Stock P180 fans.

[BoomAM]

Hi.
Im thinking of getting a P180 sometime over christmas and ive got a few questions:
--Can anyone tell me how the stock fans in a P180 rate as quiet fans?
--Will an Antec NeoHE 500W fit correctly in a P180, and will the cables from it be long enough?
--How are the dust filters in the P180? (Do they actually work)
--Worthwhile upgrade over a Stacker case for quietness?

Thanks in advance all.

[andyb]

Look here.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page1.html

The 38mm deep fan is not listed its a far louder/harsher fan.


Andy

[BoomAM]

I was under the impression that the new revisions of the P180 has the central 120mm fan replaced with a normal thinkness fan?

[ultrachrome]

Hi.
Im thinking of getting a P180 sometime over christmas and ive got a few questions:
--Can anyone tell me how the stock fans in a P180 rate as quiet fans?
--Will an Antec NeoHE 500W fit correctly in a P180, and will the cables from it be long enough?
--How are the dust filters in the P180? (Do they actually work)
--Worthwhile upgrade over a Stacker case for quietness?

Thanks in advance all.

If you already have a stacker, upgrading to a P180 is like buying the same car only with more options.

Slap some cheap adhesive floor tiles on the case walls, install some quiet fans (Nexus or Scythe), and suspend your hard drives and you'd have a case at least as quiet as P180.

[amjedm]

If you already have a stacker, upgrading to a P180 is like buying the same car only with more options.

Slap some cheap adhesive floor tiles on the case walls, install some quiet fans (Nexus or Scythe), and suspend your hard drives and you'd have a case at least as quiet as P180.

The Stacker does have mesh front bays and side so that may let out noise?

I was under the impression that the new revisions of the P180 has the central 120mm fan replaced with a normal thinkness fan?

Yes it does AFAIK.

[ultrachrome]

The Stacker does have mesh front bays and side so that may let out noise?

What noise will be let out? For a silent PC, you're supposed to be running as few fans as possible, running as slow as possible.

Your hard drives are supposed to be quiet already and decoupled from the case. If your drives are loud they should be in quiet enclosures which you don't have a lot of room for in a P180.

If you need to move air through a case, your going to let noise out.

The stacker probably has more open area than necessary and I would block off unnecessary open area (such as the side) to tune the air path.

If I was buying a new case, choosing between the two cases is an apples to oranges situation. The stacker is roomier and more expensive. The P180 does have the nice composite panels but the layout makes suspending hard drives a little more tricky.

edit: Due to the different construction, the noise character would be different and presumably nicer on the P180 due to the panel damping but you could easily do the same to the stacker.

[TedMC]

If you already have a stacker, upgrading to a P180 is like buying the same car only with more options.

Slap some cheap adhesive floor tiles on the case walls, install some quiet fans (Nexus or Scythe), and suspend your hard drives and you'd have a case at least as quiet as P180.

The Stacker does have mesh front bays and side so that may let out noise?

I was under the impression that the new revisions of the P180 has the central 120mm fan replaced with a normal thinkness fan?

Yes it does AFAIK.

I just bought a new P180B from Fry's last monday.According to the owners manual the fan installed in the lower portion of the case is a "high flow" model different from the 2 upper fans. It is the same thickness as the other 2 fans

[TedMC]

Hi.
Im thinking of getting a P180 sometime over christmas and ive got a few questions:
--Can anyone tell me how the stock fans in a P180 rate as quiet fans?
--Will an Antec NeoHE 500W fit correctly in a P180, and will the cables from it be long enough?
--How are the dust filters in the P180? (Do they actually work)
--Worthwhile upgrade over a Stacker case for quietness?

Thanks in advance all.

Hi Boom
1.) See the review of the Tricool fans, they are just ok.
2.) I bought that exact PSU...the cables are fine...the 12V 4 pin ATX cable is just long enough. The rest are easy.
3.) The dust filters are probably adequate (nylon screening) However the are easily accessable from doors in the front, easy to take out and wash.
4.) For quietness,the P180 in stock form is ready to go.

[andyb]

The only "silent" PC's on the planet are the ones that have no moving parts, no fans, no coil whine, nothing, they are silent.

I cant stand my Nexii@1000rpm they are way tooo loud Most people think they are silent.

Silent is as far as people can hear, if you can hear a mouse fart from 100 yards that means that your hearing is astonshing and any fan noise is horrible.

What everyone wants who is a realist AND is not super rich wants is a PC that is so quiet that they can only hear it if they concentrate, thats me. My loudest fan runs at 670rpm~ I can hear that over the other fans, if I ramp that fan up to 1000rpm I get annoyed.

Silence is only as good as your hearing. A P180 will beat a staker any day of the week.


Andy

[BoomAM]

Whoa, a vast array of opinions here.

The reason i was thinking of moving to a P180 is because the stacker has these negative properties regarding noise:
-Flimsy, flexible, side panels.
-The front is basically one big hole.
-Theres another large 'hole' on the left panel.
-A small set of holes on the right panel
-The mechanisms for securing things in the drive bays involve a large amount of loose plastic clips.

So based on just the above, theres lots of room for vibration, and for noise to escape.
My HDDs are all quiet, bar one, which will be getting replaced anyway.
And the only other two things that need replacing noise wise is my CPU fan & the video card HSF needs replacing.

Am i correct in thinking that the Antec Tricool fans come with built in voltage selectors? So i could run them at 5-7v?
Zalman VF-900CU: Good for video card HSF? (On X800XL).

Thanks in advance again everyone.

[Shadowknight]

Am i correct in thinking that the Antec Tricool fans come with built in voltage selectors? So i could run them at 5-7v?
Zalman VF-900CU: Good for video card HSF? (On X800XL).

Don't know about the Zalman, but the Antec Tricools have a 3 speed-switch (low, medium and high). They're okay, though there are quieter fans out there, but they're decent "starter" fans until/unless you choose to replace them later.

[ultrachrome]

The Zalman 900 made a very big improvement on my 7900GT however even with the included fanmate set to low it still spins at 1500rpm which is audible.

I think you'll enjoy the build quality of the Antec over the Stacker. The tri-cools should help drop the noise level noticeably.

What are you using for a CPU heatsink?

[BoomAM]

As long as with all the fans on 5v that its quieter than my Stacker, while keeping temperatures round about, im happy with the stock fans. :p

To check, what fans does it come with? Obviously the one near the PSU. What about the others? Exhaust Back fan? Exhaust top? HDD lower? HDD upper?

Thanks in advance all.

[ultrachrome]

3 according to antec.com with mounting points for 2 more.