Cheap Antec P180 Mid tower case with 3 Layer Sound Panels Dampening (Electronics) Price

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Customer Reviews of Antec P180 Mid tower case with 3 Layer Sound Panels Dampening

this is an amazing case - if it's what you're lookig for
this case is absolutely amazing but it has to be the kind of case you're looking for. if you want your case to look like a creature is living next to your desk look elsewhere. This case resembles a refridgerator, sleek brushed Al look that is appeasing to the eye. <
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>the case is really tall - it is just short of tower, by half an inch maybe. so before you buy, make sure it will fit in your space for your tower! some complain about its weight but who cares about the weight - if you carry your desktop around from place to place to game you probably are more interested in the flashing lights, side windows, LOUD fans kind of case. Fully loaded it, with NO exaggeration, probably weighs in the 40 pounds range. but it's stationary so it doesn't bother me. <
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>aside from looks, this case out performs any that i have used. the fans that are used are extremely quiet - barely audible on the Low setting - I have no need to put them on High. The case come equipped with rubber bushings to keep vibrations from hard drives to at a minimum, they're not cheap crappy rubber either. The USB, Firewire, Audio wires from the front panel are blocked (Very convient) and the audio has single pin wires too incase your motherboard does not support the block configuration, which most motherboards do. The power switch, reset switch, power LED, and HD LED are blocked as well. <
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>overall setup of this case is pretty simple, i would recommend on getting a recommended Antec power supply because it is a LONG reach from the bottom to the top for ATX power, and the 12V for P4s. I am running Antec SP500 and cable length issues were not a problem but if using another one you will probably have to buy extension adapters. <
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>The front door is pretty nice but it would be a little bit better if it was made a little bit sturdier - but it is NOT flimsy. the magnets are as strong as they should be. Like one of the other reviewers said the lock is a joke, it locks the bottom 8 inches of the door and you can peel back the top but I have no need for extreme security. The side panels are made from 3 layers of material, as I am sure you've read about. The clips on these are plastic but are sturdy - if you are not FORCING the panel on then you will have no problems with breaking it, and same goes with the door, if you do not use excessive force nothing will break. <
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>Overall I would recommend this case. It is the most I have personally spent on a computer case but when compared to some other cases I looked at in a specialty computer store, this is by far nicer in every aspect, from astetics to overall construction. Shipping weight is 35 pounds so you know it's not cheap plastic Al stuff. I spent $100 which I find to be alot when a power supply is not provided but you get what you pay for. Case is practically silent - loudest sound is my 18 Dba CPU fan. Specs I am running are as follows: <
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>3.0Ghz Prescott P4 <
>120mm CPU Zalman All CU CPU cooler (18dba noise level) <
>128mb Nvidia FX5600 <
>2 Gig of RAM <
>2 250 Gig 7200 RPM Hard drives (WD and Segate) <
>1 36.7 Gig 10,000 RPM WD Raptor <
>Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (sound card) <
>Sony DVD/CD Burner <
>Antec SP500 modular power supply <
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>running all this, the 3 included fans, and loudest is my CPU cooler, which is EXTREMELY quiet.

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Poorly made case with great reviews
I've had this case for about a month. It's a decent case, but the manufacture is very poor. The tabs (which are plastic) have broken off both side panels (the panels attach poorly and some force is needed to atach and remove them). If you are going to do a build and never open your case again - it will be fine. But if you open occasionally you will find how poor the construction is. Antec will not fix the panels! They say it is not a warranty item! After the panels comes the front door panel (which folds back upon itself - a neat idea - except the panel is hinged by ..... you guessed it - plastic dowels - which ..... you guessed again - have now broken off! <
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>So, I have a case with now front panel and two poorly attached side panels. <
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>The design itself is good - though unless your power supply has extra long cables - it is likely that they will not reach the connectors on the motherboard without additional extensions - which may raise all kind of power stability issues. <
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>Great idea Antec, but don't cut corners and make high use items from easily sheared plastic materials.

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Quiet and cool, with some annoyances
I recently performed open-heart surgery on my server, moving it from an old Antec "Performance Series" case to this new P180 model. Annoyances aside, I am pleased with the P180. <
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>* It runs cooler. The 120 mm fans are at once quieter and more effective than common 80 mm fans. The fans that come with the P180 have switches that let you select from three speed settings. (A chart in the manual gives electrical, air movement, and speed values for each setting, so I don't know why the other reviewer would need tachometers.) Also, the P180 leaves space between adjacent 3.5-inch hard drive bays. There's room for air to circulate around my hard drives, without my having to leave every other bay empty! <
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>* It runs quieter. I have one 15,000 RPM and two 10,000 RPM Ultra160 SCSI drives, so I should know. <
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>* It looks nicer. The front and side panels are plain, metallic-colored surfaces. There are no ridges, curves, lights, baffles, swivelling panels, push-button doors, grilles, or other hideous, dust-attracting, and often fragile "decorations". <
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>Now, for the annoyances. When I was sitting on my living room floor with pin-out diagrams, screws, packaging, a flashlight, cables, and sundry computer components spread out around me, I remembered that there is no perfect computer case! <
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>* You will need an ATX power supply extension cable, because the P180 moves the power supply far away from the motherboard. Antec could have included this $6 accessory in the box, because the case design makes it an absolute necessity. Smaller computer stores may have to special-order this kind of accessory. <
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>* The lockable front door is a silly idea. It doesn't improve security, because the side panel is secured with thumbscrews! <
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>* A power switch behind the front door is a silly idea. It doesn't improve security, because you can always yank the power plug at the back. It does make things less convenient, because you have to open the door to turn on the computer. <
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>* The upper 3.5-inch drive cage holds only two drives, and there's a space for an optional thin 120 mm fan ahead of this cage. The lower 3.5-inch drive cage holds four drives, and there's a pre-installed thick 120 mm fan behind this cage. The lower cage is, therefore, the logical place to start putting hard drives. However, the lower cage doesn't leave much room for the IDE or SCSI cable loops that go from drive to drive. Flat cables would be a disaster, and round cables have to be harnessed and restrained to prevent contact with the fan. Moreover, one SCSI bus accommodates 8 to 16 devices, but the lower drive cage is so far away from the upper drive cage and the 5.25-inch bays that SCSI cables won't reach between these locations. If you want more than 4 SCSI devices, you'll need a custom cable -- or two separate SCSI buses, one for the devices in the lower cage and another for the devices in the upper cage and/or the 5.25-inch bays. <
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>* The front-panel connectors are very limited, and because of the door, there isn't much point in installing a front-panel solution in one of the externally-accessible drive bays. A 6-pin FireWire port is provided, with no 4-pin port. Worse yet, the lead for the FireWire port has a plug that fits a header on certain motherboards with built-in FireWire support. You're out of luck if -- like most PC users who have FireWire -- you bought a PCI card. With shipping, Antec's $5 plug adapter costs almost $20. Why not include it in the box? <
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>* The drive rails (required for 5.25-inch devices) are downgraded. P180 rails have only one row of holes, which lines up with the LOWER row on 5.25-inch devices. "Performance Series" rails had two rows of holes. The old rails were perfect for devices like plastic removable hard drive racks, where only the UPPER row on the device has pre-fitted screw holes. <
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>* The plastic duct that can be installed to supply fresh air to an AGP graphics card takes up a lot of space inside the case. It would seem to interfere with airflow to PCI cards. It would also seem to interfere with SCSI cables emerging from a PCI SCSI card. <
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>The P180 is a quiet and cool case, though like all cases, it has its own minor annoyances.