P180 still THE case to get???

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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Webmonkey
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P180 still THE case to get???

Post by Webmonkey » Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:43 am

After having gotten my hands on a good stepping Opteron 170 that now runs at 2800 and an ASUS A8N32 mainboard, I have really become aware of the low airflow in my current web damped case (all side lined with absorbtion matts)


Acording to this site, the Antec P180 is on top of the list - but has any other equal or better come out since the P2180 was released?


Can the P180 be improved with say absorbing matts???

McBanjo
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Re: P180 still THE case to get???

Post by McBanjo » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:42 am

Webmonkey wrote:After having gotten my hands on a good stepping Opteron 170 that now runs at 2800 and an ASUS A8N32 mainboard, I have really become aware of the low airflow in my current web damped case (all side lined with absorbtion matts)


Acording to this site, the Antec P180 is on top of the list - but has any other equal or better come out since the P2180 was released?


Can the P180 be improved with say absorbing matts???
That depends a bit on what you want. There is cases that perform equal or probibly slightly bether cooling but they are most likely noisier.
I haven't seen any yet that outperform P180 in booth cooling and silence tho.

Yes it can. Acoustic Products are currently working on a precut damper kit for it. Haven't heard anything new from them yet but I guess it's out after CeBit

stupid
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Post by stupid » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:33 am

I picked up the COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 last year for my Athlon XP-M PC. Haven't upgraded to A64 X2 yet, since I owe $$$ taxes this year.

It allows plenty of airflow because of the front mesh design, there are washable dust filters. Since my PC sits on the floor, I like the fact that the buttons and ports are on top. The case is black as well, and is a aluminum/steel combo. There is also a front blue LED 120mm in-take fan at the bottom, but you need to buy an exhaust fan.

The large amount of airflow allows for a passively cool motherboard and CPU (if it doesn't run too hot). I've chosen the A8N SLI Premium and Athlon 64 X2 4600+ for my upgrade. Many have reported that they have passively cooled their X2 3800+ with just the Scythe Ninja. Some have even claimed to passively cool the X2 4600+, but I don't recall which case was being used. I think it will use the Ninja + Nexus combo for my build.

The downside is that the mesh can allow some drive noise to escape from the case. But considering the fact that the abundant airflow will allow for both a passively cooled motherboard and CPU. Therefore, the PC may actually produce less noise. That's why I choose this case.

My current Athlon XP-M is only somewhat quiet using this case. But I am overclocking my CPU with the Zalman 7000 AlCu running at full speed, and the Radeon 9800 Pro with the original fan. Those two things definitely makes some noise. The only real silent component in my current setup is the Seasonic S12 PSU. Drive noise is pretty low, then again it's being constantly drowned out by the fans.

stukovx
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Post by stukovx » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:42 am

Didn't even notice that I have purchased a lanboy and a p180.

The p180 was just a pain for me to work with. I had a little problem booting up and had to undo everything in the case 5 or 6 times. My s-430 power connectors barely reach my dfi nf4 ultra-d. I think I might go ahead and get a p150.

TomZ
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Post by TomZ » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:49 am

I considered the P180, but got a Lian-Li PC-V1100B instead. The Lian-Li also has a separate PSU thermal chamber like the P180, IMO a very good idea, but it also inverts the motherboard so that you don't have cabling issues like you might have with the P180.

I also had concerns about the quality of the P180, since many people have been having problems with them lately. The quality of the Lian-Li is excellent. But, Lian-Li is a little expensive - that is the main disadvantage.

My Lian-Li is very quiet. It does have HDDs hard-mounted in the front like the P180, so if you are going for complete silence, you should plan to suspend or soft-mount them (same for both cases). I would also recommend to purchase a higher CFM rear chassis fan to keep internal ambient temps down.
Last edited by TomZ on Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Tom Brown
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Post by Tom Brown » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:06 am

TomZ wrote:I considered the P180, but got a Lian-Li PC-V1100B instead.
Interesting.

I like Antec but that case looks amazing. :)

Devonavar
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Post by Devonavar » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:19 pm

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the P150. Better HDD suspension and fewer fans make is a great choice for LOW HEAT systems like yours. The only question mark is the potential compatibility issues with the PSU.

McBanjo
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Post by McBanjo » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:35 pm

Devonavar wrote:I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the P150. Better HDD suspension and fewer fans make is a great choice for LOW HEAT systems like yours. The only question mark is the potential compatibility issues with the PSU.
He has a cpu that is overclocked with 800Mhz that should put out some heat. Besides you don't know the rest of his setup ;-)
Atleast I got the impression that he wants great airflow, does the P150 beat P180 when it comes to that?

diver
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Post by diver » Wed Mar 01, 2006 3:51 pm

I think a case of Bud would do it.

How about a P150 without a power supply, and include some rubber bands that do not break prematurely.

Yeah, and paint it black.

Webmonkey
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Post by Webmonkey » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:37 am

McBanjo wrote:
Devonavar wrote:I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the P150. Better HDD suspension and fewer fans make is a great choice for LOW HEAT systems like yours. The only question mark is the potential compatibility issues with the PSU.
He has a cpu that is overclocked with 800Mhz that should put out some heat. Besides you don't know the rest of his setup ;-)
Atleast I got the impression that he wants great airflow, does the P150 beat P180 when it comes to that?
Hey guys!

Thanks for replying!

My setup is:

Opteron 170 @ 2800MHz
ASUS A8N32
2x 1024MB Corsair XMS PC4000PT
Club3D GF6600 passively cooled
3COM 10/100Mbit NIC
Seasonic S12-500W
2x Nexus 80mm case fans

My current case is a ying/yang thing, modified with absorbtion filt matts.

It is very quiet, but also running pretty hot...

the PSU is in a "half" chamber, where it can not directly suck air from the CPU area, it has to circle around the middle of the case to get up into the PSU chamber...

I am a bit worried about cable reach from the PSU to the mainboard in the P180...

McBanjo
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Post by McBanjo » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:46 am

I belive they do reach but barely so you might want to get an extender cable for the P4 12V line (the 4 pin, I think it's called that :-P) to get bether cable management. The power-loss for an extender isn't worth noticing. It's just 0.1-0.2V or so.

Sorry for my horrible english now, I just woke up so can't remember the correct words right now :-P

epiphane
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Post by epiphane » Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:49 am

Webmonkey wrote:......SNIP......

I am a bit worried about cable reach from the PSU to the mainboard in the P180...
As mentioned, if u go w/ the Lian-Li PC-V1100 that isn't a concern. Also, if u plan on staying w/ that case for many years, the cost looks more reasonable.

I have a Lian-Li PC-V1100 & am very happy w/ it.

Cheers

mbetea
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Post by mbetea » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:18 am

If you're not afraid of a dremel, I did a nice little mod on my p180 that allowed me to run my 12v cable behind the motherboard tray. Will be posting pictures of the whole setup soon the the general gallery.

Lubb
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Post by Lubb » Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:29 am

I'm one person who thinks that the P180 is not all that great; it is nicely built but not worth the price difference, IMO.

I think the main thing that makes my current setup "quiet" is that the fans are slowed down by a fan controller panel. I have good heatsinks and good fans (though I don't think the "orange" fans are really much quieter than the ones they replaced). The CPU is a Scythe Ninja run fanless, the videocard has a Zalman copper flower sink, the PS is fanless but has a orange fan down there.

I'm sure all the other things help a bit too, but if I turn the fans up it's rather uncomfortably loud. And that tells me that the fan noise is the major difference, and you can put a fan controller panel on most any case out there.
~

L3thal
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Post by L3thal » Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:59 pm

diver wrote:I think a case of Bud would do it.

How about a P150 without a power supply, and include some rubber bands that do not break prematurely.

Yeah, and paint it black.
I think you are talking about the Solo. :wink:

Shadowknight
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Post by Shadowknight » Sun Jul 16, 2006 4:24 pm

I've had both the 3700AMB (grills punched, acoustipack) and the P180 (acoustipack v.2). I've had both cases setup so zero vibrations are transmitted throughout the case. Cooling was identical as well. I got the P180 solely for the extra-thickness of the panels, as well as the softer plastic vs. thin steel of the 3700AMB. Every little bit of thickness helps in reducing perceived acoustic noise. I find that with careful planning of softmounting the hard drives, the P180 really isn't better. It doesn't help that the wiring is difficult in the PSU chamber due to the proximity of the fan to the cables for the hard drives.

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