P180 flavor of the month?

[dukdukgoos]

I, like many here, was strongly considering buying this case, due to the reviews and the general good feedback from people owning one. But I went to Frys yesterday and saw one (the silver model) up close and was pretty disappointed.

The outside of the thing just looks cheap. The plastic door on the front is flimsy as hell; whole thing just looks "plastiky", for lack of a better word.

That being said, most of the internals are very nice. The removable drive cages have a nice, solid, quality feel to them. But then the VGA duct thing seems low quality again, and I've heard that a lot of people end up removing it completely.

All in all, I don't think I'll be buying one of these. The CM Stacker was much more impressive (although a little large for my tastes).

 

[Tamale]

i'm going to be comparing the P-180 to several other tower cases in the ~$100 price range real soon..

hang tight!

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Tamale
i'm going to be comparing the P-180 to several other tower cases in the ~$100 price range real soon..

hang tight!

Isn't the P180 in the ~$150 price range?

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: Tamale
i'm going to be comparing the P-180 to several other tower cases in the ~$100 price range real soon..

hang tight!

Isn't the P180 in the ~$150 price range?

Yea, hah. Even the $160, $175, and $220 price ranges.

 

[Shadowknight]

Techonweb's price fluctuates between $106 and $120. Other websites charge more, and the black SPCR version is currently $170. The plastic on the door is MUCH better than the one on my old Antec 3700AMB. I've compared the case panels and the P180 kicks the crap out of my old case, hands down. The 3700AMB used to get high praise at SPCR before the P180 was released. I have both cases filled with Acoustipack. There is a VERY noticable difference when knocking on the panels of each case. The case is meant to cut down as much noise as possible. Some people love the door, some don't. Some don't like the bezel behind the door due to the placement of the fan intakes, which is fair enough. But the design is an emphasis of function over form.

The door appears to be metal in a plastic frame, so I don't know why it looks "plastiky". The VGA duct has been universally considered useless. good in theory, but doesn't work in reality. Not a big deal, most cases don't have the duct anyway and nothing says you have to use it if you don't want to.

 

[dukdukgoos]

Is the door really metal?? It felt like plastic, very flimsy, but admittedly I only played with it for a few seconds. I guess I could see maybe getting the black one and removing the door and the VGA duct, but I'm not sure it's really worth $170 at that point.

 

[JEDIYoda]

At last count $170 could buy at Taco bell...
on 59cent taco Sunday.....
almost 165 taco`s plus a super Burrito and a diet coke!!!

 

[Cerb]

Well, how's this: I think the CM Stacker is ugly. Not terribly ugly, but that's just because those cartoon robot-looking LED-filled cases that are all over making the ugly bar lower and lower.

I much prefer the sleek lines of the Cavalier, or the the hard edges of old servers. The P180 has the look of old servers. I can just imagine a bunch of SCSIs whining from it . If it had angled intakes, you could put a IBM sticker on, and no one would notice it wasn't.

Not everyone has the same tastes.

 

[dukdukgoos]

Just to be clear: I don't think the P180 is ugly, it just doesn't look/feel very high quality on the outside. CM Stacker looks/feels bulletproof...hell even the Centurion 5 and 530 seemed higher quality... on the outside. Internal components of the P180 felt very solid.

 

[Dman877]

My P180 is built like a tank. The panels are all 3 layers, aluminum/plastic/aluminum for noise deadening. The front door is plastic on the inside and aluminum on the outside.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: dukdukgoos
Just to be clear: I don't think the P180 is ugly, it just doesn't look/feel very high quality on the outside. CM Stacker looks/feels bulletproof...hell even the Centurion 5 and 530 seemed higher quality... on the outside. Internal components of the P180 felt very solid.

At 107$ it doesnt use expensive parts like Lian li.

The case is OK. Its great for deadening noise, its big. Thats about it. If you have to pay more than 130$ shipped, its not really worth it.

 

[McPudd]

Set your case feature priorities and buy accordingly.
Mine were:
1) Quietness (PC is in the same [living] room as my HT system)
2) Air-flow
3) Looks

My final list came down to:
1) Antec P180
2) Thermaltake Armor
3) CoolerMaster Stacker

Based on one's personal needs/taste/wallet any of the above are good choices.

BTW, I'm aware of Lian-Li.
My present case is a Lian-Li PC-6089 Aluminum mid-tower case w/4case fans.
w/P4 2.8GHz/533MHz FSB retail; Enermax EG651P-VE FMA 550W ATX+12V ver1.2 PSU etc
Looks nice, light and excellent workmanship but expensive, poorly laid out for air-flow and very noisy.

I'm going with the Antec P180 w/an extra 120mm front intake, will not use the VGA duct and will
duct tape over its opening. Antec TP-II 550 PSU, Asus A8N-SLi PREMIUM, AMD ATHLON 64 X2 4800+ etc

Happy trailz,

 

[Shadowknight]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
At 107$ it doesnt use expensive parts like Lian li.

The case is OK. Its great for deadening noise, its big. Thats about it. If you have to pay more than 130$ shipped, its not really worth it.

What expensive parts do Lian Li's use? From what I can tell their cases are nothing special. They're made of solid aluminum, they don't cool any better than most other cases (in often case worse, given the number of their models with extremely restrictive grills), and that's got a following solely for the name recognition. And they're not any cheaper than the P180.

 

[mooncancook]

VGA duct is not useless IMO. From my exp, the warmest air coming out of my P180 is from the VGA duct exhaust so it does help removing hot air from video card.

what i like about P180 is that it gives you lots of cooling options. For instance, after I install the BigWater, I was able to move the radiator to the the lower intake by removing the lower HDD cage and the lower 120mm fan. With the CPU heat isolated at the lower section, the air coming out for the rear 120mm exhaust becomes much cooler. Because the HDDs get moved up to the upper cage and warms the air from the upper intake, I decided to reverse the top exhaust fan to draw in more cool air instead. What that does is lower the memory temp at load from 46 down to 36 (I measure by attaching temp sensor to ram heatspeader).

 

[Bona Fide]

Get the Antec P160. Same cooling power, similar noise output, better-looking.

 

[milleron]

Originally posted by: Bona Fide
Get the Antec P160. Same cooling power, similar noise output, better-looking.

Cooling "power" is most definitely not the "same." The P180 isolates the HDs and and the PSU from the motherboard compartment and then provides two exhaust fans in the immediate vicinity of the CPU, one of them in the top of the case so that hot air has no place to collect. The P180 can "outcool" the P160 with "one hand tied behind its back."
Noise is most definitely NOT similar. No one who knows anything about silent PCs would ever consider using an all-aluminum case when trying to quell noise. The best all-aluminum is probably worse than the worst steel case. Then, when you consider the tri-layered side panels on the P180, it turns out to be the best case you can get for building a quiet PC. That's why Silent PC Review top rates it and, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't even consider the P160. Shadowknight will correct me if I'm wrong on this.
The P160 is better looking than the P180??? That statement's so far out in left field that it's up in the nickel bleachers. The P160 is among the top five most garish cases ever made.

Ron

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Shadowknight

Originally posted by: Tiamat
At 107$ it doesnt use expensive parts like Lian li.

The case is OK. Its great for deadening noise, its big. Thats about it. If you have to pay more than 130$ shipped, its not really worth it.

What expensive parts do Lian Li's use? From what I can tell their cases are nothing special. They're made of solid aluminum, they don't cool any better than most other cases (in often case worse, given the number of their models with extremely restrictive grills), and that's got a following solely for the name recognition. And they're not any cheaper than the P180.

You answered your question. Solid Aluminum. Aluminum is not very cheap to anodize. The Antec uses a lot of plastic - much cheaper than aluminum.

 

[Shadowknight]

Solid Aluminum. $63 bucks. Skyhawk. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811117025

Lian Li charges a price premium of at least $30 for their name brand. Except for looks (for some people) and light weight, it has no advantages over a steel case. It doesn't cool any better and it resonates a lot more. A definite issue if someone is trying to make a quiet system. You confused me by saying that Lian Li had expensive parts. Now, the construction of the chassis would cost more due to the use of aluminum, particuarlly if it requires a more involved method of casting and construction than steel ( no idea... I'm not a metallurgist), but it wouldn't have more expensive parts, the entire thing would cost more, plus more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better quality compared to other competitors. I'm not trying to quibble, but I really didn't "get" your earlier comment.

Milleron: I looked at the P160 review a few days ago by happenstance. It did fairly well... for an aluminum case. The resonance of the metal as well has the direct path of noise out the front bezel were definite issues. I don't know offhand when the review was done, but SPCR doesn't really update the recommended list more than 2 or 3 times a year. It might eventually show up, it might not, as the primary importancee is low noise/silence. It wasn't considered horrible by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[jdogg707]

I like my P180. I just got it setup with the system in my sig. and it really is a great balance between cooling performance and silent operation. The wiring was a bit tough, especially with stiff PSU cables, but was pretty easy to organize after everything was connected. Using it in combination with a front intake fan, and my Scythe Shogun HSF, I am keeping my X2 4400+ @ 2.42GHZ (1.36V), around 43C max Prime95 load on both cores. I would have liked to have used the VGA duct, but it would not fit because of the Scythe Shogun, so unfortunately I was not able to do so. All in all, I am enjoying the new case, and system, immensely and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a case in thsi price range.