Antec P8 Review

Manufacturer: Antec

UK price (as reviewed): £59.99 (inc. VAT)

US price (as reviewed): $79.99 (exc. tax)

Antec recently made a decent return to form with the P110 Luce. While it wasn't the most innovative chassis, it was at least relevant and well made. It was a case first shown off at Computex, and alongside it was a second new case, the P8. As an entry-level mid-tower, the P8 finds itself in a saturated market, but with an attractive £60 price tag, a tempered glass side panel, and three pre-installed white LED 120mm fans, it definitely ranks highly already on the value front.

Attempting to go bold with your design at a price point like this usually results in copious plastic and a disappointing outcome, so we're happy Antec has played it safe aesthetically, as it's better to blend in with the crowd than stand out for the wrong reasons – it looks just like we would expect an entry-level mid-tower in 2017 to look. Given its price, it's also not bad on the build quality front, with the tempered glass side panel and outer metal coating on the plastic front panel adding rigidity.

If you're sick to death of RGB, you'll be happy to note that only white LEDs are used throughout the P8. The logo on the front panel is backlit, and each of the three 120mm fans is a white LED model. You get two pre-installed at the front and one at the rear, so out-of-box airflow should be fine for the sort of hardware likely to be used here. The front panel is largely sealed, which will restrict things somewhat, but ventilation down the sides and at the bottom of the panel see to it that the fans aren't totally starved.

The I/O panel is front-facing and sports the bog standard array of buttons, USB 3.0 ports, and audio jacks. The buttons have a satisfying click, and the ports are easy to access, so we're not complaining. That said, we'd prefer if the panel was fixed to the chassis separately rather than being integrated into the front panel, because this way when you pull the panel off – as you'll need to to clean the front filter – the I/O cables all come with it, which is potentially a headache if you've done a great job routing them without leaving much slack.

The external magnetic roof filter couldn't be easier to use, and the PSU has some protection too, so all potential intake areas are guarded. However, the PSU isn't treated to a slide-out filter, with the ventilation on the underside instead covered by a thin, flimsy sheet of material wedged into notches. This is a common design on cheaper cases, but it's fiddly to work with. Still, we were happy to note that the P8 stands on rubber pads rather than foam.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 210 x 470 x 443 (W x D x H)
  
• Material Steel, plastic, tempered glass
  
• Available colours Black
  
• Weight TBC
  
• Front panel Power, reset, 2 x USB 3.0, headphone, microphone
  
• Drive bays 2 x 3.5"/2.5", 4 x 2.5"
  
• Form factor(s) ATX, micro-ATX, mini-ITX
  
• Cooling 2 x 140mm or 3 x 120mm front fan mounts (2 x 120mm white LED fans included), 1 x 120mm rear fan mount (1 x 120mm white LED fan included), 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm roof fan mounts (fans not included)
  
• CPU cooler clearance ~165mm
  
• Maximum graphics card length 390mm
  
• Extras Removable dust filters