All other things being equal, a 92mm fan operating at the same RPM will produce less noise than a 120mm fan at the same RPM. Indeed, the smaller the fan diameter, the less noise AT THE SAME RPM, assuming identical construction, bearings, etc. Where the larger fan wins is when the standard becomes no...

The analogy between a computer case fan and an aircraft engine is well thought out, though as I will show you, somewhat flawed. Oh, retired jet aircraft technician here, by the way. There is a major difference between a turbojet engine and a turbofan engine. Both place the thrust-producing blades in...

The fan IS 130mm. That never was a measurement of the blade diameter, but the frame size. Double-check an 80mm case fan if you don't believe me. 80mm is the size of the mounting frame. The Thermaltake has a 130mm diameter frame. If the blades have a 113mm diameter, then it is definitely bigger than ...

Thermaltake has been making up ground lately, but silent hasn't mostly been their forte. Has anyone got experience with this new fan they'd care to share?

Thermaltake Silent Wheen @ Performance-PCs

Thanks.

I can also vouch for the P180, in the PSU tunnel I have a Phantom 350, SilenX 120mm (yes I know it sucks), 2 Seagate 250GB and 2 Seagate 200GB and they are pretty much silent, quieter than my ATI Silencer 5 anyway. I also have a Samsung 40GB in the top HDD tray and it is quieter than the vid card a...

Regarding HDD's running cooler in a 150 than a 180, what do you base that statement on? 1) Two 92mm will push more air than a single 120mm 2) Direct airflow will always work better, P180 Doesnt allow you to install a 120mm intake fan for the HD chamber. That last point is an interesting statement, ...

I still can't believe that a small change in the hardisks configuration can change it from "audible in the whole room" to "audible when your ear is next to it". I'm not convinced the direction of the drive made the differance, I left the screws alot looser this time (tightened by hand). Also two of...

I have no wish to insult you, it's obvious from your pics that you did try everything you could think of to reduce the noise, but I'd still be shocked that it's the case causing it. I have four WD Raptors running in the lower drive cage of my P180 (2 x 36g, 2 x 74g), and the only sound getting out o...

Egads. No fear, no fear. The "top fan" PSU doesn't blow air from that fan, that's an intake. It will NOT blow hot air on the HDs or keep hot air in the PSU chamber, it will pull air into the PSU to be exhausted out the backplane of the case. The P-180's PSU cage allows you to mount the PSU with the ...

Physics. The velocity at the blade tip of a 120mm diameter fan turning at 1500RPM is just shy of 17Kph. For an 80mm fan at the same RPM the tip velocity is just around 11.3Kph. All other things being equal (blade count, density, shape, etc.) More noise will ALWAYS be created by an object moving thro...

Just a small point I think worth making, thinking back on the P150 review by Ralf. It seems that everyone is taking to a "bigger is better" view of fans, which might be responsible for Aerocool putting a 140mm job in the intake of that case, thinking to capitalize on the trend by outdoing the 120mm ...

Hmmm. Let's see. 1. Bolt-on window, with no apparent seal around the mating surface between the 'glas and the side panel. 2. Exhaust grille is utter garbage, especially in light of how much attention the intake gets. 3. No-go showboat split front door segments, made of the same low-grade insta-break...

All black? What's with you folks voting all black? Sheesh, get a Dell, if that's how it is... :wink: Hmm Maybe there's a reason Dell are number one? Dell is the top retail computer maker today for one reason only, and it isn't black cases. NMCI. That stands for Navy-Marine Corps Intranet. A $7 Bill...

Black with brushed aluminium/silver. The color sceheme of the P180 fits nicely with my silver/black LG monitor, my silver/black Ultra-X flat keyboard and my black mouse! Ditto, but substitute Viewsonic/Logitech. All black? What's with you folks voting all black? Sheesh, get a Dell, if that's how it...

I'll give it two months or so for the price break to hit. I've been watching for a decent case to replace the aluminum noise-maker my kids' machine is in. (Old style Meridian M205) This looks like the one. Antec is doing a very good job of paying attention to the hobbyists who spend the extra $$ for...

I had read your original post and felt the readers from Europe would be far more help, so left it be. Now I see you've switched cases. To one with a door, which you had said you wouldn't consider. In the not distant past I too was thoroughly displeased with Antec regarding their cases. Disgusted wit...

Any Seasonic S12--- and Asus A8N--- combination works fine as well. After reading the "review/roundup" of cases on Anandtech, I felt embarassed for them. They are normally very thoughtful, thorough and trustworthy in their details and assessments of gear, but I was quite dissapointed in them allowin...

I dont think taking the filters out would help airflow at all, the filters are wery unrestrictive and probably wont catch anything smaller than dog-hair.. I have my computer on the desk so i doont get any dust in the computer, but when i had a computer on the floor i had to clean doghair off the fi...

With two pairs of WD Raptors in the lower drive cage (two 74's and two 36's), I'm well beyond satisfied with the grommet mounting of the drives in the bottom of the P180. There is NO drive vibration transmitted to the case. I can pick up the seek clicks, but that's it. If you are hearing drive vibra...

Dude, you scored a lemon. Call Antec and tell them your money bought a better case than the junk you received, and get it replaced. There are just too many issues with the one you were sent.

Iron Dreamer, Don't get too wrapped up by a store sample case that has suffered. I've had my P180 as long as about anyone, and the door has fit perfectly from day one. I've had the entire front bezel off twice, once to paint the steel in the front of the case and once to nudge the wiring around some...

My problem with the lower drive area is the cables want to stick straight out of the plugs. I was using SATA drives with 4-pin power. It appears that your SATA cables are pre-bent, did you hit them with a heat gun or something? I'll accept that as a compliment. No, those data cables were not pre-be...

Every picture I've seen of an 865PE-NEO2 has a chipset HSF. So, did you replace that with a passive heatsink? If so, given the chipset's position on the board, if you were really paranoid you could put a 120mm fan in the P180's upper intake position to bolster airflow across the board. But honestly,...

Two things. One, lower chamber temps are far from ignored, hence the included 38MM wide TriCool fan down there. And enough with "it won't fit with all my hard drives in the cage"... http://img270.imageshack.us/img270/3182/bottomchamber10sa.jpg For me this is a perfect setup. That fat TriCool on low ...

Other than price difference, the closest thing to a performance/function advantage for the 3700 over the P180 is the 90-degree drive bay. But the airflow restriction created, plus the P180's easily removable lower drive cage more than covers that. The cable length wasn't even close to an issue for m...

No case manufacturer will ever ship a case without grills because they wouldn't be able to pass EMI testing. Or UL Labs. Grilles are required until out of the door from the manufacturer. On the fans, since they are TriCools they are self-controlled (I know, 3 position switches aren't as accomodatin...

I just so happened to wander into a CompUSA for the first time in like three years, and they had a P180. No idea how long it had been on the shelf (pretty high top shelf), but the front door was badly warped from people pulling it open by the bottom corner. The left side panel was off (and nowhere i...

You choose on looks, or you choose on performance (quality, cool, quiet). My case is not the most visible thing in the room, so looks is not my deciding factor. That said, I like the looks of the P180. It's clean, and I've had my fill of "trick" cases. Every time I build a box for someone, they end ...

If you've got an nVidia card, the nVidia drivers can manipulate the clock speed and fan speeds for you automatically. You can modify what fan speeds the drivers select with an additional tool, "ExperTool". Yes, it's an nVidia card, but be advised, it's a 6200 turbocache. That means it farms out a s...

Well, had you mentioned up front your aversion to the P180's appearance, I wouldn't have mentioned it. In fact: I'm still dithering on the case, was going to go for an Antec 2700BQE / 3000B or P180 but have one major misgiving with all these cases - the drive bays are hidden by a door. I'm planning ...