Hi all,

The P180 has served me well over the years and for past builds. However, it no longer copes with current gaming cards. I previously had a HD6970 and had to underclock to keep things stable. My current HD7950 works fine at stock speed but cannot overclock to even 950MHz core (when it should easily reach 1000MHz). On top of that I have had to add extra fans on the top and front (and actively cool the CPU).

I'm not looking to overclock (may do so from time to time, for the fun of it) but this indicates lousy temperatures in the P180. That top outlet is also quite noisy (from vibration). I would like to be able to be rid of a top outlet too as they seem generally noisy. I was planning on jumping on either the P280 or Fractal Design R4 but unfortunately the space under my desk can only accommodate just under 23cm of case width. I have heard about the Corsair 550D and the size is right. Are there any others worth considering?

Thanks in advance.

TL;DR - Need a quiet case with better thermals than the P180 and under 23cm of width. Must cope with HD7950 and future video cards/systems.

Add the Fractal R3 and Silverstone FT02/RV02 to your list.

However, I'd strongly urge you to consider modding the P180 for better airflow and lower noise. Use my rig for ideas:

Link 1, Link 2

The most important ones would be:

* Modding the plastic spoiler with cardboard and acoustic foam, to significantly muffle the top exhaust fan
* Modding or removing the highly restrictive plastic doors in front of the intake fans
* Using the lower 5.25" bays as an additional intake vent, preferably with a 120mm fan
* Modding the lower hard drive cage to accommodate HDD suspension

I tried moving from a P182 to a P280 myself, but it just doesn't have the same build quality and fit and finish. Now just finished migrating into a Silverstone Sugo SG07, but only after some mods.