Date: Monday, October 2, 2006
Author: Joe Di Figlia
Provided By: Antec USA
Manufacturer: Antec
Model: Performance One P180B
Purchase: C.O.D. Shopping
Page: 5 of 5

The hard drives here would be cooled by a fan installed between the power supply and the hard drive caddy. The filter in the front is utilized to provide dust free air in the lower chamber. The fan is an Antec fan that features the same switch to select the speed of the fan. The issue here is with the fan installed there is zero room for cabling. That means you have a rats nest of power supply connectors and a lack of room for your IDE or SATA cables. The is the only flaw I have found with the chassis and could have been easily solved by making the chassis a mere two or three inches longer in depth.

One of the coolest features of this split chassis is the sliding door they used to separate the two chambers. The device is made of plastic and utilizes a two phase sliding door. Each phase is specifically used for each side of the bottom chamber. One side opens up for the cables of your power supply and the other for the hard drives installed in the bottom caddy. This sliding door is perfectly fitted and of the highest quality. This is to help isolate the heat generated by the components in both chambers. Unfortunately, in my installation this was no help because of the rats nest of cables impeded airflow through the bottom half of the chassis.

The P-180 is a fantastic addition to the list of chassis recommended by Computing on Demand. The features of this chassis are simply over the top; the deadening side panels, the drive rails, the overall aesthetics, and the caddy systems are second to none. These are all features one should look for in their next computer chassis purchase. Antec has done an exceptional job with this design and even though the rat's nest of cables in the bottom chamber is annoying, it is easily overlooked when examining at all the positives Antec has provided. With all of this in mind, it is hard not to be impressed by this design. Bottom line, would I buy one? Oh yeah…! The only thing holding this unit back from getting the C.O.D. seal of excellence is the lack of room in the bottom chamber for extended power supplies and the necessary removal of the pre-installed fan.

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