Antec Case Dilema: P182 or Nine Hundred?

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Which case?

  • p182

    Votes: 21 61.8%

  • Nine Hundred

    Votes: 13 38.2%
  • Total voters
    34
F

Feverish Flux

Distinguished
Jul 17, 2007
9
0
18,510
For my quad core/DX10 build, I'm stuck as to which case to get. I've narrowed it down to these two Antec Cases, though I'm having a hard time deciding. I'm leaning towards the P182.

P182

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Nine Hundred

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I can't stress this enough. GET THE P182!!!!!
I built my friends system (identical specs to mine) on the p182, it is FANTASTIC to work with. The cable management holes are a GODSEND and the construction is phenominal.

Keep in mind i have worked directly with both of these cases and i own the 900. I am recommending the p182 hands down. The 900 is a nice looking case, and keeps things pretty cool. However, even with noctua fans it is still too loud to leave on overnight (unless you sleep to a fan, i perfer total silence). My friends p182 with fans set on medium have me repeatedly checking if the fans are even spinning, thats with tricool ones! I have noctua's which are quieter than the tricools by quite a few dbs.

Aside from acoustics the difficulty is contructing a good cable managed case on the 900 is steep. Steep enough you must buy a dremel and cut several good sized holes into the case. And, to top it off, the back side panel doesnt have much clearance so if your psu has fat cables for the cpu or whatnot it will bulge. The p182 doesnt have this problem even in the slightest, with enermax's gratuitously fat cables the back panel fits like a dream.

Case and point. Had i not purchased the 900 prior to when i had all of my parts ready for the build i would have returned it and gotten the p182. The inside of the 900 feels flimsy, when i cut holes in the backplate it was no longer rigid. Some spacers actually no longer would fit in their respective holes due to this. The drive cages require 8 screws to be undone to push them out, everything is very tight on space and nothing is designed for ease of use. The 900 is a cool case and no substance. When the 900 RE2 comes out later this year I will likely buy that, but honestly the 900 is not worth even half the money. Once they incorporate Cable management holes and easy drive bay access it will be king of all cases, but because it is so lacking in ergonomics I cannot recommend the 900 to you. The p182 should be the only case you consider at this moment. DONT buy the 900 until the new version with cable management holes comes out, you will not be happy with the 900 otherwise.


WINNER = P182
hardcore loser=antec 900

I've provided my opinion based on my own personal experience of the two cases, nothing is directed towards anyones personal beliefs on the 900, do not flame me for my opinion.

The perfect case would be a p182 with a window. While the p182 lacks a window it more than makes up for it in ease of use, funtionality and performance. The 900 while looking cool, lacks so many things the p182 the contest isnt even fair as a clear winner is spotted well before the 900 even gets its feet on the ground.

As for temps. The 900 is 3-5 degrees cooler than the p182. My friend has 3 fans vs my 4+top exhaust, so that should tell you that with a couple extra fans the p182 would actually win against the 900. Others will share their experiences, but few will actually have worked on both. Any who have will admit the p182 is a better case, while the 900 might win on looks.
 
Hello; I just wanted to second the P182, I also work with both of the cases, and find the Nine Hundred noisy compared to the P182. I have an OCZ GameXstream 700W, and was able to fit it perfectly, and even run the cables behind the motherboard tray (ALL OF THEM!!!). All in all, the P182 makes for a sweet build. I would recommend giving yourself a couple hours to build it, bring lots of tie-straps, and make it really nice. I'll try to include some pictures of my build after these words...

Have Fun!
God Speed 😀

Edit: I edited everything about my pictures away. I had over 3000 downloads on my HTTP server, so they are gone now... Have a good one!
 
The p182 is probably the most boring looking case I have ever seen!!

I am not one for hiding all the cables.. in fact I quite like seeing well prepared cables. Don't get me wrong I don't like a big bunch of unused cables sitting there.. but I prefer to see some well thought out and managed cables through a window.... I liken it to today's cars.. you open the engine bay and all you see if plastic.. I prefer to see manifolds and turbos etc.

I went for the 900 and love it. It pumps enough air on low settings that I can drop the speed of my cpu fan. As for noise? Well.. in my old case I could not hear my hdd spinning (new low noise hdd) but now I can.

As for the 182 being able to beat the 900 for cooling.. well it doesn't.. it doesn't even have the option of a side fan. The 900 is a very good case for air flow.. I chose it as I will be OC'ing my new set up.

Maybe post what your requirements are? i.e. cooling, looks, cable management, space etc
 
Don't get me wrong, the 900 is a very nice case, this is why the user is comparing the two... I personally prefer the P182 as I have worked with both. Yes I have heard that the 900 provides slightly better cooling with stock fans than the P182, but fans can also be added to the P182 in different areas if you really want to Overclock. As for the cabling; I prefer to hide all cables and tuck and tie everything perfectly as to not restrict airflow throughout the case, and to make everything look nice and tidy. To be honest, when you look through the sidecase of the PC I would think of the PC components to be the "specticle" (is that how you spell it?), not the power cords. Power cords are power cords, they are all pretty much the same. As for the "sidefan", I don't generally find them effective as CPU's are mounted in different areas slightly on different motherboards. Cases are designed to pull air through the front, and push it out the back OVER the PC components, not "onto" through the side. In fact; the side fan disrupts the air from regularly pushing across PC components. Most case designers even mount the sidecase fan the wrong way; pushing air out of the case, which creates a suction with the CPU fan if directly beside it hindering proper CPU cooling. IF a sidefan is used in a case it should be mounted blowing air into the case; but I never use sidefans anyways. If the case does not give the option to run cables behind the motherboard backpane, of course I would do as you say, and neatly tie the cables and have them showing, but if you have the option to hide them, why not; you get better cooling, and generally it looks all around better... Anyways, just my two cents after a few years building PC's.

Also: I HAVE used "flashy" cases as I would call them, and yes the P182 is a more "conventional" look. I think it's more classy than the 900, but again that is my opinion.

Lastly: Have you at least tried the P182 Nastymatt? It is amazing to work with, and makes organizing everything so much easier. The bays for the hard-drives are sweet, and the P182 over the P180 also has predefined spots for all water cooling hoses! :O This makes for an exceptional OC'ing case. In my opinion (and I HAVE built into every major case over the past 6-7 years...) this is the best engineered and designed case i've used yet.

God Speed, let us know what you choose, and even post your pics after your done to let us see what it looks like! 😀
 


I looked at your pictures. Nice setup but I noticed your big speaker near your computer. I hope the magnet will not interfere with your HD! :)

 
I own a 900, it is rather loud, extremely heavy and to be frank not the easiest install (MB tray doesn’t come out, no cable holes) With that said it also has superior Air flow and you can hide the cables, it is just tough.

I think you should get which ever you find more attractive as both cases will work just fine.

Antec 900 - more difficult/longer to install, but prettier and cooler inside.
P182 - easier/faster to install, boring and warmer inside.
 
I just recently transplanted my already existing PC into an Antec 900 and have no regrets. The cooling is excellent, I also added another 120mm fan on the side panel. Tons of room for hd's and whatnot. I removed the black bracket from the upper hd cage and it fits an 8800GTX pretty easily. I prefer to see my cables, so drilling holes to hide them is not a factor to me, as long as they are neat and don't block airflow. The 900 also looks quite good.

I have no experience with the P182 so I cannot compare them, but I can tell you that the 900 is a very good case.
 
I'm also about to buy a new computer and I had the same dilemma. I finally choose the 900 because the room where my comp is always get hot (25C-28C). I want to overclock my C2D as much as I can and Idc about the noise. The 900 cost ~120$ and the P182 ~180$ (CAD). My budget is not so big so that's another reason why I choose the 900. I haven't bought it yet I just made my choice but if I had the money I would go with the P182 and more fans in it.

 


You know, there are three square inches of rare earth magnet inside that hard disk. A ceramic magnet outside of the case isn't going to affect anything except for tapes, floppy disks, and CRT monitors.
 
I did not look at his pics (am at work) but do you know that some speakers use Neodymium magnets too? I do not know what speaker he has, but it could happen... 😉

...honestly just mixing it up. I agree w/ you that it probably will have no affect on the drives.
 
I'm gonna throw my 2 cents in as well... I don't have any experience with the 900, so I won't comment on it.

I'd never built my own PC before and when I did, I bought the P182. I would do so again in a heartbeat. The cable management for a newbie was nice. 3 Tricool fans keep everything nice and cool. My GTX fits in there nicely as well.

And lots of room for a lot of components. Theoretically, you can fit 4 HDD's in the upper and lower chambers each (8 total).

Nice case... I have no regrets whatsoever.
 
The 900 is like lacey panties. Good air flow, Doesn't leave anything to the imagination and is sexier than hell... i have one and i'll never buy anything else my old case was hotter than hell now it's nice a cool. If you want to OC on air this is the case.
 
I have also worked on both cases, and I bought the P182 as soon as I had a chance to work on it. This case is awesome. The only complaints I have is the fan between the bottom harddrive cage and the power supply. Thats pretty stupid to stick a fan right in the way of the power supply cables. Also makes it hard to hide alot of the extra cables since their isn't that much distance between the motherboard tray and right side panal.

Now the Antec 900 is a good case, but build quality doesn't come close to the P182. The Antec 900 is a great case for the price, but when you compare a fairly high-end case, to a something more mainstream, it's an unfair comparison. The P182 is the better case. The Antec 900 does have a huge fan on top, while it's quite, their are flaws. For one it doesn't push much more air then the standard tri-cool fan that comes with the P182. The huge exhaust fan on the top of the case only benefits you a quieter fan, not one that pushes more CFM. Also the harddrive cages on this case is possible one of the worst designs I've ever scene. So many thumbscrews... Which are so tightly screwed on in the first place you still need a screwdriver.

Now in terms of appearance, it's hard to say which one looks better. Everyone has different tastes, but I think I can sum it up like this: The Antec 900 is a case with style, and definitely has a high-end gaming aspect to it while not being over-obnoxious. The P182 is elegant. It's a definite eye-catcher, even though many people will call it bland, it is definitely got alot of class.

If money isn't an issue, got with the P182
 
Oh yea if you want real quality high end case ANTEC doesn't even make anything that compares to LIAN LI... LIAN LI is the hands down winner for quality cases... then again sometimes you pay for what you get.
 
The Antec 900 case for me is so wonderful. The cooling is great. I was thinking about the P182 but did not buy. More expensive and there is a door in the way of the drives. I know you can take it off, but it does not look the same. The build is awesome though. I have worked on a few.
 

Not trying to get into an argument, but from the 2 Lian Li cases I have seen, I think they are over rated. Not that they are bad cases, I just don't see what all the big deal is about them.
 
Spikke... I won't argue with you but the manuals that they come with and the manufacturing... just look at the iside of the ANTEC cases... they all have that cookie cutter inside with no brushed aluminum mobo plate or crazy tight panel connections. I dunno... I wish my old LIAN LI desktop case wasn't so hot or i'd have all my stuff back in it in a second. I'm not saying every model they make rules but the craftsmanship in those cases is unmatched.
 
Maybe i'm old fashioned now; but am i the only one who wants a case that will blend in with the room, and not keep me up all night with noise and those stupid LED lights? i mean, it wouldn't be a problem if they weren't so goddamn bright, and cant be turned off...


anyway, go with the P182, P180, or a similar case from lian li- the PC-101b just went on sale, and the PC-B20 is nice as well - personally i have a PC-101b- and its an incredible case, enough room for a GTX, and beautifully functional

both of those cases are cool enough to overclock in, so you dont need to worry about that; the 900 is just overkill in a glitzy package, imho

it looks like a 5 year old designed something that has lots of lights and whirly things

 

You shouldn't discount other people's tastes. Some people enjoy a cool looking case and some lights, a lot of people actually. Also, I definately disagree with a 5 year old designing it, it does have a lot of lighting, but it's pretty damn smooth looking to if you ask me. Plus, it's not all looks, the fans are quite functional and keep the system very cool. I don't really understand what is overkill about it tbh.
 
meh, I appreciate the minimalist look of the p182. Lian-Li is similar, as is silverstone. Very clean.

The difference is similar in how some like a very clean caddy in a solid color and no chrome, while others like the blinged-out import with vinyl, neon, and spinners.

While the age of the designer is probably much older, their target audience may not be. 😉

seriously though, I am not much on loud cases either. Whether in terms of sound or looks it just bugs me. I do have lights and stuff, just in a more "understated" and indirect config. For looks I lean towards the p182, for complete package (including cooling) I like the 900.

@ditas: on any case w/ lights you can turn them off, even if it just means unplugging them. Fan-lights can be fixed w/ non-lit fans. If you take the lights off of that 900 it is a very nice looking case, very well designed. Give the 5 year-olds a chance though, some of those imports can blow your doors off. 😉
 
I surrounded my HDD's with plutonium alloy to soak in the magnetic energy from the speaker, so I'm good. No, but really it's far enough away they it has no effect. If you look at an old CRT monitor, you have to be within like 3 inches of the screen to have any effect at all (depending on if the speaker is the size of a small planet or not of course...) Also; the speaker is very old, the magnet is not that big. Nothing compared to the speakers in my Car :O... 3 x Kicker Solo-baric L7 10" Square Subs, 1200W Max each, powered by a 3000W AMP (and that is just the bass...) I had to put a second battery + line isolator in for the beast 😀

God Speed!
 
What are the differences, if any, between the P182 and the P180? I just bought a silver P180 a couple weeks back from Newegg for $90 and while was looking I came across the P182 but couldn't justify spending another $80 for the gun metal look. On the interior they look basically identical.

I think the P180/182 case is great and would take it over the 900 anyday. Five years ago I might have gone for the 900, but i'm not really into the case window and lights thing anymore. Quiet and elegant is more of my thing now. Whichever style appeals to you the most is what I would choose, both cases are nice, you really can't make a bad decision.
 
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