Just got P150 :) Initial Thoughts

[csl]

One slight niggle - the supplied screws to hold the motherboard in place are not great. I found four that keyed nicely in the motherboard risers, but the other screws just kept turning inside the riser - whilst not a huge problem - the board is held nicely in place and the screws do come out again - maybe Antec could look at the mobo risers/screws in their QC depts.

Just set up my new rig yesterday. There are two sizes of identically styled philips-headed screws - the smaller ones are for the drive rails and won't affix the motherboard to the case very well. I got caught out with this initially, but doubled checked after seeing this thread - noticed the size differences and tried the larger screws and not a single problem. So check the screw size just in case. Normally the drive bay/rail screws are styled differently (rounder shape rather than hex).

Just for posterity, I used an Asus A8V, X2 4400, Ninja with 12cm Nexus running at stock, 2GB Corsair XMS, Samsung SP120 250GB SATA, Benq 1640. I added an old storage hard drive and even with the modular cables (which are rather stiff it has to be said) the case gets rather messy and cramp. Needs more work on my part... CPU temps seem very low compared to my Barton 2800+, which is great.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the case and PSU.

[Charles]

Do you know, if there will be a black version of this Case?

BR!

[Rory Buszka]

Thankfully all that was needed to resolve my P150 issues was a simple exchange at the store. The new case is totally all right. The LEDs for power and HDD look very easy to swap out, so I think that the power button gets a green LED. One of those super-bright ones. The new MCubed TBalancer MiniMG looks like it will be my fan control solution, once it reaches the U.S. Until then, I can always do the 5-volt thing. But I'm very happy to have resolved all my issues. Now I just need everything else that goes in the case, starting with the motherboard.

Addendum: Grrr - The NeoHE 430 in my new case is dead. This is ridiculous - I cannot in good conscience recommend this case and power supply combination to anyone until Antec resolves their problems with these power supplies. This is total bull****. This is going to be the second time I've had to exchange a case, and this time it may simply be a return. I love the way the P150 looks, but on the inside it's just crap, crap, and more crap. ****, ****, ****. Antec Quality may not be all it's cracked up to be but here's hoping Antec's customer support is. I also hope Antec loses a lot of business (and a fair chunk of their good reputation) over this, since they have no business putting out product with this many problems. I'm more than disappointed now - I'm outraged.

SPCR should not add this case to its "Recommended Cases" list until Antec demonstrates that it can reliably deliver a working product, which is what we all fully and rightly expect to get when we lay down that much cash. MikeC, I feel you should remove the P150 from the recommended cases list until Antec proves it can deliver a product that doesn't have a greater than 50% failure rate. As responsible stewards of this information, SPCR has no business misleading its patrons into believing that they can expect a working product when they purchase the P150 case, because that's just not the case. No pun intended, honest.

[jvrobert]

...
Addendum: Grrr - The NeoHE 430 in my new case is dead. This is ridiculous - I cannot in good conscience recommend this case and power supply combination to anyone until Antec resolves their problems with these power supplies. This is total bull****. This is going to be the second time I've had to exchange a case, and this time it may simply be a return. I love the way the P150 looks, but on the inside it's just crap, crap, and more crap. ****, ****, ****. Antec Quality may not be all it's cracked up to be but here's hoping Antec's customer support is. I also hope Antec loses a lot of business (and a fair chunk of their good reputation) over this, since they have no business putting out product with this many problems. I'm more than disappointed now - I'm outraged.
...

My personal theory is that they're trying to release the first 100% efficient PSU. If it doesn't work and won't power up, it's 100% efficient.

And don't let them give you that crap about it being an Asus problem - I can confirm it happened on a Biostar 6100 TForce board, and I've seen reports on other MB's.

[MikeC]

SPCR should not add this case to its "Recommended Cases" list until Antec demonstrates that it can reliably deliver a working product, which is what we all fully and rightly expect to get when we lay down that much cash. MikeC, I feel you should remove the P150 from the recommended cases list until Antec proves it can deliver a product that doesn't have a greater than 50% failure rate. As responsible stewards of this information, SPCR has no business misleading its patrons into believing that they can expect a working product when they purchase the P150 case, because that's just not the case. No pun intended, honest.

No one here is a "patron" unless they contribute to SPCR financially or to editorial content on the main site. They are forum members and readers. You are a member of the audience for whom we write, but you really cannot describe yourself as a patron. To say we're in the "business" of misleading anybody is unfair & seems like misdirected spray. The case is very good; in our experience, the PSU doesn't work with 2 Asus motherboards; in many others' experience, the PSU has been a nightmare. But to say its failure rate is >50% is total conjecture on your part. (If it was, I doubt Antec could afford NOT to do a total recall. )

I agree about the NeoHE being unacceptably unreliable, at least to date -- but not about throwing the P150 off the recommended list altogether; it's too important not to be mentioned there. Here's what I've added to the now-highlighted P150 entry in the recommended cases list:

WARNING: The NeoHE 430 PSU that comes bundled with this great case is sadly flawed with compatibility and reliability issues. We are putting our recommendation on HOLD as long as the P150 remains bundled with the NeoHE PSU until it is clear that the PSU issues are fully resolved, or the case is made available without any PSU, or supplied with a different, proven PSU.

[Dirty-Harry]

I haven't been following the P150 issues, but recently read some of the threads regarding the PSU issue. I'm curious to know if anyone has requested to Antec that they sell the P150 without the Power Supply.

My personal opinion of the P180 is that you need to know what you're doing. You have to have a plan and set aside a lot of time to configure your case.

After reading numerous threads on both cases, it appears that the P150 would have been better for my system. I don't have 4+ HDs, I'm not overclocking, nor running a dual core.

I have not had the problem with the door on the P180 like many of you guys.

I may consider getting a P150 and put a different PSU in it.

Silent PC Review - YOU GUYS ROCK -> MikeC and Ralf

[Rory Buszka]

Unless having the P150 just by itself is worth $150 to you, I wouldn't waste your money until Antec succumbs to the force of market opinion or whatever and sends the NeoHE off along the way of the similarly ill-fated Antec Phantom power supplies, the Dodo, dinosaurs, etc. Even if they can fix all the issues, who will be able to trust that Antec products are worthwhile?

All my NeoHE is good for is breaking windows at Antec's corporate headquarters.

[spolitta]

Unless having the P150 just by itself is worth $150 to you,

It does

[csl]

Same here. The NeoHE is a duffer as my system won't boot up fully loaded, but I'll be getting a Seasonic for that. Still, I'd happily pay £90 for just the case, as it's perfect for my needs, has native drive suspension (something in itself that costs £15 a pop for a novibes, unless you DIY) and looks great with stealthed bays and nice paintwork. Antec are obviously trying to keep costs low though, and for £90 a decent case and PSU is very good value (too good to be true in this scenario). However, it's more than obvious that corners have been cut, and although I've had no probs with my case (just the PSU) there are some who have had case QC issues. I really wouldn't mind paying a little more to get a rock solid PSU and slightly refined case, but that's the problem when you have the P150 sitting at the seemingly lower end of the P range - they wouldn't want to price the P150 nearer the P180 I guess.

[DaGroove]

My Antec P150 arrived today. What a nice looking case... however, I noticed that one of the thumb screws on the side panel is missing and the panel lip is crushed in (thus causing the screw to fall out is my guess). I cant understand how this got past Antec's QC. I havent even got to the stage of testing my Asus board with the Neo HE430 PSU yet.

Based on your experience with Antec - does anyone know if this is something I have to deal with Antec directly or the dealer?

First Impression: Not impressed!

[m00k]

I bought my p150 on December 27th.
First impression: awesome.

Build my system and concluded the psu doesn't work ok (Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939 board) and has a broken sticker. Also; i have to remove my mainboard to replace the psu(Scythe Ninja is in the way).
Second impression: not so impressed.

Contacted my dealer as well as Antec customer support on December 27th about this problem, but i am still waiting for an answer from both of them.
Third impression: i am really disappointed

[Hellspawn]

I still see that this issue is being minimalized by the comment "the PSU doesn't work with 2 Asus motherboards". I proved to Antec and the other readers here that this statement, while true in your experience, is not accurate out in the real world.

I had 4 boards, 2 non-Asus as you know and they all failed to boot. (2 Asus, Intel and an Abit, both Socket 939 and Intel 775). Those model numbers were Abit AN8-Ultra, Asus P5LD2, P5GDC and Intel BOXD945PSNLK and at one point Intel BOXD945PVSLK.

Also, not so sure what he says can be termed as worthless conjecture either, since I would say that my personal failure rate was much more than 50%, more like 66.66% (2 out of 3 DEAD with my multiple board selection). One has to wonder, how many revision '1' (whatever they call them), PSU units did Antec test before sending my 3rd one out to me? 1? 3? Who knows, they surely won't reveal that.

I also see other readers here getting replacement units and seeing the same thing that I did my my 2nd unit from Antec.. Since I have no personal connection to these other readers, and cannot test the systems myself, I'll take it as just anecdotal information, but I have no reason to doubt them.

SPCR should not add this case to its "Recommended Cases" list until Antec demonstrates that it can reliably deliver a working product, which is what we all fully and rightly expect to get when we lay down that much cash. MikeC, I feel you should remove the P150 from the recommended cases list until Antec proves it can deliver a product that doesn't have a greater than 50% failure rate. As responsible stewards of this information, SPCR has no business misleading its patrons into believing that they can expect a working product when they purchase the P150 case, because that's just not the case. No pun intended, honest.

No one here is a "patron" unless they contribute to SPCR financially or to editorial content on the main site. They are forum members and readers. You are a member of the audience for whom we write, but you really cannot describe yourself as a patron. To say we're in the "business" of misleading anybody is unfair & seems like misdirected spray. The case is very good; in our experience, the PSU doesn't work with 2 Asus motherboards; in many others' experience, the PSU has been a nightmare. But to say its failure rate is >50% is total conjecture on your part. (If it was, I doubt Antec could afford NOT to do a total recall. )

I agree about the NeoHE being unacceptably unreliable, at least to date -- but not about throwing the P150 off the recommended list altogether; it's too important not to be mentioned there. Here's what I've added to the now-highlighted P150 entry in the recommended cases list:

WARNING: The NeoHE 430 PSU that comes bundled with this great case is sadly flawed with compatibility and reliability issues. We are putting our recommendation on HOLD as long as the P150 remains bundled with the NeoHE PSU until it is clear that the PSU issues are fully resolved, or the case is made available without any PSU, or supplied with a different, proven PSU.

[Hellspawn]

Just my opinion, but I'd rather remove the Scythe Ninja twice before removing a motherboard once to replace a PSU.. I can have my Ninja off in about 30 seconds most times. Putting it back on is a little more of a challenge but still far and away less trouble than disconnecting wires, cables, removing add-in cards etc..

And let's not forget that the ninja is a true monolith and would prevent you from removing a PSU from a lot of cases, sans the p180 of course.

Anyway, seems like the ninja would be easier to remove, but...

I agree though, it's a pain that the side brace is not removable. I have an Asus T-10 ATX case many years ago that was awesome, it just came right out. That case was NICE.

I bought my p150 on December 27th.
First impression: awesome.

Build my system and concluded the psu doesn't work ok and has a broken sticker. Also; i have to remove my mainboard to replace the psu(Scythe Ninja is in the way).
Second impression: not so impressed.

Contacted my dealer as well as Antec customer support on December 27th about this problem, but i am still waiting for an answer from both of them.
Third impression: i am really disappointed

[nici]

I agree though, it's a pain that the side brace is not removable. I have an Asus T-10 ATX case many years ago that was awesome, it just came right out. That case was NICE.

Anything is removable It´s just pop-rivets, just drill them out.. Removing it might make the case a bit less sturdy, but it´s not like it will fall apart or anything.. And putting it back again is easy too should you want to, again just a few pop rivets. They dont cost much, and if you dont use it much the cheapest tool available is fine.

[Hellspawn]

I have not looked that closely to see if a screw or bolt could be used, but you would be correct, most anything is removable