older bigger brother full sized skeleton was not as rigid as it's little brother. Antec have fitted soft rubberised feet on the four corners of the base, they grip my desk well, they seem quite soft, so maybe prone to a bit of wearing away if you move the case regularly, only time will tell on this though.

Power & Reset buttons - These are sturdy, easy to use buttons, made flush against the case so there will be no accidental resets, or power downs if/when you brush the case.

Cooling - The chassis has 2 fans as standard, there is the larger 150mm Tri-Cool fan blowing air down onto the motherboard and CPU giving excellent cooling at a quiet speeds, this fan has a built in speed switch with 3 speeds, much similar to other gaming cases from Antec, this allows you to balance airflow with noise to meet your requirements.
The other fan is a standard 70mm Antec fan, which is positioned at the rear bottom of the chassis giving good air flow to the PSU and drive bays. This fan sacrifices faster air flow for near silent operation, but the cooling performance is not affected due to the open nature of the chassis. High CFM's are not needed.

Niggles - If I were to buy this case (and if I was to build a mITX system, I would go for this case) then job number one would be to braid all the cabling as it's not braided, this would help the air flow and make for a much neater looking system.

Summary - In essence, something new to the mITX world, looking at our other mITX cases, and others available currently, they all feature very similiar looks and styles, this case however is innovative, a show piece ideal for your home entertainment area that will have your friends asking what it is. If you want something different quirky and even overclockable in a mITX format this really is the chassis to house your system. One of the biggest restrictions with mITX is cooling, thus reducing any overclocking capabilites and the space inside your case you have to work with, this has the potential to redefine what mITX can be capable of.

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And for sizing against a can of coke.

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The Mini Skeleton-90 by Antec features the same revolutionary open-air design as the Skeleton, only in a ridiculously tiny Mini-ITX frame. With five drive bays, one expansion slot and a 0.8mm cold rolled steel frame, the Mini Skeleton can do it all: from petite desktop option to full-blown home theater PC. And with a top 150mm TriCool™ blue LED fan, the Mini Skeleton-90 is cool, compact and even charming.

- Mini-ITX motherboard compatible
- Open-air design for extraordinary airflow and exclusive style
- Removable component tray design for quick, convenient access
- 90-watt adapter plus PCB for stable and reliable power
- 1 x 5.25" drive bay
- 2 x 2.5" internal hard disk drive bay
- Cooling system: 1 top 150mm TriCool™ blue LED fan, 1 rear 70mm fan
- Front ports: 2 x USB 2.0. Audio (AC'97 and HDA compatible) In and Out
- 0.8mm cold rolled steel with reinforced plastic frame for chassis durability
- 1 half-height expansion slot
- Dimensions: 190mm x 210mm x 230mm

PRE-ORDER for only £76.99 inc VAT
 
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