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Choosing A Case from Antec

S

Soldriven

n00b
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
25
I'm pretty new to this all and I wanted to ask if anyone could help me decide on a case. I was looking at the Antec cases: the 900, P180, and the P182. Could anyone help out by telling me how much better or worse each of the cases are in respect to eachother? Also, which one is best for the avg cost that they run for? Are there other options I should look at besides Antec?

I just want a case that is quiet and cool. Cost isn't a huge issue, but its still part of the whole equation of deciding.

Thanks
 
i really love my 900. cable management can be a pain if you dont want to break out the power tools, but if you put some time into it, you can make it work. the cooling out of the box is absolutely ridiculous. it comes with 3 120mm fans (2 front intake, 1 rear exhaust) and 1 giant 200mm fan on the top (also exhaust). its a fairly quiet case if you have all the fans down low; each fan has a 3-speed switch if you dont have a fan controller. i personally have the 200mm fan on high and everything else on low, and i dont really notice a difference from having all the fans on low (and damn does that 200mm fan move some air...i can feel the cool air from several feet away). the case has mounts for 2 more 120mm fans should you still feel the need to add some more airflow. the case is roomy enough for most people's needs; enough room for an sli setup and several hdd's, but if you're the type that has a giant cpu cooler, 8 hdd's, tri sli'd gpu's ect you might find it a bit cramped (but if you want all that you have no business looking at a mid-tower anyway). also, the 900 has a bottom mounted psu, so if you have a fan on the bottom of your psu, youre going to have to flip it.

if you can find the case with a rebate, i wouldnt hesitate to pull the trigger on it. at the regular price of about $120 id give the antec 900 a 8.5/10 (cable management needs improvement out of the box). at the price i paid for the case ($50AR shipped), id say easily 9.5/10.
 
I own a P180B (actually a P182B) for my other PC and absolutely love it. The whole case screams quality. The case is steel so you will not have any vibrations and it also has sound dampening material embedded in the panels/door. I believe Fry's has it now for $70 shipped. If not, then it usually goes on sale for about that price.

Hopefully I can find a somewhat cheap used one to replace my Cooler Master RC690 that this PC uses.
 
Of the 3 listed, p182b would be my choice. Nice sturdy (heavy) and quiet case.
 
we just bought this one for an editing machine I built last week.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129027

Comes with a 650watt PSU and will hold a full length PCI-X card (which was the main requirement for us since the Matrox RT.X2 is a full length card).
We happened to order it when I believe it was on sale for about $155-165 shipped.
 
Is a P182B the same as a P182? or is that really the P180B, i heard, with the revisions?

Also, Microcenter right now has the P182 for 104.99 with a 35 dollar rebate.

But comparisonwise, how much difference is there really between all 3 cases?
 
There is no P182B. There's only P180, P180B, P182 and P182 SE..

Anyway, when the P182 came out, Antec upgraded all of their P180 and P180B cases to have P182 features. So there is no difference between the three cases besides color.

However, there are no serial numbers or markings that indicate which P180 and P180B is the new revised version with P182 features. There are still some retailers out there with stocks of the old P180s and P180Bs. So if you want the latest features for sure, get the P182.

And that's an excellent choice. The P182 is an excellent case.
 
Thanks, that's what I'm looking for. Is there a huge difference between the P182 and the 900?
 
Yes. The 900 is loud, poorly laid out, has bad cable management and looks similar to a riced out Honda.

The P180/P180B/P182 is quiet, reserved, and sleek in comparison. I would strongly recommend replacing the Antec TriCool fans, though, regardless of which you go with. They're horrible.
 
Soldriven said:
Thanks, that's what I'm looking for. Is there a huge difference between the P182 and the 900?
Click to expand...

Yes. The P182 was made with silence as the priority. The 900 was made with maximum cooling in mind. You can see this difference in their design. The P182 has a ton of sound dampening material in it while the 900 has all sorts of spots for fans. The P182 has separate chambers or sections for the PSU, HDD and motherboard while the Antec 900 has a mesh front panel.

However, construction wise, the P182 is better constructed than the 900 IMO. The 900 is a good cooling case but I don't think people should be charged $100 for it. The Cooler Master RC-690 is about the same as the Antec 900 in terms of cooling and quality yet it typically retails for $70 or. C

In terms of cable management, the P182 is a better choice. The 900 is a PITA for cable management.
 
Ahh ok, thanks. Appreciate all the info everyone. Looks like the P182 is probably what I'm looking for then. I'd prefer for it to be more silent and I figure I could always find ways to keep it cool. Thanks again.
 
I agree, the 900's cable management sucks ass.

I just transferred my new system to the 900. Behold the rat's nest:

900_2.jpg

900_1.jpg


Runs freaking cool though:
realtemp.jpg


This case is okay if you don't upgrade too much, it's such a pita to work with. I've got 2GB more RAM coming in and I'm not looking forward to installing it. The results, however, are excellent to say the least. Summer's coming up real soon and if you want to keep your [H]ardware running cool, then this is the case to get! My 8800GTX temps dropped around 5C, and my HD's dropped around 10 C despite the rat's nest. This is the power of the 900.
 
Because there's no vents to suck in on the bottom like the CM 690, I have the same PSU in my 900 and my wires are even more of a mess. I should take some cues from that picture, the fan-wire wrap around looks like a good idea.
 
Soldriven said:
Is there a huge difference in cooling between the 900 and the P182 then?
Click to expand...

Well if you set up your airflow and fans correctly, cooling in the P182 will be pretty close to that of the 900.
 
I only own the P180 (love it btw), but I can assume that with all three of those cases, wiremangement is going to be a misson on its own. They all get good air flow.

I personally like the P180 because it doesn't look like a gamer's case. It's sleek and sexy :D
 
Sounds good Danny. Too bad the Microcenter by my house doesn't have any instock and that rebate lasts until the 30th. So I'll either have to wait for a deal or get one a little more expensive.
 
I just fired up my P180B That's a P182. I thing the version 1.1 chassis is the 182 in differnt guise. I recieved the case at Christmas- just did first power on last night with a Q6600 3870 4gb ram COrsair HX620 PSU.

It's damn near silent with the fans on low. Initially I thought it wasn't working!
 
Im happy with my Antec 900. I love how it literally is an air tunnel, if you put your hand near the top of the case you can feel it sucking in air and with a zalhman 9700 cpu cooler its almost perfect. Like stated in the previous posts cable management sucks. My case looks like a bomb went off in it near the power supply.
 
Danny Bui said:
Yes. The P182 was made with silence as the priority. The 900 was made with maximum cooling in mind. You can see this difference in their design. The P182 has a ton of sound dampening material in it while the 900 has all sorts of spots for fans. The P182 has separate chambers or sections for the PSU, HDD and motherboard while the Antec 900 has a mesh front panel.

However, construction wise, the P182 is better constructed than the 900 IMO. The 900 is a good cooling case but I don't think people should be charged $100 for it. The Cooler Master RC-690 is about the same as the Antec 900 in terms of cooling and quality yet it typically retails for $70 or. C

In terms of cable management, the P182 is a better choice. The 900 is a PITA for cable management.
Click to expand...

I agree with most of those comments about the 900. For the $50, you get a lot for your money, but it can be loud. I don't OC enough to warrant turning the fans up past low in most situations, and I ran a couple of the speed switches outside the case so I can turn them up if need be. For the most part the case is pretty quiet, much queiter than the older Antec case I replaced it with. The only discernible noise is the GPU fan spinning up at times, everything else is a muted hum.

I think the power supply location is what contributes to the poor cable management of the 900, IMHO. I can't really run the power cable for my DVD-RW behind the MB because most PSUs are configured for top mounting and the cables aren't long enough to reach the drive while being routed out of the way.

The 182 was my first choice, but the price I got my 900 at was just too good to pass up.
 
Soldriven said:
Is a P182B the same as a P182? or is that really the P180B, i heard, with the revisions?
But comparisonwise, how much difference is there really between all 3 cases?
Click to expand...

Antec did a great job with the P180B (I have one and fell in love with it immediately) but then realized the cable management wasnt that easy. It took a lot of pre-planning and re-wiring to get it right.

The P182/B Are great, Antec upped the Ante` with this baby and incoorporated a way to run cables behind the motherbaord and through holes to the mobo, making cable management easier and neater. I liked the P182, except the one I saw was mirrored finish on the outside that turned me off, I know how sexy it looks new, but how scratched it will look 6 months from now.

The Antec 900 is NOISY. If you are just looking for a light up, general case that moves some air, dont care about sound, then it is a great case for the money. I have heard and read some good things about temps dropping in this case, but large video cards are a tight fit.

Antec 190 - damn sweet case. They tool all the beauuty, perfection, and sexiness of the 180 series and did it even better in the P190, plus added dual power supplies (1200w total). This baby has more than enough room for anything you want to stick inside, has a HUGE 240mm side fan, 2- 140mm top fans and more. I just moved my gear into the Antec P190 from the P180B and I am so excited. It is quality all around, it makes my 8800GTS KO's look small and gives them plenty of room to breathe. IMHO - Antec 190 is the BEST option.

Depending on what you are putting in there, here is a great comparrison.

This is my gear in the P180
dsc00436im2.jpg


Then my gear in the P190 Notice I also have 2- 8800GTS KO's in the P190, much larger cards than the BFG 7950's above)
p190003hl4.jpg


Notice the room you have in each. Hope that helps.
 
Yea that helps a lot. The 190 is nice, but out of my budget. I was able to get a hold of a P180B for 40, so that isn't bad. I'll probably use the money saved to go for a new mobo/vid card set up soon once I learn more about those too.
 
If you want both, the P180 is great. The 900 is a fairly quiet case, but not as quiet as the P180. It depends on if you want extreme cooling (900)
 
I got myself the P180B. I'm pretty happy and satisfied. It's been cooler than what I originally had and is much more quiet. The wiring was pretty easy too except for the fact that my power supply cords barely reached the slots.
 
As said before, the 900 is very loud, but if the fans are replaced its much quieter. Even on all low settings, there is ALOT of air movement, its quite amazing.
 
What is that fan thingie you have right under your Zalman 9700?

The1stCAV said:
Antec did a great job with the P180B (I have one and fell in love with it immediately) but then realized the cable management wasnt that easy. It took a lot of pre-planning and re-wiring to get it right.

The P182/B Are great, Antec upped the Ante` with this baby and incoorporated a way to run cables behind the motherbaord and through holes to the mobo, making cable management easier and neater. I liked the P182, except the one I saw was mirrored finish on the outside that turned me off, I know how sexy it looks new, but how scratched it will look 6 months from now.

The Antec 900 is NOISY. If you are just looking for a light up, general case that moves some air, dont care about sound, then it is a great case for the money. I have heard and read some good things about temps dropping in this case, but large video cards are a tight fit.

Antec 190 - damn sweet case. They tool all the beauuty, perfection, and sexiness of the 180 series and did it even better in the P190, plus added dual power supplies (1200w total). This baby has more than enough room for anything you want to stick inside, has a HUGE 240mm side fan, 2- 140mm top fans and more. I just moved my gear into the Antec P190 from the P180B and I am so excited. It is quality all around, it makes my 8800GTS KO's look small and gives them plenty of room to breathe. IMHO - Antec 190 is the BEST option.

Depending on what you are putting in there, here is a great comparrison.

This is my gear in the P180
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4055/dsc00436im2.jpg

Then my gear in the P190 Notice I also have 2- 8800GTS KO's in the P190, much larger cards than the BFG 7950's above)
[img]http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5963/p190003hl4.jpg

Notice the room you have in each. Hope that helps.[/QUOTE]
Click to expand...
 
Is there any size difference between cases p-180 and p-182? I'm especially interested in width parameter. I found differnces in specification between those two but in reviews was said it is the same case with few modifications. Can anyone measure it precisely ?(especially model p-182).
Thanks guys
 
P182 Gunmetal is 8 inches in width 21 inches deep and 21 1/4 inch tall.
 
ummon76 said:
Is there any size difference between cases p-180 and p-182? I'm especially interested in width parameter. I found differnces in specification between those two but in reviews was said it is the same case with few modifications. Can anyone measure it precisely ?(especially model p-182).
Thanks guys
Click to expand...

They're the same anymore. The original P180s were a bit more narrow and did not have the holes in the motherboard tray. New P180s are the exact same case as the P182, except they're different colors.
 
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