Introduction
Today is a very special day indeed, as it marks the day I finally get my hands on the all-new Antec P380! I first saw this chassis at the start of the year, when we visited the Antec suite at CES 2015. I was very impressed with what I saw, but trade shows aren’t always the best place to get in close and really study a product. Antec used to be one of my favourite chassis manufacturers, I stress used to be, as they were one of the biggest players in the industry, creating some of the most popular chassis around. In recent years, Antec has seen fierce competition from the likes of Corsair, Silverstone, NZXT, Thermaltake and Coolermaster, to name but a few. The P380 is supposed to mark the triumphant return of Antec to the premium gaming chassis market, so let’s see if it’s got what it takes!
“When only the best can satisfy your needs, the P380 is the answer. Known for its minimalistic design, the Performance series focuses on delivering the perfect balance between performance and Quiet-Computing. Whether you’re designing your ultimate dream PC or, just creating a monster file server, the P380 should be the choice, without hesitation.” – Antec.com
As you can see from the specifications below, the P380 is very well equipped. It has room for a mini-ITX motherboard, right up to E-ATX motherboards with 9 expansion slots; certainly more than enough room for a high-end workstation or gaming rig. There’s 465mm of GPU clearance too, so even the biggest cards on the market should fit without any issues. There’s also a lot of fan and radiator mounting options throughout; great news for both air-cooling and water-cooling enthusiasts.
This chassis certainly has presence. It’s big, it’s heavy and it oozes high quality from the moment you take it out of the box. Down the left side, you’ll find a huge side panel window; perfect for showing off your new build.
On the from left corner, there’s a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a pair of USB 2.0 ports and HD audio jacks. While the power and reset buttons are tucked down the front edge on both the left and right side of the chassis; as not everyone has their chassis on the same side of their desk.
The right side panel is just a blank panel, but from here you can better see the top panel ventilation, which is on both sides at the top of the chassis.
The front panel is simple, yet elegant. It’s cut from a thick piece of beautifully finished aluminium and the curves at the top and bottom gives the chassis its sleek appeal, despite its large size.
Around the back, you’ll find two thumb screws at the top, which hold the top panel in place, a 120mm fan mount with a 120mm fan pre-installed, 9 expansion slots, two rubber grommets and a lot of extra ventilation holes.
The top also features a thick aluminium which nicely compliments the front panel.
There are four thick rubber feet on the base of the chassis, perfect for helping reduce vibrations and to give the PSU air intake some ground clearance.
One thing I really love about this chassis, to the point where I’ve been wondering why all chassis manufacturers don’t do this, is the PSU dust filter. It slides out from the left side of the chassis, it’s so simple, but it also means you don’t have to pull your chassis out from under the desk just to get to the filter!
The front panel, however, has a filter that slides out from the bottom. Call me crazy, but this isn’t ideal as it means I’ll need to tip my chassis on its back to clean it.
The only other way I can think of cleaning this filter is to lift the chassis onto a table and slide the filter out. However, awkwardness aside, it’s a great quality filter and perfect for maintaining clean front airflow.
Just ordered one from novatech for £135
fail.