Antec P180 low-noise case

Price and Availability

In the UK, EBuyer has it in stock for £74.88 +vat, which puts the P180 at the high end of Antec's vast range of cases. In the US, as always, Newegg had a very keen price of US$119.99 before tax and shipping. The case comes in silver and black only, and Antec has not expressed any interest in producing other colors.

There's no doubting that on either side of The Pond, the Antec P180 represents decent value. The build quality and aesthetic appeal is there, and the cooling is top notch with a trio of 120mm fans. Granted, Antec don't include a power supply but then, since the P180 is part of their Performance One range, we would expect users to want the free choice of a suitably beefy PSU to go with their system.

Conclusions

The benefits of both a silent and an effectively temperature controlled case are hard to ignore, particularly if you would like to use it as a media server or a large HTPC housing. Its understated good looks should be at home most places, from under your desk to beside your entertainment center. Don't be surprised if people try to open it and grab a beer, however.

There are, of course, some issues. The cable routing screams a need for a better design, and I'm frankly not sure how you could accomplish that. It seems Antec have done the best they could with it, but one would expect you to use a quiet PSU with a quiet case, and the top brand name for that was a nightmare to install.

It would also be nice to see Antec round out such a beautiful outside and thoughtful inside with a front panel that doesn't make you hope you closed the door on it.

The little extras that Antec include show a true dedication to hitting one out of the park with the P180. They've thought of everything from HDD grommets to clips that hold the pull rings, and even a little box built into the case to hold your spare parts. Everything fits, everything has a place.

The addition of three Tri-cool fans should not be overlooked, either, even though a true silence freak would probably replace them with Nexus "Real Silent" fans (though preferably not in that ugly orange). The particular care that they have gone to in order to silence the hard drives makes this box a particular blessing for a media server, which could have multiple hard drives spinning regularly in a living room.

All in all, the Antec P180 is a wonderful case. The build quality is absolutely fantastic, and it's as close to silent as you can get right out of the box (I know this will disappoint some of you modders). The minor annoyance of a full system install happens once or twice for most users, so my gripes and bloody hands are more of the rarity than the normal day to day.

In fact, if I had it all to do again, I'd get this case once more in a heartbeat. That decision is made even easier by its extremely reasonable price. We can happily provide this product a Bit-tech award of excellence, without the slightest bit of hesitation. Good job, Antec, you've truly raised the bar.


Questions? Concerns? Comments? Don't be as silent as this case - please drop a line in our Forums to share your thoughts on the Antec P180.