FPSLabs : Antec P180 Review

Antec broke the mold with their new case, the P180B. Built for silence and great cooling, with a unique layout making it one of the most interesting cases we have ever worked with.

Category: Cases
Manufacturer: Antec
Product: P180B
Gallery: Click Here
Price: $129.99

Antec has long been one of the staples of the computer case industry.
Their SOHO and Lanboy lines had huge followings in their time. Times
have changed and other top notch manufacturers have stepped in creating
great competition in the case market. The Antec P180B is the next
evolution in inspired cases. Let’s take a look and see if it lives up
to Antec’s billing as a “revolutionary breakthrough in case design”.
When I first saw the P180 early this year I loved the stylish and
simplistic vibe it gave off. My only issue at first glance was that all
of my accessories are black and I was looking to switch to a black
case. Then the P180B, the black variant, came out and gave me a reason
to make the switch.

Key features of the P180B are:

An upper and lower chamber to separate PSU and Hard Drive heat and noise from the rest of the system.
Unique three-layer panels in the case sides and front door to aid in making the P180B built for silence.
Comes stock with 3, 120mm TriCool fans, with optional locations for 2 more.
11 Drive Bays, 5 external and 6 internal.
Micro and standard ATX compatibile.
7 Expansion Slots.
Front Panel ports, including Firewire and USB, along with Audio In and Out.
Silicone grommets for hard drive mounting.
Built in washable air-filters.

Design
This case was designed by Antec and Mike Chin from Silent PC Review in a collaborative effort
to build a case that can operate with virtually no noise, while
remaining a high end cooling solution for even the hottest of
components.

The P180B is a joy to look at. It’s as simple as that. It is sleek,
classy, and awe inspiring. The black glossy finish is on the front, and
both sides giving it a reflective quality not seen in a lot of cases.
The one drawback to this is that this case will show smudge spots from
your hands if they are less than clean. Not a big issue, but be
prepared to wipe it down every now and then.

The front features a magnetic locking door and front side USB,
FireWire, and audio in and out jacks. There is also a key lock for
keeping the door secured and to prevent people from stealing your, as
my dearest Alisha would say, “super awesome” air filters!

{mospagebreak heading=Design&title=Layout}

Behind the door, Antec has included two plastic hinged doors that swing
open revealing two built-in and removable air filters. This is a very
sweet touch. I have tried using fan mounted air filters, custom built
filters from motherboard packing foam, and yes even nylons. These
filters work very well, and remove in a snap for washing or wiping
down. I do question the reasoning on having the HDD LED’s and the power
and reset buttons also behind the door and not exposed on the front
panel. A minor issue as it only takes opening the door but it seems
something that could have been changed in production.

The top of the case features a 120mm fan mount and blow hole. There is
also a grill, which cuts down on noise from the upper fan and deflects
some of the air exiting towards the rear of the case.

One the side of the case, we can see the front air grills, which pull
air in through the front sides of the case, and down into the air
filters.

One minor gripe I had on first notice of the case was the feet on the
bottom. After removing it from the packaging, I slid it across my
carpet floor closer to my work area. Lo and behold one of the feet came
off. It went right back on and hasn’t come off since, but since they
are rubber they make it much harder to move the case around and dictate
that almost have to lift the case to move it. If you aren’t doing a lot
of work on your PC, moving it around shouldn’t be an issue.

{mospagebreak title=Build Quality}

Build Quality
As great as this case looks on the outside, it’s built even better on
the inside. Antec went all out to cut down on noise and vibration and
provide ample space for anything you would want to throw in here with
only a few minor annoyances. Everything about this case is solid.

The inside of the case features the dual chambers that make this case
quite special. The bottom half features the PSU and your Hard Drives
with a 120mm fan, which draws air between the two and out through the
PSU. With this layout the main heat generating components are isolated
from your CPU and GPU, allowing for better cooling in the upper chamber
of the rig.

Separating the two chambers, is a sliding door which is tightened and
loosed via thumb screws. This allows for your cables from your PSU, and
those from your Hard Drives to run up and out of the door yet still
give you ample room to close off the chamber and keep a majority of the
heat within the lower chamber.

The P180B has plenty of room for expansion with 11 bays total, 5
external and 6 internal. The upper section of the case has a removable
HDD cage for more Hard Drives if you don’t have enough room in the
bottom with one 3.5 floppy drive above it.

The motherboard tray isn’t removable, but removing the back side of the
case and the space between the backside and the HDD cages leaves ample
room for cable management.

There is a toolbox on the back of the upper 3.5” drive cage. However
being on the back side you need to remove the cage completely to get
any access to it. This can make any specific cable management
configurations you may have a hassle having to remove the cage to get
to this toolbox. . I don’t use it myself but I am sure many people make
use of it.

{mospagebreak title=Cooling}
Cooling
The P180B features 3 TriCool fans with two optional locations for 120mm
fans. These fans run on three different speed settings, depending on
the amount of airflow and cooling needed, as controlled by a switch on
the fans power cable. The stock locations are the top blow hole of the
case, the rear of the case by the I/O panel, and the center of the
lower chamber between the PSU and lower HDD chamber.

I myself am not using this upper cage and have made use of it as a wind
tunnel for my GPU. With a fan mounted on the front of this cage, and
the rear, it speeds cool air in and across my video card. Both of these
fans are optional and are not included with the purchase of the case.

I needed to buy a few more fans for this system, and wanted to quiet it
down even more so I bought 5 Yate Loon D12SL-12’s. While the TriCool
fans are plenty enough for those every day users out there I was
planning ahead for my next upgrade and wanted to go even more quiet
than stock.

Between the front air vents, the 5 120mm fan locations, and the GPU
wind tunnel effect, my system ran as cool as a cucumber. On idle my
chipset ran at 11°C, my CPU at 36°C, my Video Card at 65°C, (note it
was overclocked from 400/1250 to 500/1450, which I could never reach
before, thanks to the better cooling of the P180B). The Hard Drives
idle between 35-38°C, all three of them.

{mospagebreak title=Installation}
Installation
Installation was your standard fair in this case. You will need a screw
driver for a few things, like the installation of the PSU, your add-in
cards, and the back side of the case. However Antec made things simpler
with the use of thumb screws for removing the side door, and for the
Hard Drive cages.

The PSU is installed by removing the PSU cage from the lower chamber.
It is lined with silicone and fits snuggly eliminating a lot of
vibration as it slides over the PSU. Then your PSU sits on more
silicone strips as it is screwed to the back of the cage. This is a
fantastic setup and really cuts down extraneous PSU noise.

The 5.25” drives install with the standard Antec screw on plastic drive
rails. In a way this was sort of confusing to me. If Antec built this
with silence in mind why use the standard plastic and metal screw drive
rails to mount your optical drives? While there really isn’t much
optical drive noise noticeable thanks to the case’s sound dampening
panels; it seemed to make more sense to line the drive rails with
rubber of some sorts or ditch them for a new method of mounting.

The 3.5 drives are mounted in a much more ingenious manner. Using
rubber grommets Antec allows for you to mount your drives vertically
across two rubber grommets at the top and the bottom of the hard
drives. I run a 150GB Raptor, and a 400GB Western Digital drive and I
get virtually no vibration passed from them to the Hard Drive cage. You
simple slide the Hard Drives between the grommets and then screw them
in.

The motherboard tray came preinstalled with the risers for most
standard ATX boards. This case will fit microATX and stand ATX
motherboards. My only complaint with motherboard installation was the
lack of room below the bottom of the board, the metal separating the
lower and upper case chambers. It made it a bit harder for me to hide
and run cables but wasn’t a serious issue.

{mospagebreak title=Sound and Conclusion}
Sound
Knock on the side of the case with your knuckles and realize just how
much noise this case eliminates. It is fantastic. The panels in the
sides and the front door, put the smack down on noise traveling outside
the case. So much in fact that if you open the front door there is a
noticeable increase in noise volume, yet still nothing close to
disrupting. The side and front panels are made in three layers;
aluminum, plastic, and then more aluminum. Some of the best sound
dampening I have ever heard, or is that haven’t heard?

The upper grill cuts down on noise exiting the top of the case,
however, some may chose to not use it depending if you like the look of
it or not. I have seen some mods where people have completely closed
the upper blow hole.

The TriCool fans included with the case run at 3 settings, low, medium
and high. At low you couldn’t hear these fans over the dead silence of
a screening of “House of the Dead”. Medium and high push a bit more air
at each level but the noise level at high peaks around 30db which is
still quieter than many comparable 120mm fans.

Final Thoughts
This case was a blast to work with and it will now be the center piece
of my main rig. While initial setup and cable management took some time
because of the dual chamber set up and some cramped locations, it was
still worth it. Even though cables are bit harder to run than in many
cases because of this, there is still plenty of room to hide cables
behind and in various bays, and under the PSU. The P180B should allow
for added overclocking for most users simply from the great cooling the
case offers. The near silence of this case has me often forgetting its
even running and it’s easily the quietest case I have ever used.

Here is a shot of my final setup without the extra fan for the GPU
which I added later on. Note the cable management and the ample space
to hide cables and route them.

I really only have a few issues with this case, mainly the front panel
and the feet. But in everyday use these aren’t issues you have to deal
with regularly. I don’t move my case around much, so the feet issue
doesn’t really bother me and I don’t swap motherboards in and out a lot
either. If you cart your case around a lot this may not be for you as
it is a heavy case. But for my use it is nearly perfect.

I wouldn’t hesitate in the least to recommend this to anyone for their
main home desktop. You pay a bit more for the quality of this case, but
not enough to even consider another case. The looks, cooling, and
quietness make this case one of the best values for enclosures period.

Pros

+ Super quiet; want to hear the crickets chirp outside your room? This is the case for you.
+ Excellent cooling options and temperatures all around.
+ Sturdy and rugged; an overall excellent build quality from the rolled steel innards to the 3 piece panels.
+ The case looks like a million bucks; classy and elegant.
+ Dual chamber set-up keeps excess heat from critical components.
+ High end options, without the outrageous cost.

Cons

- Front panel LED and Buttons inaccessible with door closed. The only main issue I notice in day to day use.
- Rubber non screwed in feet; shouldn’t have been too much of a hassle to mount these better.
- The toolbox and motherboard placements could be slightly better

Rating
9.5 out of 10
Editor’s Pick - Mid Tower Case

Antec’s P180B represents the very finest quality mid tower computer
case we have tested to date. The simple yet elegant exterior design,
coupled with the innovative interior layout, makes this case our top
choice for any new computer build.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Support FPSLabs! Share and Enjoy: