Gadgetory

hey guys this is Dimitri with Haruka Knox and welcome back to another review antek has been a little quiet lately with new cases perhaps not as aggressive with new releases as the competition but today we're going to take a look and the PIA 280 the white windowed version and builds on the very popular p2 80 chassis with the same focus on silence and retails around the $150 mark the main difference now include a new white powder coating which is pretty sweet and the large side panel window to reveal the gorgeous interior now usually windows side panels are not the best at noise isolation but here antic used polycarbonate there is a more durable plastic compared to acrylic panels that we see so often and this is actually a better soundproofing material so it is a good implementation the front panel opens with a nice span of 270 degrees so you really have to try really hard to accidentally break the door and it is coated with noise dampening foam the dual front intake is covered with a removable dust filter and the fans are secured by two screws plus these knobs on the corners for easier installation the panel is spaced away from the fans leaving a nice gap that would equate to appropriate airflow while keeping things silent connections wise there are four USB ports audio jacks and PR buttons at the very top along with dual 120mm fan mounts moving through the back we have a 3 channel fan controller an exhaust fan 9 PCI slots and a nicely ventilated area behind the motherboard plus a bottom mounted power supply dust filter that is removed from the side and the chassis is well elevated for that convenient access also for any picky individuals out there the white on the chassis varies from the powder coating parts to the plastics used it's not a really big deal but it is still worth mentioning now taking off the panels it is an identical interior to the previous p2 80 and even resembles the antic 1100 the drive caddies here have rubber grommets to prevent audible vibrations + SSD support in the middle the problem however is with the screws provided for mounting of mechanical drives as they're just a tiny bit too long and when fully screwed rindy allowed the drive to wobble and you can see here the drives are not fully secured on to the bracket and this is caused by the screws being too long and for chassis with sole focus on silence this is a bit of a letdown and aside from the standard drive cage there are two dedicated spots for SSDs that also could use an improvement because the drives are mounted too far forwards the window panel closes just fine but it's the back that's inconvenient and is routing your SATA cables to the very top and all the way forward might introduce hassle and this SSD cage really should be relocated so the SATA connections are aligned with the rest of your drives and the back the drive cage also supports two 120mm fans with a simple clamp attachment which is really convenient and allows that extra airflow delivery+ the case is large enough to support 12-inch GPUs without any clearance issues now I don't particularly like the location of the fan controller at the top as that requires a molex connection and I really don't see why this couldn't have been installed in the rear where all the cable mess is handled and turning the case around the p2 80 white is so easy to work in thanks to all the camo tiny notches to security cables and over 30 millimeters of clearance until the panel and one thing that I haven't seen on any other case are these new rubber grommets that are not simply aligned with the cutout but instead have these little rubber Clips holding them in place thus making them a lot more secure when passing multiple thick cables through and starting with the assembly the chassis is clearly designed with excel ATX motherboards in mind for that four-way GPU setup because the rubber grommets are spaced to accommodate for large motherboards which actually causes a bit of cable clutter for standard ATX set ups the lack of any cutouts underneath the motherboard meaning discrete routing for the front panel USB and audio ports is a little more difficult and I wish the cutouts underneath were included now if you play the water cooling we have just over 50 millimetres of clearance from the top fan until the memory modules and a wider top portion of the chassis to accommodate for why the radiators and flipping the case around it does clean up well and certainly can handle a lot more routing those SATA ports was unpleasant oh and the extra molex connector near the rear fan is not ideal but the pto Eddie sure pulls it off now it's on the cleanest of the builds because the slightly spaced rubber grommets and the large window doesn't help either the polycarbonate window I think is a good addition certainly the better choice of plastic for soundproofing and while this chassis has a lot of functional qualities like a roomy interior and very clean-cut design and then you improved rubber grommets I cannot say I'm impressed in fact I'm a little disappointed that an tech is not taking cues from the competition where it's about bringing something new to the table and not just the paint job the included screws for the drive caddies are my biggest complaint as they just don't securely hold the mechanical drives in place the SSD cage needs to be moved back and the fan controller hub needs to find a new spot and if you're serious about silence the defined Excel r2 would be a cheaper and a more silent alternative while the p2 ad has the advantage of a window to showcase your components and I was honestly expecting more from an tech based on the most recent releases from the competition so we'll see if they're able to catch up with something more innovative in the near future but what do you guys think of an tech leave your comments down below and as always thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next review