antec p-183 vs. 182- final conclusion/s?

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 9:10 am

Hello there..
I`m in a stage of pre- buying p-182/3 case. (read, heard about most of the others, and it comes between those 2).
Since Iâ€™m not planning to use very demanding components (not for gaming) my main concern isn`t about air flow, but having a case that will potentially give me the most silent pc.
My system will be based on core i5 cpu and a mid level passive cooling graphic card.
After reading carefully everything here:
viewtopic.php?t=53774&postdays=0&postor ... 8e249644fe
And here:
viewtopic.php?t=53325&start=0
the reviews themselves.
and reading this (to my opinion) very incomplete comparison test they made here â€“
http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=68
Iâ€™m still confused.
are there any news, comparisons, conclusions that can help me to decide?
Again , silence, main goal.
Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.

ultrachrome · Post by **ultrachrome** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 4:54 pm

Comparing the performance differences between the two would be splitting hairs.

If you can find a P182 significantly less expensive than the P183, that would be something to consider.

Cases don't make noise. The most you can ask of a case is to have good airflow and dampen (not amplify) vibration. The rest is up to your component choices.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 2:14 am

I realize that people here has already gave a lot of opinions , and estimations, about this subject, and maybe they don`t want to start with all of this again.
I know that cases doesnâ€™t make noises, that`s why I wrote potentially .
If it would be ,as you suggested, â€œP182 significantly less expensive than the P183â€

Anton360 · Post by **Anton360** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 3:40 am

Why not an Antec Solo ? It seems to be the most silent according to viewtopic.php?t=56560

.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:01 am

the solo was one of my options.
from my readings they should be quiet the same, in this subject.
i just don`t like the look of the solo.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 8:40 am

did somebody had an experience with the lian lee pc-b25b case, let say, compare to the antec 182?

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 5:40 pm

see if you can find a p182 for sale brand new...

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 1:41 am

they still sell in my country the p-182 as new, slightly cheaper then the 183.
do you suggest by that the 182 will be the best choice for my purpose ?

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 5:07 pm

i have 'em both, and each one has it's advantages.

if you do serious gaming or overclocking, and you want the front door closed, the p183 could be a better choice, because it flows more air, while baffling the sound by about the same amount as the p182 does... just remember to raise the front of the case up off of the carpet, so that it won't block the airflow coming in from behind the bottom of the door.

read the spcr p183 review & thread, the fan on top was poorly implemented, with no snout to cover up the noise, like the p182 has... you can block off the fan noise somewhat with the latter.

it's a tough call, and it depends on what you want to do with your computer... since you want quiet over performance, the p182 could be the call, because of the superior top fan implementation, but then again, you could always blank off the top fan on the p183... etc etc etc

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:35 am

i`ve already understood that there is not a clear cut choise here.
i`m not a serious gaming or overclocking. (right now it`s only for my 8 years daughter games, and no o.c at all, but i believe that the case will stay for a while, i`m not of those who change those things frequently).
i`ve already read about the issue with the upper fun of the 183, and suggestions to solve it.
so i understand that right "out from the box" the 182 will be potentially quieter .
the thing is that they say, in those discussions i mentioned, that beside of the upper fun , there should be probably more noises coming out from inside , trough the additional holes the made in the 183. (i`m planning to work with close door).can you say something about it?
do you think that the 182 will restrict performance due to air flow issues etc. ?

danielG · Post by **danielG** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:30 pm

Out of the box, all Antec cases are noisy because they come with noisy Tricool fans. Once you replace them with good fans, a P18x is very quiet.

I have a P182 so I can share my experience with it:

1) Air flow in a P182 is only so-so. Not as bad as my previous Asus microATX case, but achieving silence with hot running hardware can be a challenge. Not a problem if you have a cool CPU and GPU with overkill heatsinks, SPCR style. As far my experience goes, a Phenom II X3 720BE is much quieter than a Athlon 64 X2 4400+.

2) The very restrictive inlet doors of the P182 may hamper air flow, but they also mask noise. I took them both off to improve air flow, but I had to put the bottom door back on because the hard drives became louder without it.

3) The top fan spoiler on the P182 does very little, as far as noise is concerned. I can't tell the difference. I have it on, but it's there to keep small objects from falling inside the case.

To sum up, it depends on your hardware. If you expect to have high temperatures, go for a P183 since the extra airflow really helps. OTOH, if you have cool running hardware, a P182 might be a better choice.

EDIT: Just noticed you plan to buy a Core i5. Those things have Turbo Boost, therefore, the cooler they are, the faster they are. I don't know much about Core i5, but a P183 might be the right choice.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 2:46 am

i read in several places that the core i5 runs usually not so hot, surly compare to the i7 and even to earlier intel cpu`s.
i hope i understood it right.
and since i`m not planning o.c or demanding gaming i hope it`ll work fine (please correct me if i`m wrong).
can you please specify about this? :
if you have cool running hardware, a P182 might be a better choice.

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:51 am

the p182 is a great case, you can't go wrong with either one of 'em... of course the snount isn't quiet, because it has holes in it

what people do is tape it up on the inside, put cardboard in there, etc... what i did was just cover it with a towel... all of which deflects the fan noise to the back.

i like the bottom fan location on the p182, because it's not next to the grill, where it would make more noise... it's quieter when it's buried in the center of the case.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:46 am

[quote="danimal"]the p182 is a great case, you can't go wrong with either one of 'em... of course the snount isn't quiet,-do you meann the snout of the 183 ? because it has holes in it

what people do is tape it up on the inside, put cardboard in there, etc... what i did was just cover it with a towel... all of which deflects the fan noise to the back.- with the 182 you don`t have to do that?

i like the bottom fan location on the p182, because it's not next to the grill, where it would make more noise... it's quieter when it's buried in the center of the case.[/quote- it make sense .

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:57 am

so we already have 3 points that potentially can make more noise getting out from the 183, compare to the 182 (assuming that air flow isn`t an issue, and they use same fun`s, psu and cooling).
1.the top fun issue and everything around it.
2.more openings in the front door.
3.location of the bottom fun.
i`m just trying to ask if those points really makes a noticeable difference.

Wibla · Post by **Wibla** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:35 pm

It all depends on what stuff you put in it.. if you put the right fans in etc, it wont matter much anyway. the main gripe I had with the P182 was lack of airflow in the upper chamber, but a kama bay sorted that out, especially with a nexus fan.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:02 am

the thing is that i`m planning not to use the upper fun at all.
but i`m not going to use a very demanding graphic card.

Olle P · Post by **Olle P** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:23 pm

If you're not going to use the upper fan you just shut that hole and it becomes a non-issue with regards to noise. That's what I've done.

Cheers
Olle

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:26 pm

nimo11 wrote:
danimal wrote:the p182 is a great case, you can't go wrong with either one of 'em... of course the snount isn't quiet,-do you meann the snout of the 183 ? because it has holes in it what people do is tape it up on the inside, put cardboard in there, etc... what i did was just cover it with a towel... all of which deflects the fan noise to the back.- with the 182 you don`t have to do that?

the p183 doesn't come with a snout, it's just an open hole with a flat grille, and if you want to use it in the quietest possible mode, you may have to cut out the support outlines for the fan... this is difficult to explain, and i haven't done it myself, but try reading everything about the p183 on this forum.

i have a gt260 superclocked video card in my p182, and it's also overclocked, running crysis and such... i ended replacing most of the case fans with noctua nf-p12's, installed backwards in order to positive-pressure the case... i control the airflow over the video card by tweaking the number of blanking plates over the motherboard slots, and taping up the p182 back grill... that way, i can run any passive card i want later, without adding heat to the inside of the case.

i use an overclocked q9400 quad core, but it doesn't put out any heat to speak of, the mugen2 cpu cooler never even gets warm.

the thing to remember is that once you get these cases, you can still tweak 'em quite a bit... one advantage with the p183 is the wiring behind the motherboard, because it allows for a less obstructed airflow in front of the fan intake of the video card... on the other hand, you can cut holes in the p182, that will allow you to route the wiring the same way.

there are many roads leading to rome.

Antec_Rep · Post by **Antec_Rep** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:17 am

Hello everyone,

You guys are doing a pretty good job of comparing the two cases on your own, but you can check out the flyer of the P183 to check out the main differences between the P182 and P183:

http://www.antec.com/pdf/flyers/P183_EN_flyer.pdf

Thanks.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:53 am

so with how many funs do you work now with the 182.?
i understand you are not using the upper fun .

think i`ll go for the 182.
i`m not planning oc, and not going to use a demanding video card, so i believe that heat will not be an issue.
i feel that the 182 is more sealed case and can give me more potential silence.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:59 am

Antec_Rep wrote:Hello everyone,

You guys are doing a pretty good job of comparing the two cases on your own, but you can check out the flyer of the P183 to check out the main differences between the P182 and P183:

http://www.antec.com/pdf/flyers/P183_EN_flyer.pdf

Thanks.

thank you but it gives only a general spec. of the 183.
you can`t figure from that issues like silence etc.

FÃ«anor · Post by **FÃ«anor** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:14 pm

Just wondering, why do you insist on 'fun' instead of 'fan'? Not trying to nitpick but you were just so consistent with it...

I would go with whichever is cheaper. The differences will be incredibly small, and you'll be happy with either case.

nimo11 · Post by **nimo11** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:03 am

FÃ«anor wrote:Just wondering, why do you insist on 'fun' instead of 'fan'? Not trying to nitpick but you were just so consistent with it...

I would go with whichever is cheaper. The differences will be incredibly small, and you'll be happy with either case.

sorry, mistake.
English is not my original lang.
maybe i had in mind to have fun with my case

i think i`ll go for the 182, a bit cheaper and the rest of reasons.
one other thing, can anyone recommend me on a quiet psu.
i`ve been told that 500w will be enough for me.
there is the seasonic or the enermax or the pcp.

yukon · Post by **yukon** » Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:27 pm

If you like Enermax, I like their Modu87+ 500w. High efficiency, modular, big fan, although I haven't heard it running or used it (mine is a Modu82 IIRC).

That's an interesting review, thanks for posting it. It isn't an SCPR review, but it's fairly good. I like the thermal imaging. I don't think they removed the silly plastic intake bezels, so that might skew some results if you'd remove them (nearly everyone does). The conclusions seem to match what I had thought. Still, the thermal photos are nearly identical, the noise measured is fairly close, and the temperatures are generally within a few degrees of each other. Both are nearly the same case, P183 skewed slightly for more airflow, the P182 for a little less noise.

I was in one of those threads, disliking the P183, and I'm afraid I still maintain that opinion. I think the discussion was based on the direction Antec is developing the P1xx case line, modifying it to be first in "performance", although they do still include nearly all noise reducing features of the earlier case. The P18x seems to matter more considering the few alternatives available for quiet, and the vast sea of alternatives for better air flow. It isn't that either case is so much better than the other.

I recently priced out buying another P180/2, but it's still the old MSRP price locally for me. I've been looking at cases like the NZXT Whisper, Nexus Edge, Corsair Obsidian (solid side panel), and a couple Coolermaster cases. They've been impressive, but I haven't bought one, even after my Antec SLK's bezel fell off. I don't have one of those cases to recommend, but I do like my original P180, which is very similar to the P182. I would recommend either, although both are discontinued.