Questions for P180 owners

[Finns14]

How do you like yout case overall? I am considering getting one to replace my current cheapo raidmax case the 2 big issues I have with it are dust and cooling. There is a big metal mesh window on the side of it which allows alot of dust in and out of the case which is super annoying and also the stock fans are kinf of crappy and poorly placed IMO. Have any of you added any of the extra fans into the case? Can you buy extra filters for those fans? Have any of you added aftermarket HSF? Any sort of space issues? Any other warnings or praise you want to give me?

If you don't have a p180 but you have a case you absolutely love let me know and possibly link me. Thanks!

 

[Bobthelost]

Run a search in the cases and cooling forum, there's tons of info on P180s and how they are to use there.

Short version? I like it, it's a bit of a nightmare to work in at times, the PSU position makes some PSUs impractical with some motherboards without using extensions, cooling potential is good even when keeping noise down. As are the removable filters.

 

[Ipno]

Its huge and heavy, definitely not what you want if you take your PC places frequently.

Other than that it's a great case for me. Its very quiet, you can barely hear it. It feels very well made. I had no problems working with it.

 

[Finns14]

Originally posted by: Ipno
Its huge and heavy, definitely not what you want if you take your PC places frequently.

Other than that it's a great case for me. Its very quiet, you can barely hear it. It feels very well made. I had no problems working with it.

Weight is not a huge issue I will bring it to an occasiona BYOC lan but thats only every so often.

 

[johnnyMon]

Some thoughts:
- It's got plenty of space inside.
- Your PSU has to have relatively long cables to reach most mobos. Make sure you don't have a PSU with short cables.
- My front door has warped. There is a fix for this (I think it involves taking it off and bending it), and they'll send me a new door if I call them, but it hasn't been bothering me.
- I took black electrical tape and sealed up several areas on both the front and the back of the case where air could get in without going through the air filters. I think this is a necessary step and I'm glad I did it. It doesn't look bad when the door is open, and it's almost always closed anyway.
- The air filters are well-designed and very easy to clean. I live in a dusty environment and they have been trapping a lot of dust.
- If you take this to a lan party, you need to be careful with it. First, because it's a great looking case and it looks like it could easy get scratched or dinged if it's not wrapped up. Second, because if you have a heavy HSF, you could break the seal on your thermal paste by jostling it when it's moved. I asked ArticSilver if I ever had to reapply the AS5 paste I used, and they said it never needs to be reapplied except when I take the HSF off or when I move the case in such a way that the seal could be broken.
- The fans it comes with are great. I don't think you'll need extras. But I did add two: first, my OCZ Powerstream 520 PSU was too long for the lower (hard drive area) fan to fit, so I had to take it out, and I replaced it with a thinner fan on the other side of the aluminum divider. Second, my PWMIC (chip) was getting really hot, so I added an 80mm fan in the upper part of the case. But the fans it come with are excellent. They can get pretty noisy on anything other than low, however, so I have them on low.
- It's an excellent case for the money.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

I think its good. Its very quiet and comes with 3 adjustable 120mm fans.
It looks great, though my bro bothers me about it looking like a fridge.

However,
Its kind of a hassle to install things on here.
All the features are kinda extra for me since I dont have 6 HDDs...
I agree with those who said to make sure you have a PSU with long cables -- my enermax noisetaker 600w is perfect
If you use a big CPU fan, the VGA card cooler is useless since there isnt that much space.

I like the case but there are better cases out there.


I would look for something from Lian-Li

I really want this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112056

 

[Finns14]

Thanks for the help, I am past the big side window thing although looks are important to me. Still like I said before heat and dust are my biggest issue and I like that the p180 come with 3 120 fans and also dust screens. I have seen few other cases with those features.