New Antec P160W build

[azulcorvette]

Well, I bit the bullet and decided to stop dumping money into my old Antec Lanboy (with modding and painting and such). I had 90 dollars worth of paint into it and thanks to the stupid buffer/polisher, it tipped the computer case over and scratched up the whole paint job on the window side.

So here's my computer (Antec Lanboy) as of the past few weeks:

It was last week I decided to invest 77 dollars by getting an Antec P160W case directly from Antec's B Stock website. Great price, great condition, great case. I aboslutely love it.

Here's the specs of my computer followed by pictures of the actual computer with the new case:

Processor: Athlon 64 3200+ s754 @ stock speeds w/ Zalman CNPS6000-ALCU
Motherboard: ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
Graphics Card: BFG 6800GTOC AGP @ stock speeds
Corsair 3x512MB PC3200 Valueselect with Vantec heatspreaders
1st Hard Drive: WD Raptor 36 Gig 10,000 RPM w/ Antec Hard Drive Cooler
2nd Hard Drive: Seagate Baracuda 200 Gig 7,200 RPM
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
TV Tuner card and remote: ATI TV Wonder PCI w/ ATI Remote Wonder
DVD Burner: NEC 8x DVD-RW
Power Supply: Ultra X-Connect 500 Watt
Case: Antec P160W
1x Antec 120mm 1600 RPM clear fan
1x Antec 120mm 2000 RPM blue LED fan
2x Cold Cathodes from Xoxide :biggrin:

Besides the stuff inside the box, I have a Viewsonic VA1912wb 19" widescreen LCD, Microsoft Optical Wireless Desktop Elite keyboard/mouse combo, Sennheiser HD 555 headphones, and a Marantz/Boston Acoustics/M&K 6.1 surround sound setup.

And now what you've been waiting for... the awesome pictures!

Side shot with flash:

Side shot without flash:

Cool angle of the inside:

Front bezel without flash:

Front bezel with flash:

My favorite picture of all of them, the angle of the entire case:

Hope you enjoyed seeing my computer, please post comments as to whether you like it or not and reasoning why.

Thanks for looking!

-Ryan
(more information on my stereo and setup @ Ryan's Home Cinema

 

[jcll2002]

i love that p160w. its my favorite!

 

[Darkside]

azulcorvette..nice job on the update...looking gooooooooood

 

[azulcorvette]

Took 4 hours to move everything in there. Some things took more time than anticipated such as the stealth drive, figuring out how to work the bezel and right side panel, wiring the front audio ports to my Audigy 2 ZS, wire management (took too much time), and deciding where to put the cold cathodes and how to wire them.

It's a great case but with that big window is hard to hide all the wires. The old style Ultra X-Connect is a big no-no if you don't like the snakes in your case.

 

[azulcorvette]

any more comments?

 

[N H O]

did your temps drop any in the new case?

 

[azulcorvette]

did your temps drop any in the new case?

Yes, I have massive drops in temps. The Cpu used to be always above 40 degrees. Currently it's 31. Temps inside the case measure 25 at the bottom and 29 on top. When I play games these go up a little but not too much. Surprisingly, the 120mm fan blowing on my Seagate Baracuda hard drive does a lot better job than the Antec Hard Drive cooler I have which I have cooling my Raptor. But both are good temps anyways. My video card (BFG 6800GT AGP with stock BFG cooler) went down from around 70 degrees max to 66 which is just enough to help out my overheating problems. I'm thinking about getting a Zalman VF900-CU though to cool it because 66 is still high for idle.

Thanks for looking!

 

[N H O]

ah thats good to know, them 6800gt's run hot as hell!

 

[g33zy]

nice job dude...i saw the thread title and was like ok lemme dig up my thread and help this poor soul out, but then I saw who it was.

Nice to see you bit the bullet and went for the p160w. Now take a pic with the side panel off. I also see you took some of those sexy side angle pics! haha....gimme my 15% royalty! lol j/k.

Moar pics!

 

[Anavel0]

Nice case! I love the color combo, very nice.

 

[N H O]

did the antec vcool help the video card temps any?

 

[azulcorvette]

did the antec vcool help the video card temps any?

The Antec VCool is the #1 thing in the world I most hate. I like Antec except for this piece of junk they made. It's supposed to deliver cold air to the video card. Instead it just fiddles with the air inside the case and moves supposidly 15 cfm MAX. A decent 80mm fan can do 50 and a really nice 80mm fan could do over 80. 15 is horrible. It's a piece of junk not to mention it's loud and takes up two PCI expansion slots. My goal is to get a VF900-CU when I have 40 bucks to spare.

 

[azulcorvette]

nice job dude...i saw the thread title and was like ok lemme dig up my thread and help this poor soul out, but then I saw who it was.

Nice to see you bit the bullet and went for the p160w. Now take a pic with the side panel off. I also see you took some of those sexy side angle pics! haha....gimme my 15% royalty! lol j/k.

Moar pics!

Here's g33zy's 15% royalty: |||||||||| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | (each || is yours, each | | is mine)



So anyways, here's the pictures you requested. Thanks to your thread, it was a main influence why I baught this case.

With Flash:

Without Flash: (another favorite):

Enjoy!

 

[g33zy]

very nice bro...

few areas need to be addressed (in red) but I like what you did there. The green are teh parts I like most.

The cathode wire, take off that tape and run that wire up against the case and if you have the length put it behind teh frame going under the PSU, kinda like where I put my rear case fan wire. I had to zip tie it because they started falling out. The Optical drive bay, I don't know what to tell ya, lol. It was the hardest part to clear up, just try different things and you'll work something out.

As of right now though, its an excellent build and looks sweet. Still hoping you go with the red tri cool in the front like you planned. But all of these things can be addressed later. Right now, enjoy your sexy new girlfriend, Pamela 1Sixty.

 

[g33zy]

Oh and since you might be having some bendage on that gfx card like me, you might want to invest in a cardkeeper like what I had to do.

 

[Adionik]

Niiiiiiiiiiice. My friend has that case, i love it.

 

[azulcorvette]

very nice bro...

few areas need to be addressed (in red) but I like what you did there. The green are teh parts I like most.

The cathode wire, take off that tape and run that wire up against the case and if you have the length put it behind teh frame going under the PSU, kinda like where I put my rear case fan wire. I had to zip tie it because they started falling out. The Optical drive bay, I don't know what to tell ya, lol. It was the hardest part to clear up, just try different things and you'll work something out.

As of right now though, its an excellent build and looks sweet. Still hoping you go with the red tri cool in the front like you planned. But all of these things can be addressed later. Right now, enjoy your sexy new girlfriend, Pamela 1Sixty.

If only you saw what was behind the right side panel

I'll do something with the cold cathodes because electrical tape is really weak (at least the stuff I have) so I need to get some velcroe or use some zipties or something. As for the CD drive bay, ummm I think it's almost impossible to fix because all the wires from the front (switches, sound in/out, usb, wirewire, and power) gotta go thru there and down to wherever each goes. I'd have to unplug all of them to change the wiring and I really don't want to do that because it took so long to get the audio ports just right into my Audigy 2 ZS .

But thanks for the tips though.

Ryan

P.S. what's this card keeper that you speak of?

 

[g33zy]

If only you saw what was behind the right side panel

I'll do something with the cold cathodes because electrical tape is really weak (at least the stuff I have) so I need to get some velcroe or use some zipties or something. As for the CD drive bay, ummm I think it's almost impossible to fix because all the wires from the front (switches, sound in/out, usb, wirewire, and power) gotta go thru there and down to wherever each goes. I'd have to unplug all of them to change the wiring and I really don't want to do that because it took so long to get the audio ports just right into my Audigy 2 ZS .

But thanks for the tips though.

Ryan

P.S. what's this card keeper that you speak of?

Its not impossible, when I first wired her up my optical drive area was chaos but after time, little by little I got it together. Also, what can help, you don't have to unplug them neceissarily, you could just move them out of the way and run completely down the back side of the 5.25 bay.

The cardkeeper is the black things I have on the side of my gfx card. Since it was bending so much I put it in to keep it straight. Since 7800GTs xFx has included them with the cards.

Here's a link if you want to get one (I had to get 2 special ones because of the SLi)
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=75&zenid=2ff2cfb2f7dfd4ed9fb606762133860c&main_page=index

 

[azulcorvette]

I did some new wire management while I was off doing other stuff like putting a Zalman VF900-CU in, putting velcroe in to hold the lights, putting in a sound activated module for the cold cathodes, and moving some fans. All in all, I'm very happy. Pics below:


I seriously don't think you'll find a better organized case than mine

 

[g33zy]

VERY NICE!


You see, the wire management gets easier and easier when you take it in stages.


Few things to touch up.... ....i know i'm sorry but we're going for perfection!

• You shouldn't have changed the flat ASUS cable. I think it looked better than the round yellow one.
• That wire that goes to the front LEDs, its just killing me to see it out there like that.
• Clean that dust off the front of the vents!!! lol

On the real though, the case is looking good. VERY good. And if you feel like it you can get a cardkeeper casue that gfx card is gettin some bendage (not necessary, just a thought).

 

[azulcorvette]

VERY NICE!


You see, the wire management gets easier and easier when you take it in stages.


Few things to touch up.... ....i know i'm sorry but we're going for perfection!

• You shouldn't have changed the flat ASUS cable. I think it looked better than the round yellow one.
• That wire that goes to the front LEDs, its just killing me to see it out there like that.
• Clean that dust off the front of the vents!!! lol

On the real though, the case is looking good. VERY good. And if you feel like it you can get a cardkeeper casue that gfx card is gettin some bendage (not necessary, just a thought).

Round Yellow IDE cable: my black ASUS ones were kindof annoying because they took up a lot of room in the back (side). I put the round one in because I had it laying around and thought that it'd match the giant rubber hoses that the Ultra X-Connect power supply had.



Wire to the front LED's: right after I took the picture I saw it and moved it so it's actually hidden now.



Dust: That's not dust! That's a reflection or something of the flash. I had just used a can of dust off throughout the case before taking the pictures. (At least I was sure I did)



I called up Antec and they are sending me a blank 5.25 cover and a blank 3.5 cover so that it doesn't look like I have two CD drives and a floppy, because all I have is a single CD drive in the case. It'll be here tomorrow. New picture hopefully tomorrow.



Thanks for the help g33zy! And a card keeper would work with the 6800GT with a Zalman VF900-CU on it? Just wondering.

 

[g33zy]

yeah the cardkeeper will work. I have 2 on my 78s and I have zalmans on both too. esentially all they do is screw into the chasis and have an arm the extends to somwhere down in the card to provide some extra support.

Glad you moved the LED wire, im sure it looks great. i still think you should keep the black ribbon though. the yellow just throws off the color scheme to me.

The REAL killer though is that red sata!

I know there's not much we can do with it but its killing me out there. Maybe a diff color or something?

 

[azulcorvette]

Well I have several colors on inside. Let me demonstrate:

Motherboard is brown
CPU Heatsink is silver/copper
Zalman heatsink is copper
SATA is red
IDE for CD drive is actually orange but looks yellow with the blue light
IDE for hard drive is black
X-Connect PSU cables are very light blue
My TV Wonder card is green
My Audigy 2 ZS is like graphite
My BFG 6800GT is blue
And my cold cathodes are blue

True enough the SATA doesn't match, neither does the orange/yellow IDE cable. I don't mind them much.

As of right now what bugs me is Antec flubbed and the CD Drive bay cover they sent me lets light thru (translucent to a degree). So when everything is dark and the cold cathodes are on in the computer, blue light shines through one of the bay covers. I need to bust out my painting skills and paint the back side of it black so that it doesn't let light through. Grrr Antec. That and the VCool are the only things I don't like from Antec.

Ryan

 

[lozaning]

the p160 is prolly one mf my favoright cases of all time