Well, well. Here we are with yet another PC case. Another round of “will it fit” and “what’s the airflow like”. Another exploration of the inner workings of a piece of architecture meant to house the latest and greatest in hardware. I give to you none other than the illustrious Antec NSK4480B II. It’s sleek. It’s black. It’s “green”, and it is a pain in the ass to figure out how to get it open for the first time. Don’t worry, once you get it, you’ll feel like a complete moron for not figuring it out sooner.
I love cases. If you’ve read any of my other case reviews, I swoon over them. Like a teenage girl yet to hit puberty swoons over a barely yet badly thought-out vampire who gets shiny in sunlight and eats animals. My getting to play with a new case is like a car lover getting a new body that is completely bare, just begging for new interior and a fast engine. Nothing is better than taking off the side and peering in to see what kind of crap you can cram in there.
Before we do that, however, let’s check out the stats on it:
High-efficiency EarthWatts 380 Watt ATX12V v2.2 power supply (get the “green” thing now?)
- Universal input
- Active PFC and high efficiency design for superior environmentally friendly operation
- 80 PLUS® Certification means you’ll save money on your power bills
Advanced cooling system:
- 1 Rear 120mm TriCool™ 3-speed fan
- 1 Front mount for optional 80mm fan
- 1 Advanced Chassis Air Guide, with mount for optional 80mm fan
Drive Bays
- Front Accessible: 3 x 5.25″, 2 x 3.5″
- Internal: 3 x 3.5″ with silicone grommets to isolate drive vibrations
- 7 Expansion Slots
- 2 x USB 2.0 front bezel ports
- 0.8mm cold-rolled steel construction
Motherboard: Fits micro and standard ATX
- 16.6″ (H) x 7.8″ (W) x 16.5″ (D)
- 42cm (H) x 20cm (W) x 42cm (D)
- Net: 18 lbs. / 8 kg
- Gross: 20 lbs. / 9 kg
The NSK4480B comes in a stylish orange and white box with pictures of the case itself plastered on nearly every side except the back. That’s where they stuck information about the case. Opening up the box itself we find the case neatly wrapped in a protective plastic bag and sandwiched between two pieces of foam padding to absorb shock and guard against impact damage. It’s a tight fit, and getting the case out was a bit of a pain, but it happened. Once I got it out and unwrapped I set about giving a once-over to check out the design.
Aside from the front bezel being made to protrude a half an inch, the case is very plain and straight to the point. No bells, no whistles, just a standard case ready for work. I would say that in an office setting this would be a very nice addition to any system. It has a serious business feel to it, as if it were meant to go on the desk of the receptionist to a lawyer or something. I’m just spitballing here, of course. Anyone in a short skirt sleeping with their boss could use this, not just a lawyer’s secretary.
Now here’s where I ran into my only problem with this case. I could not figure out how to get the side off at first. I unscrewed the thumb screws and pried at it with my fingers. Nothing. I sat and I looked at it, then the box looking for some kind of clue. Nothing there either. Finally, as I was getting up to go get a screwdriver to pop the darned thing off, I noticed that the top was loose. It came right off, and the side slide up instead of backward. Okay, unusual, and definitely something they should have put on a little piece of paper inside the box.
Once I finally got inside the case, I found a zip bag with all the warranty info and the instruction books. There was also a bag of screws and standouts in there as well. It also included a power cord to get that EarthWatt PSU up and running at full power. As for the cooling features, it is limited to one single 120mm fan in the rear that has low, medium, and high speed settings. Some would not mind this, but I don’t think alot of people are going to be interested in taking the side of their case off over and over to adjust temps. When it comes to fan control, I find that most would prefer an outside or front controller, or just make it temperature controlled. If it turns out to be a problem, there is also a place in the front to snap in a smaller fan for better airflow. Then you could set it for Medium and cooling shouldn’t be a problem. It is a small case but unless you completely neglect tying back your wires and cables then you shouldn’t have a problem keeping things cool in there.
When it comes to drive options this case isn’t exactly lacking. There are three bays for optical drives up top as well as three HDD slots below for plenty of storage room (pun intended). There are also two 3.5” bays for your Floppy/Card Reader needs. Please say you have a card reader and not a floppy drive. Don’t make me call you ancient. As for the rest of the room in there, if you are planning on sticking a large video card or something like that, I would advise against it. The sheer size of some video cards are questionable, and whether you’ll get it to fit in this case is just another question. I would advise keeping this thing strictly business in the interest of space and cooling.
Overall, the design of the case is professional and very sturdy. It’s a bit weighty, around 18 pounds. It’s meant to be strong, and it is. The plastic bezel on the front had me doubting, but it doesn’t stick out far enough to get into any real danger. It also has a couple of USB 2.0 ports as well as HD audio plugs. Most cases these days have the exact same thing, so this isn’t anything special.
All in all, I couldn’t find much about this case that I didn’t like. I did find a couple of cons worth mentioning though. The TriCool fan is manual, and the case has to be opened to adjust it. Not too fond of that fact. Also noted is that on it’s highest setting, the fan sounds like a jet airliner getting ready to take off. It would be best to put a small fan up front and set the TriCool on Medium. The last peeve I had was the brightness of the front LED. It’s more than a little annoying, it has the capability to illuminate a small room all its own and would probably end up making you want to turn your PC away from you. Seriously, it’s that bright.
In conclusion, I found that this tower was supremely capable of being the basis for a nice mid-level machine. It is very sturdy, capable of taking plenty of pressure without buckleing. It comes with its own power supply, which is energy efficent for this green world we are all trying to live in. It’s got plenty of storage space and it has a business look that would be suitable for home or office. I give this case two thumbs up. The small capacity of the included PSU and standard airflow means this case is meant for modest hardware, so overclockers might want to upgrade to Antec’s other cases.
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