New Antec cases being shown at CES on pcmag.com

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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tay
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Post by tay » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:09 pm

Bluefront wrote: Putting the PSU on the bottom in a duct, with a 120mm fan in the middle of the duct blowing out through the PSU, and sucking air over the hard drives is not a new idea...
Pfft... you'll one up them in no time ;) That looks like old stuff in that album too.
MassMan wrote:I too would like another color mix than black with the alu look. White gives a much more exclusive look and also make dust less visible. Would be nice if a alu/white edition was released.
I second that. The black/silver dell thing was never terribly nice. Dont get me started on the blue/black/silver laptops *aaargh*. Still, this is the Antec's nicest looking case by far. The silverstones, the aluminum gaming bomb, and the g4 lookalike lian li v1000 are the only cases that come to mind that look nicer and coincidentally none of those are 2 tone jobbies.
MassMan wrote:The box in front of the 120mm psu duct fan is a 3.5" box?
Should the psu be mounted upside down if with bottom fan, and even so, will there not be turbulence and limited airflow as the space between the psu and the plate above it looks really cramped?
Yes and yes.
MassMan wrote:Probably a stupid q: Will the 270º door just swing a lot or will it slide to the side of the case (kinda like the side door of a van)?
270 (how did u get the degree symbol damnyou) would mean that it is flush against the side. Double hinges means that rather than slide it turns all the way back (at least from what i remember of double hinged furniture).
MassMan wrote:I've only recently discovered this site but it has really made my month and I've silenced my case in ways I would never have thought of if I hadn't seen it here. Many thanks to you all :)
[EDIT]Actually I've just donated. SPCR is the first site I've ever ncountered that I think is worth my money :D [/EDIT]
Since noones done it yet Welcome to SPCR!!!
Last edited by tay on Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

acaurora
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Post by acaurora » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:09 pm

I bet you that will be the #1 complaint, either that or the fact that one of the 120mms uses the abnormal 38mm instead of the usual 25mm. Other complaints probably will consist of using 92/80 instead of 120 for the ducts -.-

JimK
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Post by JimK » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:11 pm

MassMan wrote: In Denmark we luckily don't have those 100" wide monstrosities you Americans call fridges :)
Really, the large ones here are only 48" wide and thats for a "side-by-side." If you need something with more bling you get a 36" fridge and a 36" freezer and put them side by side. Still not nearly 100" :lol:

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Post by MikeC » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:12 pm

MassMan wrote:Since everyone pretty much agrees Sonata's placement of fan behind harddrives instead of infront is bad, wouldn't it also be better to place the fan infront of the harddrives in p180's duct?
There is quite a difference: In the new case, w/ the fan being in a tunnel, the air has only one way it can flow -- from front to back. In the Sonata, this is not really the case. Also, the spacing between the HDDs is bigger, allowing making for less restricted airflow even if 4 drives are used.

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Post by acaurora » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:14 pm

MikeC wrote:There is quite a difference: In the new case, w/ the fan being in a tunnel, the air has only one way it can flow -- from front to back. In the Sonata, this is not really the case. Also, the spacing between the HDDs is bigger, allowing making for less restricted airflow even if 4 drives are used.
... ooo so that means it can cool my 2 x 74 GB raptors / 200 GB 7200.7 AND 200 GB Diamondmax Plus 9 better than my 3700BQE? ooOooo...

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Post by JimK » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:19 pm

MikeC wrote:Also, the spacing between the HDDs is bigger, allowing making for less restricted airflow even if 4 drives are used.
Are there 4 HDDs at the bottom? That would be 4 optical, 2 HDD, 1 floppy and 4 HDD top to bottom looking at the picture.

Edit: Reread the home page and see the intake vent in front of the two drive bay. :oops:
Last edited by JimK on Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

wim
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Post by wim » Thu Jan 06, 2005 5:30 pm

*wolf whistles*

hey good lookin'!


v nice antec.

MassMan
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Post by MassMan » Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:06 pm

tay wrote:how did u get the degree symbol damnyou
alt+248. After studying chemistry, where ° is used quite frequently it becomes second nature. Still it would be nice with just a key for ° and then get rid of keys like Scroll Lock, Pause Break, ¤ (generic currency sign wtf?) etc...
Looked it up and it seems the Danish keyboard layout has a lot more signs than English layout. Apart from ÆØÅ, which are the only 3 additions to the Danish alphabet compared to the English, the extra signs are totally useless and I wonder who made that standard :roll:
MikeC wrote:There is quite a difference: In the new case, w/ the fan being in a tunnel, the air has only one way it can flow -- from front to back. In the Sonata, this is not really the case.
So the cooling would be almost the same even if the fan was moved to the front?
Still, I would think it would be better to hide the drives a bit farther from the front to muzzle the noise? (if the fan isn't louder than the hdds of course).
Wouldn't the fan have a larger "area" to get air from as well, leading more air at greater velocity over the hhds?
If the fan is in front of the hdds the air is already up to speed and its deceleration is less than the airflow's acceleration if the fan was behind, hence it cools better?

I'm not that confident in airflow theory so my logic might be flawed but that is why I ask :)

Btw will p180 have a washable air filter? (it isn't mentioned in the temporary product sheet or the comments to the sheet)

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Post by Talz » Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:57 pm

Very interesting. Need more info!

Just from what is shown now I'm almost sure I will replace my current case with this one (acoustipacked lian-li). I do wonder if I will be replacing the fans with some from nexus though, and if I'll be adding acoustipack, and if the rear and top exhaust fans work well or if one rear will be similiar performing. (subtle review test ideas ;) )

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Post by silverback » Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:00 pm

Im excited to see what modifications Antec has made with the sonata 2 and its intake area. Unfortunatly it doesnt show very much. Hopefully there will be more information soon.

If the pricetag is going to be $180 it really puts it between a rock and a hard spot since it puts it on the same priceline as the lian li btx apple clone. I think the antec p180 is a great design but to say its better then the Lian li so many love its hard to say. If they could hit a 150 pricepoint with it they may sell more units since they will not be in direct competition with the lian li flagship.

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Post by MikeC » Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:14 pm

A possible $169 price was mentioned in the PC Mag piece. There's always a gap between MSRP and street price. Look at their Phantom, also the Lian Li mac-copycat stuff, which list way higher than selling price. Besides, they are not optimal for noise and not really that great for cooling either! I'd take a SLK3000 over the Lianli V series -- for noise.

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Post by Cams » Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:47 am

I'm also in the 'about to buy a 3000B' camp. This could change things. Would it come with PSU supplied, I wonder. Most probably. I'd rather it didn't so I could choose my own.

Looking forward to the review, but I think two factors will see me sticking with the 300B: price and being in Europe with that extra time factor of availability for things in Europe.

BTW, thanks for the Alt+248 for the °. I always used Alt+0186 which is one whole extra keystroke more!

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Post by JohnMK » Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:41 am

I think in all likelihood it will come without PSU. People looking at this caliber of case simply are picky enough to want to pick out their own PSU as well. Antec know this.

Minotaar
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Stupid quesiton....

Post by Minotaar » Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:54 am

So if there are two 120s up there, where do the PCI and gfx cards connect to the outside of the case???

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Post by teejay » Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:16 am

Same place as in regular tower cases; the mobo is mounted in the same direction, only a bit higher up. This is not an inverted-mobo case like the Lian Li PC-V and new Silverstone.
MikeC wrote:I'd take a SLK3000 over the Lianli V series -- for noise.
Yeah, me too by now... when I bought my V I only just started visiting SPCR, convinced I bought the best case out there... it turned out to be quite the hobby-project :D

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Post by as530 » Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:19 am

this looks very sexy.

i was having a hard time waiting for the 3000B though, so i don't really think i can wait any longer - shame.

will the P180 be significantly quieter than the 3000B?

Hey Cams - i always used Alt-0176 for the degree symbol

176 gives a smaller one than 186: ° vs. º

how interesting :)

wing
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Post by wing » Fri Jan 07, 2005 6:12 am

as530 wrote:Hey Cams - i always used Alt-0176 for the degree symbol

176 gives a smaller one than 186: ° vs. º

how interesting :)
176 is the correct "degree" symbol; 186 is the "masculine ordinal" symbol (i.e., the "o" masculine ending, presumably for Spanish etc.). In some fonts, there will be an underline in 186 (like how the "o" in some of the old-fashioned-looking "No" ligatures look like). There is a corresponding "feminine ordinal" symbol that looks like a small underlined a or small a that is close to the masculine ordinal symbol. If you look at the Character Map or xfd output the difference between 176 and 186 will be clear.

Blappo
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Post by Blappo » Fri Jan 07, 2005 6:33 am

Nice looking case 8)

Any idea if it is silver or black behind the front door?
What are those rings on the 3.5" racks?
Any clue on how many months before we can buy one?

Nik7304
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Post by Nik7304 » Fri Jan 07, 2005 7:58 am

With this new case going under the Performance One series, will there be something for the Lifestyle series (where the Sonata sits), or is this going to be the new "Silent Flagship"?

And would setting the top rear fan sucking in air and the top fan to blow it make any difference, or should they both be blowing out?

Maybe if someone could Photoshop in an image of a mobo in place it would give a better view as to how the whole thing would work, while we wait for the review.

/Nik

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Post by AntecRep » Fri Jan 07, 2005 8:01 am

P180:
1 fan is 38mm thick which for a long time was (or is) considered standard. We've caught a lot of grief over using 25mm thick 120mm fans.
All included fans will be TriCool, meaning they will have a switch on them so you can choose, high speed, low speed, or medium speed.
Right now, no plans to include a PSU. Since this will most likely target silent/quiet PC users as well as high performance users, both groups tend to have a wide range of PSU needs/requirements/preferences.
I can't answer more because I haven't had a chance to really play around with it yet (not to mention other projects on my plate currently).

Sonata II:
The air intakes were made wider for greater airflow (at least from what I've seen they look wider than the original Sonata). How well this works I don't know.

AntecRep

dago
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Post by dago » Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:22 am

:arrow: First, many thanks to AntecRep (whoever (s)he is or they are) for sharing information, sending samples to SPCR and especially coming to the forum from time to time and listening to us.
Now, if you would just pay Bluefront to work for you ;)

More ontopic, I have the impression they put the 2 top fan to give more freedom to their users (OC'ers : put 2 full speed, SPCR'er remove 1 or 2).
For the PSU, I guess droping in an normal 80mm fan PSU without the fan would do it ?

With just this fan in the middle, an Athlon64 passively cooled by a XP120 without fans around, this could be ... my next PC ? (nxt update due this summer).

PS here are the ratings from the TriCool fan
* RPM: 1200 / 1600 / 2000
* CFM: 39 / 56 / 79
* dBA: 25 / 28 / 30
Last edited by dago on Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by MikeC » Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:44 am

dago wrote:For the PSU, it looks like it'll be an idea to just take a normal fanned PSU and remove the fan ... or make big holes into a phantom ;)

I also guess that many people will just use one of the two top fan.
Just about any kind of PSU could be used. There is about an inch (maybe less) of space all around the PSU, so regardless of where the PSU fans are located, if they are spinning slowly enough, there would be no audible turbulence effects to speak of. With a fanless PSU, you would not have to mod anything at all, the 120mm fan at min speed would be plenty enough to keep it cool as most fanless PSUs have a pretty big external HS surface area.

The question of which fans to run at what speed at which vents really gets into individual system need/demand. What's salient is that the P180 is set up for as high and unrestricted an airflow as you'd probably ever need -- without modification -- and it's all very well directed. For the lower chamber, it's straight through from font to back, for the upper chamber, it is diagonally straight through.

The info on the news item about the additional duct/vent system for the VGA/CPU was incorrect about direction of airflow -- it is meant to draw air in via the vents next to the PCI slots. This is in lieu of side intake holes for CPU/VGA as recommended by Intel. This system keeps all the noise at the back of the case rather than letting any of it from coming out the sides.

With the sound damping qualities of the panels, I'd guess that even with identical noise sources, it would probably be a touch quieter than in another case (say like an SLK3000 for simple comparison).

This means you can run really hot systems in this case at a quieter level than with most cases, and already siper quiet systems might be a touch quieter yet. Again, all w/o any modding, simply by making best use of the available features built into the case.

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Post by JimK » Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:43 am

Thinking about the price.

PCMag says $169 MSRP. If you go to Antec.com and buy a P160 the price shows as $169 + 24.68 S&H. So they both have the same MSRP. A quick PriceGrabber shows many prices between $110 and $125. I think the P180 would be a bit higher right after introduction.

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Post by dago » Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:02 pm

MikeC wrote:
dago wrote:For the PSU, it looks like it'll be an idea to just take a normal fanned PSU and remove the fan ... or make big holes into a phantom
Just about any kind of PSU could be used. There is about an inch (maybe less) of space all around the PSU, so regardless of where the PSU fans are located, if they are spinning slowly enough, there would be no audible turbulence effects to speak of. With a fanless PSU, you would not have to mod anything at all, the 120mm fan at min speed would be plenty enough to keep it cool as most fanless PSUs have a pretty big external HS surface area.
Yep, but I have (lot of) normal PSU which would then become fanless for just a fan removal instead of buying one (but no PF savings).

But you're right I didn't notice the space around the PSU, which is really neat as well.

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Post by rocarpen » Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:11 pm

Awesome.

This will be my new case. Dual Xeons with fanless Coolermaster heat pipes, sitting cool and happy next to those twin 120mm exhaust fans. Looks nice too, although I agree that the two-tone aesthetic could be improved on. How about all black or all silver?

Great work, Antec. I was wondering when someone was going to just go ahead and make the ultimate quiet case.

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Post by PorBleemo » Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:22 pm

That looks like an awesome case. I'll have to wait for it to drop in price. As a big plus it would allow me to buy a single 80mm fan Seasonic PSU since that airway would be ducted.

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Post by DavidG » Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:12 pm

Promising case but how relevant is it with BTX around the corner?

I'm assuming many of the features would transfter to BTX.

What is the estimated time frame for BTX solutions (cases/MB) for both Intel and AMD?

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Post by MikeC » Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:23 pm

DavidG wrote:Promising case but how relevant is it with BTX around the corner.
But who cares? Really. :lol:

In a nutshell, BTX is Intel's answer to the thermal problems created by their own runaway heat Prescott, and it doesn't really address adequate cooling for other components nor does it address noise well. A CPU cooling fan at the very front of the case??

We already know Prescott will not go past P4-3.8, which was released a few months ago, and new dual-core processors based on the P-M core will likely take center stage this year.

With all the innovations we're seeing in cases of late, I think ATX will be alive and kicking for a long time, and BTX adoption will be much slower than the transition from AT to ATX. Just my opin, of course...

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Post by daba » Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:57 pm

I'm interested to see the back of this case. How do the rear grilles look?
I'm interested to see the front of this case. How does it look with the door open?

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Post by dago » Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:03 pm

For the record, BTX is around the corner since 2003.

Not everything intel wants become reality (cf. itanium)

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