Do you think having the front fan internally mounted in front of the hard drive cage would have helped with temperature/noise? Seems like it would be a better place for those with SSDs that don't generate a lot of heat and allow for more focused cooling onto the graphics card with low speed fans. Being farther away from the door should also help noise?

Man, I remember when the 4870 was hardcore. I actually bought one. Then a couple of days ago a friend emails me asking if he can run this new helicopter sim so I take a look at the minimum spec and it says Radeon HE 4850. So the 4870 is maybe six months away from becoming a door stop in the PC gaming world...

Still, it is a good card to test with because the power management never worked and it pulled a lot under load, as well as getting pretty warm.

Sorry, a bit OT.

Thanks for the review. I wonder how well the single 4870 system would perform (noise and temps) by relying only on front to back airflow and covering the top vents?

Some errata:
- the article link above is bad.
- page two caption "The door is made of the same layered composite panel (aluminum/plastic) , is that on the P180 series," -> replace with "as"
- page two caption "The side panels are not made of the multi-ply composite materials as the P180 series, but plain staeel"

(Sorry, too many years spent editing data sheets. i can't help myself )

If the Solo II is enough in terms of cooling and size for a given setup, can we say that it is better than P280 in every aspects (structure, vibration, stock fan, design, quality of build, etc.)?

I moved to the P280 from the P183 this weekend and can confirm that I had a loose side panel as well. I bent it into shape a bit and it no longer makes as much noise as it did before.

I found the noise from the Antec fans to be unpleasant so I swapped them out with Scythe S-Flex 800 rpm fans spinning around 450 rpm. I also installed a Scythe Kaze-Jyuni 500 rpm fan on the internal fan mount pointed at the video card. The case is so well ventilated it maintains excellent temperatures even at low speeds. Overclocked Core i7 2600K (1x43, 2x42, 3x41, 4x40) idles at around 31C (9 degrees over ambient) and approx 60C under a full Prime95 load.

The side panels do not dampen noise as well as the P183. My stock HD 5870 which I never really noticed before at idle now makes an annoying hum. Some foam on the panel might help that.

The whole case makes a tremendous racket when using the DVD-ROM.

On the whole it's a wonderful case to work in with a few minor problems.

Hmm. Sounds to me like a case that's easy to build, but has crappy sonic characteristics...

The tool-less center fan mounts look like a concern silence wise. I could see myself removing the plastic claws and grinding down the pins to make use of soft mounts.

Another disppointment from Antec they ripped the design of the Haf 912/ Define R3 added noise damping and twice the price. No thanks Antec I'll stick to the Define R3 or Haf 912 at lower price.

Antec should include a cable to go from the PSU to the rear/top fans.

For now, P280 is a disappointment (I can change my mind later), unlike Solo II which is brilliant, in my opinion.

The review was well-written and useful. I'm currently using a P182 and would have loved some comparison noise measurements; the P280 certainly looks easier to work in but I'd rather have inconvenience over increased noise.

It seems that it doesn't support the Antec CP-series PSU's? I guess Antec has dropped their CP PSU form-factor if the new 'Performance' series can't even house them.
Well, with new 80-plus gold/platinum PSU's the need for bigger heatsinks or more room the breathe seems less important.

To me the P280 seems like a "meh"...

- It doesn't support CPX form factor PSUs.
- I can't understand the use for large hot air intakes (meshed areas) at the rear.
- It's unclear if the top vents can host a generic "240" radiator, and there's no easy way to block them if not in use.
- The tool less mechanism for 5.25" devices is crap for use with short items like fan controllers.

The nine expansion slots is a nice feature though.

Hello

I don't know what to buy: 280 or 183 v3
Which is more quiet?

I would like to have a case that gives me maximum silence.

Thank you.

Kind regards

I'd say that depends on a series of factors.

- How much power will your computer use?
For a high power gaming rig (or similar), with two high end graphics cards the P280 will provide more efficient cooling. That results in less noise.

- How noisy components will you use?
The P183 is probably better at blocking noise generated inside the case, especially if the top vent is blocked.

- The P183 provides better dust protection.
Easier to block the rear intakes. Less potential dust intake at the top.
Dust adds noise in two ways: With little dust protection it will insulate cooling fins inside the computer, increasing cooling requirements. With ample dust protection the filters will require stronger (and thus louder) fans to get sufficient air flow.
The only ways to circumvent the problem is to either have a very clean room or to clean the computer interior often.

I use a P183 myself, configured primarily for dust protection (with extra dust filters) while maintaining a noise level that's quiet enough for me.

Hello

Thank you for your answer.

Here are my computer parts:

Intel Core i5 2500K - 3,3 GHz - LGA1155 ...
Team TeamGroup Elite - Memory - 8GB : 2x4...
Scythe Mugen 3 - Prozessorkühler - Sock...
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 (rev. 1.0) - Mothe...
LiteOn iHAS624 - Laufwerk - DVD+/-RW (+/...
Sapphire RADEON HD 6870 - Grafikadapter ...
Corsair Enthusiast Series Modular TX650M...
Crucial RealSSD C400 2,5" SSD 64 GB (SAT...
WD CAVIAR GEEN 1 TB SATA...

I won't be overclocking it. Reading through your lines, I think p183 will be the right choice for me.

You are writing about blocking top vent.... How do I bock vents on p183, as I know antec do not include any blocking materials.

I think of replacing all antec fans with scythe slip streams 800 and 500 rpm.

Do you think this is good combination:

- 800 rpm on scythe mugen
- 800 rpm front intake
- 500 rpm back exhaust
- top vent blocked
- 500 rpm front intake (on the buttom for hard drives)

or will you change something?

Thank you.

Kind regards

So, with this iteration the bottom chamber is left out. The PSU is still at the bottom, but the dividing panel is gone. If I needed a huge case, this would be it, I think.

Just received my Antec P280 today. For the money, I feel it's a great case. Good build quality, good features, tons of room, and pretty quiet. One glaring (and very annoying) issue with it though that I felt they could have done a lot better with. So here's the issue: The little PCB on the inside back panel of the case toward the top that has the 3-pin connections for the three fans, along with a molex plug to power the fans, was placed in a bad spot. While it's fine in stock configuration, if you use a liquid cooling system with a radiator (like Antec's own Kuhler series), you really can't use the back fan space for the radiator without blocking the molex plug on the PCB for the case fans.
Specifically, I have the Antec Kuhler H2O 620, and I tried every orientation of the radiator on the back fan area to get it to not block the molex plug on the PCB, and from what I've tried at least, it can't be done. I thought I had it by turning the radiator sideways, but the radiator sticks a few millimeters out too far on the side for the side of the case to go on. What I ended up doing was plugging in one of the top two case fans directly to the motherboard instead, and also decided not use the other top fan at all, thus bypassing the use of the PCB altogether. And yes, I know you can just mount the radiator to the top of the case, which would fix the problem ...but what if you don't want to do that? The top of the case is a bit flimsy, and as the review said, it can lead to more noise through fan vibration, so if you don't want to use the top fan areas, you shouldn't have to. Not only that, but also fact that mounting the radiator in the back fan area of the case is considered the default installation. And I also know that you can just go ahead and unscrew and move the PCB, but then it'll just be hanging somewhere unless you do your own mod to mount it (since its default position is screwed in to its own mounting area). If someone else has a similar issue, let me know. Also let me know if you have a good solution to the problem.

Point is, you shouldn't have to mod an enthusiast case like this that has so much room everywhere else, especially just to get one of their own products to fit properly where it should. All they had to do was maybe move the PCB a bit higher if possible, or just make the case just a bit wider, and all would have been good. Hopefully they will fix this issue in the next iteration of the P Series, if they decide to keep the PCB fan plug idea. That being said though, other than that, I find it to be a great case...the inside of my PC has never been so tidy.

For me, I'd rather have Antec kept three layers of P18x side panel to keep noise in check. Seems it's gone for cost reduction, though.

In reality, it's not hard for a typical DIYer to slap another layer of something dense & suitable for this purpose. I've done everything from carpet underlay to thick (1/4") pieces of aluminum. Usually, the biggest challenge is to use the right kind of glue -- one that isn't too toxic. (And here's a key fact -- it needs to cover only ~75% of the panel. If it is a stiffening/dense layer, the remaining untreated area will become stiff enough that the sonic barrier characteristics will be much improved.)

Yeah the three part panels are probably a too complex solution for what it would be worth today. But about that preapplied layer on the P280 panels, how dense/effecive is it? Not an easy question, but I've yet to see a reviewer actually describe the material. (Although to be fair most have only recieved pre-production samples so far)

It is exactly the same material used in the Solo 1/2 -- polycarbonate, a type of plastic.

Hey MikeC i want do something like you are suggesting with a Solo II, can you recommend dense layer beside carpet underlay? would you recommend AcoustiPack EXTRA: Sheet 3 Layer Professional Sound Dampening (APExtS) or FrozenCPU Noise Dampening Material or maybe you know something better?

Hi everyone, new here and I admit I pulled this from another forum I posted on but this thread is already running. My question is regarding this case vs the fractal R3:


I've FINALLY narrowed down my decision to the above two cases but can't decide. Any advice much appreciated.

Use: 50% of the time, writing music with cubase with many instruments so fairly intensive. Other 50% playing games. When I'm not using it it'll be always on to act as media centre.

My build: 2700k @ 4.7GHz, Asus Pro MB, Be Quiet air cooler, 16GB RAM, 6950 GPU, several HDDs and SSD.

My wishes - for it to be reasonably cool when idling as media centre but also not get too hot playign games/wiritn music but MAINLY TO BE QUIET FOR MUSIC PRODUCTION.

I was on the verge of going with the Fractal R3, finally choosing that over the H2 and others when up popped the Antec p280 out of nowhere and confused me.

Oddly enough Anandtech's review tests suggests it's as quiet as the R3 and beats it in temperature by 1-3degrees in almost every test!

I don't understand how, especially as the Antec has two 120 fans in the top giving noise and no front fans as stock. I was thinking that maybe the R3 will eventually beat the p280 because you can put in 140mm fans plus it has a bottom fan so I was thinking I'd put a 140mm bottom fan in and it'd beat the Antec. But I don't get how the Antec does so well, even without front fans as stock. Plus it has many more vents in the rear.

The only thing I can think of is it's a bigger case so perhaps somehow that means more air can percolate so it remains cooler? Or perhaps the 330mm GPU clearance (vs the 290 on the R3) means it just has that slight bit more airflow?

Any advice would be helpful please....

The Acoustipack is what I'd choose. The other material you linked seems to be an Akasa product, with very little info about what it really is. If you go back to my first review of Acoustipack -- http://www.silentpcreview.com/AcoustiPack_delux -- you'll see that I examined something from Akasa and found it useless. Way too thin & light to do anything except maybe to your imagination. With panel damping, weight is a key property -- it needs to be heavier to be effective, there seems no way around that.

Thanks MikeC, really appreciate the reply.

I really wanted to go with 3 of the AcoustiPack EXTRA: Sheet 3 Layer Professional Sound Dampening (APExtS) but idk if the Solo II has room on the back to fit a 7mm sheet, i read there is very little room to even route cables.... so i went with AcoustiPack ULTIMATE Professional Sound Dampening Pack (APU), that has one 7mm sheet that ill use on the side panel, and 2x 4mm sheets that im planning to use on the back side panel and probably in the bottom and top of the case... maybe in the front... will see. Ill post some pics on ends of december when i finish the build.

My P280 arrived on Tuesday. Haven't had the chance to move the considerable guts of my current machine into it (currently using an original P180) but plan to do so this weekend. I'm considering adding sound dampening material after reading the discussion up thread and having opened and examined the case.

A shout out, if permissible, to NCIX US. I'd heard good things on various forums from Canadian posters about NCIX and a Google search for the P280 when it was out of stock at Newegg and Amazon revealed NCIX is operating in the US.

They had it available shipped for $130, $30 less than Newegg, and Amazon at the time had a 3-5 week horizon. Order was taken, processed and shipped in just a few hours.

Most impressively, the case arrived packaged in a second, sturdy outer carton with proper packing materials inside. I've been building machines since 1997 for myself, friends, and for a while, paying customers. Not once in 14 years did any retailer bother to ship an Antec case (or any other) in anything more than the original color printed product box. This has resulted in a number of damaged cases, which turns into more money and a giant hassle.

I cannot wait to get my system transferred, but I had to add a hat tip to NCIX US for doing things right.

As a guy who owns both the P183 and the Define R3, I'm heavily disappointed with the P280.

The R2/R3 is pretty much a cheap copy of the P18x series, that improved on many parts where the P18x comes short. For the price, it's very good, but it comes off too un-professional and low-quality compared to the P183, which is built like a TANK. Credit goes to Fractal Design for implementing a lot of necessary changes in case design, it's too bad that they just don't have the resources for professional build quality.
And now, the P280 in turn ripped off the R3, undoing all the things that made it better, and not actually improving in any area where the R3 did it in the first place... Still no 14cm fans, still only 6 HDD slots. But now it doesn't have the awesome side panels either, and the removable HDD cages that allow for either better airflow, more HDDs, or plenty of space for longer HDDs. And the separate compartments actually made cabling a lot cleaner and prettier in my experience.

A step in the wrong direction in my opinion. The Antec Performance series should be a trend-setter, not a trend-follower.

Zyrobs, how do you rate the r3 vs the 183?

I'm not too bothered about build quality as I've only ever gone with £15 cases with rubbish quality so having seen the r3 I'm blown away and am more than happy with it. I'm interested in quietness and resectable cooling.

I'm thinking of that over the antic because I can put a 140mm bottom fan in, which will hopeflly keep it fairly quiet and add significant airflow. D you think it's likely the r3 wil be better than the p280?

Thanks