[CES 07] P180 evolution: the P182

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar

butters
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Post by butters » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:39 am

Latest word from Antec and their PR firm says P182 won't be available until mid-April at the earliest, and P190 probably late April to early May.

<rant>
My major gripe with ATX is that there's just not enough space on the back panel to exhaust with large, slow fans. Someone in this thread said that they should put a second fan on the back panel. Where? You can fit 2x 80mm fans, but no more than one 120mm fan, and no fans bigger than 120mm. Quiet case manufacturers have been forced to implement the PSU on the bottom, exhaust fan on the top design because you need more than the 25 CFM of exhaust provided by a slow 120mm fan to cool a powerful system.

The new design should separate the I/O backplate from the board (preferably connected via a special slot on the board). It should fit above and parallel to the expansion cards, but it should go the full width of the case (i.e. the full height of a card rather than the smaller height of the expansion slot). This makes the space above the new I/O plate much more square, probably fitting a 160mm fan or 4x 80mm fans. It also leaves more room by the rear edge of the board for a big VRM radiator. Also, all expansion cards should install with component side up in the usual orientation. This way you could fit a big radiator on your graphics card that goes all the way up to your CPU radiator--without something like the HR-03.

I'm a big fan (no pun intended) of dissipating all of your heat in the space above the graphics card and using front-to-back airflow across the top half of the board for cooling. That stupid I/O backplate gets in the way of what would otherwise be a clear airflow path, forcing the use of the top exhaust. With enough back panel exhaust, we could scrap the top fan, put the PSU chamber on the top of the motherboard chamber (for better cable management), and switch the positions of the opticals and HDDs so that the HDDs are in the main airflow path and the opticals are down in the dead zone (convection-only) with the rest of the cool components. One 160mm rear exhaust fan and one 120-140mm PSU fan should provide all of your necessary airflow.
</rant>

toystwo
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Post by toystwo » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:28 am

butters wrote:Latest word from Antec and their PR firm says P182 won't be available until mid-April at the earliest, and P190 probably late April to early May.
Well that is disappointing. I’ve been waiting to place my order for a build from AVADirect until the P182 is available. Guess I’ll wait another month. On the plus side it gives some more time to shake out issues on the 680 board and Vista. How good do you consider this latest time estimate (i.e., generally clueless customer service rep or higher level info)?

iohcyah
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Post by iohcyah » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:10 pm

Got tired of waiting for the P182 to come out so I decided to just get the P180b. My order from newegg arrived today and I believe they sent me a P182...

http colon slash slash dub dub dub dot speakeasy dot org slash tilda iohcyah slash p182

(wont let me post url/link as my first post)

snq
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Post by snq » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:11 am

That link would be http://www.speakeasy.org/~iohcyah/p182/

And congrats, it seems you got a P182 indeed :)

Ralf Hutter
SPCR Reviewer
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Post by Ralf Hutter » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:35 am

Someone on Anandtech posted pics of their "P180/182" as well. It came in a P180 box, but has the features of the P182.

snq
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Post by snq » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:09 am

I read that on Anandtech and was secretly hoping I'd get a P182 instead of a P180. I got my case yesterday and it was a P180.. The production date stamp said november 2006 so I guess it'll be a while before they run out of stock on those and start shipping out P182s to customers over here.
I actually considered waiting for the P182 before buying a new PC, but finally I figured that by the time it makes it over to Europe there'll be something else to wait for, so I didn't wait ;)

Alex
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Post by Alex » Fri Mar 16, 2007 3:12 am

iohcyah wrote:Got tired of waiting for the P182 to come out so I decided to just get the P180b. My order from newegg arrived today and I believe they sent me a P182...
I am so jealooouuusss :roll:

The only thing i prefer on the P180 are the airholes instead of the watercooling holes on the back.
Maybe Antec should have a changeable plate there so that you can choose this.
Last edited by Alex on Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:48 am, edited 2 times in total.

Sumanji
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Joined: Sun May 07, 2006 2:12 pm

Post by Sumanji » Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:13 am

It's great that they have made improvements to cable management and stuff, but...

WHY IS THE LOWER SECTION FAN STILL IN THE MIDDLE?!

I can't believe they didn't move it in front of the hard drive cage! It's so useless in the middle, it just gets in the way of wiring and doesn't really function well as an intake :x

Guess I'll have to wait for the P184 :( or are there any good guides on how to mod the P180 bottom chamber fan?

Cheers,

Suman

snq
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Location: Sweden

Post by snq » Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:20 am

Sumanji wrote:It's great that they have made improvements to cable management and stuff, but...

WHY IS THE LOWER SECTION FAN STILL IN THE MIDDLE?!

I can't believe they didn't move it in front of the hard drive cage! It's so useless in the middle, it just gets in the way of wiring and doesn't really function well as an intake :x

Guess I'll have to wait for the P184 :( or are there any good guides on how to mod the P180 bottom chamber fan?

Cheers,

Suman
I'm guessing it's in the middle to reduce noise? I'm pretty sure it'd be more audible if it were sitting in the front.
Functionality wise I don't think it would matter if its in the front or in the middle? Either way it'll be pushing the same amount of air towards the PSU. I have to agree it's a bit in the way for wiring, but it's not like it's an impossible problem to overcome.

Sumanji
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Post by Sumanji » Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:26 am

Well I want to keep 4 HDD's in the bottom section and keep the upper HDD bay empty (better air flow). Two of the hard drives are Raptors and need active cooling to stay at a nice temperature, so they need a fan blowing directly OVER them!

The fan being in the middle is pretty useless as an intake, because it isn't close enough to a source of fresh air. And noise isn't really a good argument, as the upper section intake fan is right at the front (and it gets muted a lot when I close the front door.

P182 is nearly perfect, but not quite :(

nick705
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Post by nick705 » Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:30 pm

Sumanji wrote:Well I want to keep 4 HDD's in the bottom section and keep the upper HDD bay empty (better air flow). Two of the hard drives are Raptors and need active cooling to stay at a nice temperature, so they need a fan blowing directly OVER them!
I don't think the hard drives care much if the air is being sucked or blown over them, but there's a thread at HardForum showing the steps needed to relocate the fan at the front. It's pretty simple really.

The pictures seem to have disappeared from the original thread, but as luck would have it I grabbed the first page using Firefox's brilliant Scrapbook extension, and you can see it in its full glory here (credit where it's due to the original site, original poster, blah, blah, etc, etc...)

I can't for the life of me see why he felt the need for two fans in the lower chamber with no hard drives, but at least it gives you an idea. :)

Rats
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Post by Rats » Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:41 pm

The P182 has been available for quite a while now, just not under its name. I ordered a "P180B" from ChiefValue (NewEgg partner) on February 9th and received a P182 inside a P180B box.

Sumanji
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Post by Sumanji » Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:02 pm

nick705 wrote:...there's a thread at HardForum showing the steps needed to relocate the fan at the front. It's pretty simple really.
Thanks dude, that's a pretty cool mod.

Nice idea, but it seems a few people have been unable to fit the HDD rack back in to the case! And of course it means the cage is no longer bolted to the case. I guess you are right and I could just stick with a fan in the middle, and somehow try and route the wires around it...

Thanks,

Suman

Kremmit
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Post by Kremmit » Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:14 pm

I modded my 180 to take a fan in the front of the lower bay. I didn't have to remove the whole bracket, so my lower HD cage still screws into place, and my fan isn't wedged tight up against the lower HD cage, either.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Kremmit/P18 ... hamberMods

I actually ended up not using a fan there, but if you want one, that's the way I'd suggest doing it.

Sumanji
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun May 07, 2006 2:12 pm

Post by Sumanji » Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:28 pm

Thanks for the pics Kremmit. Does that mod mean you can no longer fit the dust filter on to the front then? And how is the fan held in place? Is it secure?

Cheers,

Suman

Willy Higinbotham
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Post by Willy Higinbotham » Mon Mar 19, 2007 5:36 am

Kremmit wrote:I modded my 180 to take a fan in the front of the lower bay. I didn't have to remove the whole bracket, so my lower HD cage still screws into place, and my fan isn't wedged tight up against the lower HD cage, either.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Kremmit/P18 ... hamberMods

I actually ended up not using a fan there, but if you want one, that's the way I'd suggest doing it.
Nice mod. This is exactly what I want to do, once I get my case.

I have a question though. How's the bracked attached to the case? Screws? Rivets?

JazzJackRabbit
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Post by JazzJackRabbit » Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:26 am

Willy Higinbotham wrote: Nice mod. This is exactly what I want to do, once I get my case.

I have a question though. How's the bracked attached to the case? Screws? Rivets?
Rivets.

Willy Higinbotham
Posts: 102
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:39 pm

Post by Willy Higinbotham » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:04 am

JazzJackRabbit wrote:
Willy Higinbotham wrote: Nice mod. This is exactly what I want to do, once I get my case.

I have a question though. How's the bracked attached to the case? Screws? Rivets?
Rivets.
Thanks.

Nice build on the main rig. I like the air duct idea.

MC FLMJIG
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Post by MC FLMJIG » Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:58 pm

Looking nice!

Delta_42
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Post by Delta_42 » Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:21 am

Just for reference, I bought a P180B from Scan Computers in the UK last week and got an updated case.

Goldmember
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Post by Goldmember » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:14 am

Matbe and Hexus both reported from Cebit that there will only be 5,000 of the mirrored P182 SE produced. So don't procrastinate if you really want one. :P

Also, Hexus claims that there will be 3 versions of the P182 in addition to the SE version. Does that mean the titanium/gunmetal version will coexist with the current silver and black versions? Interesting. So maybe some of you received P182Bs?

http://www.matbe.com/actualites/15667/a ... r-boitier/
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8127

Edit correction: Hexus said "a limited initial run of only 5,000 units". So I suppose there could be more of the P182 SE produced if they sell well and Antec makes lots of money. :wink:

schmiggy_jk
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Post by schmiggy_jk » Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:54 pm

I so want that pollished steel version. And the black insides are sweet. I really want the update mainly for cable management.

And if you read the hexus article is seems there is now 4 variations black, white, gun metal (pictured at the bottom), and the mirrored steel finish look.

el_
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Post by el_ » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:34 pm

I ordered a p180b from newegg and got a 182 in the p180b box!!! sweet. I love the back cable management works great for p/s cable exp the 4pin cable that would have to lay on the mobo otherwise.


thanks again...I'll start a thread with pics once I get all the parts installed and wires pretty.

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