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Antec P180 initial impressions (Haven't installed anything yet)

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The temp in the room is 16.5C (60F) and my stress temp is 57C according to TAT. Idle temps are a comfy 42C.

We don't have the same HS, I know...but what fan do you have on there? Is it a huge monster spinning really fast?

The AC Freezer is dead-quiet and I really like that. :thumbsup: But a few degrees cooler would make me more comfortable.

I suspect that the AS5 hasn't fully broken in yet; it's only been three days, and I've only had one thermal cycle. I installed the HSF, ran Prime95 for a few hours, then powered the PC off for about 36 hours or so. Then, powered back up, gamed a little bit and it's been Priming for about 8 hours now.

12 hours from now when I get home from work, if Prime is still running, I'm gonna call the OC stable at 3.2GHz and be happy with it. I'd be happier w/better temps though.

Once summer comes, they will only go up. I really don't want to remove the HSF to reapply any TIM.
 
Thanks, crydee. I think you're right; I don't think a stronger fan would help me much either since I have both the top and rear fans pulling air out of the case. My case temp is good.

I'm sure if I cranked the two fans up to "medium" that my CPU temp would go down a bit. However, I really LIKE the case nice and quiet. Such a change from what I had...literally a 100% difference.
 
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: MichaelD
I've had LianLi cases and as nice looking as they are, that .5mm aluminum just feels flimsy and cheap.
Click to expand...
Prepare to be flamed. :Q
Click to expand...

Love my Lian Li btw. 😉 Great quality at 1/2 the weight. 🙂
 
I'm happy to say that I'm calling my overclock good at 3.20GHz.

Dual P95 (large FFTs) ran for 17 hours, no errors or warnings. :thumbsup:

Stress temps with the AC Freezer 7 with fan set on low through the EasyTune software vs. stock are about 8C lower, so that's good. If I set the fan on high, it's 13C lower than the stock Intel HSF. :shocked: BUT, the fan is loud at that point, so I'll deal with the higher temps.

I'm sitting at 1.320 volts on the CPU, which is what the default VID is. Could I get the same stable OC with less voltage? Probably; but I'm too busy to change .001v, retest for another 12 hours, lather/rinse/repeat.
 
You dont have to do that .001v thing, you could move by .005 and if it doesn work then try it a little higher, moves things a lot more quickly.
 
Finally got my system assembled and a few pics taken. I'll try and get them online in the next couple days. 🙂

Asus P5N-SLI
C2D E6300 @ stock w/ stock HSF
7950 GT @ stock
2GB DDR2 667
1x 250GB SATA
1x DVD-R/CD-RW



 
Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
Originally posted by: Leros
While the P180 has great cooling and is very quiet, it was a pain to setup. No matter what I did I couldn't get the wiring to be decent. It was also a pain to add/remove components. I got rid of mine and got a Lian Li.
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I found this to be true too. The problem i had was wires from the PSu had to stretch over the mobo for certain layouts and that was no good.
Click to expand...

I agree with both of you guys. Believe it or not I just built a rig (E6600, 2GB, SLI 7950GT, Neo HE 550) with the P180 today. Airflow is top notch, and I like the fit of the components. The dampening and acoustics were impressive. However inside the motherboard area it was a little cramped and time consuming to route all of cables.
 
I'm considering this case.

Some of the reviews I have read indicate that if your PSu has a built in fan, then you probably don't need the lower fan.

Have any of you tried running without the lower fan?

Thanks
 

Well, I have, in a way. I left the original Antec Tri-Cool installed and connected it to a "fan-only" power cord from my Antec TP II PSU. Even with the Tri-Cool on "H," which I presume is 12V, the fan never even comes on -- i.e., the PSU is running so cool, that it never gives enough current to start the fan up. If I happen to have the side panel off for something, I can manually start the blades spinning, and then they will continue to spin.
I have two SATA drives, including a Raptor, in the lower compartment with the PSU, and nothing ever gets over about 42°. My conclusion is that if the efficiency of the PSU is any good at all, then that lower-compartment fan is not necessary. The PSU fan alone will pull enough air through to cool the HDs and the PSU.

I'd leave it only if I had a crappy low-efficency PSU OR a fanless PSU like the Antec Phantom.
 
took a look at the photos and I'm wondering how the heat sink positioning is working for you. It looks like you have it installed in the opposite direction from the recommended one with the fan blowing air towards your RAM instead of towards the fan.

"However, we highly recommend you install the Freezer in such a way that the air blown from the Freezer's fan goes either to the rear of the PC case or towards the power supply, which also exhausts air from the case for better airflow within the PC case."

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=15749&PageId=1

What I'm trying to figure out is if the fan blowing on something is a good thing or a bad thing so I can figure out the best direction for it or decide if I need a different cpu cooler
 
Originally posted by: blanketyblank
took a look at the photos and I'm wondering how the heat sink positioning is working for you. It looks like you have it installed in the opposite direction from the recommended one with the fan blowing air towards your RAM instead of towards the fan.

"However, we highly recommend you install the Freezer in such a way that the air blown from the Freezer's fan goes either to the rear of the PC case or towards the power supply, which also exhausts air from the case for better airflow within the PC case."

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=15749&PageId=1

What I'm trying to figure out is if the fan blowing on something is a good thing or a bad thing so I can figure out the best direction for it or decide if I need a different cpu cooler
Click to expand...


😕

What you quoted above "However..." is exactly the way I've got it setup. The fan on the heatsink blows THROUGH it. In my setup, air is blown through through heatsink towards the rear exhaust fan.

Here are some numbers for you.

Ambient room temp ATM is 18C/64F. My CPU temp (as measured with IntelTAT/Coretemp) is 51C/124F. My case temp is 34C/93F.

BTW: My CPU is overclocked to 3.2GHz @ 1.320v AND I have all fans running almost silently. You can't hear my PC from more than 6 feet away. 🙂 I have great case airflow.
 
oops my bad. Just figured the fan blew out didn't think it blew towards the HS.
Can't wait for tomorrow when I can start assembling. btw did you use the stock MX1 stuff on the HS or did you replace it with AS5?
 
I always use AS5. 🙂 Best stuff out there. Remember: AS needs a few thermal cycles to reach top efficiency/performance. IOW, let the PC run for a couple of days. Power it off for 1/2 a day or so (while at work/school). Repeat a few times. Your CPU idle temp will drop 2-5C.
 
Well I just ordered my P180B from Frys ($79.99 shipped AR). I'm just hoping that my PSU main power cable is long enough. Now I need to find a decent aftermarket HSF for the $30 level to replace the stock cooler I have.
 
MichaelD, while doing a search for the Artic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 I came across your thread regarding your system build. I have the same case and the same MB. Three quick questions? Are you happy with the new heatsink? I am not a super OCer and just really want something cheap and efficient for my E6600. My temp using Core Temp is between 42-46 with the higher numbers starting to appear as the weather heats up here in California. The one time I OCed the system to 3.0 the temps rose to the mid 50s during wintertime. I would be happy with a 10 degree or so reduction.

My second question is what heatsink are you using on your video card? I recently replaced the stock cooler on my 7950GT with a fanless Thermalright HR-03. The temps remain the same but I now have no jet engine sounds from the very noise stock fan. The HR-03 will accept a fan but then you have to mount it with the fan under the card which apparently takes out one of the PC card sockets. Right now I have it mounted with the heatsink above the card. I am trying to figure out what you have and where the fan is. I am assuming that if I get the AC 7 unit that I will mount it as you did with the air blowing over the CPU towards the back. I don't know if the new fan configuration, compared to
the Intel stock fan, will effect the heat currently rising from the fanless HR-03. Any ideas?

Last question. Have you ever installed a fan in front of the upper hard drive case? I am wondering how it would change the dynamics of the case's air flow? I have four HDs with two in the top cage and two in the bottom. It would seem that the extra fan would pass
air over the two upper HDs and into the case towards the video card and then upwards. That sounds like a winner. I haven't seen anyone who has installed this extra fan or at least comment on their results.

Thanks for whatever you can help me with. I really enjoyed reading your "diary" and wish more people would do something like that. Reviews are great from both the sites and from users but I especially like to see ongoing comments about how individual components hold up over time.

Current set up:
Text
 
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