wee doors banging

I recently upgraded my main computer with a quad core main processor, 4Gb of DDR2 memory and a new nVidia 9600GT based graphics card. However, the ventilation capabilities of my existing case couldn’t deal with the increase in waste heat coming from these new components, and the system “ran hot” with CPU temperatures around 60°C under load (for example). Adding more fans wasn’t really an option as the system was already quite noisy, despite my attempts at soundproofing.

So a new case with better cooling was in order. After some research on the interbeams, I decided on the Antec P182, because of its reputation for excellent ventilation and quiet running, and not forgetting the quite reasonable price (around £90).

Antec P182 Tower Case

The P182 arrived in a fairly large box and was well protected with packing foam and extra protective wrapping on the metal front and sides. It’s a heavy beast and an inch or two taller than my previous case. Construction quality is good and the case feels robust.

I won’t go in to excruciating detail of the rebuild process as it was mostly straightforward and shouldn’t be a problem for anyone experienced in this sort of thing. Besides, there are already better tutorials online than any I could manage to produce! What I will do is highlight the problems I ran in to in the hope that this will help others attempting a P182 build for themselves.

5.25″ device bays

Antec P182 - Drive Bays

Be advised: ensure your 5.25″ devices have the upper mount position available.

I’d wanted to install a number of Icy Box IB-128SK-B hot swap hard drive bays into the case. The P182 has four 5.25″ device bays, so in theory I could have had an optical drive and three hotswap racks. However, there was a problem: typical 5.25″ devices have mounting holes at two levels but with the rail mount system in the P182 you must attach the mounting rails to the upper position on the device.

Unfortunately, the IB-128SK-B bays I was using only have the lower position available. They can still be mounted but won’t be in the proper position and therefore only two will fit, leaving an untidy looking 5.25″ bay stack that is quite against the general aesthetic of the P182 case.

5.25″ device bay rail mounts

Antec P182 - Rail Mounts

Be advised: 5.25″ rail mounts only work one way.

As mentioned above, the P182 uses a slide’n'click rail mount system to install devices in its 5.25″ bays. Make sure you attach the rails as shown in the photograph below!

It wasn’t obvious to me from the manual, the bays or the rails which way around the rails had to be mounted and I wasted a lot of time and effort (not to mention a good few swear words) attaching and reattaching them, utterly failing to get it right. Only Google saved my sanity in the end!

3.5″ device bays … there can be only one

Be advised: the P182 has only one 3.5″ device bay.

You will need to make other arrangements if you want to have, say, a floppy drive and a memory card reader as I wanted. In the end I installed my card reader (temporarily) in a 5.25″ bay. It’ll do for now but I may invest in a combined floppy & card reader unit that fits into the P182′s single 3.5″ bay.

conclusion: quiet + cool = good

Don’t let the above put you off the P182. These are just minor sticking points that I’m trying to make others aware of. Now that I have the case in use, it looks good, is very quiet (I get more noise from the road outside) and system temperatures under load are a good 10-12°C cooler than before even with all the case fans running at their lowest (silent) setting.

If you’re in need of a well ventilated, soundproofed, robust and good looking tower case, I recommend you at least take a look at the Antec P182.

My antec P182 in situ