Antec ISK600M – Hardware Review

Upon arrival, it was hard to grasp that a box that small was housing a complete case. The ISK 600M that Antec sent us was in that box nonetheless. Can this little fella house everything that you’ve come to expect from a computer nowadays? More specifically, will it be able to handle full-fledged gaming systems? Read all about it!

Specs

• Colour: black with blue LED strip
• Dimensions: 290mm (H) x 272.6mm (W) x 340mm (D)
• Case Type Micro-ITX
• Front Ports: USB 3.0 x 1, USB 2.0 x 1, Audio I/O
• Drive Bays: 3 x 3.5” bays (also compatible with 2.5”), 3 x 2.5” bays, 1 x Slim ODD bay
• Motherboard Support: Micro ATX, Mini-ITX
• PSU Support: 1 x ATX
• Expansion Slots: 4

Exterior

The ISK600M is shaped as a cube. Combined with its form factor, that leads to it not looking like a computer from afar at all. Upon closer inspection you will notice the front IO and the small Slim ODD bay cut-out. The rest of the front panel is clean with a brushed aluminium finish with the bottom of the panel featuring a LED-strip to indicate of the computer is turned on. Directly to the side of the front panel are some opening to provide airflow for the front fans. The sides both have venting holes, on the right side for a possible installed radiator or additional fans and the left for airflow for the graphic card(s).

The back of the case has a cut-out for the power supply, back I/O, venting holes for the rear fan and slots for possible PCI cards. The bottom has a removable dust filter for the PSU and 4 sturdy feet on which the case rests. Finally the top of the case is a solid panel. The whole construction feels quite solid which is mostly thanks to the small frame. The front panel is easily removable and the side panels and top panel are connected together. Unscrewing the 3 thumb screws at the back will easily give you access to the internal of the case.

Interior

Upon first inspecting the ISK600M, you might feel a bit lost. The layout of everything is quite different than you might expect when used to working with normal ATX-sized cases. The motherboard is placed horizontally instead of vertically and thus everything is rotated accordingly. Under the motherboard is an additional compartment which houses the power supply and storage mounting points. A drive cage can hold up to three 3.5” hard drives and then there are 4 mounting points for 2.5” drives.

The top compartment also has the ODD bay, a slim one, which can be used to install a slim DVD player/writer. However this has to be removed when wanting to use the side fan/radiator mounting points. Luckily it’s quite easy to do and not a lot of people require front bays anymore. Talking about those side mounting points, it surprisingly easy to install a 240mm radiator with fans. A push-pull configuration here probably won’t be able though and the back mounting point is also obstructed when opting for this solution. Included with the case is one 140mm front fan, you can also put two 120mm fans here which would allow some more air to enter the bottom compartment, and one 120mm rear fan.

Features

One of the most important aspects of the ISK600M has got to be its form factor. When using a suitable Micro-ATX board, this case will be able to handle 2 graphics cards for all you SLI/Crossfire maniacs out there with a 240mm radiator to cool your CPU. For the more adventurous PC-builders, this case also seems quite able to handle a custom water loop with large enough pass-through to the bottom compartment. Also 7 possible storage drives is enough for most people. With the rise of 6TB hard drives and 1TB SSD’s that shouldn’t be a problem. The isolating foam under the PSU installation points is also a nice touch to reduce vibration noise.

Own Opinion

I very much enjoyed working with the ISK600M. Antec did a good job at offering solutions to be able to install everything you might need inside this small form-factor. I also found the styling on this case to be pleasing, I like these more stealthy-looking cases. The front I/O did bother me however, the one USB3.0 port meant I had to use the motherboard 3.0 header which normally can power up to two ports for a single port. Clean cable management won’t be easy either as there really is nowhere to tuck away excess cables but I guess that’s a compromise you make when going for a smaller case.

Conclusion

There’s a surprisingly large amount of components that can be put inside of the ISK 600M. Some clever engineering allows you to install everything that you might need in a normal system or up to a semi-hardcore gaming rig. The led-strip on the bottom is a nice touch. Some minor complaints are the fact that can’t install a slim DVD drive when using the side fan mounts and the use of only 1 USB 3.0 port on the front.