FPSLabs : Antec P182 Review

We raved about the Antec P180 case and now its successor the P182 is finally here. How is it going to rate compared to the last version? Better? Worse? Should it be a choice for your next system?

Category: Cases
Manufacturer: Antec
Product: P182
Gallery: Click Here
Price: $129.95

Antec, one of the premier case makers in the computing industry, is
back to try to top themselves with their P182 mid tower case. The “2”
in P182 in a sense stands for revision 2, or a P180 v2. Antec didn’t
stray too much from the successful mold that was the P180, so don’t
expect a multitude of changes; which is good, because drastically
changing one of the best selling cases in the past two years shouldn’t
be in the thought process anyhow.

The Packaging

The P182 comes well secured. It is packed with Styrofoam holders on
each end, and is wrapped in plastic. The box is sharp, highlighting
technical specifications and some key features while also hinting at
the new coloring within - more on that later.

{mospagebreak heading=The Packaging&title=The Case}
The Case

Key features of the P182 are almost identical to the P180 that we reviewed in August of last year.

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 (P182) 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 compatible.
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.

However there are some new additional features that I will note:

The fan speed controllers for the upper two fans can now be accessed on the back of the case without opening the case up.
There are rubber grommets/holes built into the back of the case for
water cooling. In the SE model of the case(not featured here) there is
a flexible snake light built in the case.
The back panel where the motherboard mounts is now offset in further to allow for better cable management behind it.
There are new routes for cables that have been cut in besides the motherboard and the frame of the case.

The case comes packed with the additional fan clip, plenty of screws
and motherboard standoffs, the grill for the upper fan, drive rails,
and more rubber ties for cable management.

Something interesting to note is that our very own boss Thomas "shoes"
Gribble had a hand in a key feature of the P182. While previewing the
case out in Vegas at the 2007 International CES, the Antec employees
weren’t sure of a name for the new color of the case when our hardware
staff stopped in. Thomas suggested Gun Metal when he was told they
didn’t have a name yet and they all agreed it was a good idea. Cut to
today and sure enough - the case’s color is now known as Gun Metal.
Interesting eh?

{mospagebreak title=Features}
Features
The main features of the P182 deal with optimizing the cooling and
quietness of the case. That is what the case was built for and Antec
has some great features which highlight these goals.

First off we see the dual chamber setup which has been a staple of the
P18x series since its inception. Instead of mounting the PSU at the top
like most cases do, Antec places the PSU in the bottom of the case and
then proceeds to seal off the bottom compartment, which contains your
hard drives and PSU, from the rest of the system. This in turn keeps
the hot-running hard drives and all the PSU heat away from the guts of
the computer like the motherboard and CPU. We also noted an additional
hole to route cables from the lower chamber to the upper that was not
there on the P180.

The upper bay area includes support for up to 4 5.25” drives and 2 3.5”
drives - it would take a massive RAID array to run out of space in this
baby. The middle bay has the hard drive cage removed and from here we
can see the optional 120mm fan location.

In this picture we begin to see one of my favorite new features, which
will be even clearer when we get to the right side of the case: the
holes for cable routing. These two holes in the motherboard tray allow
for various cables to be run through them from the back side and from
the PSU to keep them out of the main chambers' air flow. This was one
of my major complaints from the P180 and I am glad to see that Antec
has taken measures to remedy it.

The rear of the inner-upper chamber features two TriCool fans which are
connected to an exterior mount for the speed controls. You can remove
the controllers from the back panel fairly easy if you ever want to
swap these fans out. We also noted the new rubber grommets and holes
for water cooling and exterior parts like a radiator or reservoir right
near the expansion card slots. Antec is still using the old tried and
true screw-in method for the expansion cards though - I had hoped for
something a little more modern.

Here we see the lower bay of the case with the hard drive cage removed.
The lower bay is one area of the case which hasn’t really been changed
too much. Some people have cut and dremeled the area near the fan
filter to add another 120mm fan but I don’t think that is necessary.

The rear of the bay features the power supply area and the middle 120mm
fan. If you don’t have a lot of hard drives in the lower bay you may be
able to remove this fan and allow your PSU’s fan to draw all the air
you need from the front of the case, over the hard drives, and then in
and out of the PSU. Just be sure to keep an eye on your temperatures
when you first attempt this. I had hoped Antec would raise the PSU
mount slightly to allow more cables to be tucked underneath it;
however, with a modular PSU you shouldn’t have too much of an issue. If
you are stuck with a multitude of cables you may need to cram as many
as you can below the power supply.

{mospagebreak title=More Features}

Here we see the upper hard drive bay again but removed this time. The
silicon standoffs on these are fantastic for minimizing hard drive
vibration. Here we can also see the toolbox located on the back side of
this cage, which is very handy for storing screws and what not. Still
not the perfect location - I would prefer it on the side facing the
user - but it works. For the lower hard drive cage we see more silicon
for the four allocated hard drive spaces. You set the hard drive
between the silicone and then screw in four screws on the outside of
the cage straight through everything and into the hard drive. It’s a
great system - a bit tedious - but it really cuts down on noise.

The front side and panel of the P182 remains largely unaltered. It
features audio in and out jacks for your headset and/or mic. The front
also features two USB ports, one FireWire port and the door lock. Once
again the reset and power buttons are blocked by the door being closed.
This was one of my few gripes about the original P180, and it
unfortunately I am seeing it again on the P182.

We also get a nice shot of the removable front air filters. They just
snap out pretty easily making them easy to wash or dust off.

Here is where we get to the meat of the changes and what I was most
excited about. We can see there are now three holes cut into the
motherboard tray and one into the frame for cable routing. This should
help immensely during installation.

The
back of the case features the rear 120mm fan that we saw inside. Here
we also see the water cooling grommets and the PSU enclosure from the
back. Also up at the top is where the fan speed controllers plug in to
control the upper two fans.

One of my issues with the P180 that I reviewed was that the rubber feet
on the bottom came off while building the system. You can see the feet
in the second picture above, and I haven’t had any issues with them
staying on this time - and I have been sliding it all over the place.
Chalk up another improvement by Antec.

{mospagebreak title=Installation}
Installation
Most of the installation hasn’t changed since our P180 review, but I will highlight some of the key differences.

With the changes to the motherboard tray you can now run the ATX power
cable from the PSU up the right side and then out of the hole by the
motherboard side. You can run the 4/8pin CPU power cable in a similar
fashion. This allows for a majority of your power cables to be run
behind the motherboard with rubber cable ties to boot and be concealed
in a much better fashion than they could be with the P180. This is an
excellent enhancement by the crew at Antec.

The fans can also be plugged in to a power cable coming out of the
upper hole in the motherboard tray, if you don’t have enough 3 pin
headers on your motherboard, along with any optical drives you may wish
to plug into that connection.

The only cables from the lower chamber I wasn’t able to run behind the
motherboard were the SATA cables. You can most likely run your PCI-E
cable behind the board too and then out to the graphics card. This all
seriously cuts down on cable clutter in the main section of the case,
and makes things look nice and tidy.

Cooling

Here we have Antec's TriCool fans with 3 speeds, low, medium, and high.
Low should be adequate enough for most of our users out there and this
will also keep the noise down. At low they only generate around 20 dBA
(decibels) and still move 30CFM (cubic foot moved). Adjust your fans
and cooling depending on your needs, quietness at low, and if you need
the extra cooling for OC’ing your gaming rigs, put it on high.

Of Antec allows for two more fans to be added around the upper optional
hard drive cage. You can use the clips they package in the accessories
to clip one on to the front of the drive cage and you can mount a 5th
fan behind that cage. These two in combination can provide excellent
cooling over the top of your video card. If you have the space I
definitely recommend you test it out.

Overall the cooling capabilities haven’t changed a whole lot from the
P180 and to be honest that isn’t a bad thing at all. Other than the
access to the fan controllers on the outside the cooling remains the
same as the P180. This is a fantastic rig when it comes to cool and
quiet.

Sound
Speaking of quiet ,that is exactly what this case is.. The sound
dampening panels work to a “T”. I am glad Antec didn’t try to reinvent
the wheel with the sound dampening on this case it could have been the
worst idea since Han shooting first in Star Wars. They stuck with what
works and it’s an ode to Antec and Mike Chin over at SilentPC Review
that this design still holds up after almost two years.

On the revision I would have liked to see the upper blow hole/fan
location with an optional cover. Many enthusiasts and I myself have
noted that it’s not fully necessary and what little audible sound does
come out of the case usually stems from there. You can mod the case
slightly from the inside and cover it if you are really obsessed about
silence but I believe most of you out there won’t mind it.

The fans even on high only push out 30dBA which isn’t a distraction for
most of us. It’s a good chance that your CPU or GPU fan will be louder
and drown out the case fans.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion
While I enjoyed setting up the P180, at times with the cables it felt a
bit crammed. The P182 maybe a bit harder to set up but by no means is
that a negative. It just offers more choices for cable management and
thus you may want to take a bit more time than just tossing in parts
and routing cables in the most direct way. You can do this, don’t get
me wrong, but you may want to take that added touch of time and use the
new routing features Antec has provided for a cleaner look.

Those of you looking to water cool such a rig now have easier access to
the hardware via the rear access holes. I’ve seen many P180’s water
cooled and the P182 should only make this option easier.

The P182 addressed two of my cons in the last review: the motherboard
location and lack of room, and the issues with the feet. The new cable
management options are fantastic. There is still the front panel reset
and power buttons that I don’t like but in all honesty it’s a minor
gripe. The case still retains that bold and elegant look without being
gaudy and over the top like many cases nowadays. Gun Metal is sharp.
Would I recommend you rush out and buy this and replace your P180,
probably not. The difference between the two isn’t that huge unless you
plan on selling your P180. However this is a must consider for your
next system build.

What can I say, Antec has another winner on their hands with the P182.
We loved the P180 here at Gotfrag Hardware and its successor is no
slouch either. The P182 takes P180, addresses a few concerns, and
improves on one of the best cases of the past two years. It’s a
no-brainer to give out the Editor’s Choice Award to the P182 as it
improves on almost every knock I had on the original.

Pros
+ One of the quietest cases I have ever used, why can’t people in movie theaters be this inaudible?
+ Provides excellent cooling which is a rarity with such silence.
+ Build quality is excellent, sturdy and robust. Very easy to work with.
+ New cable management features make this a blast to plan out and install components.
+ Dual chambers isolate the surplus of heat from critical hardware, more case makers should take note.
+ Reasonable price for a case that looks and functions as top of the line.
Cons
- My only issue not addressed from the P180, the power and reset buttons behind the front door.
Rating
9.8 out of 10
Editor's Pick - Mid-Tower Case