Yes, but how soon?

I had a company up for a pre-order and they have real-time status of their stock.

The case was supposed to be in yesterday. Now its bumped to June 8th and 15th. Just wondering how much longer we will have to wait...

I'm wondering about the exhaust from the PSU being sucked into the video card cooler. (This was pointed out in a thread at Anandtech.) A "mod" I'm considering is putting a hood over the PSU exhaust that is 3-6" long to exhaust the air further away from the system.

Hmm. I just had an idea: how about removing the PSU fan and using the PSU fan controller to control the case fan instead? Probably a bad idea when using the Phantom 500, since it might be off for long stretches while the HDs are being cooked. But with other PSUs, the fan would turn at low idle all the time and hopefully generate plenty of airflow for cooling the HDs. Obviously the whole thing is easier to do with those PSUs that offer temperature controlled fan connectors out of the box.

1) Sealing the top hole: Black closed-cell foam, cut to shape to fill the "spoiler" without looking "ghetto".

2) IF my pair of Raptors is too loud hung vertically, then hang them horizontally on elastic strung through the first and fourth hard drive holes. Note the if--- Mike/Antec may have hit a home run by using the softer silicone grommets.

3) "Sealing" the video vent--- a piece of 3/8" black plexi, with two small holes for the entry-point for the water-cooling system. The dam itself will probably be put away.

And not really to the case, but rather to the power supply---

...) A "trimmed-case" Seasonic, with the removed cage replaced by black high-tensile-strength steel mesh similar to that used in fencing masks.

That's a great idea! I might use Modder's Mesh on mine--that should alleviate some of this risk that everyone was all @$%^ about earlier in the thread...

-Ed

With due respect, most of us were not, erm, @$%^ or even &*()~!ing about the risk A couple of us merely pointed out the risk, and one poster was, erm, a little terse in his dismissal of the method proposed.

Having said that, I'd love to see how your mod turns out.

Trying to picture it in my mind, it seems that the main side that has to be modded is the side facing the fan (and where the DC cables come out from). This is the half, however, that the PSU is attached to. The top cover includes the sides facing the user (when the PSU is mounted and the case is open) and the side opposite to that. That cover can actually be left on without interfering with airflow (except for convection out the top, and you'll have a big open hole there anyway if you started with a 120mm fanned PSU.

I agree with both points. But it would be nice to know before spending about $170.

Edit to say I didn't pay attention. The last entry on page 4 of this thread is where MikeC specifically addresses the use of the Phantom 500 in this case. The questioner asked about removing the fan from the 500 and MikeC said yes. Read it for yourself and make your own decision.

Sorry for the wasted bandwidth. Unfortunately it won't be the last time.

I was actually thinking of removing quite a bit of material and using some soft sponge or foam underneath as necessary for support in case the structure gets too weakened; modder's mesh won't bare much weight but at least it will keep things from somehow falling into the PSU...

-Ed

Bah, just suspend the guts of the PSU in the airstream...

You guys are insane, period.

When Antec finally broke down and gave us a target date for release it was end of May to early June. If my memory is working...

Given what looks to be a huge initial demand I'm just glad I placed my order over 2 weeks ago. Hopefully orders are filled on a first in basis and not alphabetical.

Hmm drawing upon the open psu idea, maybe we can try cooling a PC P&C psu decently/quietly.

Hopefully they don't auction off their first few units on eBay.

Hey, that's an idea! MikeC can sell some signed SPCR edition P180s on eBay

sorry if this has already been answered, but will the SPCR edition be available from other stores besides endpcnoise?

with shipping, the total is about $200 for me, which is somewhat higher then what I'd like to spend

What I like:

Silicon HDD grommets - They're thicker, and appear to be softer than the grommets used in my SLK3700-BQE. Hopefully they will be effective enough at quieting low- to medium-vibration drives that suspension will not be necessary.

Separate chamber for the HDD(s)/PSU - Ingenious.

Available in black - To be honest, initial pictures of a silver finish kind of turned me off to this case. It's nice to see an all black version. The SPCR logo is not gawdy, and definitely something I could live with.

What I don't like:

The top "spoiler" - Why not use a solid design, as to redirect noise to the back of the case, instead of allowing it to be released upward? Then again, this could easily be fixed with black electrical tape.

FWIW, I've heard a lot of people compaining about the video card intake duct. Has anybody considered that making it an exhaust duct would be as simple as flipping the fan around?

I can't wait for a full review. In my humble opinion, this case is not perfect, but damn close. Hopefully revision two will fix this....

You know, I've been wondering (aloud) about that ever since I saw the first images of the spoiler, and I've seen several people wonder in this thread - I still haven't seen anyone even try answering it, much less someone from Antec or MikeC. In addition to what you say, I usually continue: "On the other hand, if it's not solid, why have it at all? Not for the looks I presume." Hm.

Hmmm. I guess someone at Endpcnoise.com is arguing about this. Website for ordering P180 "packages" appeared Tues. night/Wed. morning, then a line is added stating that the case isn't available yet, and to email them for "reservations" -- then, when you do, Darin restates the fact that they're not doing preorders, and that the cases will be for sale in about 1 to 1.5 months.

So, I guess FrontierPC is the only SPCR-suggested vendor doing actual preorders.

Isn't that painfully obvious? Just look at the angle of the "spoiler" and consequently the crossection of the rear exhaust part of it in photos like this one. Even with the vents on the sides it doesn't come close to the cross section of the 120mm fan. Closing the mesh with a fan running underneath is called an airflow restriction. Either have a fan in there and don't pour liquid on your case, or do not have a fan (the one in the rear should suffice if you're aiming at lowest noise), and close the top entirely.
Why have the "spoiler" at all? To prevent smaller (solid) stuff from falling in (the fan grill is too open to protect well), I suppose.

You've missed another reason for the "spoiler": to help stop people from accidentally blocking the hole by setting stuff there. A flat blowhole is an invitation to absentmindedly setting cd's or somesuch over the opening. Having the spoiler maens that even if you bury the case in junk, you'll still maintain at least partial opening.

All this armchair engineering will be put to rest once the actual review gets finished...then we'll know what the actual impact is of the opening, in terms of noise and temps.

Until then it's all guesswork. Same is true for about 90% is the issues people have raised about other features on this thing.....patience kids, patience

Hm. I think a simple wire grill would have been more sensible, then. If you make it extruded, it will also prevent people from putting stuff on it like Rusty suggests. But yeah, the airflow/rear crossection thing makes sense. Wasn't painfully obvious to me, no.

Doohh. I really should have thought about this one, given that I manage to clutter every square centimetre of horizontal surface within minutes... (And adding more horizontal surface doesn't help. But I'm reassuring myself that it's really not my fault, but a universal principle: Natura vacuum abhorret - nature abhors empty spaces.)

Lol! *looks on the table and on top of the computer* Well... yeah. A flat "blow-hole" would be silly, obviously I have to agree about he natura vacuum whatever thing

What kinda idiot puts crap on top of a well known and placed blowhole on a case?

Perhaps you did not properly read the two posts above yours...


(No insult intended. )

And you can add me to/start the list with, me... ...

The solution to this should be obvious - make the top of the case round (as in dome / half cylindrical)

Like this.

Hi!
Long time since I post over here. I'm very busy , but this event and the time spent reading the photo show and this thread and locating P180 here in Spain makes worthwhile the effort of recovering this time later.

I may be buying one of these P180 in a month (once I get some spare time). I have located it, 145€ is a very fair price considering... (to sum up) everything

I didn't want to change my case (shown here, although it has gone through several (minor) improvements which I would like to share with you when my obligations let me), and if I changed it, I always said it would be for a smaller one, but a case like this P180 is definitely worthwhile.

But... 3 years ago I would have bought a motherboard with 7 or even 8 PCI slots (now I have one, of five, PCI slot free that's very odd for me). Today with many integrated features of great quality in most motherboards, ATX is very big. This P180 is also very big (as big as my current tower).
A Micro-ATX version of the P180 should be great, does anyone here think the same?

If you are looking for a mATX case that is really quiet, look at the Antec Aria. It uses a lot of the same technology and looks really neat.

But, Aria doesn't have the drive expansion capacity or the plentiness of space of P180. I just wanted a case 6cm less tall, but with almost the same expansion. Aria is just a little bigger than my current SK41G. It's OK for an HTPC, but not much more.

I have the Tagan 550, it's almost as long as the Phantom 500 (18.3cm for the phantom vs 17.5 for the Tagan), but unlike the phantom, I can't detatch anything to make it shorter... I wonder if I'm out of luck in terms of getting my PSU to fit.

I don't suppose anyone would know what the measurements of the PSU bay is...

I thought of one subtle non-issue, IMHO. No Chassis Air Guide (CAG). It makes perfect sense since the CAG will just let out noise, and most people have been gotten along without it quite nicely.

But it's a fact to consider.