optimization tips and cable routing trix for the Antec P180 case.

Hi!


The Antec P180 case is a case, that is high up in the list for people who just like me wants silent computing. And who does'nt want that? I spent nearly 6 years in front of a Chieftech Dragon fulltower case that sounded like an attack helicopter at full throttle. Mostly thanks to the 80mm fans ( 6 of them). As I thought, that I needed all of them to cool my overclocked rig. 80mm fans often do sound a lot. At least if you want some decent cooling ability out of them.

And I'm not talking about 119 cfm Vantec Tornardos ,or super high cfm Delta "screamer" fans here!

Just pretty average 80mm fans.

If I had to be in the same room as that case now, I probably would be running screaming towards the front door of my apartment after about 1 minute.


The Antec P180, is dream, when it comes to silent performance. But there are still some things you can do yourself to make it even more quiet pretty easily, and for pretty low cost.

Also the cooling ability of this case is great. I know people who just use the 3 included 120mm fans to cool a pretty powerful rig, and still having good temperatures.

But know this about those fans.

Those fans are Antecs own "Tricool" fans, that comes with a 3 speed switch. The Tricool can't be considered silent, until you run it on the low setting. Then the Tricoool produce 30 CFM, at 870 RPM, 20 dBA@1m. According to Silent PC Reviews measurements.

The manufacturer states the specs at low setting are : 25 dBA, 1,200 rpm, 39 CFM.

So set to low setting, you can say it's a quiet fan. But have about the cfm of a decent 80mm fan.

At medium setting, the true specs are: 27 dBA@1m, 1430 RPM, 53 CFM

And I can tell you, that NOW you will hear it!

This fan, at that speed have a deep humming sound to it. And that is'nt the whole story. The fan vibrates quite much at that speed. producing a low pitched pumping noise.
So whatever you do. "Soft mount" this fan with elastic cords or rubber fan pegs!

So you may wanna get some other really silent 120mm fans later on, like Nexus fans for ex. Or the Orange, Yate Loon fan, that is practically the same fan as the Nexus. But slightly cheaper. The Nexus fans have a more even quality to them, down the production line though.


The mayor pain, with the Antec P 180 case, are 2 things.

1. You need a powersupply, with very long cables.

This, as the powersupply is located in the bottom of the case, in a separate wind tunnel.

A work around is to get Silverstones psu extension cable kit.

But if you are going for a new psu at the same time as getting this case? Make sure you get one with long enough cables! And preferably a "modular" psu. This, will save you from cable clutter. The modular psu, is constructed so, that you just hook up the cables you actually are going to use for the moment.

2. Routing the cables neatly, and hiding the ones you actually dont use for the moment.

This seems to be the most annoying problem with this case.
It took me some hours and 3 attempts to find ways of doing this in a neat way. And making sure, that the cables would'nt obstruct the airflow more than very little at least.


If you look at the photo of the case without side panel. you will see some numbers and a couple of arrows.

Here is a guide to those numbers.



1. The arrows indicates, the best way to route the exhaust fan cables. Hide them behind the perforated lip in the side panel. That black thing, is a videocard fan duct. that the latest revision of the case does'nt have. (Antec P180B).

2. Under the removable upper hd cage / fan duct. (I will explain this later) There is a small compartment, that is actually quite deep. A good place to tuck away those unused cables.

This is i.e where you normally have the floppy drive.

3. Between the motherboard tray ( Non removable) and the back panel. Here you have a some milimeter wide space, enough for flat cables and semi thick rounded ones.

3b. For obvious reasons, the upper cd cage. Here is plenty of room for spare cables. And for some exstra sound damping material if you like.

4. On top of the psu. Enough room for at least a couple of cables.

5. Between the side panel lip and the fan mount in the lower wind tunnel, there is a small opening / slit. Just big enough for routing the power cable to your hd(s) That is, if the power cable is'nt sleeved.

A small word of warning here! Avoid flat IDE cables for your hd(s) with this case! Best is SATA cables. But rounded IDE cables will do. This, becase the hd cable(s) will be just a couple of centimeters from the fan blades! This, even if you stretch the cable as much as you can.

6. Under the lower, removable hd cge. Here, you also have a small compartment that you can hide some of the hd power cables in.

7. Between the side panel lip and the psu. Here is agood place to tuck away the fan cable for ex.


O.k. that whas the routing of the cable part.
I'm pretty sure there are 1 or 2 more places to hide stuff in, for those who is very clever and sharp eyed. But the ones I pointed out is up to now the best ones, at least to my findings.



Improvements of the P180.


1. Cut out all stamped fan grilles.

This is something, that will have a clearly, noticable impact on the airflow and noise.
Those flat and honeycombed grilles restricts the airflow quite much, as they create mini vortexes, when the air pillar from the fan starts to bounce around against the flat grille.

This also creates some hissing noise.

You dont have to be an owner of a P180 to benefit from this operation. This mod. works for all cases.

And you can always replace the grilles with rounded wire finger guards afterwards, if you have children or pets. This at least goes for the rear exhaust and top fan. You have a s.c "spoiler" with a mesh for the top fan though. But as it is easily removed. You still may wanna have a finger guard there if you have small children.

You can make the edges of the cut out fan holes much nicer, by glueing some "U" shaped door or window rubber isolation to them. Just make sure you strech it enough, so you does't have the blades of the fan getting in contact with those isolation strips.

Also when cutting out the front grilles. Make sure you dont cut away the holes for the fan filter mounts!

Clean the case throughout after the cutting! Metal dust and shards is after all electrical conductive.


Fan configuration, extra air intake and sealing holes.


There have been some experimenting with different fan configurations and modications on this case in the forums.

1. Just the included fans. 1 in the lmiddle of the lower wind tunnel. 2 exhaust in the " upper motherboard chamber".

For low to mid end rigs this will work well. But some of you probably wants to add a intake fan also.

This can be mounted in 2 places ( Antec P180B).

The second revision of the P180, comes with 2 fan spring clips included in the bundle for optional mounting of a 120mm fan at the opening of the upper hd cage.

This requiers that you empty the hd cage of every hd mounting of coarce.
Also make sure you seal all holes in the empty hd cage if you plan on mounting a fan that way.

But if you have a long videocard. I recommend that you remove the hd cage all together. ( My X1900GT, whas just about 2 cm from the fan, when the fan whas mounted to the hd cage! ) Then use the front fan mount instead. Also remove the plastic rails that is for sliding the hd cage in and out and tape up the holes. Or the plastic hd rails, may disturb the intake fans airflow.


If you feel that you wanna have a an extra air intake? And you just have one cd or dvd drive. And no hardware fan controllers and stuff in the upper 5.25 cd bays?

Then get a 120mm fan filter . And mount it with some foam strips and double sided tape in the cd cage. The fan filter will use up 3 X 5.25 cd bays.

Some people have put a Scythe Kama Bay, fan / filter combo there. But there is'nt really any need for a extra fan. A plain, washable fan filter will do. And it's of coarce a much cheaper soloution.


Some fan configurations that is worth trying.


1 X intake, the 2 exhaust fans and the fan in the lower wind tunnel.

1 X intake, 1 X rear exhaust, no top fan, the fan hole open. And the "wind tunnel" fan running.

1 X intake, 1 fan filter in the upper cd cage. Top hole sealed, top fan removed. And just 1 X rear exhaust fan. 1 X wind tunnel fan.

The same as above, but the wind tunnel fan removed. This will work if you have 1 or 2 hd's in the lower hd cage. And sealing the case vents around the powersupply.

The same as above, but the windtunnel fan still in there. But set to very low RPM with a Zalman Fan mate II speed regulator: Setting the Fan mate to about 800 to 650 rpm will do the trick. (Check the rpm with a fan speed monitor software at hand, while fine tuning with the Fanmate II).

A 120mm fan is very quiet at 650 rpm. But pushes enough air to support the psu drawing in fresh air pass the hd's. And removing the hot air from the hd(s), via the psu and out of the case.

This can be a good fan setup, if you are going to use more than 2 hd's?

I also found, that the two adjustable cover assemblys for routing your PSU and harddrive wiring between the chambers, leaks hot air. Especially if you're not using any fan in the lower wind tunnel and the airpressure is on the low side down there. I lost 4 C case temperature in the "motherboard chamber". Just by making a small notch with a pincer, in the adjustable cover where you route the harddrive cables. Just big enough to fit the 2 SATA cables I'm using. The adjustable cover for the psu cables already have this halfmoon shaped hole for the cables. Then I taped all openings I could find around those adjustable covers and used some Blue Tack like stuff to seal around the cables.

Just be very careful when using the pincer or knife! That cover is plastic after all!

Well, this whas what I have to say about making the best out of the Antec P 180 case.

Hope you find it helpful?


List of silent 120mm fans.

Not ranked in any way.

ADDA
AcoustiFan ( Dust Proof version)
Aerocool Turbine (37 CFM varity)
Akasa Amber Series
Antec Tricool (On low setting)
Evercool
Coolink SWiF ( At mid to low speed settings. Fan speed control included in retail package)
GlobalWin
Nexus
Noctua (1200 and 800 rpm versions avaliable.)
Papst
Scythe (S-Flex)
Sharkoon Silent Eagle
Yate Loon ( The orange version)

wow nice, that is good ideas... and thxs about the holes, i will tape them up..

Thanks!

You're welcome.

Yeah, it's a good way to improve airflow. And also preventing some of the dust, from creeping inside the case.