Product Reviews

A case isn't just a box in which a PC's components are housed; it's an important part of building your own PC. We're not just talking about looks; a case impacts the number of drives you can install and even affects the amount of noise your PC makes.

Antec's P180B takes all this onboard. It's a stunning-looking case with a gorgeous, shiny black finish. The drive-bay door covers your external drives seamlessly, so you don't have to worry about getting those with fascias to match the case's colour. There's lots of room inside, too, with 11 drive bays (four 5" external, one 3" external and six 3" internal). To top it all off, the rolled steel construction and three-layer side panels provide acoustic dampening and help eliminate noisy case vibrations. The only initial disappointment we had was that the P180B doesn't ship with one of Antec's quiet power supplies like the P150 does.

Opening up the case is simple thanks to the thumbscrews on the side of the case. It's worth familiarising yourself with the case's insides, as the assembly instructions are quite poor. Rather than using colour photos to demonstrate each installation step, Antec has decided to use a block of text. It shouldn't confound experienced case builders, but novices might run into problems and be slightly confused by the array of screws provided.

The case is designed a little differently to others we've reviewed, as the power supply sits in its own chamber underneath the motherboard. Fitting a supply requires removing the other side panel and the retaining cage, which is lined with rubber to hold the supply firmly and quietly. You'll have to make sure your power supply has long enough cables to reach through the case, and you'll

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have the additional problem of running untidy cables over the front of the motherboard and close to the processor's fan.

Antec doesn't provide any cable clips for this arrangment. You may find it helpful to buy your own to stop the power cables getting mangled by the processor's fan and to help airflow. This arrangement keeps the case running cooler, as the power supply's heat doesn't radiate over the motherboard's components.

In front of the power supply sits the first removable hard disk caddy, which can house three hard disks. This unclips and slides neatly out of the case, so filling it is simple. If you prefer, though, you can use the provided clip to fit a three-speed quiet 120mm fan to improve cooling ofthe power supply. However, you won't be able to use the caddy for hard disks in this configuration.

The main chamber doesn't have a removable motherboard tray, but as there's no power supply in the way there's plenty of room to work on the motherboard. Antec has fitted two more three-speed 120mm fans, one at the top and one at the rear, so there's plenty of cooling for even powerful PCs. The second hard disk caddy unclips and slides out like the one in the power supply's chamber, so it's just as easy to fill. In addition, there are four optical drive bays. Antec provides the necessary drive rails, so you can just slide a drive into place from the front.

The front of the case has additional USB2, FireWire and audio ports. Antec supplies the P180B with header cables that are neatly tied together, and you can stick the cable ties to the chassis by peeling off the paper attached to the fixer. This helps keep the case tidy and also lets you make your cable run around your motherboard. The case is quiet when it's in use, although you will probably want to buy and fit a silent processor cooler to ensure that the tranquillity is not ruined.

The P180B is one of the best-made cases we've reviewed, from its tough construction all the way down to the slickly operated front door. It is good value for such a well-made case and a great choice if you want to build a powerful PC with a lot of hard disks. But if your requirements aren't quite so high, Antec's P150 is almost as well made, just as quiet and comes with a silent Antec Neo HE 430W power supply as well.