Antec P8 Mid-Tower Chassis Review
Peter Donnell / 7 years ago
Final Thoughts
Price
The Antec P8 Mid-Tower is already available from most major retailers. We found it at Amazon for a very reasonable £59.99 which is very good value for money. There are signs of a few cost-saving ideas on this chassis, but none of them are deal breakers. Would I have paid a little more to improve them? Absolutely, but I understand that Antec is trying to hit a specific price point and still turn some profit.
Overview
As I said above, a few minor tweaks to this chassis would make a huge improvement. Yes, they would result in a slight increase in price, but they would take it from a Bang for Buck award to an Editors Choice.
What Would I Improve?
Ditch the top radiator/fan mounts completely, they’re just not needed on a chassis like this. Cut a small hole in the PSU shroud to allowing vertical pass-through of the GPU power cables. Stop using snap-off expansion slot covers, and add a slide-out filter to the PSU air intake. Are any of these a deal breaker on a chassis that costs just £60, hell no, it’s a bargain and all these small issues are easily ignored. If it were £100, then I would feel very differently.
Build Quality
While not as robust as something like the Antec P100, it’s still pretty respectable. The chassis feels sturdy, and with the weight of the glass panel on the side, I guess it would need to be anyway. It doesn’t rattle or flex and everything fit the first time.
Should I buy one?
That’s a very subjective thing, obviously. However, I think this chassis is excellent value for money and as you saw from our build, it looks pretty fantastic too. To get such a sleek design on the exterior, and a huge tempered glass window on the side, at this price, is a no brainer. I do like the more mature approach of the design too. I could easily keep this in the office and it would look professional. There’s no glaring LED RGB lights either, and the white LED lights that are on here are subtle highlights rather than a prominent design feature. The addition of three pre-installed fans is a huge bonus too, making this even better value for money.
Pros
- Stylish aesthetics
- 3 x 120mm fans pre-installed
- Some watercooling support
- PSU shroud
- Good cable routing
- Room for 6 x HDD (4 x 2.5 + 2 x 3.5)
- Tempered glass side panel
- Excellent value for money
Cons
- Snap off expansion slot covers
- Limited radiator support in top mount
Neutral
- No slide out filter for PSU
- Cable routing hole for GPU could be added