SPCR

Are you shure the panels are not silver painted plastic? That finish looks very similar to the Nexus Breeze, wich is silver painted plastic on the outside and steel on the inside of the panel.

They're brushed aluminum over plastic, and then another sheet of aluminum on the backside--zero paint is involved. I'm quite sure of this, having seen, heard, felt, smelled, but not tasted, the case for myself.

-Ed

once you go black you never go back... get that kitchen thing out of the way

Edward Ng wrote:I'm quite sure of this, having seen, heard, felt, smelled, but not tasted, the case for myself.

Yes, but did you step in it?

Did you get a look at the Sonata II as well?

-Patrick

BlueCan wrote:

Edward Ng wrote:I'm quite sure of this, having seen, heard, felt, smelled, but not tasted, the case for myself.

Yes, but did you step in it?

Did you get a look at the Sonata II as well?

-Patrick

I'm quite a bit too tall to step inside a P180, actually...

Re: Sonata II--Yes I did. Our CES coverage should be up soon. I hope. A lot.

AntecRep,

I was wondering two things. Would it be possible to have either a side blowhole or a rear exhausted duct for CPU cooling made? I don't think I'm too handy with a Dremel to attempt it myself, heh. Secondly, is there a possibility to have a windowed side panel available like with the P160? Or would that hinder the acoustic performance too much?

Thanks. The case is shaping up nicely, it could replace the P160 I have now.

Okatha wrote:AntecRep,

I was wondering two things. Would it be possible to have either a side blowhole or a rear exhausted duct for CPU cooling made? I don't think I'm too handy with a Dremel to attempt it myself, heh. Secondly, is there a possibility to have a windowed side panel available like with the P160? Or would that hinder the acoustic performance too much?

Thanks. The case is shaping up nicely, it could replace the P160 I have now.

Take a look at our CES coverage; both, P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU; the ducts are adjustable in three separate directions. I shot photos of all of it.

-Ed

Edward Ng wrote:Take a look at our CES coverage; both, P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU; the ducts are adjustable in three separate directions. I shot photos of all of it.

I see a few photos of each case, but there are no pictures of the CPU ducts in the article. Do you have any pictures of the ducts?

Edward Ng wrote:
Take a look at our CES coverage; both, P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU; the ducts are adjustable in three separate directions. I shot photos of all of it.

-Ed

Actually I was thinking more along the lines of a plastic duct that would physically isolate the hot air from the CPU from the rest of the case to be exhausted. It looks to me that it's just an intake fan...? Sorry I'm not really seeing the "duct" part in the pictures.

On a side note I'm so glad they dumped the ANTEC side panel markings from the Sonata, it's basically what kept me from buying the that particular case before. Loved the black piano exterior, could not bring myself to have it a case "branded" like that.

Edward Ng wrote:Take a look at our CES coverage; both, P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU; the ducts are adjustable in three separate directions. I shot photos of all of it.

-Ed

Ed,

Wouldn't that pull in hot air from the PSU exhaust? And secondly, would it also mean that there's no need for a front fan?

/Nik

Hmm I don't see pictures of the ducting on SPCR, however the Techlounge's coverage has some pics of the SonataII on page 4 they start with showing the improved vents, then the whole case and then 5 pictures of the cpu/VGA duct.

AntecRep

Nik7304 wrote:

Edward Ng wrote: P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU

Wouldn't that pull in hot air from the PSU exhaust? And secondly, would it also mean that there's no need for a front fan?

In the case of the Sonata II, the duct is well below the PSU, so it won't suck in warm air exiting from the case. For the P180, it's just above the PSU--so it probably will.

A front intake fan also brings in more air to cool your Northbridge, PSU, Video card, Hard Drives, RAM, etc. There can still be a "need" for it depending on any of a number of other factors...

-Patrick "Would love to buy JUST the duct to plop in his Sonata"

Is that fan in the antec phantom 500w a 80mm or 92mm?

It's an 80mm, mounted in the standad rear position.

BlueCan wrote:In the case of the Sonata II, the duct is well below the PSU, so it won't suck in warm air exiting from the case. For the P180, it's just above the PSU--so it probably will.

I don't think that would work so well with the PSU is in a seperate compartment, best to just use the air channel with a low speed 120mm as designed.

ChrisH wrote:

Edward Ng wrote:Take a look at our CES coverage; both, P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU; the ducts are adjustable in three separate directions. I shot photos of all of it.

I see a few photos of each case, but there are no pictures of the CPU ducts in the article. Do you have any pictures of the ducts?

Sorry, I had originally posted pics of them elsewhere, but it's lalaland for regular members, here...

Sonata duct pictures:


That's the opening it draws air from.


The side facing the end user when installed.


The side facing the CPU when installed.

For P180:


This preproduction duct is also where Antec decided to mount the spare rails, but I was informed that the design of P180's duct will likely change from this to a different design before reaching production.

-Ed

Nik7304 wrote:

Edward Ng wrote:Take a look at our CES coverage; both, P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU; the ducts are adjustable in three separate directions. I shot photos of all of it.

-Ed

Ed,

Wouldn't that pull in hot air from the PSU exhaust? And secondly, would it also mean that there's no need for a front fan?

/Nik

Take a look at the picture; no, it shouldn't pull much, if any air from the PSU, unless the PSU was putting out colder than ambient air that would sink down to the duct's intake, or the case were crammed right up against a wall out back and the PSU exhaust air were partially deflected downward; otherwise, hot PSU exhaust generally floats upward, away from the intake for the duct.

No, a front fan would help to bring cold air in to cool the HDDs.

-Ed

Okatha wrote:

Edward Ng wrote:
Take a look at our CES coverage; both, P180 and Sonata II have ducts that pull cool air in from the rear of the case and direct it to the CPU; the ducts are adjustable in three separate directions. I shot photos of all of it.

-Ed

Actually I was thinking more along the lines of a plastic duct that would physically isolate the hot air from the CPU from the rest of the case to be exhausted. It looks to me that it's just an intake fan...? Sorry I'm not really seeing the "duct" part in the pictures.

On a side note I'm so glad they dumped the ANTEC side panel markings from the Sonata, it's basically what kept me from buying the that particular case before. Loved the black piano exterior, could not bring myself to have it a case "branded" like that.

Sorry, I did not know you have a different definition of duct from myself. And I apologize for forgetting that my duct pictures never made it into the final article.

Agreed on the holes, but not only do they look bad, they have a tendency to also let noise out and make it difficult to achieve properly managed air flow, too.

-Ed

Badashmods wrote:Is that fan in the antec phantom 500w a 80mm or 92mm?

80mm.

-Ed

Edward Ng wrote:Take a look at the picture; no, it shouldn't pull much, if any air from the PSU, unless the PSU was putting out colder than ambient air that would sink down to the duct's intake, or the case were crammed right up against a wall out back and the PSU exhaust air were partially deflected downward; otherwise, hot PSU exhaust generally floats upward, away from the intake for the duct.
-Ed

But the PSU in the P180 is below the intake duct. Which means it will suck in hot air rising from the PSU.

Thanks for the pictures of the duct Ed, now I see what you're talking about. It's a little different from what I had in mind, but looks like it would be good.

One thing that just occured to me, it looks like Antec decided to drop the front LED temperature display. That's a little disappointing. I know using probes isn't the most accurate, but it was a very nice extra that was a factor in buying the P160 for me.

Toaster Oven wrote:

Edward Ng wrote:Take a look at the picture; no, it shouldn't pull much, if any air from the PSU, unless the PSU was putting out colder than ambient air that would sink down to the duct's intake, or the case were crammed right up against a wall out back and the PSU exhaust air were partially deflected downward; otherwise, hot PSU exhaust generally floats upward, away from the intake for the duct.
-Ed

But the PSU in the P180 is below the intake duct. Which means it will suck in hot air rising from the PSU.

I was talking about the Sonata II's duct; it feeds from below the PSU a good distance.

As I said, P180's duct will see change before production. Exactly what changes, unfortunately, I do not know.

-Ed

I so want one of these, please tell me there's gonna be a retailer in Sweden that will have them in stock.

A preview with some nice pictures:
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article.ph ... tec&page=5

A question: with that duct covering the cpu won't it be kind of har to combine this case with a HS like the Zalman CNPS6000-Cu that has a separate fan, or can the Zalman fan be installed in the duct to blow on the HS?

Cros wrote:A preview with some nice pictures:
http://www.thetechlounge.com/article.ph ... tec&page=5

A question: with that duct covering the cpu won't it be kind of har to combine this case with a HS like the Zalman CNPS6000-Cu that has a separate fan, or can the Zalman fan be installed in the duct to blow on the HS?

Looking at Ed's photos of the Sonata II duct, I see what looks like a mounting tab within the duct's exhaust above the CPU that looks like it's meant for a fan.

My guess is that they're thinking about that sort of thing.

-Patrick

I too would like to know when the 180 will be available in Sweden/Europe.

That CPU duct for the Sonata II looks extremely close to the top of the card slots. Hopefully a fanless video card cooler (Zalman, Aercool, etc) would not interfere with it being mounted properly. A Zalman ZM80C-HP extends about a 1/2 inch from the top of the card.

Matte wrote:I too would like to know when the 180 will be available in Sweden/Europe.

It's not in production yet and, according to Ed's post, Antec hasn't even camed up with the final layout so there's probably not even an ETA available yet.

Debating between the Antec P-180 and the Lian Li PC-V-1100. The Antec looks like it will be a little cheaper and I like the ducting. On the other hand the Lian Li simply looks nicer, IMO. Only thing I don't like about the Lian Li is they put the USB ports on the bottom. Doesn't make much sense. I mean, when I plug something into a front USB or audio jack it's usually something like a camera, MP3 player, headphones or something else that I don't want to have sitting on the ground where I can step on it or snag the cable with my feet. Would make a whole lot more sense to put the outlets up on top.

It is nice to see case designers are finally putting PSU's at the bottom and the PCI slots up at the top. For the life of me I could never understand why the cable from the PSU - which runs to the electrical outlet at floor level - was on the top while the video card whose cable runs to a monitor on top of your desk was on the bottom. Don't have to be a genius to figure that one out! Too bad it took the PC industry a decade or two to finally figure this out!

Is there an ETA for this case here in the US? It looks reely kewl.