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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phantompowerz - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Looks good perfect for my new build.Nexis47 - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
I love Antec Cases. I could really use this for the next rig I put together with my bros so we can LAN. :]gurumarkb - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Interesting design and the solid front is similar to my Solo case I've been I've been running my Core i5 660 in for a year. But recently i got to install an Antec 300 Illusion case and I have to say I really like it. While the 300 Illusion does not have and USB 3 ports up front it's not a big deal as most motherboards don't have USB 3 headers yet so plugging the USB 3 device in the back is ok for now, The primary reason I prefer the 300 Illusion case is the front is all mesh and with the 2 120mm fans you can pull in major air to keep the computer cool. The rear 120mm and top 135mm fans blow the warm air out. Setting the front fans to low speed and the rear fans to medium speed makes for a quiet but cool computer.squadbumrush - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Pork chop sandwiches!MikesHeadRoom - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
This P280 really looks like a nice piece of equipment!ribi - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Now I feel a bit sorry I bought a new case a few weeks ago. It was an almost used Themaltake Xaser V - an older case but I got it very cheap and it still is way better than what I had before. This one seem to be well worth the price increase, though. Way to go, Antec! :)Nohr - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Don't think I'd buy one, but I'd love to win one!waveblaster200 - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Great review and read. Makes me think its time to get a Antec case again, Miss my old super lan boy!!phimac10 - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
The case look so good, I have the P182, which I modded to my liking. The main reason that I like the Antec dual chamber is that I can hide my pump.ehume - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Finally Antec adds a forward top fan position. Their prior cases of this type always had one fan in the back. As if no one would ever want a top intake. It is disappointing that they only have spots for 120mm fans up there. Spaces for two 140mm fans would carry the forward fan further forward, so that more of its output can feed the face of the cpu heatsink intake fan.The forward-facing IO ports are a blessing for those who must put their case under a shelf.
I love that they went whole hog on their cpu cooler window in the motherboard tray.
But I wish they had put room for four slots in their 5.25 bay: some of us put intake fans there.
Finally: why oh why is there a rear grill? With no grill, if you run all intake fans you can let air quietly escape -- no fan needed.
Otherwise, decent case.