Antec Mini P180: A micro-ATX P182

The Mini P180 incorporates key features from the P182 — dual thermal chamber design, sound-deadening multi-layer panels, and silicone grommets — in a micro-ATX case with 120mm and 200mm fans. Antec describes it as a “petite portable case.” We took it for a long ride in SPCR’s test lab.

March 7, 2008 by Mike Chin

Antec’s P180 franchise, which began right here at SPCR three years ago, shows no sign of abating. The original design underwent some modifications during the first couple of years. Last year, it was relaunched as the P182, with substantially improved cable management. P182 model variants include the standard aluminum, black, and a mirror finish steel. A large Extended ATX version also made its appearance last year, the P190. It’s a couple inches deeper, with multiple large fans including a 200mm fan on the side panel, and room for two power supplies that can be ganged together for truly power-hungry systems. Now, they’ve released the Mini P180, which shrinks the P180-182 to the micro-ATX form factor.

The P180 and P182 were both aimed at the interests of the silent and power computing enthusiast who wants to tinker to his heart’s content. Because the original design predated the dual graphics card gaming era ushered in by nVidia’s SLI, the needs of the extreme gaming enthusiast were less well met than the needs of the silent PC enthusiast. In the Mini P180, Antec’s reps suggested to me that the balance has shifted a bit, that extreme gaming needs have a slightly higher priority than ultra low noise. This caution may simply be to soften us up for the noise of the 200mm fan that’s mounted at the back of the top panel.

Antec’s promotional blurb states:

Good things come in small packages

The reliability, performance, and versatility of the Antec Performance One series is now available in a stylishly small enclosure, perfect for gamers on the move. The Mini P180 boasts a heat-reducing dual chamber design with room for your microATX motherboard, power supply, and up to 5 hard drives. Sound-deadening multi-layer side panels and silicone grommets ensure quiet computing, while 120 mm and 200 mm fans provide optimal cooling. Top it off with a sleek interior black finish and front USB, audio, and eSATA ports, and you won’t believe the quality we’ve fit into this petite portable case.

The idea of a high quality case that can only take up to micro-ATX boards yet is geared to extreme gamers seems…. a bit odd. As far as I am aware, there are no micro-ATX boards which feature dual PCIe 16X slots for dual graphics card setups. Still, there are single CPUs and single graphics cards that can draw well over 100W each, so the idea of a smaller chassis that can handle a really hot system with cool aplomb may have appeal.

SPCR readers have been anticipating the Mini P180 since the middle of last year when early samples first saw the light of day, at Computex in Taipei. I visited Antec’s suite to report on this product and many others. A forum discussion thread about the case begain in July 2007, and it now stretches over 70 posts. The Mini P180 is finally beginning to show up in stores now. A sample from the first production run was airfreighted to our lab last week for the benefit of eager SPCR readers. We begin our review with a photo.

The Mini P180 bears a strong resemblance to its predecessors.

Our sample is finished in sort of a charcoal black, and it’s reflective enough to be very difficult to photograph. The apparent smears in the panels above are reflections of things in the lab. It’s not exactly small, either. In fact, it’s the size of a standard mid-tower ATX case, which is probably disappointing for anyone hoping for a small mATX case like the Antec NSK3480 or the Silverstone TJ08. There are reasons for its size, some of which will become apparent when you examine the specifications.

The physical reality of the case conflicts with Antec’s own description, "petite portable case": It’s only petite in comparison with large cases such as the P180/182 or P190, and it’s very difficult to consider it portable. Small <14" screen laptops that weigh <4lbs are portable. Mobile phones and iPods are portable. Mid-tower size cases weighing 20 lbs are not portable.

A clarification before moving on: I played the role of lead thermal/acoustic design consultant on the P180, and had some minor input on the P182, but I had no role in the development P190 or the Mini P180.

FEATURES & SPECS

In summary, there are several central features:

• Two separate thermal chambers, with the bottom mounted PSU having direct access to outside air in order minimize the heat through it and thus keep its fan from speeding up.
• The main chamber has two exhaust fans, a 120mm fan on the back panel and a 200mm fan on the top, directly over the motherboard area. The latter obviously dominates as its airflow will easily be three times that of the 120mm fan.
• It’s the combination of the large top mounted fan, the extra internal partition, and the need for some space for the PSU fan to breathe that adds ~4" height over micro-ATX cases such as Antec’s own NSK3480 (reviewed) or the SilverStone TJ-08 (discussed).
• The 3-ply composite side panels and door resist vibration well, and also block noise better than the typical steel or aluminum panel.

EXTERNAL TOUR

You’ve seen the front and left side in the photo on the preceding page. Here’s a pictorial walk around the case from the outside. (Note: I mentioned earlier that the exterior was difficult to photograph. So was the interior, which is all black. Not only is there little to focus on, the black soaks up light, making long exposures or flash necessary. To show detail in photos at low web-friendly resolutions, a lot of digital darkroom work had to be used, particularly to bring up the shadows lost in the black. Some pics look a bit unnatural as a result; under the conditions, this seemed a reasonable compromise.)

INTERNAL DESIGN

Here’s a set of photos showing the interior.

SUMMING UP THE TOUR: Despite the obvious family resemblance to the P180/P182, the Mini P180 is substantially different from a functional point of view. In essence, the main chamber of the Mini P180 has about double the vent area, both in and out, for much expanded airflow, despite having a smaller internal volume. All the HDDs now go in the upper chamber. The optical drive bays in the lower chamber are afforded only peripheral airflow from the PSU fan drawing air in through the bottom vent in the middle; there is no place for a fan in the lower chamber. Not that optical drives need much in the way of ventilation, but this is a difference compared to the P180/P182. The big 200mm fan will surely dominate airflow patterns in the case; like Rome, all roads lead to it.

PRELIMINARY ACOUSTIC TESTING

First, the fans were left in the case, powered up with a fanless DC power supply, and measured for sound pressure level (SPL) in various settings and combinations from a distance of one meter with our standard B & K 2203 sound level meter (SLM). The SLM was positioned 35cm above and one meter from the top front edge of the case. This was the same setup used for acoustic measurements and recordings after a test system was installed in the case.

Not an ideal acoustic test setup, but it had to do.

The ambient level in the lab was 19 dBA. The results are shown in the table below.

The 200mm fan is clearly quieter than the 120mm fan at any setting other than low. The actual sound character of the larger fan is more pleasant, as it consists mostly of wind noise (whooosh) and a bit of low level clacking or chatter at the low speed. Most of its noise is low in frequency, which makes it less audible, in general. (Note: It sounds much worse in the recording than live, especially if you set the playback volume too high.) The 120mm fan sounds reasonably pleasant at the low setting but at the mid and high speeds, it is much louder, with unpleasant high frequency overtones.

Other fan speed combinations were tried. Here are the results, ordered from quietest to loudest:

Despite the closeness of the SPL readings, the 23 [email protected] of the 200mm fan alone on low is subjectively more pleasant than the 22dBA of the 120mm fan or the 24 dBA of both fans on low. Personally, I would not be willing to run either fan on medium, with or without the other fan on; it’s just too much higher than the ambient acoustics of my environment.

For the record, the big fan was removed and examined closely. Its basic design is sound, with struts probably no bigger than they have to be, and positioned correctly to be more or less perpendicular to the trailing edges of the blades to minimize tonal and turbulence effects. From the overall acoustic signature, I’d guess that it has ball bearings; a sleeve bearing might be too short lived in this large a fan. Holding and listening to it at the low speed setting, I have to say it’s pretty dang quiet, especially for the amount of air it moves. We have no way of measuring the airflow as our fan test rig is set up for maximum 120mm diameter fans. Its SPL measures around 20~21 [email protected] without load in free air

It measures 22.5 x 20 x 3 cm. The hub (motor, really) measures 6.5cm across.

INSTALLING A SYSTEM

SPCR’s case review procedure is not just to take photos and describe the case, but also to install a system and assess its performance in the case. Cooling and acoustics are the key aspect we test for, and the results can be useful whether you’re a minimal-noise seeker or a gamer with insatiable cooling needs.

Usually we try to push the thermal envelope, using components considered too hot by most silencers. The approach is simple: If we can make it quiet with all this hot gear, it should do better with cooler gear… or higher airflow, if you’re a performance enthusiast. Of course, these days, lots of enthusiasts want both quiet and bleeding edge performance.

System Components

For this micro-ATX case, we decided to use a system that’s pretty hot, and quite well known to regular SPCR visitors. It’s our heatsink testing platform.

The heatsink testbed was installed into the for this review.

• Intel
  Pentium D 950 Presler core. Rated TDP is 130W. Under CPUBurn x2 load, we measured 78W DC draw through the AUX12V socket, which includes
  efficiency losses in the VRMs.
• ASUS
  P5LD2-VM motherboard. A basic microATX board with integrated graphics
  and plenty of room around the CPU socket.
• Western Digital Caviar SE16 (WD5000KS) 500GB 7200RPM HDD. It replace the notebook drive that’s been used for heatsink testing, because a desktop 7200rpm drive is typical for most users.
• 1
  GB stick of Corsair XMS2 DDR2 memory. Two gigs would be nicer, but makes no difference for our testing.
• Enermax Modu82+ 625W power supply, the review of which was posted a few days ago. It replaced a FSP Zen 300W
  fanless power supply normally used for the HS test platform. The Modu82+ had not powered a real system yet, so this seemed a perfect opportunity.
• Arctic Silver
  Lumière: Special fast-curing thermal interface material, designed
  specifically for test labs.
• Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B heatsink, mounted with thermalright spring-loaded bolt-through kit. This is a sample that was recently tested in the context of the Ninja Copper review. It didn’t fare nearly as well as expected, but the thing was already installed on the motherboard, and it would still tell us what we want to know about the thermal performance of the case.
• ATI X1950XTX graphics card with Artic Cooling Accelero S1 passive heatsink. The heatsink is probably the most effective GPU cooler available today, and the ATI, while a bit "old" (at just ~18 months!), is still one of the hottest graphics cards. X-bit Labs measured 125W max on an X1950XTX, compared to 131.5W on an 8800GTX.

No fans were mounted on either the CPU or GPU heatsinks. The point was to find out whether the airflow created by the fans in the Mini P180 would be enough to cool everything without additional fans. Towards the end of the testing, a 120mm Scythe Slipstream 800RPM fan was added. More on that later.

System Assembly

Overall assembly went smoothly. With good planning, it should be possible for an experienced builder to put a system together in this case in about an hour, perhaps less. All the exposed metal edges are rolled in order to reduce the risk of cuts and scrapes during assembly. What follows is a photojournal of various points in assembly.

THERMAL ANALYSIS

Test Tools

• Extech Power Analyser / DataLogger 380803 to measure AC power input.
• Custom-built, four-channel variable-speed fan controller, used to
  regulate the fan speed during the test.
• Bruel & Kjaer (B&K) model 2203 Sound Level Meter. Used to
  accurately measure noise down to 20 dBA and below.
• Various other tools for testing fans, as documented in our
  standard fan testing methodology.

Software Tools

• SpeedFan
  4.31, used to monitor the on-chip thermal sensor. This sensor is not
  calibrated, so results are not universally applicable.
• CPUBurn
  P6, used to stress the CPU heavily, generating more heat that most
  realistic loads. Two instances are used to ensure that both cores are stressed.
• ATITool utility to stress and monitor the graphics card.
• 3DMark06 game simulation benchmark. (Mostly not used as the power load was not constant or high enough.)
• Throttlewatch
  2.01, used to monitor the throttling feature of the CPU to determine
  when overheating occurs.

TEST RESULTS

Ambient conditions were 21°C and 19 dBA. ATITool’s "scan for artifacts" load was applied during load testing. The total AC power draw is about 5W lower than running it in default mode, but the stress on the GPU is higher, which means it gets hotter. GPU heat is more difficult for most systems to handle compared to CPU heat. Heatsinks for the latter are still in a higher state of development than for GPUs.

Configuration #1: With integrated graphics, standard fans –

This stress load was bound to be easily handled by just the big fan alone, set to low. The 120mm fan was left unplugged. In this "negative pressure" configuration (meaning air is forced to be sucked into the case via free vents as opposed to blown out), the only exhaust is through the 200mm fan, and all other holes in the top chamber become intake vents. The 120mm fan, for example, becomes an intake, as do all the other vents on the back panel.

Never mind that this Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B CPU heatsink sample didn’t fare that well on the test bench. Here in the flow of the 200mm fan, it’s just coasting. Note that the hard drive temperature remained constant at a very low temperature regardless of CPU load. This is expected as the "HDD" is upwind of the CPU, and the airflow across it is constant. The Enermax Modu82+ power supply fan did not budge beyond minimum speed. It was utterly inaudible, swamped by the noise of the big fan.

The overall noise signature was set by the big fan, first, then the WD hard drive in front. When the front door was open, the increased noise of the drive whirring could be heard from a meter away, although the overall SPL increased by only one or two decibels. The acoustic contribution of the Modu82+ was inaudible… and stayed inaudible throughout the testing.

Configuration #2: With ATI X1950XTX, stock fans –

Many combinations of fans and settings were tried. When both stock fans are turned on, it is still a "negative pressure" configuration. Air is blown out only through the fans; all other holes in the upper chamber are intakes.

Configuration #2: With ATI X1950XTX, stock fans
LOAD	20cm Fan	12cm Fan	AC	GPU	CPU	HDD	SPL [email protected]
Idle	low	off	97W	42°C	31°C	39°C	23
CPUBurn x2	low	off	161W	42°C	50°C	39°C	23
	low	low	162W	42°C	48°C	37°C	24
ATITool + CPUBurn x2	low	off	250W	86°C	58°C	39°C	23
	low	low	251W	82°C	55°C	37°C	24

The jump in power caused by the ATI X1900XTX is dramatic, even at idle, where 32W more heat has to be dealt with in the system. Under CPU + GPU loads, power demand virtually doubled compared to Config #1. Our testing of the Enermax Modu82+ 625W PSU showed its efficiency to be 85.9% with 235W AC input, and 86.4% with 287W AC. Assuming 86% efficiency, the DC power demand with the ATI card is 216W, compared to ~110W with the integrated graphics (calculated based on the efficiency of the Modu82+ 625, about 82% at 133W AC input).

CPU temperature increased substantially at all settings. It remained well under 60°C at load, however, and never came even close to throttling, which we know (from previous experience with this CPU/board) doesn’t occur until >70°C. The temperature of mid-80s°C is not that high for this GPU. We do not see any misbehavior with 99% of applications on this VGA card till the GPU temperature is well into the 90s and beyond.

Keeping the back 120mm fan on helps with cooling, as evinced by the small drops in all the monitored temperatures. At load, the heat of the air flowing out the 120mm fan can be easily felt. Whether the gain is worthwhile is a judgement call. Personally, I’d swap out the stock fan with a quieter one if I felt the need for its additional cooling.

Configuration #3: ATI X1950XTX, 200m fan, and 120mm intake fan –

Since running just the top 200mm fan gave temperature results that were safe but perhaps a bit high for some users’ comfort, an intake fan was tried in the vent closest to the VGA card (in the lower HDD bay). The expected result was a significant reduction in GPU temperature, and perhaps a small drop in CPU temperature as well.

A Scythe Slipstream 120mm fan rated at 800 RPM was used. Initially, it was run at full speed (12V), but it was judged to be too audible. A damping resistor was used to pull the speed of the Scythe fan down just a bit, to 680 RPM, where its noise contribution dropped to below that of the WD hard drive just above it.

Config #3: ATI X1950XTX, 200mm fan + 120mm Scythe intake fan
LOAD	20cm Fan	12cm Fan	AC	GPU	CPU	HDD	SPL [email protected]
ATITool + CPUBurn x2	low	off	250W	86°C	58°C	39°C	23
	low	680rpm	251W	78°C	55°C	39°C	23.5

The greatest improvement was seen in the GPU temperature. The CPU ran a bit cooler as well. Overall SPL was hardly affected, and subjectively, there was no audible penalty for running the Scythe Slipstream 120mm fan at this speed. It sounded the same with the Scythe fan on or off.

Configuration #4: With the Big Fan on Med –

Some readers will undoubtedly want to know how much cooling improves with the Big Fan on medium. Let’s not keep you in the dark. The first line in the table is Config #3.

Config #3: ATI X1950XTX, 200mm fan + 120mm Scythe intake fan
LOAD	20cm Fan	12cm Fan	AC	GPU	CPU	HDD	SPL [email protected]
ATITool + CPUBurn x2	low	680rpm	251W	78°C	55°C	39°C	23.5
	med	680rpm	251W	78°C	52°C	35°C	28
	med	880rpm	251W	75°C	52°C	35°C	30
	low	880rpm	251W	78°C	54°C	38°C	27
	med	880/low*	252W	73°C	51°C	35°C	31

Turning the big fan to medium led to a 3°C drop on the CPU and a 4°C drop on the HDD, but the GPU temperature did not change.

So, the front fan was turned up to full speed. That effected a 3°C drop in the GPU temperature, and no other change. Slowing the big fan down to low while keeping the front fan at full speed pushed the GPU temp back up to where we began, and the CPU and HDD both up by 2~3°C.

Finally the last test has an asterisk in the "12cm Fan" column — it’s trying to indicate that the stock back panel fan was also turned on. The difference in noise between this setting and the middle one (big fan on med, front Scythe fan on full) is very minor, hard to hear. There is a measurable improvement in cooling.

When set to medium speed, the big fan’s air turbulence noise (whooosh) dominates, along with a bit of rattling from it at close distance. It’s not an unpleasant sound, but considerably higher than the lab’s ambient acoustics, higher than most home offices’ ambient level. Some folks won’t mind it; there are no obvious tonal nasties.

The front fan works against some degree of impedance when the door is closed. This may be one reason that the overall noise seems to increase higher than expected when the Scythe fan in front is running at its full 880 RPM speed (according to SpeedFan and the motherboard monitoring).

MISC NOTES

1. HDD location – You may recall from a previous photo that the WD drive was mounted in the top HDD bay, in the slot closest to the left (main) side panel. I wondered whether putting it in the middle, allowing air to flow more easily around both of the drive’s sides would help keep it cooler. The change was made, and with just the big fan on low, the temperature did drop in idle, from 39°C down to 37°C.

2. Dust buildup will occur despite the filters. Because the fans are set up in a "negative pressure" configuration, air is pulled in from all holes in the case other than the exhaust fans. While the front vents are filtered, there are many holes on the back panel that are not. This means you still need to pay some attention to cleaning out the system once in a while, depending on environment and positioning.

3. The effects of the main front door, the slatted intake vent covers, and dust filters were all explored while the system was under full CPU/GPU load (ATITool + CPUBurn x2), in Configuration #3 above. The results are summarized below.

Thermal Impact of Doors and Covers
Main Door	Vent Covers	Filters	GPU	CPU	HDD
closed	closed	on	78°C	55°C	39°C
open	closed	on	74°C	53°C	37°C
open	open	on	72°C	52°C	37°C
open	open	off	71°C	51°C	36°C
closed	open	on	75°C	53°C	37°C

Opening the main front door had the biggest temperature effect, especially on the video card. This option also had the biggest impact on noise; it rose just a little over one [email protected], maybe two, but the subjective increase in HDD noise was significant. This is important if the system is placed on the desk.

The inner vent covers had a smaller effect, and the filters made hardly any difference at all. All of these effects will vary with the amount of air you’re trying to push through the intake vents; i.e., with the number of fans used, and the speed they’re set to.

The best compromise of acoustics, cooling and cosmetic appeal is probably removing the vent covers, while keeping the front door closed. This is the last combination detailed above. There are some significant improvements in cooling, without any acoustic penalty, and the filters do help block dust. Because the internal steel chassis is painted black, the appearance is not severely degraded when the door is open; it’s still monolithic black.

It looks OK to me with the vent covers removed.

5. The power supply seemed to get plenty of airflow through the bottom facing vent to keep itself cool under the test loads. Its fan never sped up. This may not hold true for all PSUs; the Enermax Modu82+ is exceptional in its acoustics. Do not place this PC directly on a carpeted floor. On a carpet, it must be raised up a bit to make sure there’s clearance enough so the bottom facing vent doesn’t get blocked. Also, if the case is placed on the floor, check and clean that bottom filter often.

6. An alternative design idea: Since the lower chamber intake vent is on the bottom, why not just extend the vent to directly under the PSU, position it "right side up" and allow it to draw air directly from the outside? Then the partition wall could be eliminated without any effect on overall cooling, a couple of inches of could have been shaved off the height, and the overall price could have been reduced substantially as well.

MP3 SOUND RECORDINGS

These
recordings were made with a high resolution, studio quality, digital
recording system, then converted to LAME 128kbps encoded MP3s. We’ve
listened long and hard to ensure there is no audible degradation from
the original WAV files to these MP3s. They represent a quick snapshot
of what we heard during the review. Recordings are usually made from a distance of one meter. If the noise level is really low and difficult to hear, sometimes, another from one foot (30 cm) away is also made. More details about how we make these recordings can be found in our short
article: Audio
Recording Methods Revised.

The
one meter recordings are intended to give you an idea of how the subject
of this review sound in actual use — one meter is a reasonable typical
distance between a computer or computer component and your ear. The
recording contains stretches of ambient noise that you can use to judge
the relative loudness of the subject. Be aware that
very quiet subjects may not be audible — if we couldn’t hear it from
one meter, chances are we couldn’t record it either!

The
one foot recordings are designed to bring out the fine details of the
noise. Use this recording with caution! Although more detailed, it may
not represent how the subject sounds in actual use. It is best to
listen to this recording after you have listened to the one meter
recording.

Each recording starts with 6~10 seconds of room ambiance, followed by 10 seconds of
the product’s noise. For the most realistic results, set the volume
so that the starting ambient level is just barely audible. (Note: All the noises sound much worse in the recordings than live if you set the playback volume too high.)

Antec Mini P180 Test System

• Antec Mini P180 with 200mm fan on low, 23 [email protected]: One meter recording,
• Antec Mini P180 with 200mm and 120mm fans both on low, 24 [email protected]: One meter
• Antec Mini P180 with 200mm on medium, 28 [email protected]: One meter
• Antec Mini P180 with 200mm on high, 35 [email protected]: One meter

What we’ve learned about the Antec Mini P180…

1) It has very good cooling performance, better than the P182, given that its vent area is about double, and its stock fans probably capable of twice the airflow. Remember that the test system’s Intel Pentium D950 CPU — rated at 130W TDP, which is as hot as the hottest of today’s quad-cores — was fitted with a underperforming, fanless Ninja heatsink… and in the Mini P180, it still provided excellent cooling.

2) It has the capacity to fit a lot of gear reasonably comfortably. Five HDDs and three optical drives is pretty good for a micro-ATX case. Plus, it can handle the biggest VGA cards around with the dual-HDD bay removed.

3) It has a huge number of fan options to optimize your particular setup. You can play a balancing game with many elements. Suffice it to say that the ideal fan configuration is best tweaked for each system (and user) individually. That you have so many options and fundamentally sound cooling is the key point. It’s great for DYI enthusiasts who want to tweak and play around with different configurations. This was one of the design goals for the original P180, and it appears to be the same for the Mini P180.

4) It is pretty quiet given the high airflow generated by the stock fans at the minimum speed settings.

The big fan dominates airflow and it sets the acoustic limits of the Mini P180. At its low setting, it’s probably acceptably quiet for a lot of people. The chattering quality of the fan makes it a bit less than optimal by SPCR standards; we prefer a cleaner, smoother sounding fan. Still 23 [email protected] is a very low level of noise by most standards. As long as that big fan is running, with some experimentation and tweaking, you should be able to keep just about any combination of components in there cool and stable. The noise will be lower than with the same components in any other micro-ATX case.

In fact, the 200mm fan is the defining element of this case. It’s not a fan that’s easily swapped out; what choices are there in 200mm DC fans? Hardly any. It’s what makes the airflow and cooling in the case exceptional. Yes, all the P182-esque features are nice, but they exist in the P182, which is already very popular and able to take both ATX and micro-ATX boards. There’s also the well-cooled, dual thermal chamber, micro-ATX Antec NSK3480 case, which is much smaller, and can be made very quiet (even though this may require both PSU and case fan swaps). Take the big fan out of the Mini P180, and you have an oversized micro-ATX case without any central, unique feature.

Is the fan good enough?

To answer this question, you have to go back to an issue I brought up at the very start of the review: Who is this case for?

Antec has already suggested that it’s probably not for extreme silencers. The big fan may not really be quiet enough for them. They want to get to 20 [email protected] and below. That’s easier to achieve in one of the more conventional, good quality micro-ATX cases if you’re dealing with a mid or low power system. The main reason is that they use standard size fans (80, 92 and 120mm diameter) for which there are many quiet options. The best silent PC is one with components that don’t make much noise to begin with. Extreme silencers are more likely to mod a NSK3480 if they want a mATX board / case. If they’re willing to consider a case of this size, there’s the proven Antec Solo, which even has the added benefit of elastic cord suspension for the HDDs.

DIY system builders are not likely to use this case for business / office systems. It’s too expensive, too complex and too big. They’re more likely to opt for something like the aforementioned NSK3480.

The Million Dollar Question, then is: "Do DIY extreme gamers and performance enthusiasts buy and use micro-ATX boards?" I don’t know the answer, but the Mini P180 is indeed a micro-ATX case made expressly for the extreme gamer. If they don’t use micro-ATX boards now, the Mini P180 may have the potential to tempt enough of them to start a new trend.

Our thanks to Antec
for Mini P180
sample.

* * *

---

POSTSCRIPT: MORE ON THE BIG FAN FOR THE BENEFIT OF SILENCERS – March 8, 2008

One reader emailed, "If the 200mm fan is the defining feature of this case, why wasn’t undervolting tested? Surely it could maintain good cooling even with the fan undervolted down to 7V (perhaps on medium)?"

A forum member commented, "I would have loved to have read the measurements and subjective conclusions on the top 200mm hooked up to a viable resistor and set to its lowest start-up voltage. Though I realise this can vary from fan to fan. Don’t suppose there’s any chance of this. Please?"

I bow to popular demand. This Saturday morning at 6AM, it was very quiet in the neightborhood, the SPL in the lab reading at around 17 dBA. The 200mm fan from the Mini P180 was perched atop a carpeted lab bench, and further measurements were made. This time, RPM was also measured, using an optical tachometer.

PS1: Here’s the data on the nominal speed settings at 12V plus the lowest speed at which the fan would reliably start spinning.

PS1: Antec Mini P180 200mm Fan Measurements
Switch	Voltage	RPM	SPL [email protected]
high	12V	830	34
med	12V	630	25~26
low	12V	430	20
high	8V	230	18

As you can see from the data, the fan does run slower than the minimum setting. With 8V, it’s only spinning at 230 RPM, but still moving a breath of air. I don’t think it’s enough airflow to cool the test system, but a thermally moderate one could probably be cooled adequately. The acoustic improvement was quite audible because the noise fell just about to ambient. My ear now had to be within about 1.5′ to hear the fan at all; the chattering remained, albeit at a very subdued level. Remember, this is with the fan outside the case. Inside the case, at the low setting, the fan measured 23 [email protected]. The additional 3 dBA is likely the effect of cavity air resonance in the case, which will also apply at 230 RPM.

PS2: Secondly, here are the different combinations of fan speed switch setting and feed voltage to achieve the same lower RPM points.

PS2: Antec Mini P180 200mm Fan Measurements
Switch	Voltage	RPM	SPL [email protected]
high	10.2V	630	25~26
med	12.0V
high	9.0V	430	20
med	10.8V
high	8.0V	230	18
med	9.8V
low	11.0V

I was seeking mainly the control range between the 430RPM of low and the 230RPM minimum start speed. Examine the PS2 data table and you’ll see that this control range is just one volt:

• If the fan is set to medium, then lowering the voltage to 10.8V gives the same speed as low. Another volt lower, and we’re at 230RPM.
• If the fan is set to low, then just one volt drop to 11V brings us to 230RPM.

Does this data change my analysis of the fan and the Mini P180? Not really. The fan can run significantly quieter, but the reduced airflow is probably inadequate for the kind of hot components that the case (and Antec) invites, so the default minimum noise level is around 23 [email protected]. That’s very quiet, especially when the system is placed on the floor under the desk.

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