[deathman20]

Well first off I have zero pictures right now. I know I have some of the case an inards floating around on the forums here but not going to search for them. I'll be taking pictures of the case and inards over the next few days. So with that I'll explain whats going on

Well first of guess you could say my V1 was when I cut out a 3x120mm hole in the top for my water cooling late spring / early summer last year. That did a huge improvement not only when I got rid of my water cooling again (seem to be cursed with it) but for air flow well out of my case. I have some still cosmetic fixes that I've yet to fix or even practical one that I did when I cut the hole in the top. Have yet to fix about putting a 3rd fan in the top, some sheet metal is still covering a few of the holes where I wouldn't be able to mount a fan heatsink on there. As well some tabs I cut off that where used to secure the rad to the top of the case, well it bent the metal and its all funky at the top making a bulge in the case top. I'll get a pictures of the case before the weekend.

Anyways onto the new mods. Since well I got 2 GPU's now, it gets warm in the case, and with just stock cooling on them currently, I want to chill them a bit more. With the case as ones familiar with it, the airflow into the case is well rather limited. Just a single 120mm fan for the top and 120mm fan if you can fit it into the bottom of the case (if you don't have HDD's down there). Well that just doesn't fly when you have 3 fans sucking air out, and and the last 120mm hole in the top of the case (which no fans in currently) sucks a mad amount of air into it so not getting optimal air flow at all.

So with that going to be cutting a nice hole into the side of the case, for 2x 120mm fans to suck some lovely fresh air in. That should chill alot of components, the 2 GPU's and NB I should see some nice effects on them, with a possibility as well of CPU temps dropping. Hopefully and I'll really have to look into it, is see if its possible even to do better cable management with what I have. With the PSU at the bottom of the case it really limits my options for wiring without getting extension cables which I rather not do. I know the newer version of the cases have nicer wiring paths and that build in, and might have to cut some holes to get it going to help with airflow at least. Re-aranging some things might move the HDD's up into the main cage so I can get rid of a rigged 80mm fan I got in the bottom of the case and replace it with a low low speed 120mm fan just for the PSU. More or less make that whole bottom area pure power central (cabling and PSU). Sure I could probably find a few more things to do or tweak when im doing this but right now thats what I'll try accomplishing.

Timeframe for doing this project. Sunday... I'll start and finish on that day. Wifes out of the house so will make a perfect time for modifications and spending my whole day doing something "non-productive" hehe.

[radium]

Mad props for using a P180, I love mine

[deathman20]

Originally Posted by radium

Mad props for using a P180, I love mine

Would of gotten a P182 but that wasn't out since I got the P180 think nearly 2 years ago. Love my case personally, originally it was for sound dampening that I got it, as well it was semi cheapish compared so some of the other cases. Nice case but needs some tweaking to get better product out of it. Love Antec's solid case designs since I've used them for a while from a smaller mid tower to a full tower case at one point.

[deathman20]

Alrighty some.... well pics of my mess


Overall shot


Here is one showing the slight buldge I have to fix on the top of the case.


Inard shot on the top side of the case. Showing the inside where 3x 120mm fans will be heading. Oh yeah added note, those bolts that stick down a little ways, yup those will be getting a trim they are a litte too long and definatly needs to be fixed.


My lower section of the case. Yumm look at all that cable crap \o/ hehe. Wish I had more room behind my mobo tray or something so I could stick cables and such. Really want to clean it up down there to some extent if that means my HDD's go up into the top of the case so be it, probably would be cooler up there near a fan sucking air out or something.


Ah here's a shot of the side panel, and the grill that will be going over it.

[Rustafur]

I can't wait to see how the side panel turns out. Yesterday I contemplating putting in a side fan setup pretty much exactly like your's lol. So please please let us know how cutting through the side panel goes!

[deathman20]

Looking to fire up the dremil here shortly if all goes to plan. Hope all goes well with it Its gotta be foam or something inbetween the panels so should be an intresting cut.

[WonderingSoul]

Originally Posted by deathman20

Looking to fire up the dremil here shortly if all goes to plan. Hope all goes well with it Its gotta be foam or something inbetween the panels so should be an intresting cut.

Quite sure it is foam, I saw some innard pics of one when I was researching my P182

[Rustafur]

Originally Posted by deathman20

Its gotta be foam or something inbetween the panels so should be an intresting cut.

That's exactly what I was thinking. It feels like the side panel goes plastic-foam-plastic. I've got a 4" hole saw all lined up, but I've been very reluctant to try anything. Hence why I can't wait for your results hehe.

[deathman20]

Well sorry for late results on this. Im cutting with a dremil so small blades, well the ones I originally was working with that cut the top of my case and such where breaking left and right no go.

And you'll be suprised what the sides made of..... ready for it?
Outside: Small sheet of aluminum
Inards: Plastic, roughly 1/4" thick, yup thats the middle!!!!
Inside: Small sheet of aluminum

The aluminum is tapped using the same supper strong crap thats used to tape the top of plastic on the top of the case. To make life easier for me I stripped the aluminum on the inside of the case, since it was bugging the hell out of me when I was cutting, main reason why I kept snapping disks. Let me say this, it was hell taking that apart.

Anyways project was delayed slightly, had bought better cutting disks for myself, only to realize when I got it home I was missing the bit from the kit. GRRRR, instead I spent most of the day installing a dishwasher so I'll be doing it tomorrow.

So big suprise on the inards, its just plasic, same plasic on the top of the case. What a shock.

[deathman20]

Well might be a little longer for good results on tempature changes and that in teh case from doing this. My bios just took a crap after a flash. No clue if it was a bad flash or what but it went fubar :/ In the process of getting a new one so hopefully I'll be up late next week. Guess give me time to fine tune the inside of the case lol.

[ziggo0]

Were they re-enforced cutting blades or no...? I've noticed the ones that aren't re-enforced break without even opening the package. I've also found that going slower makes the blade last longer.

[deathman20]

Originally Posted by ziggo0

Were they re-enforced cutting blades or no...? I've noticed the ones that aren't re-enforced break without even opening the package. I've also found that going slower makes the blade last longer.

Yeah it wasn't a re-enforced blade. I've had mixed results with my speed. I was going slow originally and I could see that blade shrink in seconds, little faster no issues with shrinking blade as much just that they'ed shatter after a little bit, still lasted longer that the others though hehe.

I got some better blades that Im going to try, they are ment for metal cutting and are metal so they gotta last a little longer. Going to run out today to get my bit for it that should of been in the kit.

[Rustafur]

Sorry to hear about the setbacks with the blades and now bios!?! YIKES! Hope everything gets sorted out and you get back to making some magic happen on that P180!

[deathman20]

Well I have pictures Just unable to load them up on this PC. For some reason my dell monitor (with the card reader) does not like this really old laptop :/ So I will have some shots of the naked case, and never posted naked cut top shots, don't think I ever posted ones like this before.

As for new cutting blades... ah much better. Got a kit with metal and plastic blades, worked like a charm, took some 3 hours to do it, but definatly worth while, better cuts than on the top of my case. Don't know why I never got better blades in the first place, would of made life so much easier hehe. All I can say is damn that demil can get hot after a little bit. Thank god for AC house so it could chill on a vent to cool it down much much quicker.

Bios is ordered so I should get that guessing Wednesday/Thursday.

Overall for all the issues that im having now, case modding ah fun. Just hope one day I'll continue my work and research on building my own plastic case.

[Rustafur]

Great to hear all your problems are getting sorted out deathman. Can't wait to see the pix

[EmAn]

I thought the inside of the panel was just more metaL... Now I know what I am up against for my P180 Modding...

[deathman20]

Originally Posted by Rustafur

Great to hear all your problems are getting sorted out deathman. Can't wait to see the pix

Not the only one that wants to put the pics up I'd love to post it. My bios was shipped yesterday so we can take bets to when I'll see it, tomorrow or thursday. Friday at the latest but not thinking of that. Its going from Cali to Wisconsin.

Originally Posted by EmAn

I thought the inside of the panel was just more metaL... Now I know what I am up against for my P180 Modding...

Antec really fooled us with it. I would of guessed some high density foam, but nope. ~1/4" think of some nice heavy PITA plastic, with 2 thin, really thin layers of aluminum sheets covering the front and back with some extremely strong tape.

[deathman20]

All right... we have pictures!!!

Side Panel Cut Hole (Front and Back)


Side Panel Uncut (Front and Back)


Side Panel with Grill and Fans (Front and Back) Yup you can see how ugly that tape


Top Naked & With Grill


Top with Grill & Fans

[deathman20]

And the main guts of the system put togeather. Its much much cleaner than before. Still not the best but better with all the cables at least semi sorted a little better.

Mobo/Top of case with fans


Inside case with side panel on whew talk about close fit totally forgot to measure that... LUCKY


Outside with side panel on... the fitting is perfect it will blow directly over the 2 cards its almost dead center actually couldn't ask for a better location on the 2 cards.


Front side top of case, just showing some of the cableing in the top of the case.


Side of case with everything in it.


Finished product

[Rustafur]

That case is cooler than the other side of the pillow man! What speed Dremel did you use to make this cuts? How do you like the Scythe S-flex "F"? I've got the E model for my intake, and I just don't think it's moving enough air. So I've been looking for an intake fan replacement on my P180, but I didn't know if "F" model was going to be enough, so just ordered a Scythe Slipstream SY1225SL12H that is rated at 88cfm. I hope the 33db rating won't be too loud. Sorry, didnt' mean to get off on a tangent.

Anyway, the new fan placement looks awesome man, have a drink on me. I'm sure you can find something in WI. And you're right, you couldn't have asked for better fan placement on your side panel. Now all you need is some nice Accellero S2's for those bad boys and that baby will be dead silent! Were you planning on running your CPU heatsink as passive?

[deathman20]

Originally Posted by Rustafur

That case is cooler than the other side of the pillow man! What speed Dremel did you use to make this cuts? How do you like the Scythe S-flex "F"? I've got the E model for my intake, and I just don't think it's moving enough air. So I've been looking for an intake fan replacement on my P180, but I didn't know if "F" model was going to be enough, so just ordered a Scythe Slipstream SY1225SL12H that is rated at 88cfm. I hope the 33db rating won't be too loud. Sorry, didnt' mean to get off on a tangent.

Anyway, the new fan placement looks awesome man, have a drink on me. I'm sure you can find something in WI. And you're right, you couldn't have asked for better fan placement on your side panel. Now all you need is some nice Accellero S2's for those bad boys and that baby will be dead silent! Were you planning on running your CPU heatsink as passive?

I love my "F" models. I know there is a newer one (what ever it is) the one with 1900RPM's but figured that would be just a little too much. So now I have 8, 120mm Scythe 1600RPM fans in the case They did great even on my water rad for my 2900XT at least keeping it in the low 40's, CPU was a bit higher. I was looking at the same fans you are there for the newer fans I was going to get. Ended up going with the other ones since well the match, and also the bearings, they really dont make much noise except for air flowing through them even still its not much.

Yeah fan placement was perfect, and didn't even think about cages or anything like that getting in the way til I put the fan on the case and took a picture from the otherside. Going, damn totally forgot about the harddrive bays causing interference I got really lucky on that hehe.

Accellero S2's hehe na Thermalright T-Rad2's With either 1, 120mm or 2x 92mm fans on it, have yet to fully decide what to do. Oh an the CPU does have a 120mm fan on it. Its actually sitting ontop of the heatsink. Had to do that due to the NB cooler needed active cooling on it (might not need it now) and I had no space to place the 120mm on that side of the heatsink where I really want it.

Now the wait for the bios, and well now to clean up my desk with screws and parts laying all over it

[deathman20]

Well finally goot the chip now im back up and running WAHOOO!!!

Temps, not looking at too much of a drastic change but still a change non the less.

CPU: 32-33C Idle / 48-49C Load (2-3C Cooler)
System (PWMS): 38 Idle / 42C Load (2-3C Cooler)
NB: 35C Idle / 37C Load (4-5C Cooler)
GPU1: 44, 44, 52, 47C Idle (4-5C Cooler)
GPU2: 45, 45, 44, 43C Idle (4-5C Cooler)

Load for the GPUs didn't get temps in time but with the outside fans at full speed ~5-9C Cooler than before!

Gets a little loud with the side fans at 12V so if I want to quiet it down I got it hooked up to my fan controller now where I can spin them down when not needed. Its all good now Success with the mod. Im happy with the results, its even better that the temps are cooler than I was expecting even at idle expecially some of the other temps. Goes to show that the air flow while not the best in these cases, can benifit nicely from a little open surgery.

[BossBorot]

what grill did you use for the top? It looks much nicer then the stock look of the p180/2 and helps for adding watercooling down the line which I am considering

[deathman20]

Originally Posted by BossBorot

what grill did you use for the top? It looks much nicer then the stock look of the p180/2 and helps for adding watercooling down the line which I am considering

The A.C. Ryans Grillz Stripes. I got it from Performance-PCs.com On the side I got the newer Hexx style, just because I got cats and didn't want it to be too easy to get there tails into the fans on the side of the case like the slots can.