Antec P182

[Mutley]

I have a P182 and have had all the problems mentioned, the corsair hx620 I'm using fits in with all my cables connected just about missing the fan, my 8800 GTS also just about fits but its tricky to reach the upper drive bay drives, especially the top one.

However on to my point, and this really is a rather amusing thing to fail on, has anyone else had any problems trying to install the 5 1/4" drives? I just cant seem to fit mine, they dont click into place as stated, I've currently given up and left them half in half out xD, I've never had this problem with any other case and I have no idea how its possible to fit them, a walkthrough of what anyone else did would be appreciated, even if it is just:

1. slide in
2. they click

xD

You checked you've attached the drive rails the right way round on the drive? I struggled with this one for a while....

[oranges&lemons]

you have helped immensely thankyou, I feel like such a fool, I attached the rails with the tabs facing into the case, this is how the rails on previous older cases i have work, i considered trying them the other way but dissmissed it xDDD thanks for curing my stupidity! =]

[Mutley]

you have helped immensely thankyou, I feel like such a fool, I attached the rails with the tabs facing into the case, this is how the rails on previous older cases i have work, i considered trying them the other way but dissmissed it xDDD thanks for curing my stupidity! =]

Yeah, thats what I did! I looked at how the 3.5 upper drive cage did it, and followed that example - if you do that, you end up with the rails the wrong way round!

[oranges&lemons]

Yeah, also if you do put them on the wrong way around the bay will slide in and hit the tabs at the back of the 5 1/4" drive bay cage, this is what really consfused me, I started thinking is this what they mean by "click" into place.

Anyways my optical drives and fan controller are in now, I swapped out the back top and rear fans for some with a better noise to airflow ratio models and screwed another infront of the upper bay cages, the good thing about putting a fan there is (especially if it moves alot of air) is that is provides a steady stream of air to the graphics card, mind you in my system this air has only passed over one hard drive and I took the other caddy out to lower airflow impedance.

Finally I was wondering whether anyone has managed to set up a completely internal watercooling loop? Currently my loop cools my cpu and northbridge and the majority of it (pump, reservoir and radiator) are all mounted outside, I have extrenal mounts for my radiator as it's impossible to attach it to the back of the case due to the fan grill sticking out.
If you removed the lower HDD chamber you could place the pump there, however my pump is a submersible not inline version so the resvoir it sits in will not fit in there, also all the tubes would lead over the mobo and look a bit unsightly unless you figured out a way to route them around the outside of the mobo.

[sitalchauhan]

I am pretty sure I have seen a completely internal watercooling system. Saw it while I was looking to buy my case about 1 year ago!. This is going to take some serious searching to find again. Hold on and I will edit my post when/if I find it again

EDIT: I couldnt find the original one I saw ages ago, but found 2 different ones. Please post back if they are relevant because I only had a quick skim through them

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1207113

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1183189

[oranges&lemons]

Yeah both of those links are good, I assume in the first one that the pump is located down the side of the 3.5" external drive bay, but both are good, I may get an inline pump soon, remove the upper HDD enclosure and place it there, it'll probaly make things abit louder and I'd need some good adhesive vibration dampning feet or gel, but it could easily be done.

I'd probaly still mount my radiator externally on mounts and use the grmmoetted holes to reach it with tubing, this would improve cooling as the rad would get ambient not case warmed air and also would reduce the amount of tubing in the case and keep it tidier and easier to change stuff around.

Thanks for the links they helped alot!

[sitalchauhan]

Just to let you know that a really good and cheap way to remove all vibrations from the pump is to use..... Velcro

Something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=290142239838

Just stick one of them on each corner on the bottom of the pump, and then the other ends on the case where you want to mount the pump. It holds the pump extremely securely and eliminates all vibrations Its a method commonly used on SilentPCReview forums and it is agreed that it is probably the best way for noise reduction and holding the pump securely

[oranges&lemons]

Thanks for the tip on the velcro, never thought of using it like that, will also make it easy to remove/change a pump and place it or another back in the same place.

[Gunwitch]

Or some rubber car matting from an auto store or B&Q, tis blue and use to hold stuff in boots and stop em sliding about. Tis good stuff and guaranteed to lessen or stop unwanted vibration.

Had my P182 for about 3 weeks now and i have to say it's the best case i've ever owned. Despite my misgivings at first. Shame the fans aren't as silent as they could be but it's still nowhere near as noisy as my old chieftec case was which used to create such a racket you could hear it upstairs!

[oranges&lemons]

I've had my P182 just over a week and a half, and I know what you mean about it almost overcoming its slight niggles once you've had it for a while. It's an odd sort of growing love that I've never before felt with a case, is it possible to get a civil partnership between me and my p182?

On a less obsessive note, I switched out the stock top and rear fans for quiet ones I had used on my dual rad. on my old pc, a pair of Xilence Red Wing 120mm fans. There cheap, quiet and move some air (68cfm at 21.2DBa I think), unfortunately this will mean that the back fan controller on the case wont work, however if you have a 5.25" or 3.5" bay fan controller you can make them as quiet as you want, at around £6.50 there pretty good value too =]

[daveharnett]

I had no trouble with the corsair 520w HX which is modular. There are warnings about PSU's fitting in, in pretty much every review lol

the fan needs to be quite close to give the psu some air when the fans are on low. It's not prefect but its a cracking case

Can you (or anyone) confirm that the mobo power connectors on the corsair 620w are long enough to reach the connector on the top of the mobo via the back of the case?

I'm wondering if i need to order extention cables too.
Thanks

[zpos]

Where can you pick up extension power connectors for the motherboard?

That'll save me a lot of grief with my current setup. You'd think PSU manufactures would make them a few cm's longer so you could fit them in a standard case and don't have to compensate for neat cable management.

z

[Pup]

Is it worth buying an extra couple of 120mm fans for the front panel areas? I'm looking to get this case and stick an 8800GTX in it, which seems to mean I will have to use the lower chamber for the HDDs. Will this prevent the additional fans fitting in?

[Gunwitch]

Pup.
You won't need any more than the 3 12cm fans that come with the case. You wouldn't be able to fit a fan if you're using the bottom carriage for your hard drives because of the space, but there is a fan clip/housing for a fan on the top HD carriage which is where mine is. That would blow directly onto your g-card. You could, however, buy a low profile fan for the bottom middle where is it is fitted as stock to blow onto your psu, but as you've probably read here, you might have some issues if you have a modular PSU but could fit the fan on the other side of the housing. So stick with the 3 stocks that come with it or you could buy quieter ones.
In mine, i have the 3 fans, one top, one front and one rear and my temps even under load rarely go above 35 degrees C

It's pretty quiet with the 3 stock fans anyway even when you've turned them up.

For a full review, check out the Hexus review by Matt Davey here:http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8863&page=7

[Pup]

Thanks Gunwitch that clears things up for me As for the PSU i was looking to get a corsair HX 520W, but a number of people have already recommended that to go with the case.

My only other concern was fitting a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, as it looks kinda tall. Searching around the forums however, plenty of people use the P182, and plenty more use a Thermalright 120, so if that were a problem I guess someone would have mentioned it by now.

[Gunwitch]

you're welcome chap. Tis a very good case and well worht the money and investment.