Antec Veris MicroFusion Remote 350 HTPC Case Review

Even though there are three of those TriCool fans in this unit, we do have concerns about using any high rated Thermal Design Power (TDP) CPUs with the Fusion Remote. This is a serious concern which is not limited to this particular HTPC; rather it is a common complaint with all micro cases we have seen. The root cause of this issue is the fact this case is not tall enough for most aftermarket CPU coolers. Just as you cannot use a full profile video card, a tall tower cooler is a no go as well.

Before you get too discouraged and pass judgment on a whole class of HTPCs, there are some pretty persuasive countervailing information you need to be aware of. Simply put, this case simply loves 45 watt TDP processors. There is simply no other way to put it; and we are quite sure it is not just limited to AMD processors. The new generation of ultra cool running desktop processors are designed to be run in adverse, air cooling restricted environments and it shows. With the prevalence of these low power 45W TDP CPUs, the inability to use massive CPU air coolers in no longer such a big deal. However if you are seriously considering a monster Quad you may want to up size your case first.


Some great CPUs for this case include the 35/45 watt TDP dual processors from AMD (3800+EE SFF 35watt TDP or 4250e/4450e/4850e, and BE-2xxx series), the various cool running C2D’s from Intel such as the 4, 6 & 7xxx line and even the 8xxx line. In other words, as long as you stay away from the super high end (6000+or above from AMD and the high end of the 8xxx C2D line from Intel) you should be fine. Of course, one shouldn’t count out the lower powered 2xxx & 5xxx Pentium line for low priced, low heat options either. Remember, these are simply recommendations are based on our concerns of inadequate air circulation within the case.


When it comes to quad cores your options are severely limited for the time being. To be totally honest, we consider 65 watt TDP CPUs to be a good safe high watermark for this case, which limits your options to the 9100e and 9350e from AMD. Intel right now does not offer their low voltage Xeons in a 775 package (L5310 & L5335 are 771 pin chips); and in fact do not sell any 65watt TDP 775 quad processors at this point. This will hopefully change as their 45nm process matures. If you do not mind running your quads hotter than normal then your options are lot broader and include the Q9300 from Intel. Actually, if you do not mind running your processor hotter than would be considered normal (yet still inside their thermal envelope), just as about any 89/90/95 watt TDP processor would work….As long as you invest in a good low profile aftermarket air cooler that is.


When it comes to aftermarket heatsinks, low profile is a necessity but in the case of the MicroFusion Remote 350 the options are darn near non existent. Over on the NCIX forum some helpful soul stated the Scythe Mini-Ninja would fit….to bad s/he meant the Fusion 430. As you can see in the first picture, a Mini-Ninja is just too tall.


Underscoring how little room you actually have, we yanked the CPU and laid an 80mm fan across it. As you can see in the second picture you would have a hard time getting the case lid back on just with the fan installed. Add in the height of the CPU, heatpipes and the actual cooler and your hopes of any 80mm heatsink are toast. In reality you only have about 70-75mm of height. Since this eliminates most (if not all) tower style coolers the only option left (for air cooling) is down draft coolers. However, for a downdraft cooler to operate efficiently you need a minimum of 15-20mm of space between the case lid and the top of the fan. This further restricts you cooler’s height to about 50-60mm. This is not much room to work with BUT AMD does make a very decent stock cooler with heat pipes. Unfortunately, they do not ship it with cool running CPUs you will be interested in, but we have seen them go for as little as $10 used.


To solve our cooling dilemma we rummaged around in Ye Olde Parts Bin and found an old 939 style heatpipe cooler which was originally used to cool out first generation 4800+. This heasink in particular was designed to handle 89/90 TDP CPU so it shouldn’t have any problem with a 45 or 65 watter. If you are lucky enough to find one of these little fellers, we recommend yanking the low profile 20mm high fan and replacing it with a good 80x80x25mm fan. This thicker fan will in turn generate less noise and when it comes HTPCs, less noise really is the name of the game.

All in all, your choices may be severely curtailed but with a bit of ingenuity you can easily overcome this height restriction and end up with a very powerful, low noise, low heat solution. It really is all up to you!

Before we continue, some people may argue HTPC systems are not going to have their processors running maxed out very often let alone for extended purposes and this argument does have some merit to it. If you plan on only using your HTPC for recording movies, playing back DVDs (or even Blu-Ray discs both of which can be offloaded to the GPU) there is something to be said for us being too conservative in our recommendations and you can chose your CPU a lot more freely than we are suggesting. However, a lot of people (myself included) use up converting software as we do not want to reinvest in a completely new Blu-Ray movie collection. This unfortunately means our low def DVDs don’t look their best on our high definition, large screen TVs. To us the freeware program FFDShow + Movie Player Classic + appropriate codecs is the solution to our dilemma. FFDshow uses the power of your CPU to interpolate and up convert with results which simply destroy hardware based solutions (e.g. Oppo up converting DVD players, or even Nvidia GPU acceleration). The downside is this combination is very processor intensive and some combinations can bring any dual core ever created to its knees and easily max out a quad's power.

As time goes by and as processor numbers multiply, this situation may change. If you are not planning on running your high end processor (or even 100+ TDP quads) maxed out then maybe you can consider them a viable option. It really is all up to your needs, wants and desires.

Water Cooling Options

If you don’t mind having two 3/8” tubes running out the back of your MicroFusion Remote 350, then water cooling does become a viable option. We are not suggesting this is for everyone, nor are we suggesting ruining the overall ascetics of this beautiful case. Rather, with the simple purchase of 3/8” tubing (Switftech`s neoprene tubing just fits through the PCI slot), an Apogee Drive water block/pump combination with a Switftech Radbox and you can have a great cooling solution which can be mounted to the back of your entertainment center. Back there no one will see it, and if you pick good quiet fans no one will hear it either. Heck, if you want to get real fancy, substitute a Swiftech Apogee 1U low profile water block and use a Liang DDC 3.1 (aka MCP350) pump or even the newer DangerDen DDCPX-Pro pump; though this last one would be overkill in most situations. As you can see the options are mostly limited to your budget (the basic Swiftech H20-120 goes for about $140 + cost of Feser One fluid) and your imagination!

This may not be for everyone as WC’ing does have its negative points (leaks can occur, and while the Feser One will limit the damage nothing will eliminate this possibility all together, remember dust + fluid = potential for damage); nor does everyone have an entertainment system rack to bolt the Radbox too. For everyone else, please don’t overlook the water option just because it’s unusual. Be different. Be unusual. Not many people can claim to have a water cooled entertainment system now can they?