Antec P182 with front fan installed

[Eagle Eye]

We all know there is 1 limitation to the Antec P180-182 series and still to this day it baffles me why Antec didn't think it needed to put a fan in the front of the bottom cage. Yesterday I answered that question and did what Antec should of done in the first place and as far I'm concerned the results speak for themselves. You can do this mod by moving the bottom HD bracket back about 75mm thats all the room needed to fit the fan and it works great.

If you guys want complete break down of the entire mod or guide I can do that it'll just take a little more time.

EE

[misterlarry]

Good practical mod E.E. I tend to agree that Antec should have at least left the room for a fan there. Overall though I think it's an excellent cooling and quiet case.

[Eagle Eye]

Antec P183 and P190(2) solve this problem so when they're released for those that didn't consider the P180-2 or p190 at least it will be a better at cooling.

[misterlarry]

Just saw a front side pic of the P183. I think I like the looks of my P182 a lot more imho.

[Eagle Eye]

I totally agree man the front panel looks terrible.

I'll stick with this case for a bit, maybe just for kicks I'll give the Antec Plastic1000 a try.

Heck if were lucky our front panels could might fit on the P183, get all the benefits of the new design and keep the looks of the P182.

EE

[Malam]

I like the removal of the bracket at the bottom, leaves more room for the cable too. I have the Antec P180 and a while a go fooled around installing a fan at the bottom, but with the bracket, it was just too tight. I installed a Noctua at the front of the middle HD cage instead. The fan brings in cool air into the case. The Drives run between 31 - 33 C and the case is at 26 (room is at 21C). Did you have to move the bottom HD cage to create enough room for the fan ?

[SiDiX007]

Nice MOD... thanks for the tip. I have the same case and will be doing this to it for sure =)

Do you have temp sensors on the HDD? What program are you using to read the temps?

[Eagle Eye]

Yes I did move the HDD cage back about 75mm. It can be tricky to get things all lined up you have to pretty exact with your measurements or things won't line up correctly even mine is a little off. I secured the bottom HDD cage with fanscrews, although I'd encourage you to use a small bolt or even rivet the the case again. I'll upload some more pics so you guys have a better idea of what you'll be getting yourself into, there is also the option of using a 120x120x15mm case fan which might allow you to not have to remove the HDD cage for it to fit, I acutally encourage this.

As you can see though we all wish Antec did it in the first place, while the middle fan helps clearly having a fan in the front results in much better HDD temps.

@SiD I used this program CPUID

EE