Antec P180 case

[Bozo]

I just received my first P180 case. I am confused about the purpose of the power supply shroud. What is it for? Must I use it?
Also, the case fan near the power supply seems redundant. It also makes it mean to plug in cables on a power supply with modular cables. Has anyone removed this fan?

Bozo :joker:

 

[ddrueding]

Bozo,

The shoud is useless IMHO, I never leave it in. The fan in the PS tunnel is very useful if you are running multiple/hot drives. The PS fan is usually not enough to keep them below 35C (my comfort zone). Because of the limited space, I use only modular cabled PSs and SATA cables with a right-angle connector at the HDD end. Newegg has some great cables with 90-degree connectors on one side and straight on the other.

 

[Adcadet]

I thought the shroud had some plasticy noise dampening stuff on it. I used it. I also mounted my PS upside down because the shroud partially covered its off-center fan. I also use the lower fan, as I've got 3 HDs in front that I think benefit from some airflow.

 

[Clocker]

What is the shroud you mention? The plastic slider above the PSU designed to keep the PSU chamber separate from the motherboard/cpu chamber?

I removed the lowest fan (in the PSU chamber) and have never used it. I don't have any drives down there though...

C

 

[Bozo]

The shroud is a 3 sided metal stamping that attaches to the base that the power supply sits on. It is attached by 4 screws, 2 on each side of the power supply base. When installed, it actually wraps around the power supply.
I am actually disappointed in this case. Running the cabling is a pain and looks sloppy when you are done. I don't get the wire clips/fan holder for the upper hard drive container. If you put the fan on, then the container can't be used for anything else. True??
The lower hard drive container is okay in itself, but the way it is mounted bites. Having to run the power cables up through one hole and back down to the hard drives is sloppy. If you install multiple hard drive in it, and remove the fan, then the only cooling is the power supply.
If this container had been installed a half inch closer to the power supply, then the fan could have been mounted in the very front of the case blowing across the hard drives.
sigh...I have 12 more of these cases coming in the next few weeks.

Bozo

 

[Adcadet]

But if you move that fan in front of the HDs then it's right near the front of the case and a little bit louder. I think this case is wonderful and I've very happy with it, but it does sacrifice a lot to be cool and quit. It's like the old saying (service, price, quality, pick 2) but cool, quiet, easy to work in, pick 2. They clearly chose cool and quiet.

 

[Bozo]

I removed the fan between the power supply and lower drive cage. I mounted it in front of the upper drive cage. There already was a bracket there for a fan.
I mounted a 80mm fan on the right side of the lower drive cage. It is powered by the motherboard fan connector. That way it is speed controlled.
I also removed the power supply shroud. Now if the power supply fails, I only have to take off one side of the case.

Bozo :joker:

 

[ddrueding]

I've tried to make this post 3 times, but I keep losing it!

Here are the modifications I make to the P180s intended for my use (they are more significant than the mods for other people's P180s).

• Remove upper drive bay
• Remove plastic mounting points for upper drive bay
• Remove all 5.25" drive bay covers and metal plates
• Remove both air filters and plastic covers
• Cut opening in bottom of PS fan bracket for routing of SATA power cables
• Replace all (4) fans with Scythe N-Flex 800RPM FDB 120mm
• Remove all expansion card covers
• Install optical in lowest 5.25" bay (the separate one)
• Duct upper 3 5.25" bays to tower-style CPU heatsink and out top exhaust
• Install fan in rear portion of top drive chassis area (poster tape works great)

This allows for great airflow and a quiet case. It even worked well for passively cooled 7900s in SLI.

 

[Bozo]

Is there an easy way to get the hard drive leds to show through the case door??

Bozo :joker:

 

[ddrueding]

swap the plug with the power led?

 

[Mercutio]

Hook up a bunch of cold cathodes to the header on the motherboard?
<ducks>

Actually Bozo, I'm somewhat ambivalent about the P180 at times, too. I love the quiet but I wish they'd done the drive cages differently. Cable routing in them is pretty awful too. If you have a full-size motherboard then EVERYTHING ends up concentrated in one tiny place on the lower-right edge of the board. SATA, I/O headers, fan connectors etc.

 

[Bozo]

It just seems strange to have hard drive leds that can't be seen.

Maybe I'll break out the drill.

Bozo :joker:

 

[Handruin]

I wondered the same thing. I can only guess that Antec thought about it for a while and probably decided the flashing lights might annoy more people than those who want to see them.

For me, where my case sits in relation to me, I can see the light blink through the vents in the front panel. So I can tell when the drives are being accessed without having to drill holes in the case.

 

[ddrueding]

I don't hook up power or HDD leds, I actually remove them and their cable to clean things up a bit.

 

[Handruin]

I like them for visual confirmation on strange noises. If I hear crunching in there, I want to see lights flashing to indicate it's a hard drive.

 

[Clocker]

I can't even hear my drives seeking so I never even think of looking for the leds.

 

[Adcadet]

I can't even hear my HDs seaking so I need to look for the front blue LED to tell if its seeking. With the door closed I can faintly see the blue light through the front air vent.

 

[Handruin]

My fans are pretty quiet so I can occasionally hear a grumbling noise coming from the case...which i suspect to be hard drive activity. The LED confirms it for me.

 

[ddrueding]

I don't care whether my drive is seeking or not. When it's time for an upgrade, performance monitor tells me what I need (the one in Vista is very nice and easy to read). The rest of the time, either it will get there eventually (watching the pot never helps) or it won't (broken, no point in looking).