[DIY] Antec P180 Bottom front chamber 25mm wide FAN mod.

[bumthology]

Hi
I've been trolling these forums for a while now reading everything i can about the P180. What i found was that you can in fact mod a fan on the bottom compartment, but on the thread there was no pictures, and you couldnt put anything thicker than a 20mm fan in there.
The improvements for this mod for me was,
Better cable management on the bottom (because it was so tight with the middle fan. And of course i just like the fan at the front

1. Open the face of the case to reveal the metal face, you will find 6 rivets you can drill through these will let you take apart this piece. (you can see the 6 i rivets (sorry no pics because i didnt think i was going to do a writeup)



2. Get a fan i put some sticky foam in the front, put the fan inside the case and screw the two bottom holes in to stick the fan. (just screwing the bottom two is very tight)



3. Get the cage, and take off the black things on top and bottom. Then put the cage back in without the black sliders and move it further away from the fan. Slide the black sliders back in and mark where the position of it is.



4. Redrill some new holes, i just drilled 4 and didnt bother with the bottom slider, because of slackness, and also i stuffed some holes up.



Here is the final product, you can see the clearance with the 25mm thick fan.


Its time for bed now

[bluepanda]

Oh hell yes! How come no replies? This is brilliant.

I will definitely be doing this when my new set of fans arrive.
I hate when my cables fall into the stock fan and i am guessing it is possible this give better cooling of the hard disks too.

Thanks bumthology for the awesome write up

[MikeC]

Nicely done! I've linked it in the related articles list on the last page of the P182 review.

[amjedm]

bumthology - thank you very much, I think I might try the mod.

Nicely done! I've linked it in the related articles list on the last page of the P182 review.

An excellent idea Mike, thank you too.

[silence]

This is a good mod, but...

I don't really see the point.

Why bother with this when you can just install a 20mm thick fan, which is relatively easily available, and not have to mod the case irreversibly?

With this, you lose the ability to lock the lower HDD cage and also room for cables behind the hard drives. You can just install a 20mm fan, modify nothing, lose nothing, and gain additional airflow. Sounds like the logical choice to me.

Thanks for contributing, though.

-Dom

[amjedm]

This is a good mod, but...

I don't really see the point.

Why bother with this when you can just install a 20mm thick fan, which is relatively easily available, and not have to mod the case irreversibly?

With this, you lose the ability to lock the lower HDD cage and also room for cables behind the hard drives. You can just install a 20mm fan, modify nothing, lose nothing, and gain additional airflow. Sounds like the logical choice to me.

Thanks for contributing, though.

-Dom

20mm fans aren't available cheap in all countries

[BenSanford]

I just got my P182 today. I looked at the lower chamber, etc. and it appears identical to the photo's of the P180 used for the mod.

I don't see any problem with doing the mod on the Antec cases. Losing the ability to route cables behind the HD cage doesn't matter, because I don't think anyone would be running cables there anyway. The cable problem in the P180 & P182 cases with the fan between the PSU and the cage is a much bigger problem - especially if you are using a PSU any larger than the "standard" ATX size - and many performance supplies are a bit longer. I'm using the Corsair Hx520 PSU which is about 1 cm longer than the "standard." The standard solution most have used is just to eliminate the fan in the lower chamber, but I would really like to keep my HDs as cool as possible.

I also don't see an issue with not being able to lock down the HDD cage. Yes, with the mod the standard place the place to screw it down is gone, but it's not going anywhere when installed, and I don't plan on moving this case around that much... Could always add a screw down through the top of the cage if absolutely necessary to lock it down.

I think this mod will definitely help to lower HD temperatures, and I'm probably more concerned with HD reliability than anything else - since I'm not likely to back-up a lot of my recorded HTPC content.

I plan to mod my case tomorrow - before I install anything else. That way I won't have to worry about getting tiny metal shavings (from drilling out the rivets) into anything.

Ben

[nick705]

I'm using the Corsair Hx520 PSU which is about 1 cm longer than the "standard." The standard solution most have used is just to eliminate the fan in the lower chamber, but I would really like to keep my HDs as cool as possible.
Ben

It takes a bit of patience, but using the fan in the central position is easily doable with an HX520, even with the lower bay full of hard drives - just have a look through the General Gallery where plenty of people have done just that.

I do agree the fan would be much better off mounted at the front though, for all the reasons you stated, and it's a great shame Antec don't provide at least the option to do so as standard.

[dangman4ever]

Damn you. Why couldn't you have posted this three weeks ago before I cut up my P180? LOL!

Nice work.

[Konnetikut]

Why couldn't you have posted this three weeks ago before I cut up my P180?

OP date is actually May 24.

[Bluefront]

Jab-tech has 120x20mm Yate Loons available....cheap. Before any case mods, I'd certainly try a few of these new fans, since they'll fit relatively easily. My examples are plenty quiet.

[amjedm]

Jab-tech has 120x20mm Yate Loons available....cheap. Before any case mods, I'd certainly try a few of these new fans, since they'll fit relatively easily. My examples are plenty quiet.

Thank you

Visited Jab-Tech yesterday and didn't notice them and have just had another look and found them.

Might give one a try but I find the YL are a bit too noisy for my liking - currently using Nexus, Sharkoon Silent Eagle and NorthQ NCB fans

[BenSanford]

I just completed the mod on my new P182 case. The only very minor difference is that there are only 4 rivets holding in the little square bracket that is removed as a part of the mod. As pictured at the top of the thread, the little bracket actually does have 6 holes in it, but there are only 4 holes through the front panel and only the 4 corner holes are actually riveted in. These are little pop rivets that have the center open (which helps guide your drill), so it's very easy to drill them out with a 1/8" drill.

One other note, if a Sythe fan (blowing in) is installed directly against the front of the case, the mounting for the air filter will hit the fan blades, so it is necessary to use a 1/8" spacer when installing the fan (if you want to use the filter). A spacer can be simply fabricated out of the plastic fan mount that you removed from the "standard" fan position between the PSU and the lower drive cage.

Ben

[OblivionLord]

I have a 620hx installed and yes its a tight fit but regardless. I am considering this mod especially for the fact that newer videocards are more wattage demanding especially the 4870x2. I currently have a q9550 oced to 4.0 and a gtx260. I can still run the 4870x2 with this processor no problem. It's just the thought of what the future holds. If the newer cards are more power hungry than a 4870x2 or if 2 newer cards would be more then I will have to get a larger PSU. By doing this I would have to remove the center fan at the bottom inorder to fit a larger PSU. I would really consider the 1000w HX Corsair which anyone that owns a P180/P182 will tell you that you must remove that front center fan.

By doing this mod, I won't have to deal with that issue and I'll retain the HDD cooling by having a fan present instead of without a fan while using the larger PSU's.

[Hypernova]

HX1000's fit fine with out removing the bottom fan.

Ok technically you do have to move it to the HDD side. After that just use 90 degree cables and you are all set.

Another thing to do is actually seal off the little gaps from PSU to HDD. This allows the fan to work more efficiently.

[OblivionLord]

or perhaps you can save money by not needing to buy another fan or flat sata wires which fit awkwardly. Simply do the mod which anyone can do and it will look much cleaner as well as allowing you to fit things in which much better ease.

Here is the mod in full as I did...
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569609717GCyiwk

If you goto the 'albums' directory, you will see the before pics. If noone can find it then I'll link it here....
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568345867rZHlWm

I also took the additional time to paint the interior black to match the exterior concept. I thought it was a great mod and now I have the assurance that I will never have to worry about what size PSU will fit in my case. Now I will be able to fit a HX1000 without any compact issues.

[Ronski]

HX1000's fit fine with out removing the bottom fan.

Ok technically you do have to move it to the HDD side. After that just use 90 degree cables and you are all set.

Another thing to do is actually seal off the little gaps from PSU to HDD. This allows the fan to work more efficiently.

I moved my existing fan to the front of the metal bracket as mentioned above, I did this by removing it from the plastic mounting bracket then using the original mounting screws to screw through the existing holes, this leaves plenty of room for an HX1000

As for the cables to the hard drives I bought a 4 link sata power cable from Maplins for £5.99

• I then simply popped the covers off the connectors and removed the wires after making a note of where they went
• Then cut the wires off where the last plug was fitted, therefore removing the damaged wires.
• I then mounted the plugs on my hard drives and refitted the wires to the plugs, simply a case of pushing the wires into the plug. You should use a Krone tool, but I used a flat bladed screwdriver.
• Then reffitted the caps (had to trim one as it's an end one)
• I then removed the wires from the molex plug and trimmed the unused cables back and then refitted the pins to the plug.
• I now had a perfect flat cable that fitted my hard drives.

I then installed the hard drive housing and fitted the 90 degree sata leads (right handed) that I bought off eBay for £10 for 4 inc P&P



Plenty of space for an HX1000 (If/when I get it)

Just goes to show there's plenty of space without butchering your case and moving the hard drive caddy. Total cost for this mod is £16

I may buy a fan grill to go the power supply side of the fan, just to be on the safe side

PS I doubt it will make any difference cooling wise if the fan is in front or behind the hard drives, I guess its more down to personal preference.

[micksh]

Why bother with this when you can just install a 20mm thick fan, which is relatively easily available, and not have to mod the case irreversibly?

Could anyone please tell how to do that? I don't want to do this mod, I have 20mm fan but I can't force it to go in place. Are there instructions or pictures available? Thanks.

[shebalord]

I would like to know as well...

I bought an 120x20mm fan and successfully forced it into the bracket (by putting bottom of fan in first then pushing the top in), but how do you secure it? I turned the pc on and the fan was moving around...

thanks!

[Jipa]

So much cleaner method than the approach taken by myself Damn, maybe I should have used some more time measuring before cutting a hole for the fan to the frame. Oh well, it works as well... Just doesn't look half as pretty.

[micksh]

Failed to get help here I looked on other forums. Particulary here
forums hexus net hexus-hardware/155475-antec-p182-lower-chamber-fan.html (can't post links before I posted 3 messages, thank you moderators)
which led me to a video that inspired me
www youtube com watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=fVl4jGm1hbs

I just watched this to get an idea.
Note that I did not cut any metal. That is unnecessary. I just bent it. I inserted top side of the fan where it should belong and then I bent bottom part of the front cage with pliers to let the bottom part go. It is easy to bend the metal frame to insert 20 mm fan. Then I bent bottom part back so the fan would be held in place. It is secured so it doesn't move in Z direction (towards power supply to the rear) and I was able to secure it with one screw through the front vent so it's stable.

I will post some pictures later. It is not over yet, though it is much better than before.
The reason I did this is because my HDDs are too loud at idle. Seagate 7200.10 and WD 5000AAKS. I put them in enclosures (Logisys HD silencer) and suspended the enclosures with stretch magic. Logisys does a great job, the drives are more quiet (not silent but much better than being suspended without the enclosures - Antec p182 does not silence loud HDDs), but to control HDD temperature better I decided to install the fan in the front.

HDD temperatures don't go above 35C under load now, that is with fan installed in the front. Ambient is 22-24C.
Before I saw them to be around 45C when mounted with standard Antec rubber mounts and stock Antec bottom fan on low speed. I removed that fan when installed the new front one.

Default Antec fans are rubbish as well as their HDD mounting solution. Still need to suspend drives and cool them better and quieter.

So the problem now is that the Yate Loon 120x20 1200 rpm fan that I installed is a little loud being connected through Zalman 100 Ohm resistor (supposedly giving 5 volts to the fan). Although it is quieter than stock Antec bottom chamber fan undervolted on lowest speed. Still the most loudest part. I will need to to slow it down more, but it is decent now so I will do it later.

And if I stop that Yate Loon fan I still will be able to hear hard drives. Suspended HDD inside Logisys HD silencer still makes noise being inside Antec P182! I will upgrade to SSD later but I will need one HDD for video encoding. Too expensive to have two decent 250GB SSDs.

[OblivionLord]

Yea both methods are fine... I just prefer my method better because it doesn't look as cramped.

Have you ever seen a HX1000 in this case? The connectors on the back of it just barley touch the metal of the fan support. To me that just takes away from the clean look. I like to have a bit of space.

Have a look at this clean case with an HX1000. Even this case shows a bit of cramp of the PSU at the bottom. The P183 design really helped.





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Now here is mine.. I much much prefer this way more.

[RussellG]

*Bumps an old thread with a great mod*

I tried a version of the bottom bay mod. I also used a drill on the rivets to remove the 'enclosure' (for lack of a better term) that prevented a 120mm fan from being mounted in the bottom, front bay. Then I ran into the same problem as the OP -- the bottom hard drive bay is a few millimeters too wide and runs into a 120mm fan when it is mounted there.

I went to do the 'remount the screws a few millimeters to the right' mod that Bumthology did, but I found that I did not have a small enough drill bit that could eat through the steel of the case. Stumped and annoyed, I threw some two-sided tape on there. It's 2-3mm thick tape, cut very thinly so as to not protrude much, on both the top and bottom guide bracket, to see if that would hold the bay in place well enough. Then I left it in a vice overnight, pressing it down, to see if it would hold.

Turns out, it holds AMAZINGLY well. It was a VERY easy way to do the exact same mod that Bum did without dirtying your hands with a drill (or requiring the equipment to do).

bottombay.png

I also used a rotozip (I don't have a dremel ) to cut a couple holes on the opposite side of the case, behind the middle hard drive bay mounting area so that there will be more spaces to run cables through. Although my tool was crude, I managed to do a mediocre job. I then used a dremel grinding bit in a drill to grind the edges so it is quite smooth.

backside.jpg

Oh, I also removed the bottom middle fan bracket entirely, so that area is free of obstructions. This reduced the amount of support for the area held up by the bracket, but since it doesn't hold any weight (if you're doing it right), I don't think it'll be a problem. I'm curious if, on the P183, the middle level bends in a bit because of the lack of support, or have they reinforced it somehow? Regardless, I don't feel it to be necessary so it's gone!

Next I plan to do an internal paint job on this whole getup. I love seeing all these threads (however old) with all sorts of great modding ideas. Thanks for the inspiration, folks!

[micksh]

I didn't update this thread, I posted my findings in another thread viewtopic.php?f=14&t=54324 Since this thread is bumped, maybe I should update.

I have P182 and Yate Loon 120x20mm fan fits perfect. I just had to put another resistor to make it totally quiet. I didn't use any tools other than pliers to bend case a little in order to put the fan in.
This fan is to cool single HDD, Samsung HD502HI reviewed here, quiet enough and it is suspended in enclosure. It's a data drive, main drive is SSD.

Power supply is Seasonic X-650, mostly fanless so I needed some airflow. It's probably excessive for a single HDD but I don't think this HDD reports correct temperature, it's too low, like 21C when ambient is 24C so I just wanted to be sure it stays cool.

[RussellG]

I bent the frame a bit and shoved a fan in there as well, but I found that I had to shove too hard on the HDD cage to get it in there, as the fan was in the way. It got rather annoying to do that, so a few minor tweaks made it even better. The fan was only a few mm too wide, so it makes sense that a 20mm fan would fit perfectly.