Final Thoughts
Once again another quality case from Antec. They have improved the existing case by adding front vents on the case, adding filters to the entire front of the case, and the lower chamber has been changed to allow for longer power supplies and easier cable management for the bottom hard drive cage. These improvements are great, but I don’t think they bring the P183 up to date with what we see coming out from other companies.
First off there are no tool-less systems on this case at all so installation is going to take you a little bit longer. There are routing holes for your cables but they are small and are not in the right places. There is no opening behind the motherboard for easier CPU cooler installation. There is no opening below the power supply to allow better airflow. Longer video cards will not fit if you have the top hard drive cage in use. And finally there is no 2.5-inch hard drive placement for solid state drives. These are all things that we have seen in cases that we have reviewed lately.
Don’t get me wrong though this still is a very good case. It is quality made and is solid. Antec has stuck by their internal design, which does work well and is great for cooling. Also the panels on this case are designed to keep the noise to a minimum.
Right now you can find this case online for around $150, which is what you would expect to pay for an Antec case like this. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Antec P183 Advanced Mid Tower Case an 8 out of 10 score.
Note: After we posted this review Antec informed us that the current production P183’s feature the 2.5” hard drive SSD compatibility, since December actually. By now, the channel should be 100 percent filled with the compatible models. The current production also includes a CPU cutout.
Pros:
– Quality made
– Room for 6 hard drives
– Able to fit Antec’s CP-Series power supplies
– Very quiet
Cons:
– No intake fan included
– Longer video cards will not fit if the top hard drive cage is in use
– Missing many features new cases have
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.