Verdict: The P180 is the ultimate high-end PC case

The Antec P180 is a rare creation: a large case that doesn't look as though it crawled out of the air-conditioning duct of a server room. Up until recently, the P180 has only been available in silver, but it's now available in black, exclusively through Quiet PC.

The P180's interior design is very innovative; it has two separate chambers - one for the PSU and hard disk cage (which can hold six drives), and another for the motherboard and 5.25in drive bays. However, this makes building a tidy PC inside the P180 a challenge, as the two holes through which the PSU cables have to be routed are small.

Also, putting the PSU at the bottom of the case increases the distance between it and the motherboard, which could cause problems if your PSU has short cables.

The steel chassis is covered by two layers of black plastic, which are intended to muffle noise. The other noise-reducing feature is the hard drive cage, which has rubber grommets that should prevent vibrations from noisy drives transmitting to the rest of the case. The single 3.5in external and four 5.25in external drive bays lurk behind a plastic door with a double hinge, so that it can be folded flat with the side panel, rather than sticking out at an angle. This is not only neater, but it also helps to protect the door from accidental damage.

The P180 is fitted as standard with three 120mm fans, each of which can be manually set to one of three speed settings. One fan acts as an exhaust in the roof of the case, while another expels hot air from the rear. The final 120mm fan (a 38mm-deep monster) drags in cool air through the vents in the sides of the front panel and over the hard disks, before it's exhausted by the PSU. A further 120mm fan can be fitted to the front panel below the 5.25in drive bays, and an 80mm fan can be attached to the side vent to blow cool air over the graphics cards.

We were doubtful that the small intakes on the sides of the front panel would allow the P180 to breathe properly, but thanks to the powerful 38mm-deep fan, the P180 proved to be one of the coolest-running cases. Even with all three fans set to the medium speed setting, the CPU temperature peaked at just 74ûC, 8ûC less than inside the AOpen Impression. Airflow is also helped by the laterally mounted 3.5in drive cage, which doesn't restrict airflow over the hard disks. This resulted in a very respectable peak hard disk drive temperature of 44ûC. The infrared photograph backs up these conclusions, showing no obvious hotspots, thanks to the twin exhausts that blow hot air out of the top and rear of the case.

The Antec P180 doesn't provide the same level of cooling as the Akasa Mirage, but it's far better-looking, has anti-vibration mounts for the drive bays and is fitted with three speed-adjustable fans as standard. It's also possible to further improve its cooling ability by adding 120mm and 80mm intake fans to the two spare mounts. If you're after a cool and quiet high-end PC, or just a quality case, the Antec P180 is the case to buy.

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