Akasa Eclipse or Antec P180?

gunner · 25 Jan 2006 at 19:04

Anyone had both these cases, I am having a hard time making a decision! Both have pro's and cons.

Akasa, mildly ugly but simple and room and stealthy.

P180, cable routing and bendy/warped doors.

Any real world thoughts from end users?

Cheers

Viberious · 25 Jan 2006 at 19:08

I've got an Akasa but recently ordered P180 as I found the case vibrates a lot with all 3 fans installed (esp. on the front). Also my akasa was originally biege did a poor job on spray painting it black.

SiriusB · 26 Jan 2006 at 03:13

This goes against my no-door policy on cases, but the P180 looks far better than the frankly disgusting Eclipse.

SiriusB

sagaboy2 · 26 Jan 2006 at 09:03

SiriusB said:
This goes against my no-door policy on cases, but the P180 looks far better than the frankly disgusting Eclipse.

SiriusB

Under the door of the P180, the style is all gone, I like the Akasa over the P180.

But its down to personal taste in the end.

Yewen · 26 Jan 2006 at 11:06

The door is the style, you only have it open to change cd's bla bla.

But the Eclipse is a decent case and better built, only thing is it looks like, well erm, it looks cheap being honest.

But once you get past the front plastic its a classic case, and easily one of the better ones on the market.

(Ok in english what ive said: Its a case for PC builders, not for people who buy pre-built systems. Just because of its great interior.)

gunner · 26 Jan 2006 at 11:18

Thanks for the replys, the case will be used to house my overclocked Venice 3000 @ 2.7. Its not generating vast amounts of heat but my GTO GPU is! Hence my current case with poor airflow has to go. I am concerned that the Eclipse is going to be noisy. Is this true?

Or can it be built into a quiet (ish) machine?

Cheers G.

Yewen · 26 Jan 2006 at 11:22

It could be built into a very quiet machine, just as long as your willing to do it!

sagaboy2 · 26 Jan 2006 at 13:04

The eclipse I have is basicaly silent, only thing you can hear is the hum of the hard drives. That is not because they are vibrating, its just the standard noise of them.

Just takes a bit of time and effort to bother to go around and make sure all things that make a noise are sound proofed.

120mm Ambers keep my 4400X2 and 6800GS (both overclocked) cool and both fans are at 5V's. Max temp iv seen was 44C on the CPU, that was a warm day in my room.

So the akasa is a great case, has top notch air flow and design in my eye.

HighlandeR · 28 Jan 2006 at 00:01

Similar combo, with Akasa theres always gonna be some vibration issues tbh with all cases even the akasa has rubber feet to reduce noise issues like the P180 and other cases, u will find it better to get silent 120mm fans anyhow.

I have 2 x 120 accoustic dustproof fans and I think there at like 15db or something so low its silent. The Space and features of the Akasa are a + and no door so u can press eject and load/burn your disc instant, id guess the door on the P180 dampens noise from the drive (no biggy to most)

Theres an updated Akasa Eclipse due and has a door and much smoother/nicer looking finish....will be interesting to see if theres any improvements done to it sound wise someone posted a picture of it recently here in an Akasa thread.

here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17521094&page=2&pp=30

Viberious · 28 Jan 2006 at 09:44

In my opinion the akasa has the best internal layout and the P180 has the best quality. The fan situation on the P180 is not as good as the akasa. But the P180 wins on quietness.

ja3h · 28 Jan 2006 at 10:30

I had the akasa for a while then felt like a change and got the antec. I prefer the antec because it is more quiet, but i do miss the akasa. Looks wise i think they are both nice looking, the door on the p180 helps quiet down the sound from the hd. Thats one of things i noticed most, there wasn't the sound of a hard drive in the background! The akasa is much easier to work with in comparison. P180 doesn't look like a good case to mod. If you plan on getting watercooling then get the akasa. Temps are about the same in both cases, the vga duct in the antec was a totally useless 0.o

Noni · 28 Jan 2006 at 10:45

P180.

It looks better and much more unique.

bigmouse64 · 28 Jan 2006 at 22:14

From what I've read, I'm going to get the Alaska, just because of it's performance.

WJA96 · 28 Jan 2006 at 22:50

bigmouse64 said:
From what I've read, I'm going to get the Alaska, just because of it's performance.

It's so cold in there there's snow on the CPU cooler

balth_dire · 29 Jan 2006 at 03:46

The Eclipse, more practical and far easier to work with.

P180-some interesting ideas, but not well thought through.

HighlandeR · 29 Jan 2006 at 14:20

balth_dire said:
The Eclipse, more paractical and far easier to work with.

P180-some interesting ideas, but not well thought through.

Exactly my thoughts, the P180 looks interesting/feature wise but too many niggles the Antec is just a pleasure to work with and when u see the space inside u just end up buying it.

Noni · 29 Jan 2006 at 18:32

PLASTIC FRONT AHHHH!

.

Antec P180, silent, great cooling and no nonense.

Yewen · 29 Jan 2006 at 18:36

HighlandeR said:
Exactly my thoughts, the P180 looks interesting/feature wise but too many niggles the Antec is just a pleasure to work with and when u see the space inside u just end up buying it.

Change the u's for you's and I totally agree with you, the p180 can have to many issues to make it worth considered in my opinion.

But the Eclipse is deffinately worth a look, then you buy a Lian Li

easyrider · 30 Jan 2006 at 20:11

Its the room inside the eclipse that gets my vote

HighlandeR · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:25

Yewen said:
Change the u's for you's and I totally agree with you, the p180 can have to many issues to make it worth considered in my opinion.

But the Eclipse is deffinately worth a look, then you buy a Lian Li

I like my lazy U's

Lian Li, when my wallets smiling....