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
Assembling the Antec P280
If you ever dreaded assembling or working in Antec's P180 series, the P280 is going to seem like a breath of fresh air. The interior is incredibly spacious, but not just that...Antec has produced an enclosure that is nearly as easy to work inside as any of Corsair's (still the standard for ease of assembly as far as I'm concerned.)
The two side panels are held on by thumbscrews and are extremely easy to remove. From there, Antec has included six mounting screws for the motherboard and includes the rest in a kit with the enclosure. Our I/O shield snapped into place easily enough, and the board went in without any fuss. Wiring things up was a little bit trickier; it would've been nice if Antec had routed the cables through the motherboard tray in the first place and bound the motherboard headers together, but once you do it yourself the inside feels a lot cleaner.
As for mounting drives, that's more of a mixed bag. I had to pretty much jimmy the optical drive in, applying force until it eventually just went all the way in. On the flipside, the toolless locking mechanism is incredibly secure (although you can still use screws if you're so inclined.) This is still a big improvement over having to manually attach rails to the ODD. The 3.5" drive trays are sturdy enough, though remember to stash the screws in a safe place for when you want to add additional drives. Where things do get a bit tricky is in the 2.5" toolless cage: SSDs slide in pretty firmly (I'd really recommend against putting a mechanical drive in here), but it doesn't feel super secure, and you'll want to route cables through the cage ahead of time as it's difficult to access the back of the drive from the other side. There's no locking mechanism either, just the pressure of the cage on the sides of the SSD, although you can use a screw to mount them in place. If you're not a fan of this approach (and I wouldn't fault you), it's worth mentioning 2.5" drives can also be mounted on the drive trays.
Mounting the power supply and video card was easy enough; there's a healthy amount of space inside the enclosure, and things lined up just fine. Where Antec has made their biggest gains, however, is in cable organization. The P180 really pioneered cable management back in the day but by modern standards it's pretty dire. That's not the case with the P280, where there's nearly enough space behind the motherboard tray to stand up a molex connector on its side. Wiring up the P280 was very easy, with copious space above the tray for the AUX 12V line, and plenty of space around the motherboard to squeeze in the side-mounted SATA cables. I also plugged the three included fans into the set of headers in the back of the case, and routing the single molex power cable was a breeze.
Honestly, the P280 is just tremendously roomy and easy to work in, the polar opposite of its predecessor. With the tremendous amount of space behind the motherboard tray, sliding the back panel on required none of the force it usually does with most other enclosures. This is a design that was clearly put together by engineers who also happened to be enthusiasts, and it really shows.
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mwmccormick1 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
I've used the p180 series in a few server builds and they have worked wonderfully.furrymike - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Just bought the Corsair 400R. Now this review has me thinking. The Corsair is diappoiningly noisy and this new Antec should be quieter and is a looker. Not quit Corsair ease of assembly but close.jfish2d - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Let's be honest. The flashy windows to view all the cool components are all well and good. But it's those who don't flaunt their junk who make successful ganks. This is exactly the case for doing just that. Somewhat normal on the outside (though beautiful), the Antec P280 is full of smart design and excellent execution.siderst - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Sign me up!GrJohnso - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Definitely a step in the right direction... Looks roomy enough without being quite the monster that my Corsair 800d is... Would make a nice addition to my stable... :)funkstrong - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
I know Antec has the straight forward design look, but this could use some help styling-wise.abnderby - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
in the past i have unfortunately usually opted for workstation chassis'. Mostly Intel ones due to having adequate drive options. IMO most of the so called power user and gamer cases were appalling in looks, case layout and drive options. I have never understood the whole 5 or 6 5 1/4 drive bays and only 3 or 4 3 1/2 bays for hard drives. I have 2 dvd drives and a usb card reader, I need hard disk space!So here we are a clean case all black inside and none of the hideous teenager looks on the outside. Very professional and adequate disk space. Way to go Antec, you did your home work.
Question for testing though (being a Software QA guy) why is most all case testing with only 1 or 2 drives? Should we not max this thing out with the hottest PS, video cards and every drive bay filled and a fan in all slots? this would really tell us how quiet it is and just how cool it will be with everything going at once.
i run currently 5 internal drives, OS, Temp, Data1 and data2, virtual machine drive, would run 6 if i had the room. I do not know what most power users run but normally if i have the space and connections available i fill them and use them for something.
Anyway good article, great looking case it is a win, win for me and it would be next on my upgrade list
Nightmare9 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Did anyone else think there were 2 motherborads in the photo with the video card installed? The color of the card they used is exactly the same at the case.I'd love to win one, I'm just about to build a new PC.
Thanks
faZZter - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
Looks like a good case, would work great on my new build I am working on for ToR release.doggod - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - link
As a P182 owner the design changes look good, the dual design in theory was good but in practice left a lot to be desired..Opening the door to power up the system was a niggle -system was rarely power down but trying to manipulate a large power supply and its cables in the bottom compartment was a pain with be having to dump the center fan. Having the motherboard a fraction on an inch above the divider was another unhappy experience with a rampage formula motherboard.What Ive never understood is why case designers
(working to a standard designed between them and gpu manufactures)
haven't put some sort of a way to funnel air from the front of a case to dump outside air as close as possible to the gpu fan which generally is the hottest component in a case, even by some sort of flexible construction.
As it is its only the air within the case which is being heated by every other component that get drawn into the gpu .