Fans for Antec P180

[Haztang]

Sorry I am kind of new in building computers. The Antec P180 have 5 fan slots, all labeled for 120mm usage. But can I still use 80mm or 92mm fans? I would not think so because the fan brackets for the slots would be of different size, but I'd like a clarification.

And please don't tell me not to use the P180 for novice builders. I'm willing to learn, and it'll be a good challenge . As well, if it's 120mm only, what fans would you guys suggest. The Panaflo high speed ones (56CFM 35dBA) seem pretty good at the moment. But I value you guys' opinions way more.

Thanks in advance.

 

[peleejosh]

you dont need high speed 120 mm fans, i would suggest yate loon or the low speed panaflos. 35 dba is loud, try to stay under 30 if possible. ALso panaflo high speed 120mm put out a lot more cfm than 56cfm.

 

[Zensal]

The Antec Tri-Cool fans are nice(and come with the case). Unless you are really going for ultra quiet or super CFM fans, the Antec ones are just fine.

 

[Mogadon]

The P180 comes with 3 120mm fans, they'll do you fine.

There's no reasonable reason I can think of that would make using lower dimension fans worthwhile.

 

[Haztang]

Hrm sorry peleejosh I posted the one for 92mm high speed. But yeah, the reason I was asking was because I saw those 80mm for free in the hot deals section. Was just wondering if small fan sizes can be mounted into the 120mm spots. If not, no point for me to pay for those "free" fans (still need to pay shipping).

Thanks guys for the quick response. Never been with a crowd this friendly and willing to assist.

And I guess I'll add one more question if you guys don't mind. I have a XP-90 heatsink, but I'm uncertain what fan I should use. Is there any good suggestion? I am going to overclock (Opteron 148) so I probably can't use the low rpm/cfm ones.

 

[peleejosh]

medium speed panaflo 92 mm

 

[Orcishhuman]

The TriCool fans coming with it are great, and by the way, you have FOUR 120mm fans emplacements and one 80mm (the VGA duct).

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: Haztang
Sorry I am kind of new in building computers. The Antec P180 have 5 fan slots, all labeled for 120mm usage. But can I still use 80mm or 92mm fans? I would not think so because the fan brackets for the slots would be of different size, but I'd like a clarification.

And please don't tell me not to use the P180 for novice builders. I'm willing to learn, and it'll be a good challenge . As well, if it's 120mm only, what fans would you guys suggest. The Panaflo high speed ones (56CFM 35dBA) seem pretty good at the moment. But I value you guys' opinions way more.

Thanks in advance.

Yes the P180 is quite a challenge to build. Why do you want to replace the 120's with 92's? It would be difficult at best to get them in those areas as the fan screw holes are set to the dimension of 120mm fans. If you're going for better cooling, the 120's will serve you better than the 92mm's. And if you're going for quiet, you're heading the wrong direction. The 120's are going to move a good amount of air at a noticeable difference in noise compared to some 92 or 80mm's. Just my .02.

 

[Pens1566]

I'm using Yate Loons in mine. Beware that the YL's don't work in the top blowhole without a little "modding". This is due to the way the case holds the top fan with 2 screws (towards the back of the case) and 2 clips inside. The corner pieces on the YL's prevent these clips from holding the fans in place.

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: Pens1566
I'm using Yate Loons in mine. Beware that the YL's don't work in the top blowhole without a little "modding". This is due to the way the case holds the top fan with 2 screws (towards the back of the case) and 2 clips inside. The corner pieces on the YL's prevent these clips from holding the fans in place.

huh..I have a YL on top with no issue..maybe I need to recheck the fan

 

[Pens1566]

Originally posted by: nealh

Originally posted by: Pens1566
I'm using Yate Loons in mine. Beware that the YL's don't work in the top blowhole without a little "modding". This is due to the way the case holds the top fan with 2 screws (towards the back of the case) and 2 clips inside. The corner pieces on the YL's prevent these clips from holding the fans in place.

huh..I have a YL on top with no issue..maybe I need to recheck the fan

I have the black DS-12s and mine wouldn't line up with the 2 screws unless I filed away some of the other side.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Pens1566

Originally posted by: nealh

Originally posted by: Pens1566
I'm using Yate Loons in mine. Beware that the YL's don't work in the top blowhole without a little "modding". This is due to the way the case holds the top fan with 2 screws (towards the back of the case) and 2 clips inside. The corner pieces on the YL's prevent these clips from holding the fans in place.

huh..I have a YL on top with no issue..maybe I need to recheck the fan

I have the black DS-12s and mine wouldn't line up with the 2 screws unless I filed away some of the other side.

Mine would not work either, I just used the Antec tri-cool 38mm fan up top instead of a yate-loon. Not that it really matters as I have that covered anyway for noise issues, but the regular YL definitly do not fit up there.

-spike

 

[Haztang]

Sonnydaze: Yeah I know, the reason I was asking for other fan sizes was because I saw those 80mm sales so I was wondering if I even have a need for them. If not, no big loss .

And to everyone else, thanks for the input. I have to ask, though, what is the wire for the Antec TriCool fans on the Antec P180? 3 pin or 4 pin? I have been told numerous times it is better and safer to run the fans off of the power supply (so 4 pin) or use a fan controller (for 3 pin).

Thanks again everyone.

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: Spike

Originally posted by: Pens1566

Originally posted by: nealh

Originally posted by: Pens1566
I'm using Yate Loons in mine. Beware that the YL's don't work in the top blowhole without a little "modding". This is due to the way the case holds the top fan with 2 screws (towards the back of the case) and 2 clips inside. The corner pieces on the YL's prevent these clips from holding the fans in place.

huh..I have a YL on top with no issue..maybe I need to recheck the fan

I have the black DS-12s and mine wouldn't line up with the 2 screws unless I filed away some of the other side.

Mine would not work either, I just used the Antec tri-cool 38mm fan up top instead of a yate-loon. Not that it really matters as I have that covered anyway for noise issues, but the regular YL definitly do not fit up there.

-spike

Hmm..mine are the orange one..maybe that is why it works

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: nealh

Originally posted by: Spike

Originally posted by: Pens1566

Originally posted by: nealh

Originally posted by: Pens1566
I'm using Yate Loons in mine. Beware that the YL's don't work in the top blowhole without a little "modding". This is due to the way the case holds the top fan with 2 screws (towards the back of the case) and 2 clips inside. The corner pieces on the YL's prevent these clips from holding the fans in place.

huh..I have a YL on top with no issue..maybe I need to recheck the fan

I have the black DS-12s and mine wouldn't line up with the 2 screws unless I filed away some of the other side.

Mine would not work either, I just used the Antec tri-cool 38mm fan up top instead of a yate-loon. Not that it really matters as I have that covered anyway for noise issues, but the regular YL definitly do not fit up there.

-spike

Hmm..mine are the orange one..maybe that is why it works

Mine are the same, I bought 5 orange YL DS12's, none of them fit due to the way they do their screws. The YL have an extended hole going from one side of the fan to the other, this prevents the hooks from grabbing the fan securly. Unless you remove these it won't fit in those hooks. You might have a different variety or older style of the DS12 but the new ones won't fit there without modification.

Click on the picture in this link for an expanded image. You can barely see the extended screw holes on the side that go all the way through. These are what I was talking about.

-spike

 

[Pens1566]

Did you keep the stupid 4-pin/4-pin adapter in your YL's? I'm thinking about taking them off at the 3-pin connector to make wiring in my p180 easier.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Haztang
Sonnydaze: Yeah I know, the reason I was asking for other fan sizes was because I saw those 80mm sales so I was wondering if I even have a need for them. If not, no big loss .

And to everyone else, thanks for the input. I have to ask, though, what is the wire for the Antec TriCool fans on the Antec P180? 3 pin or 4 pin? I have been told numerous times it is better and safer to run the fans off of the power supply (so 4 pin) or use a fan controller (for 3 pin).

Thanks again everyone.

The Antec Tri-Cool fans use 4pin molex power connectors. The one's that come with the case are fine. The only unused fan slots are the 80mm VGA duct(most folks don't even use it) and a 120mm bracket that's in front of the case next to the upper hdd cage.

So, you really only need to purchase a single 120mm fan if you'd like to maximize your cooling.

 

[Haztang]

Thank you Capt Caveman, just the answer I was looking for. Yeah I think it's interesting that many people have said the VGA duct is nothing more than a big piece of hassle. Guess I'll have to take that into consideration when I'm at that stage of putting everything together.

 

[Rommels]

I didn't think doing the P180 as my first build was hard at all.
I see the people who complain about it being hard to do are just whiny you know whats in the first place.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: Rommels
I didn't think doing the P180 as my first build was hard at all.
I see the people who complain about it being hard to do are just whiny you know whats in the first place.

Couldn't understand what you were trying to convey in that second sentence....

The P180 is not hard for a first build if you're just going to slap all your sh*t in there and turn it on. Some of us choose to build a computer with a little professional touch to it. Maybe you choose not to use cablegami or hide all the operating wires, etc. Things like that give the case a nice look when it's complete and make it a little easier to install/remove things later when needed. With the lower and upper chambers it makes it a tad difficult to set up a boot drive and then your 4 disk RAID array. Of course if you're only running a single drive then it's not a "challenge" to configure. Having built computers since 1993...I must say the P180 can be a "challenge" for the first time builder if he/she is going to do it with a hint of professionalism and pride.

 

[Kaeishiwaza]

I have a P180 running 4 Nexus fans in the upper chamber and the stock Antec fan running in the lower chamber. I have them at full speed when I'm gaming and it's still barely audible. Cranking them all down, the only thing I hear is the lower chamber fan and I have to be right next to it to hear it. I'm running a P4 650 OCed to 4.1G (read HOT!) and my temps are 30/55 idle/load. Mobo never gets over 30. Swapping the Nexus on my HS for a high speed Panaflo, which sounds like a hurricane, gets me all of one degree lower.

As far as build difficulty goes, it took me a few good tries to get the cabling the way I wanted. I have a Seasonic PS and that does not give a lot of flexibility as the cable run on the short side. The repositioning of the PS to the bottom means a lot of things on the mobo that used to close are now far away. Specifically, the 12V line must run to the the far side of the case. Some people with longed leads have run that wire under the mobo and out the top. Mine was too short for that, so I have to thread it under the graphics card. There's also a bit of a cable traffic jam because the upper IDE power, mobo power, SATA/EIDE cables and all the front side cables converge at the same point on the lower right corner of the mobo. Essentially you get the power lines going up to your drives and mobo, the drive leads coming back down to the mobo and the front side wires crossing over them. I solved this by running the front side connectors under the mobo, the power running up the right side of the mobo and the drive cables down behind the front HD cage. But it took me a couple of tries to figure it out. All my fan leads run from the frontside fan controller under the mobo. Finally, all the unused PS leads are stored in the bay under the top HD cage. I'll take some pictures. For my first build, I'm happy the way it turned out.

 

[One43637]

Originally posted by: Orcishhuman
The TriCool fans coming with it are great, and by the way, you have FOUR 120mm fans emplacements and one 80mm (the VGA duct).

you can't connect those 4 fans that come with the P180 to a fan controller, right?

 

[One43637]

bump.

oh and i meant without some sort of adapter. if an adapter is needed which one would you recommend?

 

[McPudd]

"you can't connect those 4 fans that come with the P180 to a fan controller, right?"

Not easily. I need a case/setup that is quiet normally but I need very cool when gaming when I
don't much care about some more noise.

I'm building 2 P180 systems and will use this controller:
Thermaltake Hardcano 13 5.25in Multi Function drive bay controller w/6 IN 1 card reader & LCD disp. Part #: A2259
http://www.thermaltake.com/accessories/a2259hardcano13/a2259hardcano13.htm

I'll remove the 2 upper chamber 120x25mm fans and use 2 of these these instead:
120mm Antec TriCool 120 DBB 4/3pin fans 761345-75121-6
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=75121

If I can't locate them, 2 of these would be good too:
Yate Loon model D12SL-12 120x120x25mm (1350 RPM @ 12V, 47 CFM, 28 dB)
http://www.yateloon.com/ >Product Line >DC FAN SERIES >120x120x25 >D12SL-12

I will mount one in the front upper chamber mount and the other in the upper rear, aluminum tape over
the blowhole and replace it's grille.

The VGA duct will be removed and the remaining holed opening clear duct taped over.

I'll use a Zalman CNPS9500 with its fan controller mounted on the face plate of the empty
5.25" bay just below the Thermaltake controller.
Mainboard has no fan. Asus A8N32-Sli (heatpipe) and 2 slot video card fan expells all of its heat out of the case.
The 4pin 120x38mm 4pin fan in the lower chamber is fine and will set it to LOW. My 2 HDDs are down there and also
an Enermax Liberty 620W that has a smart 120mm fan which shouldn't have to spin much.

Sets up like 2 wind tunnels.
I'm expecting very quiet with the controller fans at minimum and very cool at maximum,

 

[sygyzy]

Are the 120mm fans 120x38 or 120x25?

What about the 80mm on the VGA duct? What is the height of this fan? Is it the general consensus that no fans fit here correctly with modern GPU's?