Antec 1200 vs. Antec P182

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flagpolekilla

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Jan 17, 2005
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Hey all. I'm looking at purchasing a new case along with a new build. I narrowed down my search to two cases, the Antec 1200 and the Antec P182. I like how big both of the cases are for expandability later down the road, the looks of each case, and the cooling. I'm just curious what you all think about these cases and what input you have to sway me one way or another.

Links to:

Antec P182 Gun Metal Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129025

Antec Twelve Hundred Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129043
 
if you care about noise at all go with the P182. I don't think I could ever go back to a noisy case again, now owning an FT-01. You will still need to set the fans on low though.
 
I would say go with the P182. I owned a Thermaltake Armour+ that had similar characteristics to the Twelve Hundred (mesh over the entire front, side vent, etc). I found after little under two months that it was just waaayyy to loud. I could hear the CPU fan through the front of the case. I even went as far as to replace all the fans with quieter ones and still it was too loud.

I then purchased a Coolermaster ATCS 840 which I added noise dampening padding to (similar to what the P182 has by default). I cannot hear any noise at all but when the 4870x2 fan spins up if the GPU gets too hot.

I would go with the quieter case as you can always mod more holes for airflow or to add fans, but buying noise dampening material is expensive (I spent around 100 dollars).

I would also recommend purchasing a fan controller if you are really worried about noise. That way you can control and adjust the speed of the fans on the fly (rather than in the bios or through software loaded on the pc). I purchased the NXZT Sentry, and while it’s a tad pricey, its made my life so much easier as it automatically adjusts the rpm’s of the fans on the fly based on 5 temperature probes (one probe per fan)
 
Are you guys referring to stock fan noise? I replaced all the stock fans in my Twelve Hunred with S-FLEX fans. The only fan I hear is the heatsink fan (also replaced with an S-FLEX), and that's because it's powered by the motherboard and not my controller, so it's ramped up a little more than the case fans.

Build quality is very nice, and one of the big selling points was the matte black finish inside.
 
The P182 is quieter and of better build quality than the Antec 1200. However the Antec 1200 does cool a bit better than the P182.

OH and do note that the P183, the new and improved version of the P182, is the same price as the Antec 1200 and is cheaper than the P182 once you factor in shipping:
$160 - Antec P183 ATX Case (has free shipping)

So I highly recommend getting the Antec P183. With that said, be sure to read these reviews to make sure that the case is for you:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/antec-p183
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php/?option=com_content&task=view&id=314&Itemid=61/
 
The reason I went with the P182 over the P183 was the wind tunnel removal. If you look at the picture online, the P182 still has the wind tunnel for the PSU. The P183 doesn't anymore. I read a review saying it was to improve cable management.
 
flagpolekilla said:
The reason I went with the P182 over the P183 was the wind tunnel removal. If you look at the picture online, the P182 still has the wind tunnel for the PSU. The P183 doesn't anymore. I read a review saying it was to improve cable management.
Click to expand...

Wind tunnel? You mean the lower fan bracket?
 
Yeah, my buddy has the P180 and when we were talking he referred to it as a wind tunnel, lol. But yes, the lower fan bracket that is after the 3.5" drive bay mount. In the P183, Antec removed it. I'm not sure how much of a difference that would cause...
 
flagpolekilla said:
Yeah, my buddy has the P180 and when we were talking he referred to it as a wind tunnel, lol. But yes, the lower fan bracket that is after the 3.5" drive bay mount. In the P183, Antec removed it. I'm not sure how much of a difference that would cause...
Click to expand...

As far as PSU cooling, probably not much. For HDD cooling though, it's a big difference. Now that the fan is in front of the lower HDD bay, you'll see much lower temps, have easier cable management and can fit larger sized PSUs. I have the original P180 case and that's what I did: Mod the case to fit the 120mm fan in front of the lower HDD bay. Saw a 8-9C drop in HDD temperatures.
 
p182-09.jpg

P180/P182

P183_open.jpg

P183




So they moved the fan to the front? Didn't really notice that until I looked at these pictures I put up.
 
Where you gonna put all your drivez at? Lol. Either one will do fine. The 183 will allow more room for one of the new shoebox sized PSU's.

My 1200. Cable management kinda sucks, but whatever.

SG1L1340low.jpg
 
douglatins said:
The P182 i not for cooling excellence, but low noise... and its kinda cramped
Click to expand...
P193 again is Antec's biggest case which takes long graphics cards without shoehorning regardless what you have in HDD/5.25"bays thanks to E-ATX size.
http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/cases/640-antec-p193-case-review?start=1
Actually P18x takes long graphics card well if you remove upper HDD cage while retaining space for four HDDs in lower chamber.


EndersShadow said:
I owned a Thermaltake Armour+ that had similar characteristics to the Twelve Hundred (mesh over the entire front, side vent, etc). I found after little under two months that it was just waaayyy to loud. I could hear the CPU fan through the front of the case. I even went as far as to replace all the fans with quieter ones and still it was too loud.
Click to expand...
Fan noise isn't the only problem because also HDD noises leak directly out and that will happen especially with hard HDD mounting.
 
My Twelve Hundred is very quiet. The trick is to not use the stock case fans. That's a given for just about every case. Sometimes I hear a little hard drive activity, but it's worth the better cooling. Big fans going across all my hard drives. It's blissful.
 
flagpolekilla said:
Yeah, my buddy has the P180 and when we were talking he referred to it as a wind tunnel, lol. But yes, the lower fan bracket that is after the 3.5" drive bay mount. In the P183, Antec removed it. I'm not sure how much of a difference that would cause...
Click to expand...

It wasnt removed from the p183, it was moved to the front, so it is in front of the HDD's not between the HDD's and the PSU
 
E.T said:
P193 again is Antec's biggest case which takes long graphics cards without shoehorning regardless what you have in HDD/5.25"bays thanks to E-ATX size.
http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/cases/640-antec-p193-case-review?start=1
Actually P18x takes long graphics card well if you remove upper HDD cage while retaining space for four HDDs in lower chamber.


Fan noise isn't the only problem because also HDD noises leak directly out and that will happen especially with hard HDD mounting.
Click to expand...

I went so far as to elastically mount the HDD's which removed most of the noise (but still not enough)
 
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