P182 Special Edition - One of the best cases gets better
by Joshua Buss on April 12, 2007 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Interior
Inside, not much has changed through the various iterations of Antec's P18x series. Their design places the power supply at the bottom but does not invert the motherboard like other cases with this layout. Although sometimes this can make certain motherboard/power supply combinations impossible fits for the case, Antec believes it is still worthwhile it to have this layout, and for a few reasons it really does make sense.
Most notably, the design allows for all the hottest air that collects around the CPU and motherboard power regulators to be taken away very quickly by the two large exhaust fans placed at the top-rear of the case.
In this shot of the fan in the top plate, a USB-powered flexible work light is visible. When not in use, the light stores away in its holder. It's an interesting inclusion, but of course it's only useful if the system is powered on; this is generally not the case when people are working on the interior of their computer.
Unlike the P180 we reviewed earlier, the entire inside of the P182 SE is black - right down to the drive cages and motherboard mounting tray. To hold the hard drives, two separate removable cages are used. The top unit can contain two drives, each one in its own removable sled, and the bottom cage can hold four with vibration-dampening rubber grommets.
Each cage is guided securely in place along rails and held fast with a single thumbscrew. As for the power supply, it's held with a piece of metal with rubber along some of its edges that goes around three sides and then fastens with screws onto a platform underneath. Four more screws can go into the PSU itself in the back, regardless of which way the unit is oriented - a nice touch a lot of cheaper cases still have not implemented.
Our Zalman PSU's plethora of cables still all fit through the collapsible opening, but longer power supplies might require the removal of the fan in this bottom section. For the longest power supplies, the entire plate that the fan mounts onto can be taken out. The handy sliding cover serves to keep the cabling neat, and simultaneously it segregates the different airflow zones of the case; unfortunately it's still a bit flimsy in its construction and use. There are actually two holes in the cover, one for the power supply cables and one for cabling to go to the lower hard drive cage. Both can be opened and closed individually.
Inside, not much has changed through the various iterations of Antec's P18x series. Their design places the power supply at the bottom but does not invert the motherboard like other cases with this layout. Although sometimes this can make certain motherboard/power supply combinations impossible fits for the case, Antec believes it is still worthwhile it to have this layout, and for a few reasons it really does make sense.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Most notably, the design allows for all the hottest air that collects around the CPU and motherboard power regulators to be taken away very quickly by the two large exhaust fans placed at the top-rear of the case.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
In this shot of the fan in the top plate, a USB-powered flexible work light is visible. When not in use, the light stores away in its holder. It's an interesting inclusion, but of course it's only useful if the system is powered on; this is generally not the case when people are working on the interior of their computer.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Unlike the P180 we reviewed earlier, the entire inside of the P182 SE is black - right down to the drive cages and motherboard mounting tray. To hold the hard drives, two separate removable cages are used. The top unit can contain two drives, each one in its own removable sled, and the bottom cage can hold four with vibration-dampening rubber grommets.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Each cage is guided securely in place along rails and held fast with a single thumbscrew. As for the power supply, it's held with a piece of metal with rubber along some of its edges that goes around three sides and then fastens with screws onto a platform underneath. Four more screws can go into the PSU itself in the back, regardless of which way the unit is oriented - a nice touch a lot of cheaper cases still have not implemented.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Our Zalman PSU's plethora of cables still all fit through the collapsible opening, but longer power supplies might require the removal of the fan in this bottom section. For the longest power supplies, the entire plate that the fan mounts onto can be taken out. The handy sliding cover serves to keep the cabling neat, and simultaneously it segregates the different airflow zones of the case; unfortunately it's still a bit flimsy in its construction and use. There are actually two holes in the cover, one for the power supply cables and one for cabling to go to the lower hard drive cage. Both can be opened and closed individually.
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Icepick - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
They already did test it back in 2005. http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2670&p...">http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2670&p...Well, they tested the P150 but, it's identical to the Solo (power supply excepted, of course).
BPB - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Actually, even excluding the power supply, they are not 100% identical. The P150 uses "trap doors" to cover the 5.25" and 3.5" drives. I don't mind it, but many do. It you like to use things like the headphone jack on a DVD drive or see the activity light, then you may not want the P150 anyway. Of course the Solo is cheaper due mainly to its lack of PSU, but in my opinion the Solo is not as good looking. I own both.yacoub - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Wow, do people actually use that? The last time I did was 1996 when I had my first computer and tried that jack out with a pair of headphones just to see how it worked. :D
yacoub - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
(obviously referring to a CD-ROM drive btw, not a DVD-ROM drive)BPB - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Not so http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">obvious! Click on the image and you will see, why strong wording and the truth, do not always agree.My experience is that many folks use the jack at work if the PC enclosure doesn't have a front headphone jack. And my experience is many work PC's at large, cheap companies do not.
BPB - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
I agree. I got the Solo for about $40 (shipped) from Outpost recently. That, of course, is after rebate. I wanted something smaller and quiet. I also have the P150, which is almost identical to the Solo. I'm not sure which I prefer. Still, if I decided I wanted to go back to a taller case, this would probably be at the top of my list. I'd have to wait for a special though, the list price is simply too high. By the way, I believe the Solo and P150 support 3 suspension mounts, not 4. The following are from the specs listed at Newegg:Spanki - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
I'm not sure if it happened earlier than the 182 rev or not, but the mb tray has also been inset a bit from early 180s. This gives room 'behind' the mb tray to run some of the power cables (I have my big, primary 24-pin power cable running up the back of the mb, out of the way).Also, I ordered the P180B from Newegg at the beginning of March and what I recieved was basically a P182, but painted black, instead of gun-metal grey. Apparently Antec/Newegg started shiping these hybrid models out in late Feb. - others have reported this as well.
Richey02hg - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
so you are basically getting a black p182 (the color i'd want) for the price of a p180?Spanki - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Yes. As far as I can tell, the case I got is the one shown in the first few photo's http://www.silentpcreview.com/article717-page1.htm...">on this page.MadAd - Thursday, April 12, 2007 - link
Yes I bought a 180B a couple of weeks ago, it too has the twin switches externally accessible for the rear fans plus space behind the motherboard for wire routing.
A plus was being able to fit a 120x38mm fan infront of the middle tray (just) because I simply do not like 25mm wide 120s so took them all out, speedfan is great for controlling fan arrays so the tri-switched fans were less than useful compared to my own.
Cons were that I needed to buy a 12v4 extension as my seasonic s12 would not make the stretch to the top 12v on the A8N32-SLI mobo, also I still cannot see the point of the PSU cage when it has the 4x standard bolt holes in the rear, another useless item that is now thrown in a box to gather dust.
The rubber grommets that hold the hard drives in were also a bit flimsy and easily distorted before a good grip was had and also the top toolless optical mounting jams in somewhat.
Otherwise its a great case for cooling, my temps have never been lower and even while gaming speedfan rarely has to bump them up, whereas before in my old case with the same fans, just 10 minutes of BF2 and up went the temps making the fans lift...Ill have to wait for summer to see how good it really is but do far im impressed with the cooling ability.