I just bought an Antec P182 @ Microcenter. I had the same thoughts and questions as the OP did. So I spent some time and did some very basic airflow and temperature testing.
Hardware used;
E6320 @ 2.8GHz (Lapped)
Scythe Ninja (Unlapped)
8800GT 512MB w/Accelero S1 Rev. 2
Samsung HD250HJ 250GB 7200RPM SATA-300 8MB
Corsair HX620W
Notes about case config;
-Upper and lower hard drive bays have been removed
-Hard drive is suspended in the area where the lower hard drive bay was located
-Front plastic fan grill covers have been removed
-Airflow escape paths and holes have all been sealed with duct tape such as the various small holes and vents, water cooling ports, Tri-Cool switch area, vents around the PSU area, entire level between the PSU compartment and motherboard compartment
-Airflow enters the upper compartment (motherboard) only through the filtered front 120mm case fan vent (where the upper hard drive bay was located) and through the six vented PCI slot covers in the back
-Airflow enters the lower compartment (hard drive/PSU) only through the filtered front 120mm case fan vent (where the lower hard drive bay was located)
-There are very minor unsealable airflow paths around the DVD-R/W drive in front and between the upper and lower compartments where wiring is run through.
-Test were run with the front door closed; The airflow restriction of the front door is very small; While open both exhaust fans run at about 20RPM higher; This indicates very good airflow through the vents both sides and throught the bottom of the plastic front panel cover
Fans used in testing;
A. (Cpu) Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm @ 1150RPM - Speed tightly maintained
B. (Exhaust Rear) Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm @ 1150RPM - Speed tightly maintained
C. (Exhaust Top) Scythe S-Flex SFF21F 120mm @ 1150RPM - Speed tightly maintained
D. (Gpu) Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm @ 1330RPM - Voltage maintained, but speed varies when noted
Computer was loaded for 30 minutes using both Orthos (Blend Test) and Furmark
All temperatures are in Celsius and were recorded from Speedfan
Sys - System
Nb - Northbridge
Hdd - Hard drive
Cpu - CPU Core
Gpu - GPU Core
Gpua - GPU Ambient
Test #1 - Fans used - A, B, D
Airflow description; Cpu fan mounted on Ninja blowing to rear, Rear exhaust fan blowing out, Top exhaust vent blocked off, Gpu fan mounted on Accelero S1 Rev. 2 blowing onto heatsink
Ambient 22.9
Sys 39
Nb 44
Hdd 30
Cpu 50
Gpu 50
Gpua 40
Test #2 - Fans used - A, B, C, D
Airflow description; Cpu fan mounted on Ninja blowing to rear, Rear exhaust fan blowing out, Top exhaust fan blowing out, Gpu fan mounted on Accelero S1 Rev. 2 blowing onto heatsink
Ambient 22.9
Sys 39
Nb 41
Hdd 29
Cpu 47
Gpu 49
Gpua 38
Test #3 - Fans used - A, B, C, D - Notes! - D @ 1450RPM
Airflow description; Cpu fan mounted on Ninja blowing to top, Rear exhaust fan blowing out, Top exhaust fan blowing out, Gpu fan mounted on Accelero S1 Rev. 2 blowing onto heatsink
Ambient 22.5
Sys 37
Nb 42
Hdd 29
Cpu 47
Gpu 48
Gpua 38
Test #4 - Fans used - A, C, D - Notes! - D @ 1410RPM
Airflow description; Cpu fan mounted on Ninja blowing to top, Rear exhaust vent blocked off, Top exhaust fan blowing out, Gpu fan mounted on Accelero S1 Rev. 2 blowing onto heatsink
Ambient 22.3
Sys 38
Nb 42
Hdd 29
Cpu 47
Gpu 49
Gpua 38
Temperature rise per test in degrees Celsius - Lower is better; Best is underlined; Max To min is the difference between the highest and lowest temperature rise
Sys---------#1-16.1 #2-16.1 #3-14.5 #4-15.7 Max To Min-1.6
Nb----------#1-21.1 #2-18.1 #3-19.5 #4-19.7 Max To Min-3
Hdd---------#1-7.1 _#2-6.1 _#3-6.5 _#4-6.7 _Max To Min-1
Cpu---------#1-27.1 #2-24.1 #3-24.5 #4-24.7 Max To Min-3
Gpu---------#1-27.1 #2-26.1 #3-25.5 #4-26.7 Max To Min-1.6
Gpua--------#1-17.1 #2-15.1 #3-15.5 #4-15.7 Max To Min-2
My thoughts and conclusions
It pretty much comes out as a wash really. The greatest difference in temperatures was with the Northbridge area and the CPU, being 3 degrees or a ~6% difference. With hotter components (Quad core CPU, SLI or Crossfire GPU) or with much lower/much higher fan speeds these various configurations would most likely differentiate themselves in greater fashion.
While it didn't change overall values too much, it was interesting to see in Tests #3 and #4 that fan D (Gpu) ran at greater speeds. I figure this is most likely due to being assisted from fan A (Cpu) which was blowing towards the top exhaust, creating a nice vertical air path and reducing the resistance of fan D (Gpu).
The basis for my testing was to set the fans at speeds I would most likely operate my computer with during day to day usage. At the listed speeds noise output is fairly quiet and easily bearable during general internet use, and unnoticable during gaming with headphones. All the while cooling is very competent, and never reaches a point of harming system stability, even while overclocked.
There are many other ways to set up fans in the P182, and the ways I've shown are very simplistic and don't even come close to exploring all the possibilities that are available with this case. For me it comes down to what's the best cooling performance I can get with a minimal amount of noise. For others, you really just need to do the testing yourself, with whatever variety of components you can configure.
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