Antec P180 Owners Thread

All,

I got my P180 last monday but as of yet have not had time to 'transplant' my kit from my old PC into it. I will post pics etc when i do.

Incedentally though, i DID play around with the case a bit, familiarising myself with it in person, and i have to say that i did NOT find any of the problems some of you are reporting with the panels... They slide on and off with the greatest of ease.

There are those of you who have also said this about yours (ease of sliding), so im guessing its kind of luck of the draw in terms of the tiny differences between them. - the thumbscrews on one side i thought was a very good move on Antec's part (much more convinient).

The door 'opening fully' i found pulled away from the side with no effort or trouble at all, and felt very durable, meaning that i was not afraid to break it by pulling it in such a way. I have to add that the case does look very nice! and i can see and feel that it is very well made. I was surprised a little when i opened the box to find the front of the case looking at me... as this baby's actaully taller than it is deep.

Anyhows, i'll post my moans and groans, and my likes of the case when i come to move my kit into it next week. Im planning to take off the fan at the top, and use it in the upper section at the front to draw air in. I know a guy who owns one of these cases, and is into silencing in a big way. Most of the noise comes out from the top he tells me, so on his, he's blocked the hole from the inside also with noise-proof material that you can buy for cases. With a fan at the top-rear also, he says that there is no need for the top fan at the same time. Kind of handy as it saves buying another fan for the front. I may not use the 'thick' fan in the PSU chamber as i hear this is potentially the noisiest one of the three (being thicker).
 
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i just got this case today and cant figure out how to get a fan (120mm y.s tech) to cool the lower drive bay? there is a space but i cant get the fan in there. another fits by the top drive bay but not the lower one?
 
tomos said:
i just got this case today and cant figure out how to get a fan (120mm y.s tech) to cool the lower drive bay? there is a space but i cant get the fan in there. another fits by the top drive bay but not the lower one?
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The case should come with a lower drive bay fan installed.If however you are actualy putting drives in the lower bay I found that there is no room with the PS and cables to do this!
The argument is that the power supply fans shouls also cool the drives! -I think this is a complete load of crap and the design is flawed!

What is the point of putting a fan in the lower bay without being able to install drives?

This is my major gripe with this case! :mad:
 
Guinny said:
The case should come with a lower drive bay fan installed.If however you are actualy putting drives in the lower bay I found that there is no room with the PS and cables to do this!
The argument is that the power supply fans shouls also cool the drives! -I think this is a complete load of crap and the design is flawed!

What is the point of putting a fan in the lower bay without being able to install drives?

This is my major gripe with this case! :mad:
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I think Tomos might have been trying to install a fan in front of the lower drive bay, so that the fan is against the front panel, or have a understood that wrong? - But Guinny is right about the lower bay having the fan (the one near the PSU).. which should pull air aways from the lower drives and through that chamber.
 
Guinny said:
The case should come with a lower drive bay fan installed.If however you are actualy putting drives in the lower bay I found that there is no room with the PS and cables to do this!
The argument is that the power supply fans shouls also cool the drives! -I think this is a complete load of crap and the design is flawed!

What is the point of putting a fan in the lower bay without being able to install drives?

This is my major gripe with this case! :mad:
Click to expand...


I've managed to install 2 hdds in the lower area, along with a fan, and a modular psu (and with the psu being a hiper, the cables stick out furhter due to the modular connectors). Takes a bit fo doing but it's possible.

Hint : swap the 38mm wide fan that comes installed there for oen of the thinner 25mm wide fans used at the top of the case!
 
Guinny said:
The case should come with a lower drive bay fan installed.If however you are actualy putting drives in the lower bay I found that there is no room with the PS and cables to do this!
The argument is that the power supply fans shouls also cool the drives! -I think this is a complete load of crap and the design is flawed!

What is the point of putting a fan in the lower bay without being able to install drives?

This is my major gripe with this case! :mad:
Click to expand...

Thats weird, I got 4 HDD's, the 38mm fan, and my non-modular psu in there with not hassles at tall :confused:
 
krooton said:
Thats weird, I got 4 HDD's, the 38mm fan, and my non-modular psu in there with not hassles at tall :confused:
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Well even with a modular PS I just couldn't seem to fit it all in!
Have you any air flow at all with all the cables etc?

I just don't understand wwhy Antec didn't put a fan in the front as per normal cases!
 
It is a tight squeeze but it all fits fine, try to manage the cables that come out of the power supply better. I managed to fit it all in even with the 38mm fan there, I did however change it over with the 25mm rear fan to see how it went. I do have a passive power supply (Antec Phantom) so the fan is really needed.
 
PeterNem said:
I've managed to install 2 hdds in the lower area, along with a fan, and a modular psu (and with the psu being a hiper, the cables stick out furhter due to the modular connectors). Takes a bit fo doing but it's possible.

Hint : swap the 38mm wide fan that comes installed there for oen of the thinner 25mm wide fans used at the top of the case!
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that's exactly what i did. i switched the 38mm for the 25mm and as long as the cables are tidy, u have no problems. just need to bend the cables at 90deg as soon as they come out the hiper
 
I think Antec quality control on the P180 has improved allright. Between myself and my friends and systems I have built for other people I have seen a dozen of these cases. Everyone except the last couple had some imperfections. Usually thin scratches on the sidepanel, odd dent etc.. Lately though Antec are putting these peel off plastic strips on the side panels and front to protect the case. And I have noticed no imperfections on these cases. Unfortunately all the P180's except the 1st one I bought for myself have the lousy bulge in the front door, some to lesser degrees then others. sucks.
 
Flanno said:
Unfortunately all the P180's except the 1st one I bought for myself have the lousy bulge in the front door, some to lesser degrees then others. sucks.
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Mine has one of these too. It's annoying, but I find that keeping the front door locked has encouraged it to go down quite a bit! :D
 
A couple of things, I moved my lower fan to the upper section between the 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 drive bays, and now realise that the upper drive cage wont fit and it now has to jut out over the mobo - people who have done this previously did you do a double swap - i hadnt realised the upper fans where narrower than this one? It seems only marginal that it wont fit so is this the solution?

I am finding that my mobo power connections only just fit with well routed cabling, with my hiper modular psu and DFI Ultra D mobo - just incase people wonder before purchase, but this is a fiddly case to get right so not for the feint hearted.

~another question i had is where can i get converter plugs so I can power the case fans from the mobo headers? Or do most of you use a spare / extra connection straight from the psu? Would there be any difference?

Anyone got an Xpro Internal card reader - just wondering whether all the drives are powered from the usb connections - or whether i have to connect the two other trailing connectors - am quite experienced a builder of pc's but dont ever recall seing straight "power out" headers on mobo's like a singlepin "jumper" as it were
 
HugoFJH said:
~another question i had is where can i get converter plugs so I can power the case fans from the mobo headers? Or do most of you use a spare / extra connection straight from the psu? Would there be any difference?
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There's no real point in plugging the fans into the motherboard connectors, if anything it will cause problems.
 
Anyone have the following setup - Asus A8n-SLi Premium with Tagan530W Modular/Hiper580W Modular in the P180? I've heard the cables are too short or something? If so, which cables exactly? :)
 
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