Antec P182(or P183) or Silverstone Fortress, and why ?

steveinspain · 18 Apr 2009 at 11:39

Lots of people here seem to rate both highly - I am still dithering about which one, so why would you choose one over the other ?
Sorry if this is an old one.....

My needs are quiet, cool and a little better than the Antec slk3700 that has been fine for me for the last 9-10 years..

EsaT · 18 Apr 2009 at 12:06

If you aren't going for highest end parts (/lot of drives etc) then P182 is hard to beat.

willy · 18 Apr 2009 at 13:05

I would go for Fortress

Mark07 · 18 Apr 2009 at 13:16

I would go for the new P183, the thermal cooling has improved over the P182 and it's very quiet:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=314&Itemid=61

icey_haj · 18 Apr 2009 at 13:19

Problem with the P183 is that it's seriously ugly.

steveinspain · 18 Apr 2009 at 13:49

I don't think I have high end parts - 8400 CPU (not O/C'ed) with sunbeam core cooler on an Asus P5Q pro mobo, basic GPU (no games? Decent soundcard (can't remember but a 24/96 or something) and a couple of noctua fans all running off a Corsair 650 PSU - pretty basic really. I do like the reviews of the P182/183, but don't really like the looks of it, and the door will always be open, further enhancing it's lack of prettyness, and the Fortress looks good to me, but is even more money !
I am close to buying a second hand P182 for 90 pounds delivered to my mum in the UK, but my problem with that is I then need to ship it out to me in Spain, making it almost as much as a new one here.
Might need to talk to FaceplantSi as he has just got a Fortress coming from an Antec 300, which was also on my list....

Mark07 · 18 Apr 2009 at 15:32

icey_haj said:
Problem with the P183 is that it's seriously ugly.

I don't think it is, looks better than the P182 and with greatly improved airflow - no need to leave the front door open.

mjones1 · 18 Apr 2009 at 17:14

The antec p182 looks much better looking.

steveinspain · 18 Apr 2009 at 17:43

Mark07 said:
I don't think it is, looks better than the P182 and with greatly improved airflow - no need to leave the front door open.

The front door would be left open as that is just what I do - I am ripping a lot of cd's at present - got about 2000 left to do, so am in the habit of leaving the door open - its not about airflow or looks really !

Anyway, lots of opinions, but no many explaining WHY they would choose one over the other....

mjones1 · 18 Apr 2009 at 17:47

You can shut the door until it's by the side panel on the p180 series, there are a lot of sound dampening feature.
But in the end it's your call.

Mark07 · 18 Apr 2009 at 18:42

Sorry thought you said earlier your needs were quiet and cool, much of the noise would come from the front, however if you're in the habit of ripping 1000's of CDs the fortress would be better

steveinspain · 18 Apr 2009 at 18:59

Mark07 said:
Sorry thought you said earlier your needs were quiet and cool, much of the noise would come from the front, however if you're in the habit of ripping 1000's of CDs the fortress would be better

Maybe my bad there - I am ripping loads of cd's, and on my old case it makes little difference to the noise if the door is open or closed..
Quiet and cool is very important, as is dust-free, and I guess the door will be kept shut once the cd's are all done ! Just shows how hard it is to know what to go for
Does closing the front door on the 183 make a huge difference ?

EsaT · 18 Apr 2009 at 19:29

steveinspain said:
- I am ripping a lot of cd's at present - got about 2000 left to do

You should really have at least two optical drives.
Modern CPUs are more than capable to ripping two CDs and encoding them to MP3 in real time.

steveinspain said:
Does closing the front door on the 183 make a huge difference ?

Door of Lian Li A71 muffles intake fan noise by something like "two hundred RPMs" and P182 has similar solid door but P183's door isn't as solid with those forward holes which along with holed bay covers surely leak more noise out.

mjones1 · 18 Apr 2009 at 21:05

i thought it was solid apart from the side of the front door.

Blackhawk47 · 18 Apr 2009 at 21:49

I think the antec p182 would work well for you, especially since you can full open the door 270 degrees, so it wont get in the way when burning cds unlike some doors which only open 90 degrees and can be closed when done. Its also very quiet. Though so is the fortress so its really up to what you prefer.

Mark07 · 18 Apr 2009 at 22:07

The P183 door would leak more sound, however it only needs 2 fans to the rear.

mjones1 · 19 Apr 2009 at 07:27

you don't need fans at the front

steveinspain · 19 Apr 2009 at 17:00

Why don't I need fans at the front ?
Is there enough airflow without ?
I was guessing at having one 120mm running fairly slowly at the front, and another at the back running even slower, creating some sort of positive air pressure to help keep out dust, but have no experience of all this..

rjk · 19 Apr 2009 at 17:04

antec is plastic

silverstone is aluminium

problem solved

ally · 22 Apr 2009 at 01:06

Hi,

i have much the same dilemma although add the cosmos to that too lol
i am trying to get the right balance between silence cooling and plenty storage room. I have a lot of hdds to fit and quite fancy a nice i7 rig