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
Testing Methodology
For testing ATX cases, we use the following standardized testbed in stock and overclocked configurations to get a feel for how well the case handles heat and noise.
Full ATX Test Configuration | |
CPU |
Intel Core i7-875K (95W TDP, tested at stock speed and overclocked to 3.8GHz @ 1.38V) |
Motherboard | ASUS P7P55D-E Pro |
Graphics Card | Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (244W TDP) |
Memory | 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer DDR3-1600 |
Drives |
Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 64GB SSD Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gbps Samsung 5.25" BD-ROM/DVDRW Drive |
CPU Cooler | Zalman CNPS9900 MAX with Cooler Master ThermalFusion 400 |
Power Supply | SilverStone Strider Gold 750W 80 Plus Gold |
A refresher on how we test:
Acoustic testing is standardized on a foot from the front of the case, using the Extech SL10 with an ambient noise floor of ~32dB. For reference, that's what my silent apartment measures with nothing running, testing acoustics in the dead of night (usually between 1am and 3am). A lot of us sit about a foot away from our computers, so this should be a fairly accurate representation of the kind of noise the case generates, and it's close enough to get noise levels that should register above ambient.
Thermal testing is run with the computer having idled at the desktop for fifteen minutes, and again with the computer running both Furmark (where applicable) and Prime95 (less one thread when a GPU is being used) for fifteen minutes. I've found that leaving one thread open in Prime95 allows the processor to heat up enough while making sure Furmark isn't CPU-limited. We're using the thermal diodes included with the hardware to keep everything standardized, and ambient testing temperature is always between 71F and 74F. Processor temperatures reported are the average of the CPU cores.
For more details on how we arrived at this testbed, you can check out our introductory passage in the review for the IN-WIN BUC.
Last but not least, we'd also like to thank the vendors who made our testbed possible:
Thank You!
We have some thanks in order before we press on:
- Thank you to Crucial for providing us with the Ballistix Smart Tracer memory we used to add memory thermals to our testing.
- Thank you to Zalman for providing us with the CNPS9900 MAX heatsink and fan unit we used.
- Thank you to Kingston for providing us with the SSDNow V+ 100 SSD.
- Thank you to CyberPower for providing us with the Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive, Intel Core i7-875K processor, ASUS P7P55D-E Pro motherboard, and Samsung BD-ROM/DVD+/-RW drive.
- And thank you to SilverStone for providing us with the power supply and SATA power cable.
164 Comments
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deararis - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
Oh I want one!rak500 - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
I'm a big fan of Antec products but I must admit I am disapointed in the lack of CP PSU series compatibility!Still looks fabulous though, I will most definitely get that for my next build!
winglerw28 - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
I always remembered holding off on a P182 for cost restrictions and because of the middle bar, and I'm glad I did that because it looks like the P280 is fantastic in comparison. I wish my case could be anywhere near as quiet as some of the systems shown here :Pscottmchsd - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
Good looking caseas1099 - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
The thing about cases is that they last so long. I'm still using the Antec SL-3000B (i think that's what it was called) which i bought for GBP35 7 years ago. It's witnessed 3 different builds and many upgrades besides.However, this very thorough review of an apparently awesome case may be my reason to finally upgrade! The whole cable routing thing will be totally new to me, having not purchased an enclosure since 2004...
GLudlow - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
I prefer these lower-profile cases to the more visually busy ones.vrmuds - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
Looks pretty cool!bkiserx7 - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
even sexier than my ole P180B...droolAlexvrb - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
This would look great on my mantle! I mean desk!intelpen2002 - Thursday, November 17, 2011 - link
This case takes best ideas from existing models and combine them with a few original ones to give one of the best of it class. Very good product overall.