Antec P150 review

Silent PCs aren't just for the living room; a quiet computer can make an office or bedroom a much nicer place to be. Antec's P150 is a good starting point for building a whisper-quiet system.

The iPod-white finish looks great and hides a sturdy steel structure, so the case won't rattle even with lots of moving components inside. Antec has fitted a 120mm fan to the rear of the case for cooling. Its large size means that it shifts a lot of air even when spinning slowly. It also comes with a speed adjust switch, so you can get it running at a comfortable volume.

Hard disks can often create a lot of noise, as vibrations caused by the drive spinning can be transmitted into the case through the holding screws. The P150's hard disk mounting trays have rubber grommets to prevent this. If you want absolute silence, you can ditch the drive trays and use the rubber-band suspension mounts (a bit like a hard disk sling) instead, so that no vibration makes it to the case at all.

Antec ships the P150 with one of its Neo HE 430W power supplies. It's a very quiet supply and should have enough power for all but high-end SLI systems. It's also modular, so you only have to fit the power cables that you will use.

Building your PC is a little tricky, as getting to the drive bays requires removing the front bezel and the twin 90mm fan mounts. Once that's done, though, there's a lot of room and you shouldn't have too much trouble installing your drives and components.

Intelligently designed to keep your PC quiet and with a built-in power supply, the P150 is an excellent case and very good value.

Author: David Ludlow