Antec P180 low-noise case

http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2006/01/25/antec_p180/1.html

 

Antec cases > * as far as im concerned
i would love a P180 with P160 internals, really nto a fan of the bottom psu type thing
p160 is great on the inside but its pretty ugleh

 

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/p180.html

A highly sexy version in all black, specially made for SPCR. Wish we could get it over here

Great review though dude, I really like your style

 

Personally, I think the silver version looks quite a bit better then the black one, but I guess thats just me. I'd consider this case now, but only for a secondary system(it does sound rather spiffy as an HTPC case), especially because of the svelte looks and the lack of noise, even when loaded with high end gear. However its now totaly off the list for my next gaming PC, in favour of the CM stacker, since the cabling was obviously an issue.

But yeah, was a top review, I too, really liked the style of it. If I have one complaint, its that, for a case review, pictures that you can click to expand in a new page are really really helpfull, that might be outta the question because of bandwidth requirements, but its usefull, because it allows you to really check out all the details that are being described.

 

Exclusive to SPCR though, Antec have officially informed me they will not make it further or release that elsewhere... I wish they WOULD make it in other colors, but then again that's what paint is for, isn't it?

And thanks for the compliment. If there's something you guys want to see different out of my reviews, speak now! I will always be looking at things from the HTPC angle, as that's my focus on the site

 

I'd like it if case reviews also mentioned modding possiblities in a case, especially how sutible it would be for watercooling.

I do like the look of this case, but it does seem a little bit cramped. Guess it would be easy enough to hang a 120mm radiator on the back, but is there enough room for a res and and pump and stuff to fit somewhere inside the case?

 

Did you have any issues with ATX cable length at all?
Tempted by one of these along with an S12 600w PSU, but can't get a straight answer as to wether the cable will reach

 

Umm, is this not it here or am i missing something?

 

@Phuzz:
Yes, assuming you do not need one or the other hard drive bay...they would honestly require removal to fit watercooling comfortably.

@Highland3r:
No, I had no problems with it *reaching*. Navigating to get it there was another matter, as you can tell...but I would definitely say go with an S12 PSU, as that coupled with this case really quiets things down. There is no problem with cable length, it just makes a mess...

 

Well paint my face green and call me a watermelon, so it is

 

Ebuyer sell em too
*orders*

 

dammit i need to sell my shuttle to fund my new computer.... this case would go perfect DAMN IT

 

ah, cheers, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for in a new case, and hence in a case review

 

Having built a pc in one of these I don't recomend them, for the price you can get much better alu cases with less space for hard disks as the antec case can take about 10! and this just makes it difficult to fit anything else in.

 

Hang on, lots of space for hard drives is a bad thing?

 

Nice review, very thorough

I think the cable mess is something inherent to these compartmentalised designs...seems like such a good idea, but routing the cables through to each section proves troublesome (the YY cube I used to have was a nightmare for cable management, was such a mess and the hole through which cables could be passed was far too small ).

A compartmentalised design would work well if the power supply was designed with wires of the right lengths to go exactly where they are needed, and if there were conduits through which they could easily be routed...but that'd need a power supply to be designed around the case a lot more and I can't see that happening due to cost.

 

what would be nice is if these compartment type cases had an inbuilt wire system. so you plugged your power supply into sockets right next to the PSU and the case had the wires pre routed to were they were needed.

 

I too would very much like to buy this case and fit watercooling in it.

I would imagine that if you loose the beefy 38mm (thickness) fan in the bottom you could fit a radiator there. Airflow there should be sufficient to cool it without a fan, or am i dreamin?

Even if i am, I'd imagine you could fit both radiator and a normal 120mm fan on each side of the bracket in the bottom, if one really wanted to.

[edit] Hey, i _own_ a dremel !!

 

Actually, if you didn't need the fan ON the rad, you could fit the rad where the fan is and put a 120 in the front of the case...there's airflow, I'm not sure if it would be sufficient though without not using the lower hard drive bays.

 

There's no space for another fan in the front of the lower compartment. The middle bracket is the only place for one.

One gripe I have with the case: The case was designed with the Antec Phantom PSUs in mind, but there is no space between the front of a Phantom 500 and the middle fan. Cable routing around that combination is very, very difficult.

On most motherboards (I put ASUS motherboards in this case all the time), the 24-pin ATX power connector reaches just fine. The 4-pin 12v connector on most PSUs won't reach all the way to the top of the case, so you'll probably need an extender for that.