Help deciding on case, opinions on Antec P160?

[Penoir]

Hello all,

Well, I'll be building a new comp soon. I've been having a hard time deciding on a case recently. I was originally pretty set on the Antec P160 but I've heard a few people say that the front part seems kind of cheap, and something about the drive covers getting stuck. Has anyone had any experience with this case? What are your general impressions?

I'm using an antec 1080AMG right now, which will be going to my girlfriend when I build the new comp. Would the P160 be louder because of the aluminum or would the 120mm fans make up for it? It would be nice to have something that's not extremely heavy but weight isn't necessarily too much of a concern as I don't really move it around that much.

Does anyone have any recommendations for something that would have great cooling and be at least as quiet as the 1080AMG for about 100 to 150? I'm looking for cases without power supplies as I plan to pick up a neopower 480.

Thanks for your time.

 

[rforum]

I have an Antec P160 - here are some thoughts:

1. Very easy to work with inside - plenty of room. I like and prefer the 120mm fans.

2. CD/DVD drive covers have not been a problem (have a Liteon CD/DVD). However, I couldn't get the floppy cover to work correctly with my floppy drive (push button didn't line up well with my floppy). Decided to install floppy without it - it has a black face and looks good with the silver/black case front. I like the look and the plastic front doesn't bother me at all. It's just a matter of personal opinion I guess.

3. I like the placement of the firewire, usb, headphone ports, on/off/reset switches, etc. - very easy to access. I keep it locked in the upward position. I also like the 2 thermal probes. I have had no problems with these front panel switches - they were easy to connect and all work well. One thermal probe gives me case temperature, the other I have between the fins of my Zalmann CPU heatsink to alert me if things get too hot. Alternating front temp readings are nice.

4. I do not use the front 120mm fan as the front vents are very open and the noise bothered me - it was very easy to hear the swiiiish of the air thru the front vents. I have an 120mm PSU fan and 120mm rear fan which cools the case well without using the front fan - I do no serious overclocking.

5. Have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card with heatsink fan that had a whiney high pitched sound easily heard outside the case through the open front vents. It was my main noise issue and was easily solved with an Arctic Cooling unit.

All in all I am very happy with this case and certainly do not regret my decision to buy it. Hope this helps you in your decision.

 

[JimRaynor]

i also have this case.... rforum summed it all up pretty nicely.

The p160 is definitely a nice case and it always attracts attention when people see mine.

The fact of the matter is, there aren't a whole lot of quality, well designed cases out there. Only other case I would consider buying is the sonata, which I based a system on, it is a great case also and is very pretty and quiet. It also comes with a power supply which the p160 does not.

 

[CraigRT]

the P160 is nice, I almost got one, I just don't like the looks of the front, else I would have for sure.

 

[BW86]

the p160 is awesome. if i had more money i would of bought it over the 3700amb i bought

 

[nealh]

hmm..for the same price you can get a Coolmaster Wavemaster that IMHO looks much better..but no temp probes

 

[Mik3y]

p160 is a really great case, but i hate the cheap, front cover.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
p160 is a really great case, but i hate the cheap, front cover.

yup

 

[drifter106]

I'm trying to decide which way to go p160 or the 1000amg....would consider the 1080 put I prefer to get case without psu. Intend on getting a OCZ powerstream 520...tell me, how was is your noise and heat with the 1080? Is that front door cumbersome...

good luck

 

[Penoir]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all of your feedback. I think I'm going to check out more of the cooler master cases. I like antec in general but their front panels do often seem to be cheap in my experience.

As far as the 1080 goes, it's much quieter and cooler than my old case, but that doesn't necessarily say much since my old case was a peice of junk ($30 w/ psu). The 1080AMG was actually the first case I bought after I really started researching stuff, before I would just buy cheap stuff so I don't have much for a point of reference, but it's a definitely a great case, easy to work with inside, very solid feel etc.

The cooling is very good, it seems to have very good airflow (as far as I can say without reference to other quality cases). I think my ambient temp dropped about 10C from my old case. It seems pretty quiet, the thing is, I have a really loud Socket A CPU fan which often rattles etc. I think with a good stable fan it would be pretty quiet. When the computer starts up nicely and the fan is going steadily I can't really hear it over the hum of the fridge.
I think it got kind of loud when I had four of the five optional fans hooked up. It's definitely not "silent", but it doesn't really bother me.

The front panel isn't too much of a bother. It's kind of annoying when burning a lot of CDs or when stuff autoejects, but I like having something to cover the front in general so I can just put whatever color drives in. The whole front is made out of plastic, would be nice if it was metal but oh well. The front panel isn't too flimsy, I'm not afraid of it breaking off or anything but I know I could if I really tried. The only thing I would probably mention in terms of cheapness are the front USB ports. They don't feel firm when you plug things into them. They feel like they are going to go back and break off. I doubt they ever actually break but it just doesn't feel solid enough.

It's also very heavy, so if you planned on moving it around a lot that would be a problem. I was moving it to hook it up to my TV occasionally for a while but I eventually just got long cables to connect it.

Overall I'd say it's very nice. I was actually thinking of maybe getting another one without a PSU (I plan on trying the NeoPower 480) for the new computer, butI just wanted to try something different.

 

[drifter106]

fyi....for what its worth

 

[nealh]

FYI..I just got a OCZ Powerstream 520w..very nice and it now has 2 VGA/HDD and PCI-E connector plus 2 SATA and 2 leads with 3 4pin molex and a floppy

the review from Oct shows no PCI-E but it is there!

Also it will be a tight fit on Coolermaster Wavemaster in PSU bracket but should fit...this case is not very tall which is an issue..I love it but if the height where it would be perfect...

 

[Doufuss]

The P160 is a great little case with the exception of a few things.


#1 The FP Audio connector is poorly labelled in reference to the labelling supplied by the Mobo manual.
(In my case, an asus a7n8x.)

#2 The "power LED" connector was 2 pin and not 3 pin. I simply cannibalized an old case for parts.

#3 Front grille and grille spacing around bezel leaks like a sieve. I used silicone to fill the 1 zillion "slots" around the front bezel, and removed the wire grille, then installed air cleaner foam for the front grille.

#4 Very close HD spacing relational to the right side of the case, necessitating the use of ribbon as opposed to rounded cables. Really, so what...

#5 The fan supplied is a complete piece o's*** so I put in a 38mm x 120mm Panaflo: 86 cfm.