Monday 1st October 2007

Antec shrinks P180 case

Posted at: 2:39am 1st October 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

A mini version of the award winning P180 case for gamers on the move

It might not be as small as your average Shuttle box, but it could be the next best thing for gamers who like to cart their hulking, high-end PCs around with them. It’s a mini version of Antec’s acclaimed P180 case, and it takes a microATX motherboard and still comes with a 200mm fan in the top.

In a nod towards the good old double entendre, Antec claims that ‘good things come in small packages,’ and describes the case as ‘a stylishly small enclosure’ that’s ‘perfect for gamers on the move.’ The company also adds that ‘you won’t believe the quality we’ve fit into this petite portable case,’ and it may well have a point if you look at the specs.

All you’re missing out on is a full-size ATX motherboard, but you rarely need all those 1x PCI-E slots and extra PCI slots anyway. As a result of the trimming, the mini P180 now has dimensions of just 212 x 436 435mm (W x D x H), compared with the original P180’s dimensions of 205 x 507 x 540mm (W x D x H), so it’s noticeably smaller. No details on pricing or availabilty in the UK have been released yet, but we'll bring you that news as soon as have it.

Is the mini P180 a triumph for design or a wasted effort? Do gamers really want microATX cases? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Comments

micro atx for gamers

:Why have a gamer micro ATX case when no decent gaming micro ATX motherboards exist? Don’t Antec have a fundamental problem by trying to target the gamer community with a micro ATX case? The gamer will always want the ability to significantly over clock their motherboard. As far as I can tell there are simply no micro ATX motherboards that have this ability at the present time (e.g. the ASUS P5BVM and Gigabyte, although good mid range boards, are in my opinion terrible at over clocking). Given this wouldn’t it be better for CustomPC to do a spread on the best overclockable micro ATX motherboards in the market? This will then give us the ability to decide whether the P180 mini, or indeed any micro ATX case, can ever be considered a valid contender for gamers on the move.: ASUS P5E-VM HDMI iG35 Socket 775 onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard this board will hold its own against any full sized atx board you care to mention. As for the graphics card question, the p180 mini will take an nvidia 8800. you can even fit a tuniq tower cpu cooler in it. its not your atandard micro atx case, its just as wide as the p182 but shorter in height. 200mm top exhaust fan, 120mm rear exhaust fan, and room for 2 120mm intake fans up front, not to mention the beautiful interior design. Antec have a little gem here

Comment by Technopunk at 10:55am 25th April 2008

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What about Antec's Fusion!!

I liked this case and I thinked it looked a lot nicer and could be just as portable....

Comment by hierax at 5:00pm 5th October 2007

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Why have a gamer micro ATX case when no decent gaming micro ATX motherboards exist?

Don’t Antec have a fundamental problem by trying to target the gamer community with a micro ATX case? The gamer will always want the ability to significantly over clock their motherboard. As far as I can tell there are simply no micro ATX motherboards that have this ability at the present time (e.g. the ASUS P5BVM and Gigabyte, although good mid range boards, are in my opinion terrible at over clocking). Given this wouldn’t it be better for CustomPC to do a spread on the best overclockable micro ATX motherboards in the market? This will then give us the ability to decide whether the P180 mini, or indeed any micro ATX case, can ever be considered a valid contender for gamers on the move.

Comment by obingham1 at 10:53am 5th October 2007

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looks quite neat, antec gear is normaly great so cant see why this wouldnt be

Comment by MDK_UK at 12:31am 2nd October 2007

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Hopefully antec have thought about that and only put cages in the bottom...for a "baby" PC only a single drive is required...two at the most so having multiple cages is a waste anyway... One drive cage in the bottom with room for 2 drives. Decent space at the top (only 1 external 5 1/4" ...maybe two one for DVD one for fan (decent antec controller on the back???)) room for a normal PSU and your done for a LAN rig anyway...

Comment by reashlin at 12:07am 2nd October 2007

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I'm a bit worried about the size. Gamers will still need to fit the latest graphics cards, and they tend to be quite large. Will they fit in this case, or will the drive cage(s) get in the way?

Comment by l3v1ck at 8:45pm 1st October 2007

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I like the look of it and was getting ready to build a small LAN based rig. The front isnt as nice as either my P180 or the P190 I have but the extra ventage could be required. I will be very interested. Again what is the model no.?

Comment by reashlin at 8:05pm 1st October 2007

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My first (PC World) PII 466mhz was a mini ATX case and to be frank it was an ideal size. Standard ATX looks great as a big show of rig for LAN's, but with a car full of other kit you soon wish you had a smaller case. I've been looking to start selling miniATX size PC's some time in the future so to see microATX based towers like this is heartening :)

Comment by F_A_F at 3:26pm 1st October 2007

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Nice idea

Looks good, but the new front wrecks it for me TBH...whats the model number then?

Comment by prosser13 at 3:23pm 1st October 2007

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i love micro atx

i want micro atx gamer cases after all when i buy motherboard i allways get micro atx motherboard because its cheaper. full atx cases are easy to do stuff inside but when you move the pc all the time your better off with a micro atx case plus micro atx cases look neat :D but if your one of these people that leave the side of the case open i think ur better off with a full atx unless you want to learn how to make a case neat inside :D

Comment by megapig at 2:48pm 1st October 2007

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