http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1748720,00.asp

I love the looks of that P180 - I have a feeling there's one of those in my future

When did the Sonata have a "ducted fan"?

Original Sonata did not.

However the article is talking about Sonata II.

I remember the “Antec Rep” hinted in a thread on here, not so long ago, that Antec might be re-thinking PSU location. You can see the back of the P180 in the Sonata photo. The P180 also has Evercase style side venting in the door. Looks very promising

The P180 looks very good, and i like the psu location. I do hope its possible to route the cables behind the MB-tray, wont look pretty with cables going from the lower back to upper front for the 5.25" slots.. Whats the thing on top of the 180 in the back? Cant see it in the other picture.. Searched google for antec p180, came up with only two results, threads on forums with people saying they got them.. They were probably just typos though, and they really have the p160.

drool, me like the looks of this.

It's the cover over a top blowhole.

and we DO have one of each waiting to be reviewed, along with a brand spanking new Seasonic S12 PSU, RIGHT? *hint *hint *nudge *nudge

*calls Ed/Charlie/Russ and tells them to swipe the products MUAHAHAHAHA...

EDIT: *watches the P180 magically spawn on the front page*... MUAHAHAHHAA

Looks good and promising... let's hope they live up to the hype. The P180 looks beautiful in the photo, not garish with the bright chrome colored plastics like the P160.

Come to think of it, it does bear a remarkable resemblance to a refrigerator with brushed stainless steel panels...

Always something new on the horizon. Well, about time to upgrade my daughter's computer anyway

Now that we have it on the front page, let's talk about it, shall we?
(P180)
The thing looks like a freakin rice rocket, that top exhaust screams (quietly) "pwnage". ;P

I am sort of confused at the fan layout with the ducts and all. Perhaps SPCR will be able to get some nice pics explaining it. I mean there are no holes on the side panel, and if you're going to be getting all the exhaust coming out the back, it closely reminds me of the CM-01 Stacker, except reversed with all the fans in the back pulling air in. I am also still wondering where that front fan is going to be... doesn't look like there's any space for it. The whole PSU in the bottom is a nice touch, and so is the 120mm in between, but what also confuses me is what if you say, have a 120mm PSU, like, oh, say, the Seasonic S12 series? You're gunna have warm air hitting the PSU and just hanging out there. More details on the metal plates separating the compartments would be very useful as well, in terms of routing cables/airflow ;P

Interesting concept.

With the 2 120mm in the upper back corner, looks like an ideal set up for a bare XP120 without fan.

Main question is this: how do you get the main mobo power connector all the way to the top without making it look ugly...

Get a PSu with a REALLY long ATX connector, ROFL.

FSCK ME!!! The P180 is nice. Finally a good looking case from Antec (Sonata sortof excepted).

acaurora :
lol at the rice rocket.

- Another 120mm fan pushing air towards the PSU? Why? Not much room for 120mm fanned PSUs. Ideal for fanless PSUs or 80mm ones. Is the PSU mounted flipped?
- What are those thumbscrews above the PSU chamber?
- I wish it was smaller, who needs 11 drive bays. 21" height is like my sx1030. Grrr.... I'll be waiting for a P180 Jr if its forthcoming.
- It says aluminum / plastic /aluminum. And then says 0.8/1 mm rolled steel. I guess all the external panels are aluminum/plastic while the internals are steel? Good idea!
- Double hinged door is sweet. Like those cabinets to put your tv's in.
- I want pics of the vga air duct. The CPU air duct is nice.
- I like how there are no obvious holes in the front or sides. Nice clean look.

Bluefront : get one ASAP and hack it up. Looking forward to the yahoo album. Thanks!

EDIT : reread spcr carefully and deleted most of my questions

LOL afaik, most normal psus are of a standard size.

As for that 120mm fan in the bottom center, maybe that would be good if you had a passive psu that had open grating in the front and back ends.

Did you see the part about the 120mm x 38 fan? So that big 120mm L1A I accidentally ordered in my n00bie years will be finally put to use. YES! Oh wait... I think I sent it back for a return... DOH!

acaurora --

You're just too dang sharp, eh, can't keep anything from you. You'll soon be telling me what I'll be having for dinner tomorrow night!

It's true, we''ll probably have the first P180 sample when it comes available, and I do have a Seasonic S12 430 and 600 waiting to be tested right now.

Verry nice. I think I've finally found my next case.

My only concerns are the use of a fanless PSU in it, like the SilentMaxx 350. My concern is that the Silentmaxx is not compatible with many PSU mounting plates (without modification). I wonder of this case has a removable PSU bracket.
Also I wonder if the Antec Phantom would work well with this case. Of course that would mean turning off that fan in the lower PSU area, other wise whats the point of it being fanless.

Also 4 fans seems like a lot, but then again I imagine they are included so that all configurations would be compatible, and if not needed can just be un-plugged.

EDIT: The link for the product sheet doesn't seem to work.

OMG! And to think I almost ordered my Antec 3000-B and Seasonic Super Silencer this afternoon.

Now to find a really low price case to hold my new system until the reviews are done.

It's interesting to see that they've utilized the V-series choice of the isolating chambers. We'll see how that turns out.

Looking forward to the review. If it's good enough, maybe I'll do the switch .

saw it and i thought lian-li.

It would would look alot prettier (to my eyes anyway) if they made it the same colour instead of the two tone jobbie. Even silver plastic would look better than a black / silver mix. Shame the HDDs still look like they're Sonata semi-hard mounted. Other than those two grips it looks like it has the potential to be a very good case.

Can ya blame 'em? In my opinion, Antec has never had the best design sense. It does look like a fridge.

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've got a few questions (I know most of them probably will be answered in the upcoming review but this is a discussion isn't it? ;P):

The box in front of the 120mm psu duct fan is a 3.5" box? If so wouldn't the fan have been placed better in front of the drive cage?
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?
I've got concerns about my current psu's atx cable length, will the motherboard be mounted normally or upside down?
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)?

Other than that the case looks awesome and I'm looking forward to your review along with the rest of spcr's many readers.

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 [/EDIT]


You get a "File does not begin with pdf" error, right? Download the file instead of viewing it in firefox and it seems to work. Must be an error in the Adobe Reader plugin.

And would probably invite a lawsuit from Apple?


It's not possible to mount it upside down in the case pictured. You'd end up looking at the solder side of the motherboard if you did, or the PS/2 connectors / I/O slots will facing the front of the case. The Lian Li V series case panels open on the other side.

Maybe there'll be a product revision before release. But knowing how long it takes to get production started, probably not.

Add me to the all but bought list!
I hope you guys get one early to have a review up ASAP.

MUAHAHAHAHA HAAAAHAHAHA


If you want, I can review the S12 for you ;P

I'm in the middle of writing "the other review" right now ;P

Whaaaaat?! Even if it dooes look resemble a fridge (yah maybe the nice hi-tech ones), that case looks great! You people are crazy if you think taht looks bad

/rant

In Denmark we luckily don't have those 100" wide monstrosities you Americans call fridges

In the case of cases, black isn't beautiful (puns intended )

Heh...looks like Antec took some of my ideas, combined them into a P180.
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.....

Photo Album

Since everyone agrees Sonata's fan placement behind harddrives instead of in front is bad, wouldn't it also be better to place the fan in front of the harddrives in the p180 psu duct?