Antec Fusion HTPC Shootout
by Christoph Katzer on October 9, 2008 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Conclusion
Today, we looked at three very capable HTPC chassis from Antec. Any one of these should fit in quite nicely with a home theater environment. The only real question is what size HTPC you want to use. We like the small Micro Fusion as a basic HTPC, since it requires the least space. However, it is also the most limited in terms of features and expansion options. All of the cases are well built and meet the high standards that we have come to expect from Antec. There are no sharp edges or any serious issues, other than the fact that on the smaller cases you will need to be a bit more patient when installing your components.
If you look at the acoustics table and compare the different temperature readings, you will most likely come to a simple conclusion. In general, there's not a whole lot of difference between most of the readings with different fan speeds. That means we need to see how much more noise a chassis makes when the fans are running faster. While low and medium rotating fans are still acceptable for a HTPC chassis, the higher fan speed will definitely be a distraction while watching a movie. At around 30dB(A) the system is just too loud, and even at medium speed the difference in temperature isn't very big. We would say it's best to leave the fans at low speeds and just forget about it.
One of the big deciding factors when it comes to selecting a case is often pricing. We see the Micro Fusion 350 in Europe for around €135 inclusive tax, and in the U.S it starts at around $180. Compared to similar offerings from Silverstone or Thermaltake, the price is slightly higher but it comes with a (good) 350W power supply instead of the 240W in the Silverstone LC11 for example. The larger Fusion Remote Black starts at €120 in Europe, or $150 in the U.S. Antec also offers this chassis together with a 430W power supply, which will add at least another $30. The comparison shows that Antec's price policy is slightly better here. The large Fusion Remote Max starts at €155 in Europe and $180 to $200 in the U.S. Most competitors offer similar cases with a higher price tag but some also look a little better.
If you want to build a HTPC setup for your living room and you have had a good experience with Antec products, there is no need to change to another brand for these cases. All three are high quality chassis, with good engineering in terms of airflow and temperature zones. If you'd like to save some money and avoid paying extra for an all aluminum chassis, these steel cases with aluminum front bezels look nice and work well.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
20 Comments
View All Comments
majdus - Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - link
I want just to know if either the "Antec Micro Fusion 350" or the "Antec Fusion Remote Black" is compatible with mini-itx MBs.That because I want to put in the zotac ion-itx MBthanks for help
SKiZo - Tuesday, October 14, 2008 - link
Okay I had to register just to post a comment for this one,I am a proud owner of one of these cases the Antec 430 Black (the middle one) I am completely satisfied with this case despite the issues I've had with it's power supply.
I bought it to create a HTPC and it accomplishes this role so perfectly I decided throw in a ATI Radeon 4850 and now I play games on my TV at FULL resolution!! Now I COULD easily go on for a minute about what I love about this case but perhaps I should just address the bad (cause there is so little) if I didn't replace my video card I would have never had this issue but I'm glad I did, it even let me see how prompt and efficent Antec is, basically I needed to replace my PSU with a bigger one 650W so I could power my ATI 4850 (1GB) upon doing this I noticed my PSU did not have the same 3-pin connector as the OEM PSU, This rendered my LCD useless. I emailed Antec about the issue just to ask if I was SoL but they informed me they offer a 24-pin extention with the 3-pin adapter for $8 which arrived several days after purchasing it online... AWESOME! thats all I can say Goob Job Antec I will be building my NEW HPC (High Performance PC) in their Skeleton Case 100%
D3SI - Friday, October 10, 2008 - link
The volume control knobs; do they actually work well?
I'm guessing it adjusts the master volume on the system, similar to volume controls on keyboards?
fri2219 - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link
Which was picked out of a lineup by my wife, no less. You should have included it in the round-up for comparison's sake, at least. Boxing together a silent case with this or one of the Fusion series was painless. (Mini-Ninja, AMDx90G uATX board, 2 Yate Loon 120mm fans, Fujitsu notebook drive)Over the last year, it has been a great HTPC case, although the power supply's 80mm fan leaves a bit to be desired- it's either getting a fan swap or I'm putting in a Silverstone NightJar PS.
The one thing that has kept me from getting any of the Fusion series cases is that the drivers for the VFD are utter crap. They were crap a year ago, they are still crap today, and I suspect they will be crap a year from now. (Oh yeah, you want Linux support? What's that?)
puddnhead - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link
I own the Fusion Black 9I guess they are calling int Fusion Black remote now?), have now for over a year, since almost the day it came out. First let me say I agree with comments so far on VFD and volume knob made so far -- each of them has not bee as useful as I'd hoped. In fact I am seriously considering unplugging the VFD power entirely, if I could just get another IR reader.The point I want to add, though, is that if you get this case, and are building from scratch (buying new components, not recycling parts you already have), you would be foolish to get the CPU cooler they used in this review, the Zalman CNPS7700. Don't get me wrong, it is a GREAT cooler, I actually own it myself and it is running write now in the very computer I am writing this post on. But it is not a good fit for this case. The cooler I'm using, one that was practically created for this case specifically, is the Scythe Mini Ninja. The beauty of using that cooler as that I can passively cool the CPU with the Mini Ninja, no dedicated fan at all for CPU! Going even past that, I have actually removed both of the Antec Tri-cools 120mm fans and replaced them with just OEN very quiet 120mm case fan which I have plugged into the CPU fan mboard control, and pretty much constantly spins at 600rpm without the CPU going much above 35-40 degrees C!!! In other words I have only two fans: 1 on power supply, the second for everything else (case, CPU) It is AMAZINGLY quiet, you literally have to put your ear right next to it to even hear the fans.
Go over to silentpcrview site and read Scythe Mini Ninja review there, it was the inspiration for my setup. Seriously, the Scythe Mini Ninja is the no-brainer cooler for this case, so much so that I don't understand whey Antec and Scythe don't just market them together (probably because Antec wants you to buy their own stuff LOL).
mikefarinha - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link
I don't understand why they put a volume knob on these cases. Most of the time they are cheap knock offs of AV recievers; plus they really serve no useful purpose.As far as the iMon LCD, I have a SilverStone case that has the iMon LCD and I think it is overrated. It's not that it is bad it just isn't super useful. I think the next cool thing would to have some sort of 4-6 inch multi-touch LCD that could be easily configured through Windows' sideshow feature.
I know that some highend HTPC cases have the LCDs built into them... now they just need multi-touch :)
Zak - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link
Anyone I know, including myself, wouldn't care for two reasons: I shoot RAW and I never show my images to anyone before they're cleaned up and edited on my desktop computer. This is like the last thing I'd need in a HTP:)Z.
rjc - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link
I purchased a fusion black a few months ago for a htpc. Due to the better igp i went with amd and a 780G motherboard and low power 4850e cpu.As the review mentioned the case is solid and quiet. I have to mention though:
1) The poor quality of the iMon lcd, the blue colour looked great in the promo material and completely hideous in real life. The contrast is terrible, and displayed text illegible from more than few feet away.
2) The lcd includes a ir receiver that works really poorly unless the remote is placed directly in front of it.
3) Included antec drivers are poor and old as well as the ones on antec website, ones downloaded directly from iMon website are much better.
4)The fans on the side of the case are not software controllable in any way. Have to open case to adjust speed, say faster for middle of summer or encoding overnight, or slower in winter or watching quiet movies.
5) Insufficient length on the 4pin atx power cable, which ended up stretched across cpu cooler, sure it will set fire to my place sometime in the future. Didnt even have a graphics card which would have made the situation worse.
Anyway, i guess i could tape across the lcd. It lights my whole lounge room at night, giving everything an eerie blue glow. God knows what the neighbors think. And i guess the ir receiver intermittent functioning is helping my fitness.
Chris Simmo - Thursday, October 9, 2008 - link
With the latest iMon software available from the iMon website, you can adjust the LCD contrast, dropping it down a bit leaves the screen very readable, with the background really the only bit that drops its lighting.I hate the iMon reciever though. I have set mine up for use purely with the remote (though still need a keyboard as windows isn't exactly perfect, got a logitech diNovo mini, suits really well for HTPC), and the reciever is not active when you resume from sleep, due to it not having a human interface driver. So I disabled it and use a windows media remote reciver.
I don't think its much of a problem with the fans. I recently upgraded but the original was a P4 3.0 with an 8600GT in it, and it was always quiet and only warm with the fans on low, even in an enclosed space. Now switched to a phenom tricore with gigabyte 780G based MB and its just as good. Did replace the stock HSF cause the standard one sucks.
I got the Fusin black 430, it comes with an antec 430W PSU, and it had plenty of length in the cables, though for most PSUs, the 4/8pin conections arn't long enough for alot of antec cases due to the posisioning of the PSU.
Chris Simmo - Friday, October 10, 2008 - link
Just read on the iMon forums that the newer cases remote recievers have had that HID problem fixed. I still don't think they are reliable though