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, Stock
Despite being very enthusiastic about the design of the Antec P280, I had real concerns about performance in practice. I'm just not a fan of negative pressure designs; historically I've seen positive pressure cases produce better thermal results. Antec's reps even asked me about my experiences there, but thankfully the P280 can be configured that way and then some. I also don't like the two exhaust fans in the top; I've never liked top exhaust fans in cases, as it's always seemed like a great way for noise to leak out. So suffice to say, I entered the actual testing of the P280 with some trepidation.
Performance for the P280 is for the most part middle-of-the-road. I think its biggest competitor is probably the up and coming Fractal Design Define R3. What's worth noting is the very minimal impact running the fans at low speeds seems to have had on the enclosure's performance.
Turning down those fans results in one of the quietest cases we've tested under load, though the results are within the margin of error compared to Fractal Design's Define R3. When we let them ramp up, though, no amount of sound dampening can really save the P280. Thankfully running them at low barely affects thermals, and as a result we get decent performance from a quiet case. So far Antec is on the right track.
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NGneer - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
I won an NVidia Quadro 4000 as a doorprize at a SolidWorks 2012 presentation a few weeks ago and now I need to build a workstation around it (for cheap). This would be a nice case to house everything in.jesh462 - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
I do appreciate the p280s aesthetics. The extra expansion bays are lost on my needs, I'd rather see more acoustic dampening. For the money, I'd still pick an R3 or modded Shinobi.MisterDonut - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
If only my Antec 900 wasn't alive....hatwell - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
I really like black cases. When you throw in all the other features - you've got a winner!Jettubby - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Great reviews as always!yadir - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
I needed a case for a new build and I think the P280 would be a great 'brother' to the P182 I have.lowryd1000 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Nice case, sign me up.havoti97 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
I have the P182 and love it. Might look into this in the future for a build.justben314 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Any chance on some of these case reviews to get more detailed information posted on the specs of the stock fans installed? Even if it were just information from the manufacturer, would be a welcome detail for enthusiasts.It would probably be a pain to setup testing for, but Anandtech's detailed reviews would be a welcome addition to the world of case fans and other fan systems outside of CPU cooling.
justben314 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Upon further review, it's nice that you have included the fan type (Antech TwoCool) in this review. Not normally in other reviews, so was unexpected, but as previous post states, very welcome. :)