Disappointed with P18x?

HaxEJxuK · Post by **HaxEJxuK** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:53 am

I wanted P18x for long time now since I heard so many good things about it especially how quiet it is. When I saw P182 for $45 AR, I had to pull the trigger even though I really didn't need any case because I knew P18x can't get any cheaper than this. So it arrived and sat in dinning room for a week or two. I finally had chance to move things from Q-Pack with only grill cut out with reversed fan in rear as intake whice was set to 7v. I was all excited that as soon as I hit that power switch, I wouldn't even hear anything since I only connected top 2 fans and set it to low speed. I had high hopes for this case since very lightly modded Q-pack is pretty quiet and this case is not the quietest case to start with.

Such a let down. I hear like turbulance as soon as I turn it on. Sure, it wasn't moded or anything but I expected P182 to be at least same noise lvl as my very lightly modded Q-pack if not better and it would only get better if I mod it little bit. This thing is like 3-4 times louder than Q-pack. I mean this isn't like mobo or anything where something might fail. This is a case which unless something was crushed in or inside is blocked by something, it should sound same as other P182. Fan seems to be in good condition, it's just that it sounds like so much air is being pushed out which it really isn't. Was there anything you guys had to do to quiet this thing down?

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:00 am

Changing fans help a lot. You would honestly need to cut grills of from P182 and use same fans to give you the same level of start up. Since you use fans at 7v... do note that Tricools in low are 1200 RPM which are faster than nexus at full power.

seraphyn · Post by **seraphyn** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:06 am

Nexus fans at 5v would pretty much cut back your sound output with 60-80% (depending on harddrive noise and PSU). The standard Tricool fans in the p18x aren't silent by a long shot.

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:50 am

The P182 is only as quiet as what you put in it. Sadly, the Tricools are something that you dont want in it.

I don't know how much impact reversing the back fan had on the turbulance noise you're hearing, but the 1st thing you can do if you don't have any silent 120mm fans is to set the Tricools to HIGH, then hardwire them to 5V as a temporary solution. They will be much quieter and still blow a respectable 30CFM.

Also try other configurations, like with both fans as exhaust, or the config widely used around here - use only the back fan as exhaust and disconnect the top fan and block the top hole. With this config it's a good idea to remove the filter door as it cuts the airflow in half and maybe the filter itself. The case will cool much better and sound less choked.

HaxEJxuK · Post by **HaxEJxuK** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:04 am

reversed fan is only for Q-pack where my stuff came from. I have couple of yate loons and nexus fan so I'll try those. didn't know lowest speed was 1200RPM. I just figured P18x's are quiet case, they would have put quiet fans to start with especailly with 3 speed adjustment. I'll swap out fans with yate loons and hook it up to zalman fan controller and see what happens.

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:11 am

HaxEJxuK wrote:I'll swap out fans with yate loons and hook it up to zalman fan controller and see what happens.

Good 1st step, it will be a night and day difference.

Strid · Post by **Strid** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:51 am

Shaman wrote:
HaxEJxuK wrote:I'll swap out fans with yate loons and hook it up to zalman fan controller and see what happens.
Good 1st step, it will be a night and day difference.

Why not just hardwire the fan into 5 or 7 V instead of fanmate? 5-7 V is right in the ball park for most undervolted fans anyway. Sure it's nice to have the option to dial in the fans to the exact number of RPMs you want. All I'm saying is, that I'm fine without, but it's nice to have, though.Your call - I just find the 5V/7V option to be just as easy.

Anyway, you'll be thrilled with undervolted Yate Loons! I have a 140 mm Yate Loon - if the 120 mm are same quality (= dBA) you'll be very happy!

And yeah, it's not the case in it self that is quiet. It's the design of the case that allows for quiet fans with little airflow and still provide adequate cooling for you components.

Anyways, an extreme fan swap make-over is the way to go! You'll be happy once you get it right.

HaxEJxuK · Post by **HaxEJxuK** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:00 pm

The reason I'm hooking up to Zalman is 1. I already have it 2. I know from experience that getting right amount of air coming in/out could actually quiet things down too which setting it to 5v and 7v can't do. I usually do that when I'm building cheap build. Also depends on how you build and which case you have, little increase in RPM yields same amount of noise but little better airflow. I've got Pentium D 820 or 830 that one of my colleague gave me till they come out with Q9450 which I'll OC it so I like ability to dial in to right RPM and get most air flow with same noise level. If everything works out then I go negative pressure with no intake fan. If all fails, I'll go back to my original plan which was to OC Q9450 with TRUE 120 in Q-pack with more mod that is quiet and give P182 to my brother. Which kind of sucks cause there's like half the rice grain size in front panel wich is missing paint. It looks like someone rubbed against and paint was worn off. also like 1/8" nick on side panel. I know it's very minor thing but it's one of those thing that just bothers me so I'll just use P182 till it's warm out there then paint/mod Q-pack it I decide not to keep P182.

Also, I know case isn't everything but I guess I just expected so much looking at all these reviews and posts. Well, let me see what I can do with this with limited time I got

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:07 pm

HaxEJxuK wrote:Also, I know case isn't everything but I guess I just expected so much looking at all these reviews and posts.

If you mean the reviews and posts on this forum, I'm sure you must have noticed a similarity in almost all of them: no one uses the stock fans.

HaxEJxuK · Post by **HaxEJxuK** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:57 am

Yeah, I've noticed it. There's not much thing that little mod can't fix but knowing that P18x was created quietness in mind, I expected little more. I just didn't want to mod the case including fan swap until Q9450 comes out which I was planing to finish my pc. I was expecting more of take mobo and cards from old case to new case then power on and have reasonably quiet pc till I have time to finish. I guess I have to make my lazy butt to work and swap out those 2 loud fans.

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:27 am

You're not alone. I was also disappointed when I moved my old system to the P182 last month. I guess I was double disappointed because a year ago I built a system for a friend based on the Antec Fusion that has two 120mm Tricools, and they were rather quiet on LOW. I was expecting the same level of quietness when I fired the P182 (because I removed the lower chamber fan right away) and boy was I wrong.... turns out the PSU in the Fusion has a 'FAN ONLY' molex connector that I plugged the fans into, and as I recently found out, that special connector further lowers the voltage of the fans, probably as low as 4V. So yeah I was expecting something like that, but instead I got a little tornado in my room.

Many headaches later, my P182 has one case fan only, an S-Flex @ 670rpm at the back. The bottom chamber is cooled by the PSU fan, a 120mm Papst at a constant 700rpm. Both fans are soft-mounted with silicone grommets.

Tullphan · Post by **Tullphan** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:40 am

I just switched over from a Sonata III to the P180B that I bought on sale @ Fry's. I guess technically, my case is a P182B since it offers everything the P182 does except that it's black instead of gunmetal.
I'm curious how I go about replacing the fans. How difficult is it to remove the top & rear fan since the switches for them are in the rear of the case. Do the switches just pop out?
As far as fan replacement go, should one go with the Nexus or Scythe (not trying to start a flame war!)? I have a few of the Yates-Loon lying around that I could put in if they'd do better (i.e. more CFM & less noise than the Tri-Cools set on low).
Also, since i'm running 4 fans in this, would it be best to use a rheostat or use the 4-pin connector & wire them for 7v?
Thanks.

Luminair · Post by **Luminair** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:29 pm

Anyone saying they expected it to be quieter simply had unrealistic expectations and didn't research properly.

It is a normal steel case with fancy doors and noisy fans. If you missed the noisy part there you might have a selective reading problem

HaxEJxuK · Post by **HaxEJxuK** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:22 am

Luminair wrote:Anyone saying they expected it to be quieter simply had unrealistic expectations and didn't research properly.

It is a normal steel case with fancy doors and noisy fans. If you missed the noisy part there you might have a selective reading problem

Well, I must have neglected to read all the negative things about P18x but I do know that P18x were originally created quiet computing in mind. I didn't expect this to be dead quiet when I picked it up but quiet enough that I can deal with. Like I posted above, this thing is louder than my Qpack which it doesn't even have any kind of sound insulation not to mention it's made out of thin aluminium. Anyways, I swapped out fans over the weekend along with Zalman fan controller.
Back is Nexus and top is Yate Loon(I know I know I shouldn't have installed Yate Loon horizontally) Guess what? Still louder than Qpack. lol Nexus was quite but Yate Loon had more wind noise. Maybe vibration too. Nexus was mounted with silicon but Yate Loon only has 2 silicon sin one side is mounted with that metal clip(which I had to mod Yate Loon to slide it in there) It's still nice case but not the quieter than most of others available. It's especially nice case for $45 I paid but I think I would have to mod it more to get it quieter which it wouldn't be till this summer.

Heck I would actually mod Qpack and move things over in summer and just give P182 to my brother lol

Vicotnik · Post by **Vicotnik** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:25 pm

Tullphan wrote:I'm curious how I go about replacing the fans. How difficult is it to remove the top & rear fan since the switches for them are in the rear of the case. Do the switches just pop out?

Two small screws holds the switch in the back in place iirc. I removed it and placed a small piece of tape over the hole. Very easy to do.

Luminair wrote:Anyone saying they expected it to be quieter simply had unrealistic expectations and didn't research properly.

It is a normal steel case with fancy doors and noisy fans. If you missed the noisy part there you might have a selective reading problem

My thought exactly. Very few cases (even the "silent" ones) are quiet enough for the SPCR crowd. That should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Shaman · Post by **Shaman** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:27 pm

Luminair wrote:It is a normal steel case with fancy doors and noisy fans.

Last time I looked, 'normal steel cases' didn't have sandwich panels, separate chambers and very soft silicone hdd grommets.

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:47 am

Vicotnik wrote:
Tullphan wrote:I'm curious how I go about replacing the fans. How difficult is it to remove the top & rear fan since the switches for them are in the rear of the case. Do the switches just pop out?
Two small screws holds the switch in the back in place iirc. I removed it and placed a small piece of tape over the hole. Very easy to do.

Luminair wrote:Anyone saying they expected it to be quieter simply had unrealistic expectations and didn't research properly.

It is a normal steel case with fancy doors and noisy fans. If you missed the noisy part there you might have a selective reading problem
My thought exactly. Very few cases (even the "silent" ones) are quiet enough for the SPCR crowd. That should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Once you remove the rear tri-cool switch panel, they pop right out of the plastic mount and you can remount that plastic piece.

Tullphan · Post by **Tullphan** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:27 am

Have any of you guys/gals replaced all the tri-cool fans with something else? If so, what?
Also, is there a trick to getting the fan out of the lower chamber?
Thanks.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:36 am

Greetings,

Absolutely -- they get replaced with quieter fans, generally!

My current favorite quiet fans are the Scythe Slipstream 800RPM and 500RPM fans.

I don't think there is any "trick" to getting the fan out -- just remove the fasteners:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article741-page5.html

yamahaSHO · Post by **yamahaSHO** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:59 am

Tullphan wrote:Have any of you guys/gals replaced all the tri-cool fans with something else? If so, what?
Also, is there a trick to getting the fan out of the lower chamber?
Thanks.

IIRC, it is mounted to a black plastic piece. You have to slide it, then it'll come out. It's been some time, but I think you have to push it back (when looking at it from the left side/panel off).