Antec P180

Verdict: The P180 is the finest air-cooled case available

A case can make the difference between a reasonable PC and a good one. On the one hand, a case is just a box to put your PC's bits in. However, it should also keep your components cool and do it quietly.

Unfortunately, many cases only take care of the former requirement. Cases that cover both bases are in short supply, so when a case that does meet both requirements is given a makeover, it generates real excitement in the Custom PC labs. Well, some excitement. Not loads, okay? We're not that odd.

Anyway, when Antec's latest high-end chassis, the P180, dropped onto our doormat, we were chuffed to say the least. The P160 was an excellent chassis, and has been a favourite of ours ever since we first reviewed it back in March 2004. The only problem with the P160 was the lack of space available for water-cooling kit, so we hoped its successor would have lots of room for mounting unusual gizmos, such as pumps and big dual-fan radiators.

However, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves - obviously due to adrenalin and excitement. Before we start talking about the insides, we should talk about the exterior, which is quite different to the P160. The front of the case sports a plastic door that feels a little flimsy and has a shiny aluminium cover for added bling. A similar observation could be made of the shiny side panels, although these are 'double-skinned,' with a thicker, more rigid slice of aluminium inside as well as out, so they should reduce vibrations, and not just pimp your rig.

Don't let the P180's boxy exterior put you off though. Underneath the flimsy-looking aluminium skin lies a skeleton of steel. Inside, the sharp edges are all safely rolled, which is a luxury that we're slowly becoming accustomed to.

The next notable feature - features always being secondary to a reviewer's personal safety - is the upside-down layout. The P180 isn't BTX-compatible, but it's been designed so that it won't be too difficult for Antec to produce a BTX version, should Intel's new form factor take off and not go the way of the Sinclair C5.

The internal layout of the P180 is very similar to that of the Lian-Li PC-V1100B, as the PSU is located below the motherboard. Keeping the PSU separate from the rest of the computer in this way should help to keep the PSU's operating temperature low. This is important because when a PSU overheats, it no longer produces power at its rated outputs, which could lead to your PC throwing a wobbly.

In front of the PSU compartment is a removable hard disk caddy, the screwholes of which are pre-fitted with rubber grommets in order to reduce drive vibration and noise. The caddy has space for four 3.5in drives. In addition to this, the P180 has a further two internal 3.5in bays, also situated in a caddy, a single external 3.5in bay and four external 5.25in bays. The latter two sets of drive bays both use rails to hold the drives in place, which is convenient, though not great for noise. Fortunately, the caddy with the two internal 3.5in bays is 'grommeted', once again to reduce noise.

Interestingly, the lowest of the four 5.25in bays is separate from the other three. While this doesn't make any difference in terms of usage, it piqued our interest. After a brief correspondence with Antec, we discovered that the bay has been designed so the P180 can be easily adopted to support BTX. It seems likely that this lower bay will be replaced with the main air intake for a BTX motherboard's CPU ducting system.

performance

Having solved this puzzle, we can move on to airflow. The P180's fan layout is clearly superior to that of the P160 and is one of the most innovative designs that we've seen.

There are two 120mm exhaust fans to cope with cooling the motherboard: one at the top of the back panel, and the other on top of the case. There's a 120mm fan mount located halfway up the front of the case, but Antec doesn't supply a fan for it. Most interesting of all, though, is the positioning of the second 120mm intake fan between the PSU enclosure and the lower most 3.5in hard disk caddy.

There's also a duct with an 80mm fan mount that supplies cool air directly to your graphics card. You'll have to remove this duct whenever you want to change a card or access certain areas of your motherboard, but for people who are currently using PCI blowers, or perhaps have passively cooled graphics cards, this neat little duct is just the ticket. It attaches to the space between the PCI brackets and the case's left side panel, and the fan mount can slide backwards and forwards to allow you to direct the air to exactly where it's needed.

However, while the fan mounts are creatively and smartly located for air-cooled PCs, the P180 has a lot less to offer if you're into water cooling. None of the 120mm mounts is paired with another, which unfortunately means you can't easily mount a double 120mm fan-size radiator.

More importantly, though, there's no obvious location for a pump or reservoir. That said, if you were to remove either of the hard disk caddies then there's probably enough space in which to cram a pump. However, ultimately, the P180 will require cutting if you want to install a high-performance liquid-cooling system.

If this news leaves you a little disappointed, then maybe some of the other little touches that Antec has included will help to alleviate your pain. The two exhaust fans both have independent speed control, although the large fan that cools the PSU doesn't have this option. The PSU bay is designed so that you can mount the PSU upside down, should you wish, and there's clearance for a PSU with 120mm fan on the top and bottom. One of the drive caddies has a box for holding screws on the back of it, and last but not least, the caddies have handles so you can easily slide them in and out.

CONCLUSION

Initially, we were hoping that the P180 would resolve some of the problems we've encountered during our search for a case that provides sufficient space for water-cooling.

Unfortunately, this was not to be. The Cooler Master Stacker is a better bet for a water-cooling setup, as the P180 would need a lot of modification that would probably drastically reduce its capacity for holding drives.

However, if you think that water-cooling your PC is only a step away from drenching it with a garden hose, then the P180 is a masterpiece. It borrows some design aspects from the Lian-Li PC-V1100B, but offers a more sophisticated cooling system and looks better. The P180 is the finest air-cooled case available.

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