How does Antec P182 measure up to current silent cases?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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tbessie
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Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

How does Antec P182 measure up to current silent cases?

Post by tbessie » Thu Nov 28, 2013 1:30 pm

I have an Antec P182 that I'm going to retire, as I haven't used that computer build much and am replacing 3 of my computers with a single new build.

I got a Corsair Obsidian 550D for this new build, but when examining it, I find the P182 feels much more solid and well-constructed in comparison. It is a bit old now, of course, and its front-panel only has USB 2.0 on it.

I'm wondering - does the P182 stand up well against current silent competition?

- Tim

flemeister
Posts: 346
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Location: Australia

Re: How does Antec P182 measure up to current silent cases?

Post by flemeister » Thu Nov 28, 2013 8:30 pm

tbessie wrote:I got a Corsair Obsidian 550D for this new build, but when examining it, I find the P182 feels much more solid and well-constructed in comparison. It is a bit old now, of course, and its front-panel only has USB 2.0 on it.
I felt the same when I went from my P182 to a P280. They don't make 'em like they used to (just eight years ago...). I moved back into the P182 a few weeks later and sold the P280.

As for USB, you might consider an external 3.5" USB3 bay device, such as the one I used in my build: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=63926

tbessie
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: How does Antec P182 measure up to current silent cases?

Post by tbessie » Thu Nov 28, 2013 11:50 pm

flemeister wrote:I felt the same when I went from my P182 to a P280. They don't make 'em like they used to (just eight years ago...). I moved back into the P182 a few weeks later and sold the P280.

As for USB, you might consider an external 3.5" USB3 bay device, such as the one I used in my build: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=63926
Yeah, I wonder why cases are getting so cheap. All the expensive, high-quality ones seem to be gaming-oriented and have all kinds of flashing lights, windows, fins, etc. which I don't want.

Anyway, I looked into the idea of using the external bay slots for USB3, though I'd rather find a replacement for the current front ports; I looked around, and at least one person who was going to try it seems to have given up and just bought another case. The main reason I don't want to do that is I want to keep all those bays available for other things.

Another reason for me was wanting to use a classic old Plextor CD reader/burner I have that was the last of the "made by Plextor themselves" models, and was the best for CD reading, but in taking my P182 apart today, I saw that it had an old IDE interface (not SATA), so I probably will just need 3 bays now (2 for external hot-swap hard drive bays, 1 for CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burner). So I might have one left for a USB3.

Hard to know what to do, since a build takes some time and I don't really like putting together a build only to take it apart again and move it to another case. If only I were rich, I'd commission a nice custom case. :-/

- Tim

flemeister
Posts: 346
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:42 am
Location: Australia

Re: How does Antec P182 measure up to current silent cases?

Post by flemeister » Thu Nov 28, 2013 11:57 pm

tbessie wrote:Anyway, I looked into the idea of using the external bay slots for USB3, though I'd rather find a replacement for the current front ports; I looked around, and at least one person who was going to try it seems to have given up and just bought another case. The main reason I don't want to do that is I want to keep all those bays available for other things.
I've looked into doing that, and it seemed like too much effort, as you'd have to heavily modify the front port assembly, or come up with a custom made one.
tbessie wrote:Another reason for me was wanting to use a classic old Plextor CD reader/burner I have that was the last of the "made by Plextor themselves" models, and was the best for CD reading, but in taking my P182 apart today, I saw that it had an old IDE interface (not SATA), so I probably will just need 3 bays now (2 for external hot-swap hard drive bays, 1 for CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burner). So I might have one left for a USB3.
Have you already got something in the external 3.5" bay? That's the lone 3.5" bay down between the fan vents, not the 5.25" bays. :)

tbessie
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: How does Antec P182 measure up to current silent cases?

Post by tbessie » Fri Nov 29, 2013 11:48 am

flemeister wrote:Have you already got something in the external 3.5" bay? That's the lone 3.5" bay down between the fan vents, not the 5.25" bays. :)
Ahhh, no - I thought you were referring to the 5.25" bays. I saw it in the photo you linked to, but hadn't remembered that even being there. Funny place for it to be, but a possibility. :-)

Thanks for your suggestions!

- Tim

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