Antec P180

     As the specifications describe, the inside of the P180 is divided into separate compartments. Basically, the power supply has been moved to the bottom of the enclosure which has been separated from the top. Antec also utilizes their signature drive box design to hold the 3.5" hard drives which has also been sub located to the bottom compartment. The removable rack in the center is for a 3.5" internal drives. The very bottom 5.25" drive bay is also separated from the other three by a metal plate.   The TriCool fans have been located at the top, rear, and bottom for interior ventilation. Note that the bottom TriCool is larger than the other two and is situated to blow across an installed power supply. Of course, this will lead into a later review of the Phantom 500 power supply.

     Once the VGA Ventillation duct is removed, you'll have unrestricted access to the motherboard tray of the chassis. The duct sits on a slotted track and can be moved in or out, depending on the size of the hardware you install. Exhaust duty is performed by two 120mm TriCool fans, on the top and rear of the enclosure. The switch to set the fans speeds are all attached to the fan on that white wire and block that you see in the picture. Changing fan speeds will require removal of the side plate.

     Here we have the top compartment drive bays. The four 5.25" bays are on top. In the middle is a removable drive rack which will hold two drives. These drives are installed onto trays which also utilize the clip/rail system. On the inside of this drive rack is a small plastic box which is used to store all of the associated hardware,  such as screws and motherboard standoffs. At the very bottom of this stack is the spot for the 3.5" external drive, which will get installed with a set of stand-alone drive rails, just like the 5.25" drives.

     Front panel connections are made with the standard header port blocks. Only the audio block has provisions for connecting each wire individually. While most motherboards manufacturers now use a standard pin out assignment for USB, the IEEE 1394 block is still largely motherboard specific.