The Heaviest P180B... (dialup warning)

soulliea

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 10, 2007
Messages
100
just finished rebuilding my system...

1) cut hole in the divider between the upper and lower chambers
the thought here being that i couldnt fit 2x 3-slot video cards in the P180B or the P182 or P190 for that matter... so i had 2 options... either make a new set of standoffs that were 20mm higher on the tray, then cut a slot for the i/o tray to slide up and match the motherboard position... or i could cut the hole in the divider and slide a fan in there...

2) put 120mm s-flex e fan in new hole
i did this by putting rubber tubing along the edge of the hole then basically forcing it in there... its such a tight fit that i would probaby have to cut it out if i needed to remove the fan... but that was the idea...

3) added accelero 1 rev2's on both video cards
-added 120mm s-flex e fan to top card and the one in the divider cools the bottom card
-cut slot in the edge of the cooler on the top card to slide the crossfire bridge through
-also had to shorten the voltage regulator heatsink on the cards to make the accelero compatible with this version of the card...

4) painted case gunmetal gray
5) replaced power supply with Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W
6) removed unneeded cables from front panel(for ide leds)
7) replaced RAM with PC8500 Crucial Ballistix Tracer
and there were a few other little things...

here are some pictures...

took the stock cooler off the 3870
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cleaned the chips off with isopropyl alcohol
img0063pi1.jpg


shortened the heatsink to fit under the accelero and reused the old thermal pads from the memory chips(off the stock cooler)
img0068sd3.jpg


1x 3870 w/accelero
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2x 3870 w/accelero
img0072hy0.jpg


cut slot for the crossfire bridge
img0073jg2.jpg

img0076st5.jpg

img0077jy6.jpg

img0079wr3.jpg

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img0085qm4.jpg

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just to show the the fan fits... next step was to put the old antec fan in a box to most likely be used as a spare part in case of emergency...
img0089cw6.jpg


got the top card in only to realize the only way i could get the bottom fan jammed in the hole was to take everything out and put some weight into it...
img0091bc5.jpg


everything together... wires tucked and hidden...
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bottom view of the bottom fan...
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img0096hq2.jpg


shiny new RAM...
img0102hl5.jpg
 
got the P180B before the P182 came out... seemed dumb to buy a P182 just for the colour... especially since the P182SE is the one that is black inside... and the P182 is plain gray inside... and from what i saw the P182 was the same height inside so it wouldnt have saved me any work as far as the fan hole goes...
 
Looks nice, but I'd say it is far from the heaviest as there are many that have liquid cooled p180s some of which are entirely self contained. Those must weigh a ton.
 
By cutting a hole in the divider u prob made one of the lighter p180's. The water cooling ones are way heavier.
 
i put a fan in the hole... something tells me that with 2 optical drives, 1 floppy drive, 3 hard drives, 1000W psu, 9 120mm fans, 2 3-slot video card, geminII cpu cooler, and the optional RAM cooler for my motherboard... i dont think i have one of the lighter ones... especially considering that the case itself is actually fairly light...
 
ok so maybe not the heaviest... but its pretty @$#%in heavy

Hehe, I hear ya. My case weighs in at 61lbs!

I like the painting. What'd you use? Rattlecan? What brand? And how durable is the paint? Could you scrape it with a key without it coming off?
 
Hehe, I hear ya. My case weighs in at 61lbs!

I like the painting. What'd you use? Rattlecan? What brand? And how durable is the paint? Could you scrape it with a key without it coming off?

ya it was all spray paint... used self-etching primer, then colour, then a couple coats of clear coat... i dont remember brands but they were all from the auto paint section at canadian tire... i wouldn't say i could scratch it hard with a key but ur everyday scratches and wear and tear it seems like it can take it...

and if i had a scale i would weigh it cause now im really interested...
 
got the P180B before the P182 came out... seemed dumb to buy a P182 just for the colour... especially since the P182SE is the one that is black inside... and the P182 is plain gray inside... and from what i saw the P182 was the same height inside so it wouldnt have saved me any work as far as the fan hole goes...

Hehe I figured that was the case. (bad pun I'm sorry couldn't resist :p)

I've got the same problem with the second V.card as you. I've got the S1s sitting on a shelf trying to figure out if i'm going to install them or not. Finally got the flexiable SLI cable to do it in. Now to figure out if I'm willing to cut up my case or not...:(
 
ya it was all spray paint... used self-etching primer, then colour, then a couple coats of clear coat... i dont remember brands but they were all from the auto paint section at canadian tire... i wouldn't say i could scratch it hard with a key but ur everyday scratches and wear and tear it seems like it can take it...

and if i had a scale i would weigh it cause now im really interested...

Did you use CT's self etching primer :eek: I can't find that ANYWHERE. I have to go to Home Hardware and get their brand.

By the way, if you ever pain again, Tremclad's rust paints have etchers right in them... no need to prime if you use their metal paints.
 
although i painted it almost a week ago now and it still smells like spray paint... any ideas for getting rid of that smell that dont require me to take it all apart?
 
The paint is still curing. It will go away. Drying times will depend on how thick you sprayed the paint on.
 
Nicely done, nothing wrong with the p180b except for the fact that they aren't really being sold anymore. Also p180b black > 182 gunmetal grey
 
Am I the only one who noticed that is a P182 chassis? It has the holes for routing cables underneath the motherboard, the gaskets for external water cooling, and it has the hole for the fan speed controls at the top back. Soulliea must have been one of the lucky ones who ordered a black P180 but got a P182 instead.

Soulliea, you probably have the heaviest air cooled P180(2)B, ignore the water cooled comments. ;)
 
Am I the only one who noticed that is a P182 chassis? It has the holes for routing cables underneath the motherboard, the gaskets for external water cooling, and it has the hole for the fan speed controls at the top back. Soulliea must have been one of the lucky ones who ordered a black P180 but got a P182 instead.

Actually, Antec began revising/rebuilding/retrofitting all of their P180 and P180B cases with the same exact features as the P182 when the P182 came out. So right now, there are NO differences between current P180, P180B or P182 cases besides color.

However, some retailers may have the old P180 and P180B without the gaskets, fan speed controls or routing holes still in stock. Since there are no model or serial numbers that says whether or not a P180 is the original or revised version, it's kind of a crap shoot when buying the P180 or P180B cases. So to get the new features for sure, the P182 is the best bet.
 
Am I the only one who noticed that is a P182 chassis? It has the holes for routing cables underneath the motherboard, the gaskets for external water cooling, and it has the hole for the fan speed controls at the top back. Soulliea must have been one of the lucky ones who ordered a black P180 but got a P182 instead.

Soulliea, you probably have the heaviest air cooled P180(2)B, ignore the water cooled comments. ;)

ive seen the box... trust me its a p180b... im pretty sure the p182 has more holes going vertically down the mobo tray along the right edge of the mobo... mine doesnt have that... im also pretty sure the p182 has more space between the back of the tray and the side panel... things are tight back there even with my new modular psu...
 
i just got a scale for my new house... put this system on it for s&g's and it weighed 55lBs... is that a lot?
 
ive seen the box... trust me its a p180b... im pretty sure the p182 has more holes going vertically down the mobo tray along the right edge of the mobo... mine doesnt have that... im also pretty sure the p182 has more space between the back of the tray and the side panel... things are tight back there even with my new modular psu...

You have the p180 with the updated mobo tray.

I have the original p180... Yours looks a LOT like the 182, but it's not.
 
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