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w3bbo · 19 Jul 2006 at 19:18

Yes, the fan is supposed to be blowing onto the psu. You don't have to have the 38mm fan on the bottom though. I switched mine to one of the 25mm ones and put that on 'the otherside' of the frame. I have sata drives though which helps. I am in the process of rebuilding my rig so I'll post photos when its done.

Cable management in the p180 is a nightmare.

Cascadia · 19 Jul 2006 at 22:30

same, redoing the cables as we speak, i would be so ashamed to post it as it is

tough choice though, turn off the pc to do the rewiring, or keep it on so i can stay on ocuk and play with the live wires, who says pc's arent dangerous

Yabsley · 20 Jul 2006 at 12:07

I spent last night putting my rig in my new p180 along with my new Hiper Type R modular PSU. One thing that is slightly annoying is that with the Type R PSU I can't very well use the 'wind tunnel', bottom middle fan and have had to move it to the Front middle possition on the case.

GoRedwings19 · 23 Jul 2006 at 03:37

Mine is a complete bombsite as I am in the middle of fitting new fans and waiting for some bits to arrive.

As much as I love the seasonic power supply it's a nightmare to use with the p180 case. If it had been modular that would have helped somewhat.

I see their point in making seperate chambers for cooling and quietness but the gap where the cables run through is poorly placed.

I am thinking of getting a dremel and cutting a side each out of the lowest middle support which holds the fan in place. Hopefully I can snake the cables round that and up through the forward hole.

Otherwise there is no way I can fit two 7900gtx 512's in there as the lowest gfx card would block most of that hole up

Shakey_Jake33 · 23 Jul 2006 at 17:54

GoRedwings19 said:
As much as I love the seasonic power supply it's a nightmare to use with the p180 case. If it had been modular that would have helped somewhat.

Really must stress how right this guy is, gone through this headache myself.

I mean, love the Seasonic, quiet as a mouse, but it's really the worst choice for the P180. The Seasonic internal power cable (to the mobo), is really too short, and will pull extremely tight on your GPU to fit. I managed to fit it, pulling tight over my HIS 9800 Pro IceQ, but it's less than ideal.

The Seasonic also has millions of cables and connections, but is non-modular, and there's not really much place to dump cables like this in the case without getting in the way of airflow, defeating the point.
Plus the fact that the 'gap' between the different compartments only really has enough room for the bare minimum cables.... it's like Antec assumed everyone would be using modular.

I'm going P180 on my new machine (keeping my current machine as my second machine, with the P180 and Seasonic), but going Enermax Liberty this time... apparently only slightly louder, but completely modular.

samcat · 23 Jul 2006 at 20:01

You DONT need the bottom chamber fan... Makes life a whole lot easier.
Remove all the plastic bits from between psu chamber and the mobo chamber, route wires nicely then block off the sections you are not using.

I am a silence freak... TONS of dynamat in use on the inside of mine (all internal panels have at least one layer of dynamat, makes a huge difference to the volume). one nexus fan (as I bought one to test how quiet they are... Quieter than the ambers so the ambers will all be replaced sooner or later with nexus's).

Not the neatest, but good enough for me... Can easily work on it by cutting a tiewrap or two... Then just put them back when done.

1 DVD-RW, 1 floppy, 3 hard disks... Using zalman silent heatpipe things for 2 of the HDD's, up in the 5.25 bays.. and one is below the floppy. Got another HDD to go in tomorrow too (top 5.25 bay)... Bottom HDD tray is totally empty (its a pig to work in/around).

PSU is a HIPER type-R blue modular.

*edit - You may also notice that I taped the metal loops used for pulling the HDD trays out down... One was slightly loose, and I knew it would rattle if I didnt tape it down... So taped it before closing the pc up.

**second edit - You may also also notice

p) that I had to cut and extend the 4 pin power connector (top left in the picture)... It pays to learn how to use a soldering iron

You might also notice the castors I fitted... offcut from a shelf (was doing some diy and this bit was exactly the right size), screw castors to it... Much easier!

Cya,
SAm C

Shakey_Jake33 · 23 Jul 2006 at 20:27

That's totally brilliant mate, could do with your advise as I like my machine to be silent as possible myself also.

What are those 'dynamat' sheets? Assuming they're for soundproofing, I'll have to get me some

Looks like a 120mm fan on that CPU - what CPU and HSF is it?

You mention removing the lower 120mm fan - whil I like my machine quiet as poss, I do need the components cool as poss. Did assume it kept both the PSU and HDD's cooler for only minute sound increase.
What kind of 120mm cooling solution would you recommend for HDD's anyway? I hear newer P180's stick an optional fan in the upper HDD bay, limiting HDD's to the lower bay if you wish to use the fan.

Is the power cable (to the mobo) on the Zalman a good length for the P180? The Seasonic is really too short.
Considering the Zalman, assuming 480w is enough.

samcat · 23 Jul 2006 at 20:37

Shakey_Jake33 said:
That's totally brilliant mate, could do with your advise as I like my machine to be silent as possible myself also.

What are those 'dynamat' sheets? Assuming they're for soundproofing, I'll have to get me some

Car audio sound deadening sheets by a company called DYNAMAT. 1 wedge pack would be plenty.. I used 2 as I covered every nook and cranny.
Dynamat extreme is LOTS better, and is shiny... So if your using cathodes it would work wonders as it would reflect the light around.

Shakey_Jake33 said:
Looks like a 120mm fan on that CPU - what CPU and HSF is it?

ThermalRight SI-120 (heatpipes jobbie)... Opteron 144 @ 2.65
(here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Thermalright_CPU_Coolers.html)

Shakey_Jake33 said:
You mention removing the lower 120mm fan - whil I like my machine quiet as poss, I do need the components cool as poss. Did assume it kept both the PSU and HDD's cooler for only minute sound increase.

I dont have any hard disks in the lower compartment.. So the psu just has to cool itself. Does that fine, and it doesnt ramp fan speeds up either

Shakey_Jake33 said:
What kind of 120mm cooling solution would you recommend for HDD's anyway? I hear newer P180's stick an optional fan in the upper HDD bay, limiting HDD's to the lower bay if you wish to use the fan.

Nothing.

I use these:

mounts the hard disk in a 5.25 bay (with the black bay cover on the front of the case still) Over the last few weeks my harddisks havent topped 38oC... Good going in this heat!
(here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Zalman_System_Coolers.html)

Shakey_Jake33 said:
Is the power cable (to the mobo) on the Zalman a good length for the P180? The Seasonic is really too short.
Considering the Zalman, assuming 480w is enough.

I wouldnt know, I am using a HIPER TYPE-R psu with cables cut to length or extended and resoldered...

Cheers,
SAm C

Shakey_Jake33 · 23 Jul 2006 at 20:52

Was pointed towards the XP/Si-120, not sure if it works on LGA775 yet for Conroe though. What's the difference between the XP and Si anyway?

Will definately be using that HDD pipe cooler though. My machine is on 24-7, so HDD cooling really is a necessity in my case.
Might take out that lower fan too, I assumed the PSU would need it because of the cramped space, though it did seem strange given the air would have passed over the HDD, warming it up...

Can't use that PSU though, as my soldering skills are non-existant. Having to go with the Enermaz Liberty right now, in lack of a P180-friendly quieter alternative.

samcat · 23 Jul 2006 at 21:05

Shakey_Jake33 said:
Was pointed towards the XP/Si-120, not sure if it works on LGA775 yet for Conroe though. What's the difference between the XP and Si anyway?

The SI's fins dont join the base, giving MUCH better clearence for caps etc around the cpu socket.

Shakey_Jake33 said:
Will definately be using that HDD pipe cooler though. My machine is on 24-7, so HDD cooling really is a necessity in my case.

Cant fault the zalman hdd cooler... It cools very well, and also isolates the hdd from the case using rubber gromets

Shakey_Jake33 said:
Might take out that lower fan too, I assumed the PSU would need it because of the cramped space, though it did seem strange given the air would have passed over the HDD, warming it up...

Mine has no issues without it. Lots of disks and quite an overclock too so I imagine its a bit stressed...

Shakey_Jake33 said:
Can't use that PSU though, as my soldering skills are non-existant. Having to go with the Enermaz Liberty right now, in lack of a P180-friendly quieter alternative.

I didnt need to solder it with my DFI SLI-DR Expert.... Just the POS board that I am using whilst the DFI is on RMA holidays...

Cheers,
SAm C

GoRedwings19 · 24 Jul 2006 at 06:13

samcat>You done a great job. Unfortunately my hdd are in the lower compartment.

Shakey jake>in the spare teimjin case I had the seasonic 24pin lead and the 12v lead would not reach to the motherboard at all.

I really need to get those fancy lead covers that everyone seems to use. it makes it so much neater. Mine is like all over the place.

I would like to stick with the seasonic psu's. I think for the second system PC I will go with the akasa eclipse 62.

Shakey_Jake33 · 24 Jul 2006 at 09:13

Seasonic are releasing a modular PSU in September, this might become the PSU of choice.

That's too late for me though.