The Installation Process

Though there were many tool-less features included in the P160, the installation process took about 10-12 minutes to complete. We felt that the hard drive trays were a nice, but unnecessary feature, since we still had to screw the drives to the trays to install them, still requiring four screws. Drive rails would have been a better choice and would have resulted in quicker and easier installations. The upside to the trays was the rubber grommets and ease of use once the drives were mounted to the trays.



Click to enlarge.

The motherboard also took about 3 minutes to install because we had to secure it with screws, and before that, we had to screw in the stand-offs.

The power supply was also very easy to install, since we had plenty of extra space to work with. We actually used the thumbscrews from the left side panel to mount the unit as we did not need them for the panel.

Something that we noticed with the wiring for the temperature sensors was that they were grouped together with a couple of motherboard connectors all the way up to the ends. We can still peel them apart, but sometimes the jackets of the wires may tear open in the process.


Case Construction and Security Benchmarks - Thermal
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  • LX - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    Will the 180's price be comparable?
  • AtaStrumf - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    Nice: cables connected, screws in place :-)

    I even know now why it takes you so little time
    to put it together. Because you already have mobo, RAM, CPU, HSF assembled and everything else is already out of the box. Not a typical situation whenever I was building a PC though.

    Anyway, I have a couple of suggestions for future case reviews:

    CHIEFTEC Dragon DX-01BD-U or similar

    http://www.chieftec.com/products/Workcolor/Dragon....

    Thermaltake Tsunami

    http://www.thermaltake.com/XaserCase/tsunami/tsuna...
  • cHodAXUK - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    Damn, some of the Antec P180 previews make it look damn good, think I might be upgrading soon :D
  • Live - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    Nice review of a decent case for a change. Hopefully you will get your hands on the upcoming P180 as it looks to be a great case. I would love to see more reviews of Antec cases as I see them as the ones to beat. So if a case is better and cheaper then Antec case you know your on to a winner. So while you wait for the P180 and the Sonata 2 take a look at the budget SLK 3000B and the rest of the 3XXX series.
  • FearlessUser - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    I got this case from Newegg for $110 with a clear side window, the one without the window is like $15 more. And I've read many places that the case only comes with 1 120mm fan, but I got 2. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
    Nice looking case, I just have to get a few more things to put the rest together.
  • cHodAXUK - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    How about a review of the Asus Vento 3600? ;)

    Have a look...

    http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=603913

    Thinking of building a PC in one of those for my 11yr old nephew, hopefully it will be *BLING* enough for him :)
  • IKeelU - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    Nice review.

    btw do you guys plan on reviewing the lian-li V1100? I heard it's really quiet, and I wonder how it compares to this one in terms of usability, sound, and temps.
  • IKeelU - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

  • bupkus - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    #17 said: "..at it's price point ($115) it is by far the best constructed aluminium case around..."
    I got an all AL Cooler Master a couple years back and was floored with the quality. Unlike the P160, it was a real work of art. It was a newegg refurb so it was real cheap and flawless! ;) Of course, by today's standards, the 80mm ceiling fan just doesn't do it, but that was then.

    #18 - Ditto. Although I do like Al, I like the value I have with my Sonata as it comes with a True Power 380W PS for less than the P160 without.

    #21 - I agree about the rubber fan mounts. Yesterday, I removed the 120mm fan as it kept slipping off two of it's rubber inserts. I'm thinking of remounting with some metal screws and rubber washers from Home Depot. The fan itself vibrates more than it should, so it's not balanced very well.
  • ElFenix - Sunday, February 13, 2005 - link

    "The external look was also easy on the eyes and we believe that many will accept this model over any of the pre-mod cases that we have reviewed. "


    hahahah

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