Antec P160

klas · Post by **klas** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 11:56 am

well I know someone might disagree with my somewhat harsh opinion of the case, but I just feel like I was cheated for waiting about 3 month for this case and not getting even a slight "WOW". Anyway, I will probably keep the case, because there is nothing else out there that's aluminium with 2x120mm fans and I am not into modding

wgragg · Post by **wgragg** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 2:00 pm

Does this actually come with fans? I have heard both ways.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 2:27 pm

theres the global win 61f1, its aluminum with a plastic front and supposidly really nicely made. With front and rear 120mm fans

BobD · Post by **BobD** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 6:36 pm

wgragg wrote:Does this actually come with fans? I have heard both ways.

The one I saw on a showroom floor came without fan(s).

BobD · Post by **BobD** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 6:48 pm

GamingGod wrote:theres the global win 61f1, its aluminum with a plastic front and supposidly really nicely made. With front and rear 120mm fans

Just got the black one of the above case last week. The black plastic front didn't bother me...it is indeed well made. I'm used to the plastic fronts having a Cheming tower (SX1040B) and a Sonata. Got the Global Win as my Sonata doesn't cool for squat. Multiple reasons for this but I'm hopeful the Global Win will help offset some or all of them.

The P160 appeared to me to have pretty good airflow through the front bezel. To me, it appears that this airflow comes at the price of increased noise as it looks to be a straight shot from the grill to the fan.

I was a tad disappointed in the P160 appearance. The silver was nothing like a Coolermaster finish though it seems to have a clear coat on it. The whole bezel just looks bad to me. The "chrome bead" around the edge seems odd. The Global Win is pretty plain, so perhaps that is one reason it appealed to me.

Anyway, perhaps Antec will take some of the comments here and elsewhere to heart and look at some changes down the road. A black P160 might be interesting to see...hopefully they have one planned.

Bob

wgragg · Post by **wgragg** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 8:58 pm

BobD wrote:
wgragg wrote:Does this actually come with fans? I have heard both ways.
The one I saw on a showroom floor came without fan(s).

Well, that would raise the effective cost even more, but I suppose after the case and psu, the fan would be minor.

Ginta · Post by **Ginta** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 10:56 pm

It's probably better that it came without a fan cause silencing die hards would have tossed it out and stuck in a undervolted Papst anyway.

I just wished the P160 went for a nice even $100. At $80, I'm thinking of going for a Super Lanboy instead.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 5:59 am

wgragg wrote:Does this actually come with fans? I have heard both ways.

Antecs' site info says that it comes with one fan and their pics of the case show it with one fan.

I'll be getting one tomorrow so I'll let you know.

canthearyou · Post by **canthearyou** » Sun Nov 23, 2003 12:46 pm

The front openings on both the P160 and superlanboy appear to be direct and fairly large. I only want the front opening to supply air to my disk so I can move it from the 5" bay and do without a disk drive cooler. It does look promising to mount an undervolted fan there to blow just enough air to cool the drive without generating a lot of noise through the direct opening. Otherwise, I will have to look at another case.

The bezel looks better on the lanboy to me. It is handy to have it on top given most will put the PC on the floor or lower shelf of a desk, but mine is up on the printer shelf so having it in the middle would be handier.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 5:30 am

canthearyou wrote:The front openings on both the P160 and superlanboy appear to be direct and fairly large. I only want the front opening to supply air to my disk so I can move it from the 5" bay and do without a disk drive cooler. It does look promising to mount an undervolted fan there to blow just enough air to cool the drive without generating a lot of noise through the direct opening. Otherwise, I will have to look at another case.

That's exactly what I do with both my 3700AMB and 3700BQE. I run a 5V 92mm L1A on the front grill just to provide a little cooling airflow to my drive. The front bezel is unrestrictive enough for this to work well but not open enough to allow the fan noise to escape.

dave-tx · Post by **dave-tx** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 5:53 am

I received my P160 on Thursday (from atacom). Didn't get a chance to build it out until Sunday, but here's my first impressions.

This is my first aluminum case - I was surprised at how light it was. At first, the light weight felt "cheap", but as I worked with it I realized how sturdy and solid it really is. I really liked the internal drive bays - they were amazingly easy to install, and they'll get great cooling from the front 120mm fan.

Speaking of 120mm fans, it did come with one. The plan is to use Papst 120mm's anyway, but just wanted to clear this up.

As others mentioned, the plastic front was somewhat disappointing at first. Again, as I worked with it (had to pull it off to install my CD drives), I became more comfortable with it. It's a pretty good quality plastic, should be pretty durable. I don't have much sense of asthetics, so I have little opinion of how it looks.

Also my first case with a removable motherboard tray. Wow, that really made installing the board, cpu, and memory *easy*. This was without a doubt the easiest (and fastest) computer I've built.

I haven't tested the noise factor yet - I'm waiting for two Papst 120mm fans, which will arrive Tuesday. So I haven't fired it up yet. I'm guessing this won't be a "silent" computer, as there's gonna be quite a few fans total - two PSU fans, two 120mm case fans, a Nexus CPU fan, and the chipset cooler (BTW, has anyone replaced the Gigabyte 7N400 Pro2 chipset fan with a passive Zalman heatsink?).

In short, I really like this case. Easily the best case I've owned, but it's also the first decent case I've bought. Has all of the features I wanted (aluminum, 120mm fan-ready, lots of drive bays).

Sometime midweek I should be able to post pictures, if anyone's interested. I'll follow up with a noise report later as well.

-Dave

PS - first post to SPCR forums!

canthearyou · Post by **canthearyou** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 8:53 am

They make aircraft out of aluminum so I could never think of it as cheap or less than sturdy. Although some of the steel cases are built like a tank, which is nice if you do not have to lift them.

Thanks for the info on the fan.

Did you notice any increase in vibration transmitted through the alu sides?

I have a tray on my old InWin and although it does help with assembly the first time, I really tire of unhooking all the cables so I just lay the case on the side when changing someting now. I understand the Lian Li have a connector so the cables can remain connected. Good idea but I do have a question about how reliable that is.

The official welcome wagon should be by soon.

Steve

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 9:06 am

Canthearyou, The Lian-li connnector is great, I've had no problems with it at all (airflow through the case however...). Well designed connectors shouldn't cause any more problems than straight mounting.

Dave, Weclome to SPCR. Great info about the case.

AntecRep · Post by **AntecRep** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 9:18 am

1 120mm fan should be included. May not be on floor models, since often floor models get 'well loved'.

We will have an optional windowed side panel available.

AntecRep

Huma-Flow · Post by **Huma-Flow** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 9:43 pm

antec rep.....is there a black version of the p160 to come?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Nov 25, 2003 5:12 am

I got my P160 yesterday and have some great news!

There's 3 LEDs on the intake slots on the front bezel!!!!

I'm so happy! Extra bling for free!!!

Somehow I missed this little tidbit of joy on all the spec sheets for this case.

moving shadow · Post by **moving shadow** » Tue Nov 25, 2003 6:03 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:
I'm so happy! Extra bling for free!!!

hehe

AntecRep · Post by **AntecRep** » Tue Nov 25, 2003 8:21 am

Right now, no plans for a black P160, that I'm aware of.

AntecRep

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Tue Nov 25, 2003 8:27 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:I got my P160 yesterday and have some great news!

There's 3 LEDs on the intake slots on the front bezel!!!!

I'm so happy! Extra bling for free!!!

Somehow I missed this little tidbit of joy on all the spec sheets for this case.

I thought (assumed) the blue light emanating from the front of the case in the photos was coming from an LED fan, but you are saying I can replace the front fan and the front will still be lighted?

David

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Tue Nov 25, 2003 11:08 am

ok ralf now taht we know you havethe casem we expect a review PRONTO!

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Nov 25, 2003 12:37 pm

haysdb wrote:, but you are saying I can replace the front fan and the front will still be lighted?

David

Well, there is no front fan to replace, this case comes with only one fan intended to be used in the back. But there is room to install a 120mm x 25mm fan in the front between the drive cages and the front of the case.

The good(?) news is that the lights will remain on unless you unplug the connector behind the bezel.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Nov 25, 2003 12:38 pm

chylld wrote:ok ralf now taht we know you havethe casem we expect a review PRONTO!

I'm working on it.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Wed Nov 26, 2003 12:58 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:
chylld wrote:ok ralf now taht we know you havethe casem we expect a review PRONTO!
I'm working on it.

actually i just backordered an slk3700bqe yesterday, expecting delivery weekend/early next week. so... go slow and err.. thorough.. with that review.

and also if you could find out what purpose that 1" gap between the top of the case and the PSU serves, that'd be great!

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Wed Nov 26, 2003 1:09 am

chylld wrote:and also if you could find out what purpose that 1" gap between the top of the case and the PSU serves, that'd be great!

From the photos in Antec's web site, it looks like you can mount a PSU right side up or upside down. For the 120mm fan PSUs, it means you can have your PSU's 120mm fan facing up or down.

With reports of Seasonic Tornado being noisy when the fan is facing down, and since the air on top is warmer, and to avoid turbulance being in close proximity with the case exhaust fan, mounting a 120mm fan PSU with fan above seems like a good idea.

Just a guess.

ColdFlame · Post by **ColdFlame** » Wed Nov 26, 2003 1:34 am

Well, looks are subjective and I really hate to bring it to you guys like this but here are the facts - this case is weak. As I said it is subjective, but I was so big on it and I'm so happy now I opted for 3700 instead for half the money.

I saw the p160 today at the retail store priced $129.95. Here is the list of my problems with it and you decide you care or not:
1) plastic face - I don't get why I'd want an aluminum case with a plastic front. Silver painted plastic front, scratches easily, poor quality, squeaks horribly when pressed
2) the whole case does not inspire confidence and quality, I pushed it around and it was squeaking all the time
3) I think for $130 you can do much better with Lian Li; it might be a bit more $$$ but a lot more quality and looks

To summarize it: I don't see what is so good about this case at all. Aluminum? Big deal. The front is plastic and this is what I see and push all the time and the quality of that is pretty bad.

Sorry again!

dave-tx · Post by **dave-tx** » Wed Nov 26, 2003 5:03 am

canthearyou wrote: Did you notice any increase in vibration transmitted through the alu sides?

Finally finished assembly yesterday. There doesn't seem to be much vibration transmitted - the hard drives were muffled quite well (rubber grommets on the internal drive bays). This system is much quieter than the one it replaced... but then again, that was a dual-Athlon Fan Monster.

I only have two nits to pick, and those are with each 120mm fan location. The front fan is installed via a pull-out tray. The problem I had with this was that I needed flat-headed screws (not my usual round-headed screws) in order to be able to slide the tray back in. Minor detail, but one that requires a trip to home depot. The rear 120mm fan mount is more problematic - the screw holes in the case are much smaller than the screw holes in the fan itself - they were obviously designed to use the rubber attachments that came with the included 120mm fan. This makes replacement somewhat more tricky, as these rubber attachements have to be worked out of the existing fan and put in the new one. I was successful at moving 3 of the 4 - the fourth one broke. I imagine at some point down the line I'll have to drill out these holes to make them bigger so that they can fit a #10 size screw.

With the rear-mounted Papst 120mm fan (at full voltage), I was able to feel enough air drawn through the front of the case that I didn't feel like I needed to install the front fan. I'll probably still install it and see what the temperatures do, but for now it's fine as-is.

I plugged in the front blue LEDs, but will probably unplug them - I'm really not interested in having my computer room lit up all night. One thing I haven't figured out yet (maybe I just need to RTFM) is how to power up the front-panel temperature readout.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the case.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Nov 26, 2003 5:54 am

chylld wrote:
and also if you could find out what purpose that 1" gap between the top of the case and the PSU serves, that'd be great!

That gap (which is actually 2.187") is to accomodate that rotating I/O panel at the front of the case. See how it sits above the top CDrom bay? For whatever reason, the top of the PSU is level with the top pf the CDrom in the upper bay. That leaves all that space above the PSU.

Here, I took a quick pic of my in-process setup so you can see what's going on up there:

klas · Post by **klas** » Thu Nov 27, 2003 8:52 am

ColdFlame wrote:Well, looks are subjective and I really hate to bring it to you guys like this but here are the facts - this case is weak. As I said it is subjective, but I was so big on it and I'm so happy now I opted for 3700 instead for half the money.

I saw the p160 today at the retail store priced $129.95. Here is the list of my problems with it and you decide you care or not:
1) plastic face - I don't get why I'd want an aluminum case with a plastic front. Silver painted plastic front, scratches easily, poor quality, squeaks horribly when pressed
2) the whole case does not inspire confidence and quality, I pushed it around and it was squeaking all the time
3) I think for $130 you can do much better with Lian Li; it might be a bit more $$$ but a lot more quality and looks

To summarize it: I don't see what is so good about this case at all. Aluminum? Big deal. The front is plastic and this is what I see and push all the time and the quality of that is pretty bad.

Sorry again!

This is exactly what I said about this case earlier!

No, this case is not worth $130, better of with other aluminium case and mod it to have 120 mm fans

oh and that rotating panel makes this case look even cheaper besides adding extra height. I am buying medium tower this is not medium!

davidos · Post by **davidos** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 9:39 am

Any new thoughts on this case? How is the review going? Thanks!

Joe DeFuria · Post by **Joe DeFuria** » Mon Dec 01, 2003 11:44 am

ColdFlame wrote:1) plastic face - I don't get why I'd want an aluminum case with a plastic front. Silver painted plastic front, scratches easily, poor quality, squeaks horribly when pressed

Damn...

Now I'm really going to have to see one of these in person before considering buying one....

davidos wrote:Any new thoughts on this case? How is the review going? Thanks!

Well, in this thread, Ralf made a couple of comments, more or less confirming that there is some more sound audible from the front intake compared to his SLK3700.

Antec P160

my thoughts on the P160