A Look Inside
As we get inside the case we can see Antec has stuck by their dual-chamber internal design. This design keeps components separated which allows for better cooling and airflow. Antec gives you routing holes to get all of your cables from your power supply to your components.
At the bottom of the case you have the power supply placement. Already install is a bracket that allows you to install normal power supplies, but if you remove it you can install Antec’s larger CP-Series power supplies. There is a riser that keeps your power supply off the ground, but I would have liked to see some type of ventilation on the bottom of the case. Also Antec has removed the fan in the bottom chamber to make room for longer power supplies. Moving up into the main chamber we can see the 2 120mm Antec TriCool fans.
Antec gives you room for 6 hard drives in the P183. Each hard drive cage is removable by just removing a simple thumbscrew and pulling it out. The bottom hard drive cage holds 4 hard drives and they are installed vertically. The top hard drive cage hold 2 drives and has trays that pull out for easy hard drive installation. Also on the top hard drive cage there is a small accessories box where you could put extra screws.
When you remove each hard drive cage you can see there is room for a 120mm fan. I would have liked to see at least one intake fan included. It is nice that that you are able to move the hard drive cages to get to the fan placements though.
The top part of the cases houses the 4 5.25-inch bays. This is the basic Antec design we have seen for the past few years now. Also inside the case we found a box of accessories that included mounting screws, drive rails, and cable ties.
Do the TriCool connect to the ASUS Board? I am looking at the ASUS P6X58D Premium. How noisy are they? Thanks
Do you have a better MidTower that is quiet, cool? I was looking at a very similar system as you reviewed. Along with a Sapphire 5850.
Each of the tricool fans have 4 pin molex connectors so you would have to get a 3pin adapter for you to connect them directly into your motherboard
I've had this case for about half a year now, and I'm pretty pleased with it.
The provided fans are not the most quiet around, but do pretty well on the slowest setting. It's also a good idea to test different fan configurations to find out what suits you best.
For me I left the rear fan in place, at low speed, moved the top fan to the front intake while connecting it to a separate fan controller and covering the top hole with a piece of clear acrylic.
To improve the dust filtering I added pollen filters squeezed in between the standard filters and the metal mesh behind them.
Thanks for this post!
hello. which antec range of case are better at blocking noise, the sonata or performance? and which mid tower would you recommend? also are there any non-antec that are better?
Of the Antec cases I think Sonata is slightly better at absorbing HDD vibrations, whereas Performa is the very best at dampening noise in general.
The key to quiet computing is to generate as little noise as possible in the first place though, so that dampening becomes pretty much a non issue.
If quiet computing is your interest, then I suggest you to visit
http://www.silentpcreview.com
There you can find lots of info and recommendations about it.
Of the Antec cases I think Sonata is slightly better at absorbing HDD vibrations, whereas Performa is the very best at dampening noise in general.
The key to quiet computing is to generate as little noise as possible in the first place though, so that dampening becomes pretty much a non issue.
If quiet computing is your interest, then I suggest you to visit
http://www.silentpcreview.com
There you can find lots of info and recommendations about it.
I can't see from the illustrations.
Are the Power & Reset buttons actually behind the door?
Do you have to open the door to operate them?
Where I have mine set, it would be difficult to have
to open the door just to power on/off or reset.
The Power and Reset buttons are behind the door. The door has to be open to operate them. The door can be locked to protect them. For me, opening the door was also a problem. Since I couldn't remove the door, the fix was to open the door 270 degrees, all the way around, so that it is flat against the left side of the case, and leave it there. It is now totally out of the way.