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Antec Performance One P280 Midtower Case

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Legit Reviews has one of the brand new Antec Performance One P280 cases in house for a little review action today. It's a nice looking case that's just begging to be modded. Here's a quote from the full review:

Antec set out to fix a couple of the main issues users had with their recent cases. I think they hit the mark. The Performance One P280 has all the looks that the Performance One series is known for and the new features are great
Click to expand...
 
I own P180 silver case. I hate unprotected :) power/reset buttons on top. Accidents waiting to happen, especially how they are flush. Should have been recessed at least as is the case with the 900 case.

I hope they come out with a silver version. I like my Silver 180. Overall I would buy this just for the improvements to the cable management and drive cages. But I am happy with my 180 and will modify it to better the cable management features because I don't like the darkish look of 280.
 
I am definately going to invest in that case. My 800D is too big and bloody loud. I am going to install a Corsair H100 in that case and tow quiet 120MM fans to the front too. I had a P180 and it was quiet but hard to work with inside which is why I changed it.
 
The fans arent what is causing the noise in the case. The fans in my 800D are quiet , but everything else is loud. The HDD's are humming away and I can hear them accessing data and the GPU fans are amplified in the case. Also the case has trouble air cooling and most of my computer is air cooled. Unless you intend on using an 800D with SSD's and watercooling I wouldnt recomend it.
 
hmm... still lacks some majors issues the P180 had... AIR FLOW.

My C2D build was in that... absolutely horribly hot.
 
I cant see where there sould be airflow issues when you can add two 120mm fans in the front of the case
 
I don't like drive doors either

Also, with USB3.0 connectors being backwards compatible with USB2.0 devices, why do case manufacturers include USB2.0 connectors at all? Maybe I am wrong and they aren't backwards compatible?

powertower said:
Yuck, I hate drive doors...
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I'll probably get this for my wife's future PC build/upgrade. I'm still using my P182 and loving it.
 
I see where you're coming from Jessie, but pulling air from the sides cannot compare to direct airflow. The P180 had vents on the sides of the front panel as well and but the interior of my P180 was horribly hot. I like the design and is a good fit for standard use, but anything enthusiast level... where heat displacement or cooling is a concern... not a great fit.

However, from a physical design aspect, looks great. I'll be sticking with my 1200 case. I've been very happy with it.
 
wgm3446 said:
I see where you're coming from Jessie, but pulling air from the sides cannot compare to direct airflow. The P180 had vents on the sides of the front panel as well and but the interior of my P180 was horribly hot. I like the design and is a good fit for standard use, but anything enthusiast level... where heat displacement or cooling is a concern... not a great fit.

However, from a physical design aspect, looks great. I'll be sticking with my 1200 case. I've been very happy with it.
Click to expand...

The space behind the door and the large gap at the sides offers plenty of circulation for any front mounted fans. I estimate about 19" squared of open area, which is a little bit more then the area of 120mm fan. There will be some restriction, but not as much as you would think, and certainly not enough to impede the cooling performance of the average system you'd find inside this case. The p180 was a completely different animal....MUCH more restriction on the front of the case. The open area is a fraction of what it is on the p280.

Still, the P280 is not an enthusiast level case. For that there is the 1200 and the lanboy. This is a case for a more mature taste; people who still want/need a high end machine, but don't want some loud flashy modders special sitting on or under their desk. The muted finish and the front panel door all add up to create a nice none irritating computer chassis that can blend in anywhere. A very nice choice for high end OEM builds imo, as it offers the capability of housing high end gear whilst still maintaining some semblance of low noise and ease of use. Lets be honest here...you won't find the extreme systems crowd breaking any records with this case....but then again, that wasn't Antec's intention with the P280.
 
I cant see where the problem is. If you are worried about airflow then leave the door open. TYhere is plenty of space for the air to get into the fans in this case.
 
That is nearly perfect redesign IMO. If I was buying again, this is what I would get, but my Antec Solo will do fine for now.

These are at least partly aimed at people (like me) who value quiet over absolute cooling performance, and value simple elegance over gaudy bulges and splashes of color.
 
snakeeyes said:
I don't like drive doors either

Also, with USB3.0 connectors being backwards compatible with USB2.0 devices, why do case manufacturers include USB2.0 connectors at all? Maybe I am wrong and they aren't backwards compatible?
Click to expand...

The internal USB3.0 connection on the motherboard has a different pin configuration (20 pin vs 9 pin I believe), and only newer motherboards have these, so I believe that if they only included USB3.0 front ports they would be unusable by some.
 
The p180 was a completely different animal....MUCH more restriction on the front of the case. The open area is a fraction of what it is on the p280.
Click to expand...

*nod* Half the problem with the p180 was the little doors that closed over the fan intakes. They were quite restrictive. The p280 has resolved that little issue nicely.
 
SPCR Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Antec_P280

Problems I see with the case:

The spacing on the front door looks odd and also doesn't seem big enough to feed two 120mm fans. They addressed this with the P183, but it appears they may have regressed here. That being said, the two slotted doors are gone and the fan grilles have dissappeared, so it all probably averages out.

The side door on the review sample didn't fit right and caused case vibrations. The side door on my P182 started causing some vibrations about a year ago. I often have to slide it in one direction or the other to get it to stop buzzing. I'm a bit sad to learn that Antec still has door issues on this model.

Not enough support on the top panel for both 120mm fans to run without significant vibration. It seems like they mickey-moused this feature into the build as an afterthought to get support from watercooling enthusiasts. It's nice that they used four screws for each fan instead of the two screws and a bracket from the P180 series, but if you compromise on the structural support, you're just pushing problems aside instead of solving them.

I honestly don't know if this is a big enough improvement over the P183, which was a pretty big improvement over the P182, to choose it for my next system. Perhaps there will be a refresh before Ivy Bridge becomes affordable.
 
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I had a P180 for three years and I gave it to my brother because it was too cramped inside. Other than that it was a cooler case than my 800D and it was a whole lot quieter. I always used the 200MM side fan and had it at medium speed which was dead quiet but moved enough air to keep my rig cool.
 
The design looks totally outdated, imo. Its no longer 2007, case design has advanced a ton yet Antec hasn't been able to catch up with its once great and highly recommended P models.
 
prava said:
The design looks totally outdated, imo. Its no longer 2007, case design has advanced a ton yet Antec hasn't been able to catch up with its once great and highly recommended P models.
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In my opinion the p180 is still better. I miss the metal seperating the bottom portion from the rest, made cable manage ment really easy.
 
Trimlock said:
In my opinion the p180 is still better. I miss the metal seperating the bottom portion from the rest, made cable manage ment really easy.
Click to expand...

Component design has changed quite a bit. When the P180 came out, many power supplies were built with fans on the side, not on the top/bottom, which required a front to back airflow and the need to compartmentalize the heat generated by these less-efficient units.

Since we're now able to give power supplies dedicated airflow from underneath the case, the partition isn't really necessary which allows us to give you a more open space to work in.
 
Trimlock said:
In my opinion the p180 is still better. I miss the metal seperating the bottom portion from the rest, made cable manage ment really easy.
Click to expand...

I remember my time with the P180 differently. ;) Good cable management was possible, but it required careful planing, thanks in part to the separated lower chamber. While it was one hell of a case at the time, the P280 looks like a solid improvement.
 
Too each his own. The 280 is my favorite Antec case yet. It is a sensible evolution of the design.

I like the bottom power supply, but the separate chamber was a waste on older designs.
The prices is better.
The door is cleaner and can be opened without unplugging front connectors.
The door has better airflow on the sides.
The new fans are extremely quiet (I retrofitted one in my Solo).

It is my favorite case right now to my taste which is quiet case with clean, simple visuals.
 
Antec_Jessie said:
Component design has changed quite a bit. When the P180 came out, many power supplies were built with fans on the side, not on the top/bottom, which required a front to back airflow and the need to compartmentalize the heat generated by these less-efficient units.

Since we're now able to give power supplies dedicated airflow from underneath the case, the partition isn't really necessary which allows us to give you a more open space to work in.
Click to expand...

Good info, also I do think the 280 is a wonderful case but I'm not replacing my 180 to upgrade. Overall it looks like a good improvement and if my
180 should fail I will gladly get this. Btw why did the power button get placed on the top, it was nice having it secured behind the door?
 
Trimlock said:
Good info, also I do think the 280 is a wonderful case but I'm not replacing my 180 to upgrade. Overall it looks like a good improvement and if my
180 should fail I will gladly get this. Btw why did the power button get placed on the top, it was nice having it secured behind the door?
Click to expand...

Easy access. The feedback we got was that people like the door, but don't want to have to open it all the time to get to the power/reset. So, we figured if we move it up top, it gives them the door they want while also making the buttons more accessible. If we kept the lock (which we also did away with) we would have kept the power button behind it.
 
Exactly :) Give me a black front door and I'm in for one. They did this with the P180 also. First came the Black with silver door then came the P180B with a black front door. I'll wait
 
Any chance you guys could make a red P280 even if its a limited edition? I am buying a P280 in february. I cant wait to be rid of this god awful 800D.
 
snakeeyes said:
I don't like drive doors either

Also, with USB3.0 connectors being backwards compatible with USB2.0 devices, why do case manufacturers include USB2.0 connectors at all? Maybe I am wrong and they aren't backwards compatible?
Click to expand...

The ports are but the MB connectors are not. Even the best boards have only one case connector for USB 3. So it makes sense if you have 3+ USB connectors on the case that you would make all but 2 of them USB 2.
 
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