P160 vs P180 vs ???? *UPDATED!

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vtohthree

Senior member
Apr 18, 2005
701
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Originally posted by: zagood
If you haven't gotten it already, also consider the P150. Combines some of the cool/quiet features of the P180 with the size of the P160. Also has HD suspension stock.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129166

-z


Yeah I looked at it... it's alrite, I mean respect almost any antec product, but..it just doesn't wow me like the P180, or even draw my attention away from the P160, definately will consider it though...just not on top of the list.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,335
6,485
136
Air filter on the 160 is easy to get to, but you almost never have to clean it, most of the dust gathers on the grill in front of it. I own the 160 and like it, the only thing I don't like about the 180 is the door, doors on computers just don't work for me.
 

Nirach

Senior member
Jul 18, 2005
415
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In my case life I've not found anything topping the Lian Li PC-70, or the PC-60.

Never used either the P160 or the P180, and am quite often finding myself hearing good things about them.. However, I want something with a little more airspace, hence I'm going for the CM Stacker 810, not being a fan of the recent updates to the stacker line :p

I am tempted by a P180 though, for console mods..
 

HiroPhrozeN

Member
Nov 4, 2005
26
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quick question regarding the p180, with a antec 550W truepower 2.0 psu, would u like have to install it upside down so the fan is facing up? i know some one said there was enough space but by looking at photos it doesn't quite look that way :S if some one had a pic of the psu space without the psu installed could they post it?
 

vtohthree

Senior member
Apr 18, 2005
701
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0
Originally posted by: Nirach
In my case life I've not found anything topping the Lian Li PC-70, or the PC-60.

Never used either the P160 or the P180, and am quite often finding myself hearing good things about them.. However, I want something with a little more airspace, hence I'm going for the CM Stacker 810, not being a fan of the recent updates to the stacker line :p

I am tempted by a P180 though, for console mods..



Not bad, those cases will certainly be considered... I will say as much as I like the looks of the P160, it does have a lot of plastic in the front(not a bad thing, but just something to compare)
 
Nov 28, 2005
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P180 all the way. Three reasons: Looks damn good; Cools well; VERY QUIET.
Though its a pain in the ass to build, once ur done u'll know its worth it.
 

vtohthree

Senior member
Apr 18, 2005
701
0
0
Originally posted by: Mixman
Hey, I might sell you my P160 for a good price.



I'd consider it, haha, although I'm assuming you like the p180 better since your selling off your p160. I still have a while to consider though, I have a really cheapo case sitting next to me now, but my next build(have half the parts in) I was planning on doing it right. =D
 

Topweasel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2000
5,437
1,659
136
Originally posted by: vtohthree
Originally posted by: Mixman
Hey, I might sell you my P160 for a good price.



I'd consider it, haha, although I'm assuming you like the p180 better since your selling off your p160. I still have a while to consider though, I have a really cheapo case sitting next to me now, but my next build(have half the parts in) I was planning on doing it right. =D

The P150 is the best of both worlds. It is a conventinal design with padded silencing doors, a HDD suspension thats awesome. It has a Side area for hidding wiring. Its steel though and like the P180 a window destroys its usefulness.
 

vtohthree

Senior member
Apr 18, 2005
701
0
0
UPDATE

I ended up keeping my cheap case that I bought on a weekend sale off of NEWEGG. An Aspire X-dreamer II, a real piece of crap, haha. I mean it does look cool, but I'm not into the lights(i sleep in the same room with the box, so the lights annoy me). A few things that I do not like about this case is the fact that the build quality just isn't there(what can you expect), everything is rather flimsy and creaks, the metal flexes and dimples like a soda can, and the clear plastic already has hairline cracks.

On top of all of this, its just soooo cramped in there with my PSU(enermax whisper II 535watt SLI, I love it!), wires are cluttered and I have to route quite a few power connectors to my DFI lanparty nf4, as well as 4 fans I put in there(more on this later...), plus my video card requires a pci-e connector as well, so yeah, very cluttered, I'm worried about the air flow and wires sitting too close to heatsinks.

The install was alrite, but I do have a grudge against the fact that you have to remove the front and both sides of the case just to put in optical 5.25'' drives!!! Oh yeah, also the drives won't fit back all the way because they decided to place an 80mm fan in the top center that completely blocks the path of the drive, so I had to completely remove the fan all together. Rather annoying. On top of that, putting additional hard drives is annoying to, the compartment to hold the drives is just poorly designed, I won't even begin, again, just annoying, a pain, the only easy thing was the motherboard because the tray is removeable(but I didn't even take advantage of it)

Now, for the fans again... It was designed to have 2 80mm fans in the front, but with the help of sawzall and a drill I was able to mount a 120mm fan in the front with an airfilter(yay, I can filter dust while leaving the computer on at the same time!), so that's that. I also placed a 120mm fan in the back as well to have passive airflow front going to the back. On top of this, the case includes a side panel 80mm fan, and a top mounted 80mm fan, but I had to remove the top mount and place it outside of the case because the darn thing was in the way of the optical drives....again a poor design.

HAVING SAID ALL THIS, I want to buy an Antec P180!!! No more cheaping out this time, I got to take a first hand look at the case the other day, and I was able to do an actual side by side comparison between the P180 and the P160, both are great cases, but as far as build quality goes, the P180 takes the gold from me. The body and structure feels very rigid and sturdy to say the least. I also like the professional looks of it, and I certainly won't have to worry about my power cables reaching up there because the Enermax whisper II has some really long cables.

BUT, for those who have P180's, do any of you overclock?! I'm curious to know how "good" this airflow is, I just got my opteron 146 with a thermalright XP-90, I plan to overclock the heck out of this thing, from 2.0gHz to around 2.8gHz(give or take .1ghz) , what do you guys think, will it work, will it be sufficient enough, or will I have to mod this beauty??