Antec P183 Alternatives?

G

grandmaster

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 19, 2006
Messages
168
Hi,

I'd like to set-up a system with five hard disks, three optical drives and a GTX295.

The natural choice would be an Antec P183. However, is there anything lighter and significantly cheaper that could do the same job?
 
Lian Li may have something that you are looking for. May not be cheaper though.
 
Antec 300
Antec 900
Coolermaster CM690

Only three examples that should fit your needs. I think most full-size towers should be fine.

The real question is, how silent and comfortable do you want to run your system? The P182 (or its friend with the strange face P183) has great sound dampening features.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll see how much they cost here. Any other things to consider?
 
Check out the features of the P183 (sledges for optical drives, removable HDD cages) and think really hard if you can live without them. It's lovely to work with that case.
 
When the Antec 300 is just over a third of the cost of the P183 where I live, I think I can live without it!
 
Narrowed down the choice to the 300 or the CM690.

Can any one weigh in with the pros and cons of each? The latter is marginally more expensive, but I could afford either.
 
Forget the 900. That shit gets too hot without the fans cranked, ask me how I know. Get a 1200 before a 900. It will keep it all nice and cool with low fan speeds.
 
CM690 is a really awesome chassis. It has more room for GPU than the Antec 300 and has many performance features. A great all around chassis.
 
The only problem I have with CM690 is an intake fan at the bottom of the case.
The closer to the floor you get, the more dust there is!
 
MrF said:
The only problem I have with CM690 is an intake fan at the bottom of the case.
The closer to the floor you get, the more dust there is!
Click to expand...
You could always just not use a fan in that spot if you're worried about dust issues.
 
I was concerned about the fact that there is no space under the power supply in CM690, like there is in P182.
So, if your PSU has an intake fan on the bottom, it either sucks the dust in from the floor, or you will have to install the PSU upside down.
I don't like to install my PSU upside down.

I would go for CM690 if I had a PSU with an intake fan on the front instead of the bottom.
 
Having a P182 with fans on different height levels, it really makes no difference how close to the floor your fans are. Dust will get everywhere in equal amounts.
 
CoolerMaster has several other designs (old and new) that are pretty affordable and good looking too, the CM690 is significantly larger than the 300 (and CM probably has several mid-tower cases sized in between the Antec 300 and the 690 too).
 
timme said:
Dust will get everywhere in equal amounts.
Click to expand...

After it gets inside the case, that may be true.
I am talking about where the dust is before it gets inside the case.
Most of the dust sits on the floor or on the tables. Sure, there is also dust floating in the air. But, that is negligible compared to the amount on the floor.

So, if I have a choice between an intake fan on the front of the my case versus right on the bottom of my case, I go for the former.
 
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