Antec P280 Review: When Enthusiasts Are Engineers
by Dustin Sklavos on November 15, 2011 10:20 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Antec
- P280
Noise and Thermal Testing, Overclocked
Here's where we separate the men from the boys. Our overclocked test bed has proven to be very stressful on "less prepared" enclosures, and this is hopefully going to produce some more decisive results. So far, Antec's P280 has put in a strong performance, offering decent thermals with low acoustics, but it's still competing pretty squarely with Fractal Design's Define R3, an enclosure that costs between $30 and $40 less. The R3 lost a lot of steam in our overclocked testing, though. Can the P280 pick up the slack?
Unfortunately, while most of the other components are running pretty frosty, the P280 has a hard time dealing with the substantially increased thermal load of the overclocked i7-875K. What we can glean from the results is that it's able to mostly manage overall ambient temperature, and the GeForce GTX 580 runs nice and cool compared to some of the other cases, but the processor may just not be getting enough cool air running through it. The P280 supports 240mm radiators, and getting one in there may not be a bad idea.
Once again it's hard to justify running the fans at their high setting. At their low setting the P280 is nice and quiet at idle, though load performance is dicier. Once again the P280 is in the same general ballpark as Fractal Design's up and comer.
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ezorb - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Its highly suspect that you would not include these legendary cases when reviewing a "quiet" case. even if the price point is off by more than $100, people seeking a quite case need to know if the extra $100 is worth it.Dustin Sklavos - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
The FT02 is fair, but unfortunately we never got a P183 in to test and compare. :(mtoma - Monday, November 21, 2011 - link
I should also mention the Fractal Design Define XL. It should be a good match for Antec P280. If only Dustin could do a review of that case, many enthusiast would be at rest. After all, the holidays are coming...danjw - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
This doesn't seem to be in the channel yet, any idea when I could buy one? Also, can you measure the space between the top and the motherboard. I would like to know how thick of a radiator + fans can be mounted there.geogecko - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Antec's site says the max CPU cooler height is 170mm.danjw - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Radiator, not heatsink, as in liquid cooling. He indicated there was plenty of room above the motherboard for a "thick" radiator, but doesn't say how thick.MrSpadge - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
That's less than in my P182. And that couldn't take a Thermalright Archon. Mhh.. I guess I'd rather have the space on top of the motherboard than behind it.MrS
danjw - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Hmm, the Archon is 170mm, which is what Antec says this one supports. Why do you think the 182 would support a taller heatsink then this one?lithium451 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
I have the P182 also and at some point I found a FAQ on Antec site that the maximum height was about 160 (maybe 162) - which pretty much matches what I see with my 158mm cooler.Sounds like its about 8-10mm more room.
danjw - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
On another website, I found that their is 38mm between the motherboard top edge and the pre-installed top fans. So a 35mm thick radiator should work fine on this case, if anyone else was wondering.