The Antec P183 Mid-Tower Case
Internals
The internal layout of the P183 is very well laid out and organised. There are two main chambers: the top for motherboard and other circuit boards to be situated with a PSU chamber at the bottom. This then enables cables from the power supply to be fed behind the HDD bracket and also up through the bottom.
Each of the drive bay cages can be removed by undoing a thumbscrew and then pulling it out using the circular handles. Note that the handles can be attached into plastic grooves to stop them rattling around.
Drives can then be installed into the cages once they have been removed; there are rubber screw mounts for the drives to be screwed into so that any vibrations are not transferred to the chassis and amplified.
In front of the drive cages are the vents which are seen behind the hinged door at the front. In this space there is room for a 120mm fan to be installed if the user so wishes using the metal clips provided. However, fans here are only optional and so not included.
Separating the two chambers is a black plastic plate that can be adjusted to create two different gaps at each end for cables to be fed through. This is useful for cable management and makes it easier as cables needed for different areas can be fed through apart.
The two TriCool fans (reduced down from three from the previous case in the series) are located at the top and back of the case very near each other. They are both 120mm and have Molex connectors to power them. Again, they are not particularly attractive or vibrant, just plain black – but remember, the focus is on performance here not glamour.
Each of the PCI slots has a little bracket filler that is attached by a single screw. These are removed for installing PCI devices.
Finally, the other side of the case is dedicated to cable management. A couple of zip ties are located here for cables from the PSU to be kept tidy although there are more provided if needed. There are also a few holes through which cables can be fed back into the main chamber.
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