Antec P182

[Mr.X]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new case and I was wondering how good the P182 is.
I want a good balance in cooling performance, noise and build-quality.

Since the P182 has 120mm fans, it should be much more quite than my current wave master which has 80mm ones and it should run much cooler as well. I'm not so sure about the build-quality though. That's really the one thing I'm most pleased about my current case along with the looks.

So, what do you think about this case? Any other alternatives?

Thanks.

[SoulsCollective]

Great case, no worries at all about build quality. You won't be able to do much about internal mods (ie for water-cooling) and it can be a little cramped to work in, but other than that I recommend it thoroughly.

[TRG]

You'll surely not regret an Antec case. The only big disadvantage about the P18X series is not enough space in some areas (especially when you're having 6 HDD's)

[gromet]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new case and I was wondering how good the P182 is.
I want a good balance in cooling performance, noise and build-quality.

Since the P182 has 120mm fans, it should be much more quite than my current wave master which has 80mm ones and it should run much cooler as well. I'm not so sure about the build-quality though. That's really the one thing I'm most pleased about my current case along with the looks.

So, what do you think about this case? Any other alternatives?

Thanks.

I like my P182...Sure there are some things I would like to change on it, but I will say its pretty quiet, and has extremely nice build quality. I ended up going w/ a swiftech watercooling setup, and I will say installing that did take up some room, I could've modified the case more to make a cleaner install, but I lost the bottom harddrive storage (so harddrives are in the middle storeage case). Right now I have the storage tank in in my 5.25 drive bays, and it fights nicely there. As for sound, with the fans operating in low/medium sound is great, once you do turn them up to high (the 120mm fans on the 182 are 3 speed) it is very noisy. Just make sure your PWS has long enough cables to reach from the bottom of the case, to 12v connection. I ended up having to modify my ThermalTake 750 cable assly, other then that routing wires was somewhat painful, but its very easy to get all the wires hidden (which I perfer...I hate wires showing in the case). If your looking for a good case, at a decent price...This is the best I could find for me that used a design I liked.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r23/grometsc/Computer%20Stuff/DSC00394.jpg

[Mr.X]

Hmm, I haven't thought of the length of my PSU cables. The FSP Epsilon 700W has pretty long ones but I'm not sure if that's enough. Can someone tell me exactly how long the cables need to be (in centimeters)?

As for the available space, does it fit long cards like the 8800GTX? I'm not planning to upgrade my GPU before the next gen cards (G90) come out, but those will probably be just as long if not longer than a 8800GTX.

Also, nobody mentioned the cooling performance of the case with the fans set on low-med speeds. How's that?

[Jedda]

As you can see in gromet's pic, the cards and one of the drive placements can be an issue.

[zhangmaster12]

as for build quality, its AMAZING! build like a rock. can easily hold 175lbs (no clue why u would want it to though, but its my persanal computer and chair)!

cable management is great aswell (p182, not 180B, the p180B needs a few extra holes to be cut, no biggie though) the only problem is that larger graphics cards such as the 8800 GTX might need removal of one or 2 hdds depending on sli or not.

[Fuji]

I also like it.

I ordered the P180, but got the P182 in the box.

Some beef:

1. Who makes a case door with plastic tabs? I broke 90% of the tabs already one door. Might ask Antec for a new door.

2. My front panel was cracked. I don't know if it came that way or if it was me.

3. It's not exactly what i'd call whisper quiet either.

Anyway, it's got the holes to route wires:

http://i14.tinypic.com/4tk2moi.jpg

[Hey_Its_Cole]

I cracked one of the rear tabs the first time I put the case door back on, I thought hmm......that cracked easy.