Antec P183 Mid-Tower Case Review

Exterior Impressions


Once we had all of the protective film removed from the brushed metal panels, we were greeted by an incredibly attractive looking case. We truly believe that marketing images of the P183 around the web do not to the case justice. Its gunmetal finish is top notch, and not overly reflective like the mirror finish edition P182, which was a real magnet for finger prints and other blemishes. Both sides of the case as well as the front door panel are endowed with this metallic awesomeness. Although it does bear a cosmetic resemblance with a high-end stainless steel refrigerator, we can only hope that our testing proves it to be just as “cool”.

From an audience perspective, it appears that Antec intends the P183 to cater to a wide variety of buyers. Its appearance is very simple and it maintains a higher-end, classy look from just about any angle. There are no bright lights and aggressive styling to scare away the more pedestrian buyers, yet its subtle vent openings and metallic finish give it that small hint of “performance” oriented aesthetics. With that said, the P183 truly is universal in its appearance and would look at home on a gamers’ desk as much as it would in an office environment.


It’s unfortunate that Antec didn’t provide a windowed side panel with the P183 or provide one as an optional accessory so buyers interested in seeing their hardware will have to modify the P183 themselves. Thankfully, Antec did keep the stainless steel theme going and both side panels are finished in the same gunmetal appearance. Lack of a window aside, we’ll take a closer look at the P183’s side panels shortly as they are far from ordinary.


Once we turn the P183 around, that wonderful gunmetal finish quickly comes to an abrupt halt. We’re greeted with that good old flat gray steel finish across the entire back of the enclosure.

Like most enthusiast cases these days, the P183 employs a “bottom mounted” PSU and a fairly standard layout with a single 120mm exhaust fan. The fan grille is a simple “honeycomb” stamped variety with mounting holes for 120mm fans only. Since it is mounted with simple self-taping fan screws, it can be replaced with just about any 120mm fan if so desired.


Farther down, we see that Antec includes vented expansion slot brackets. Keeping the rear of the case breathing, especially the expansion slot area is very important as toasty video cards do not always exhaust air directly out of the case very well. We’ll see how the P183 is able to keep a pair of HD3850 cards cool in the “Cooling Performance” section.

Antec also pre-mounted a pair of water cooling tube grommets just to the right of the expansion slots so that buyers can mount an external radiator without having to modify the case. The location of these grommets could be a pro or a con depending on your cooling loop setup, but we’re pleased to see that they are included regardless. They are constructed of a somewhat soft rubber compound that should be able to accommodate 3/8” and 1/2“ ID tubing.

The vented expansion brackets are also removable, which is ideal. There is nothing worse than having to deal with “punch-out” brackets that cannot be reused when swapping around expansion cards. The openings in the brackets are fairly large, so they should allow some hot air to escape around the video cards.

Although we’re not quite sure why they bothered, Antec includes an old-school ATX I/O plate that most certainly won’t fit the majority of modern motherboards out there today. We suppose that if a buyer had a really old Pentium 3 system or something of the sort, it might be able to be used, but 99% of individuals out there will simply remove it and install the one that came with their motherboard.


A very handy feature included in the P183 is the built-in fan controller. It allows a “Low”, “Medium” and “High” fan speed to be selected for both the top and rear exhaust fans independently. This is a great addition as it allows the buyer to tune the case for maximum performance or quiet operation. The only unfortunate aspect of these switches is their small size and inconvenient location at the back of the case. Those minor gripes aside, we’re pleased they offered this feature. We’ll be testing the P183 in all three of these fan speed settings to see how they impact CPU and GPU temperatures.


Bottom mounted PSUs are becoming ever more popular these days. There are some thermal advantages to having the PSU at the bottom of the case, but some cable management challenges usually go along with them. Thankfully, case manufacturers are starting to implement some innovative ways to manage cabling in this sort of orientation, and PSU makers are providing longer power leads to ensure they’ll reach the extra distance required. The P183 is a fairly tall case, but just about any modern PSU will have long enough leads to reach thanks to some handy cable management features that we’ll explore shortly.

The mounting holes exist to allow the PSU to be mounted right-side-up or upside-down. Usually, PSUs with a 120mm or larger fan at the bottom of the casing may benefit from an upside down orientation as they can draw in air with less restriction from the case. The P183 is a bit unique though as its PSU is thermally isolated from the rest of the case and its mounting orientation should matter very little. We’ll take a closer look at this chamber system in the future, but it’s good to be able to choose between the two mounting possibilities.

If you haven’t already noticed, the P183’s PSU opening is actually a cut-out on a larger removable plate. This metal plate can be removed to allow the installation of Antec’s proprietary CPX form factor power supplies. We won’t get too much into the CPX form factor, but we will say that it’s less compact nature allows for improved PSU design and cooling. At present time, there is only one CPX based PSU available from Antec; the CP-850. Whether or not this form factor takes off, fans of Antec PSUs can take advantage of the new CP-850 without any modification to their case.