Tipstaff

Well, last week I got a chance to finally de-flower my case, and I tell you, I love this case. However, as you will read there was some minor stuff that bothered me. Warning: this is a long one. (note: for a full review check out the links to the 2 part SilentPCReview at the bottom of this post)

First, the case is amazingly built. Kudos to Antec for building such a great case. Every inch of this case has been thoroughly thought out (well.. almost), and although I have some minor qualms, nothing about this case is truly lacking. The panels are made of multilayered aluminum and plastic, but only plastic touches the case itself (this is to reduce metal to metal vibration). Speaking of which, the rubber grommets used for the hard drives are pretty soft, and damnit.. they do their job. I absolutely cannot hear my hard drives.. not a peep. The grommets slide into the mounting wholes of the cages, so not only is the rubber on the outside of the cage where the screw head touches, but they are actually in contact with the drives on the other side.. a sort of double vibration reducer. On top of that Antec used soft silicon rubber feet to reduce case to floor vibrations. The 2 drive cages are removable, and instead of using metal rails for them Antec used plastic to reduce cage to case vibration. Also, the PSU is held in place by a partially removable cage that has rubber strips on both parts to remove... you guessed it: PSU to cage vibration. Not only that, but the PSU cage takes into consideration different PSU types that have fans on top as well as on the bottom (this also allows you to mount your PSU upside down, or right side up). It is surrounded by 1 inch of spacing to allow ample airflow around the PSU, with venting from the back too boot. Which reminds me: this case has plenty of airflow too. All the venting uses good sized holes, and the sides of the front panel have vented slats running vertically along it. This allows air to come through those slats, and into the small space between the door and the front panel... which, btw, has 2 more vents for airflow (1 of which you can install a 120mm fan into), AND both have doors on them which hides a set of filters. Need screws, extra grommets? No need to go hunting for them. On the side of the upper cage is a small plastic box for storing extra.. stuff, and on the side of the VGA duct are slots for extra drive rails. Need space? No problem. The case is deep enough that no full length optical drives will cover the motherboard. Have lots of hard drives? No problem. The case can support up to 8 of them... each having plenty of space between them, and airflow around them.

Like I said, nicely designed.

The only real problem I had was with my choice of PSU. I originally tried to get the OCZ Powerstream, but I checked everywhere, and it would have taken 2 weeks to get one. So, I settled with one of two PSUs: the OCZ Modstream 520, or the Antec TruePower II (either 480 or 520 watt). I decided on the OCZ, and that damn inner voice of mine was screaming at me the entire time I was purchasing it... I later found out why.

For starters I should mention something: if you plan to buy this case (or the P160) make sure you get a PSU that has a long main cable, that the cables are not heavily shielded, and it's not a Modstyle PSU (one that has separate swappable cables to connect to the PSU for each device). Here's why: first, the OCZ Modstream uses a thick shielded cable on its main lines which makes it almost unbendable so much so that the cable not only jammed itself into the lower chamber fan, but blocked off the entire hole between the upper and lower chamber. Plus, just to piss me off some more... it was 2-3 inches too short. To top it off there was no way to connect the separate cables to the Modstream for the other devices, AND, of course, they were too short too. So, one Antec TruePower II 480watt PSU, and a couple days later I had everything setup.

Now for the minor stuff: the VGA duct requires the use of an 80x80x10 or 80x80x15mm fan (not included). Not really easy to come by as they are mostly used for CPU heat sinks. If you use a standard fan it will butt heads with the top of any PCI/AGP/PCIE cards you have that are standard height. No problem though.. will just take a little time to get one. Also, you have to take that whole thing apart (the duct is in 3 pieces, 2 of which you need to remove) in order to gain access to the PCI cards. Again, not a big deal.. just time consuming.

Do you have any other 3 1/2" drives such as a removable memory card reader? Well, say goodbye to them as this case only has 1 slot for them. Again, not a problem. Bye bye floppy drive, and in goes the removable memory card reader. Oh, btw, while it's nice that the front ports are filtered, the VGA duct is not. Sort of defeats the purpose of the filters, right? As well, while it's nice to be able to lock the front door so nobody can turn the PC on (as the switch is behind it) there is no way to keep people from opening the case. Why lock the front door when a burglar can use the side door instead?

Another minor thing is that the case does nothing to help with CPU fan noise other than with airflow, and the case material. Most motherboards will up the case fans to reduce case temps, but, motherboards increase CPU fans in order to reduce CPU temps. So, no matter how much airflow is in the case, if you are doing something CPU intensive then the mobo will increase the fan to compensate. Faster speed equals more noise, and thanks to the port at the top of the case, all noise goes right out that port. As you can guess I'm already in the process of finding a better, quieter heat sink/fan system (I might go for a heat pipe design, like the Thermaltake Combo Cool Pipe101, and the Thermaltake Silent Cat A2013 which moves 54CFM of air, but is only 21dBA at full speed!), so when that's in place I hope to have a nice, quieter system.

Lastly, if you are even considering water cooling, think again. Just by looking at this case I could tell it wouldn't be water cooling friendly... at least not with the VGA duct attached. However, where there's a will, there's a way, and I'm sure someone would be able to figure something out.

Edit: after a little consideration, it could be done with some tube extending. The tubes would need to be 16-20 inches each, and you would have to reroute the tubes around the video card to a lower available PCI back slot unless you decide to remove the VGA duct.

Wow.. told it was going to be long. When I get the chance I'll post up some pics that I took before I installed everything. As you can see I suck ass when it comes to reviews which is why I decided on the blurb aspect. For a better one take a look at the 2 part review SilentPCReview did on this case. You can read Part 1 HERE, and Part 2 HERE. There is so much to tell about this case that it not only took two reviews, but it was the only way to post the crap load of pics they took. Of note: the review is based on their re-branded SPCR black P180 case. The only thing they did was repaint the brushed aluminum panels in black, and branded their name on the case. Finding this case is a bitch, and it will cost you $50 more JUST for that feature. Personally, I like the silver brushed aluminum on black look. It's a lot more striking and cleaner looking.

To finish, I love this case. Expensive, yes, seeing as it doesn't come with a PSU ($160 CAN for the case, $120 for the PSU = a damn expensive case!!), but it was well worth the money. I highly recommend this case.

__________________

Lowfat

Actually that is a pretty decent review, a lot of things said there, that no other reviewers would of touched. Good Job. the P180 was one of the 3 cases I looked @ (Silverstone Tenjin 6, and Lian Li PC-V1000). The Tenjin 6 had horrible airflow around the PSU. The P180 would of been my choice if i was to go air cooling however, I'm not, and it looked way too cramped to watercool without serious modification to the case.

__________________
i7 920 on phase change * EX58-UD5 * 6GB @ 1600MHz * HD4550 * X25-M RAID0 * Enermax Revo 85+ 1050W * Silverstone FT01BW

Q8200 @ 3GHz * P5Q Pro* 4GB @ 878MHz * 9500GT * Auzen Prelude * 30GB Vertex * 11.5TB * Seasonic 420 M12-II * Silverstone LC17B * LG GGC-H20L

mkk

I'll most likely be getting this case, but after giving the market some time to bring down the price just a little bit. I'd do without the VGA duct and probably seal off the top fanhole for any but the most overclocking heavy systems. Perhaps Antec could revise the case later with something included to seal the top hole or a different fan duct design. I love the positioning of the PSU at the bottom with separate airflow, but as noted the biggest thing for buyers to keep in mind is the length of the PSU cables. Especially if the motherboard also happens to have the ATX and +12V connectors high up on the board, wich is not too uncommon. Mounting the PSU upside down can help the cables reach just a wee bit farther on some models, in cases where the cables just barely don't reach or sit tightly in their sockets. There are also extensions at least for the main ATX power connector out on the market.

I'm mostly looking at the functionality of any case, but the clean outside of the P180 is also appealing. The protruding top fan grill that is there to avoid having people block the fan kinda works against the overall look, but that's removable as well.

__________________
Playing Dragon Age, might forget everything else.

e v o

ordered one of these, been looking and waiting for one for a while now. Biggest problem for me is probably the psu part, i might be getting a tp II now as well

Thanks for all the info tipstaff!

__________________

No_Style

I think $160 CAD is a lil high for a case like that. The odd thing about your comment about watercooling is that a a co-worker bought this case for watercooling..

__________________

Lowfat

unless he is using really small tubing or planning up doing some cutting. he is going to have a real hard time IMO.

__________________
i7 920 on phase change * EX58-UD5 * 6GB @ 1600MHz * HD4550 * X25-M RAID0 * Enermax Revo 85+ 1050W * Silverstone FT01BW

Q8200 @ 3GHz * P5Q Pro* 4GB @ 878MHz * 9500GT * Auzen Prelude * 30GB Vertex * 11.5TB * Seasonic 420 M12-II * Silverstone LC17B * LG GGC-H20L

Tipstaff

Having more time to think it through there are ways to do it. Depending on what type of setup you use, both the amount of PCI cards and the WC kit you use, the majority of kits will require you to do some extending or rerouting of tubes (as I said, where there's a will, there's a way). There are 7 card slots with the top most slot being where your video card will sit (this is so that the video card is closer to the back 120mm fan). In my case I have 3 cards: video card (top slot, and second slot for cooler), sound card (4th slot, and 7th for joystick adapter), and network card (6th slot). With some long enough pieces of tubing you could do it.. say, about 16-20 inches per piece shoud work. Depending on the kit you would route it down from the CPU, around the video card, then towards the back of the case (only thing I would be worried about is the tubing touching the VGA fan). If you decide to remove the VGA duct though then this wouldn't be an issue as you could just lob the cable over the video card, or other cards to the slot adapter.

As for internal kits, such as ones that mount on the 120mm fan bay, like the Coolermaster Aquagate, there should be enough room to mount them. If you us a kit such as the Thermaltake Bigfoot then the only "safe" way to mount it would be outside the case. If you mount it inside you would need to mount it upside down. Every pic I've seen of that kit except for one shows it mounted with the tubing at the bottom. I don't know the internals for that rad, such as where the fill plug is, but it seems a bit risky to invert that kit. I'd have to see one to know better.

So, after consideration, and a little creative thinking, I stand corrected. The case can be used for water cooling. You would just need to extend your tubing, or remove the VGA duct, but it could be done. I'll edit my first posting to reflect that.

__________________

e v o

Just installed everyhing in this caase, and am very impressed. Quick notes....

Pros.

- Lotta bays, the installation ws a bit confusing. (put the rails on backwards), but i like how easy it is to take them out (the 5.25" etc.) The gromits in the bays.

-Beautiful design. the Silver on Black is very striking.

-All the dampening and quieting stuff, making it much quieter than my last case


Cons.

-Flimsy Door, 5.25" bay covers.

-The top fan place has no option to cover. (in the SPC review, they mention if you're not using a fan to cover it up as thats where most of the noise comes out from. I have yet to find something "neat" enough to cover it.

-price, most wont be spending 100+ for a case

__________________

Tipstaff

I didn't like the fact that you can see the rails... they're not hidden behind the cover. No problem though as the door makes a good cover for them. Same complaint about the door, but it wasn't a major thing. I can understand why this is though as he door is made of the same material as the side panels.. only 2x thinner. They did, however, use a weak magnet to keep the door closed which I thought was odd.

Now that you mention that top cover I've been meaning to let you know that I was trying to come up with something in regards to it. I've been using the "vent" top as a template for an actual plate for it. Haven't decided what I'm going to use as material, but in any case I will probably use a thin film of rubber around the edging as a seal, and as a dampner. Right now I have to have the back and top fans on medium inorder to keep my CPU fan under control. I may not do anything at all as I've yet to get the new heatsink/fan. If it's too loud after changing it then I'll go ahead with the plate idea, but we'll see in a week what happens.

__________________