After completing my new build on the Define R5, I still wonder just how this case compares to the Antec P183 V3. As I always wanted a P183 prior to the introduction of the R5, I temporarily bought one just to scratch that itch. Yeah, I'm OCD like that. The cable management on the R5 may be better, but I still find the P183 to be excellent, and did not have any trouble at all with the separate chambers. Case build quality is just as good as the Solo with its thicker steel panels compared to the thinner R5. The heavy-duty plastic is so tough, it could be used to beat up lesser cases. It also blocks HDD noise more effectively than the R5. The 270° door swing is icing on the cake, and it uses magnets. Why won't the R5 emulate this?
Doing some informal tests, it had slightly lower idle temps on the P183 at 31°C for both the CPU GPU at 29°C ambient with a little more noise compared to the R5. That might be because I ran the Tricool fans at 1200RPM low setting, while on the R5, it was controlled by the mobo and ran much slower. It quickly got toasty during stress tests. With only the rear and middle front 120mm Tricool fans on low, CPU temp hits 75°C, core temp at upper 80's (i7-4790K with turbo boost off cooled by the Kotetsu), and GPU at 72°C (MSI GeForce GTX 970). On the R5, CPU hits 69°C and GPU maxed at 70°C with one rear and two front 140mm fans. All that heat caused the CPU and GPU fans to ramp up, making it very noisy. I will not tolerate the noise of the Tricools at anything higher than low, so I'm wondering if it would perform any better by populating the the entire ventilated front of the P183 with three 120mm fans to create a front to back wind tunnel. I checked the holes on the ODD grates, and a 120mm fan can be easily mounted with silicon fan mounts pushed through the square holes. I attempted to test this with some spare 92mm fans, and it did reduce temps by 3-5°C for the CPU only, but it's not a true test, and I don't have enough spare 120mm fans or time to fully test this configuration. Has anyone run the P183 in this full wind tunnel configuration?
Playtime is over and I have to move everything back. The P183 is an awesome case. Too bad its decade-old base design has fallen behind.
Tested the Define R5 and Antec P183 V3
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Tested the Define R5 and Antec P183 V3
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xan_user
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Re: Tested the Define R5 and Antec P183 V3
are there really 2 intake fans in parallel, the middle cage, for a total of 4 intake fans? 
Re: Tested the Define R5 and Antec P183 V3
Yes, that's a fan in the middle, with the drive cage removed to fit. In this position, it's not an intake anymore. The video card spews hot air in every direction, so this fan is configured as a push/pull to ensure enough pressure to overcome the counter flow and exit out the back. For the lurkers who can't see the attachment, it's a (outdated) photo of the P183 with the position of the fans and components marked-off and the indicated direction of airflow from front to back.
Come to think of it, it looks like the wind tunnel works out so neatly that one can easily partition the main chamber with cardboard, effectively creating two more sections: one dedicated for the CPU and one for the GPU. One end can slide into the ODD cage and the other above the first PCI slot, no tape needed. The P183 is still full of possibilities.
Come to think of it, it looks like the wind tunnel works out so neatly that one can easily partition the main chamber with cardboard, effectively creating two more sections: one dedicated for the CPU and one for the GPU. One end can slide into the ODD cage and the other above the first PCI slot, no tape needed. The P183 is still full of possibilities.
Re: Tested the Define R5 and Antec P183 V3
I've been back on the R5 for awhile now, but prior to moving the rig back, I tested the P183 some more. I also find that as I add more cabling, cable management requires more ingenuity to get around, but coming from an Antec Solo which I loved, it was not difficult at all, though I wish it was as good as the R5. I now have both cases long enough to update my informal findings with the maximum temperatures that I was able to reach. Again, the ambient was 29°C, but the surrounding temps around the case might be higher due to the hour-long stress tests. At those temps, the fans were running at max on both systems, with the P183 being a little nosier due to more fans, but individually, a Tricool on low is actually quieter than a GP14 on max. On the R5, CPU core was 86°C, and GPU was 70°C. The drives were at 36°C, and PCH at 64°C On the P183, CPU core actually hit 90°C, which is bad for an i7-4790K (even with turbo turned off), and GPU was 73°C. The drives were at 31°C and interestingly, the PCH was much lower at 56°C. Aside from the well-known cooler drive temps, the P183 also excelled in PCH cooling, which is not much if an advantage considering how dangerously close the CPU was to boiling.
I've also found that with all the positive pressure, the unoccupied 3.5" drive bay was actually exhausting hot air out into the front panel and recycled back into the case. Its front grates were warm. Look back to the previous illustration with the wind tunnel fan setup in an attempt to close the gap with the R5's cooling performance. Take note that this was a hypothetical setup. I did not have enough 120mm fans to actually test it.
Here's a modified illustration. The changes are in orange. With the discovery of hot air coming out the front, I decided to removed the push pull config in the middle cage. Notice on the P183 that there is a recessed area that is big enough for a 120mm fan to sit in, allowing it to pull in air from both the front fan cutout and the 3.5" bay, bringing cool air to a larger area under the GPU. That's where I placed a single 120mm. Now, both the top front and the middle front is occupied by 120mm, and the bottom front is a 92mm, much closer to my hypothetical setup, and for all intents and purposes, whether there is 92 or 120 at the bottom chamber isn't going to make a difference. This new position prevented hot air from the GPU exiting out the front, and increased cooling performance by whopping 2°C, which was a surprise since I never expected it to improve when the P183 was known to have poor video card cooling.
That's the best I can get out of the P183. Not that far behind the R5 in CPU and GPU cooling, although it gained a minor advantage in drive and PCH temps. I wish Antec would update it to a P184 with contemporary standards, but it looks like they threw in the towel for the P18x series. I'm still getting used to the wider and deeper dimensions of the R5, as shown by the bruises on my knee.
I've also found that with all the positive pressure, the unoccupied 3.5" drive bay was actually exhausting hot air out into the front panel and recycled back into the case. Its front grates were warm. Look back to the previous illustration with the wind tunnel fan setup in an attempt to close the gap with the R5's cooling performance. Take note that this was a hypothetical setup. I did not have enough 120mm fans to actually test it.
Here's a modified illustration. The changes are in orange. With the discovery of hot air coming out the front, I decided to removed the push pull config in the middle cage. Notice on the P183 that there is a recessed area that is big enough for a 120mm fan to sit in, allowing it to pull in air from both the front fan cutout and the 3.5" bay, bringing cool air to a larger area under the GPU. That's where I placed a single 120mm. Now, both the top front and the middle front is occupied by 120mm, and the bottom front is a 92mm, much closer to my hypothetical setup, and for all intents and purposes, whether there is 92 or 120 at the bottom chamber isn't going to make a difference. This new position prevented hot air from the GPU exiting out the front, and increased cooling performance by whopping 2°C, which was a surprise since I never expected it to improve when the P183 was known to have poor video card cooling.
That's the best I can get out of the P183. Not that far behind the R5 in CPU and GPU cooling, although it gained a minor advantage in drive and PCH temps. I wish Antec would update it to a P184 with contemporary standards, but it looks like they threw in the towel for the P18x series. I'm still getting used to the wider and deeper dimensions of the R5, as shown by the bruises on my knee.
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xan_user
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Re: Tested the Define R5 and Antec P183 V3
2 main intake fans but only one exhaust? -decide if you want to either go for positive, or negative air pressure..
move the other intake to behind the hdd/opti cage. ducting from font might be necessary.
open top vent, and you might even be able to eliminate the rear exhaust completely. (or duct the CPU into anexhaust)
move the other intake to behind the hdd/opti cage. ducting from font might be necessary.
open top vent, and you might even be able to eliminate the rear exhaust completely. (or duct the CPU into anexhaust)
Re: Tested the Define R5 and Antec P183 V3
I no longer have the P183 for testing.
Before I began the wind tunnel test, I tried it with the top fan mounted; temps were the same. Since there were no apparent change, and it might disrupt the front to back airflow, I eventually blocked it off. Taking out the top fan also gave me an extra 120mm fan to bring to the front, as I was short on 120s, and this kept me from substituting the key spots with 92s which would have rendered the test less useful. I would've wanted to try it with seven slow spinning 120s to see how much further it could close the gap to the R5, which has better cooling with three 140mm fans.
The biggest hindrance to the P183's cooling was the front square grates that were not optimized for airflow. There were not enough holes, with solid metal where there should've been more holes. These restrictive cutouts were designed for the previous generation P182 and P180 which the front filter would mount on. The P183 no longer used clip-on filters, but kept the same cutouts. Antec should've used hexagonal cutouts. That might've been a cost-saving measure to avoid retooling due to the recession during that time.
Before I began the wind tunnel test, I tried it with the top fan mounted; temps were the same. Since there were no apparent change, and it might disrupt the front to back airflow, I eventually blocked it off. Taking out the top fan also gave me an extra 120mm fan to bring to the front, as I was short on 120s, and this kept me from substituting the key spots with 92s which would have rendered the test less useful. I would've wanted to try it with seven slow spinning 120s to see how much further it could close the gap to the R5, which has better cooling with three 140mm fans.
The biggest hindrance to the P183's cooling was the front square grates that were not optimized for airflow. There were not enough holes, with solid metal where there should've been more holes. These restrictive cutouts were designed for the previous generation P182 and P180 which the front filter would mount on. The P183 no longer used clip-on filters, but kept the same cutouts. Antec should've used hexagonal cutouts. That might've been a cost-saving measure to avoid retooling due to the recession during that time.