8800 GTX in an Antec P180 case

[AD-15]

hello,

I recently requested a quote for a PC from Scan, and when it came, although I asked for an Antec P180, the case included was an Akasa Mirage. It turned out that the author of the quote had very kindly made the change as the 8800 GTX in a P180 would be a tight fit. However, the Mirage is only 5cm longer. In addition to this, the Antec P180 is actually a fair bit wider. Also, I have no plans at all to go SLI.

What do you think?

[DratUK]

Dimensions
P180 541(H) x 505(D) x 205(W)

Mirage 460 x 240 x 560mm (H x W x L)

A friend of mine has the P160 which has similar dimensions to the 180 expect for the hight and he has a 8800 GTX is his. Yes it is a tight fit and he had to fiddle with the cabling but it went in.
I'd go for the 180, looks better IMO.

[Dreaming]

I've an antec p180 with the sapphire x1950 pro, it fits fine!

I've taken the second hard disk drive cage out, but even with it there theres a good two inches of clearance. Not sure how big an 8800 is, but my x1950 is only 3/4 cm short of the end of the motherboard (Asus p5w dh deluxe). That's in the first (top) PCI-E slot.

I would take a photo but have no camera lol. I cant imagine how it wouldn't fit the only slight issue was the routing of the motherboard power cable, it has to go round the end of the card (could go above but that would look orrible ).

Any more questions? Just ask. I can get the ruler out if needs be :razz: but from looking, there is nothing for it to hit... the p180 is massive

[AD-15]

Thanks for the help guys

I've completely lost any ideas of what to buy after reading a review of the P180 on Hexus. Apparently, they had a lot of problems fitting stuff in (PSU especially) and at the end, in the conclusions, they say that the P180 was a huge dissapointment! This was in the latest P180 review:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6012

I highly doubt the Scan sales person would make a strong judgement had he not been really sure that the 8800 GTX would not fit well in the P180.

My only problem with not taking this case is, the fact that most other high end cases are as ugly as anything. I'm not even going to start on the mirage.

[daza]

I don't see the problem tbh, you can take out the hdd cage as said and a gtx will fit, you dont really need the brace for the psu and the fan can go aswell, then if the cables are to short you can just by extenders that are available nearly everywhere. Sorted

[Dreaming]

Thanks for the help guys

I've completely lost any ideas of what to buy after reading a review of the P180 on Hexus. Apparently, they had a lot of problems fitting stuff in (PSU especially) and at the end, in the conclusions, they say that the P180 was a huge dissapointment! This was in the latest P180 review:

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6012

I highly doubt the Scan sales person would make a strong judgement had he not been really sure that the 8800 GTX would not fit well in the P180.

My only problem with not taking this case is, the fact that most other high end cases are as ugly as anything. I'm not even going to start on the mirage.

That review is of the first one, my case is the second revision, they got rid of the graphics card cooler and made it nicer to live with in general. My PSU fitted fine, though remind me not to try to fit a scythe infinity onto an asus p5w after I've put it in the case.

Only issue I have really is it's so ******* heavy, it's impossible to get it to my LAN parties . Well not impossible lol, but difficult

Also, I have my hard drives in the bottom as there is a fan there that pulls air through to cool them down. Finally, the cooling is superb, I'd say to the reviewer that surely warmer air coming out the back is a good thing? As it means that more heat energy is being transferred away from the inside of the case?

I've got all my fans switched to the lowest rpm and my cpu temp is 35*

[DaKid]

I was going to go for a P180 with my 8800GTX, but in the end I got an Eclipse (I believe same size as the Mirage??). While deliberating, another member of the forums was kind enough to post (in this thread ... http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=97186&page=2) some photos of his 8800GTX fitting into a P180 case. Might help ... http://etheav8r.googlepages.com/p180

[pmanington]

I have a x1950xtx in the p180 no problems. As others have said you just remove the top hard disk cage and there's no problems at all. I love the case itself, it's cool running, looks great and it really does make the pc quieter

[AD-15]

Thanks again for the great help guys!!!

Does anyone know if SCAN sells the second revision of the P180 case? What does the PSU brace actually do? Does it have any noise-absorbtion properties?

[arthurleung]

That review is of the first one, my case is the second revision, they got rid of the graphics card cooler and made it nicer to live with in general. My PSU fitted fine, though remind me not to try to fit a scythe infinity onto an asus p5w after I've put it in the case.

Only issue I have really is it's so ******* heavy, it's impossible to get it to my LAN parties . Well not impossible lol, but difficult

Also, I have my hard drives in the bottom as there is a fan there that pulls air through to cool them down. Finally, the cooling is superb, I'd say to the reviewer that surely warmer air coming out the back is a good thing? As it means that more heat energy is being transferred away from the inside of the case?

I've got all my fans switched to the lowest rpm and my cpu temp is 35*

If you are fortunately enough to have a non-modular PSU that would be great. I fit in a tagan easycon and had to move the lower chamber fan somehow and the 2 hdds in the lower chamber are all about 50'C at low speed setting.

Regarding to warmer air, cold air coming out is better.
Hot air coming out could means the average air temperature inside the case is very high, i.e. hot air circulating inside the case. Or it could mean the air coming out went through a very hot source just before coming out of the case, i.e. decent heatsink.

But regardless it is more preferable to have cool air coming out of the case (although typically means a bigger volume of air as well).

Bad cooling -> Heat trapped in case -> Hot air -> Hot exhaust
Good cooling -> Less heat trapped in case -> Cooler air -> Cool exhaust

[DratUK]

AD-15 can you give us an idea of what budget you have on this. I am sure the guys will come up with some alternatives if we have a budget.
I do agree about the Mirage it aint the sexiest lookin case around,(Cases sexy? note to self: get out more), and there are plenty of good quality cases at that price point. if you want to go higher then it gets better still.

[AD-15]

hello,

Thanks again for the help.

I do not mind spending up to about £175 for a case.

[this_is_gav]

£175 eh? Got free shipping from Scan?

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=509736 - you'll save £2 too!

You know you want to

Seriously hard to justify that kind of money for a case for most I'd imagine, but I keep getting tempted, and I already have a Lian-Li PC75

[AD-15]

My God!!!

That was the very case I was looking at just now Gav

you'll save £2 too!

Are you trying to cheat me???? I count only a £1.10 saving.

Man oh man, it says "Item overdue since 05/02/2006."

[this_is_gav]

You could get the windowed version, but the price is starting to get even sillier then.

I prefer the clean non-windowed version anyway.

[DratUK]

Go for it its a fantastic case, just make sure you have room its bl**din huge. You'll also need some extender cables for the PSU