I'm thinking about getting an Antec P180. I already bought and paid for all my other parts which are:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB Retail
Zalman CNPS9500 LED Copper CPU Heat Sink 92MM Fan 1350-2600RPM 18-27.5DBA W/ Blue LED
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12 240PIN
Dual Channel Memory Kit
OCZ GameXStream 600W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe ATX LGA775 975X DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 GBLAN Sound Motherboard
EVGA E-GEFORCE 7600 GT KO 580MHZ 256MB 128BIT 1.5GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card
I plan on taking my old IDE hard drive and IDE DVD drive and IDE CDRW drive into this case if possible.
Here is my questions. Specific answers to all of them would be greatly appreciated.
Questions
1. Would my OCZ GameXStream 600W be fine in the P180 case or am I really in trouble for not getting the ones they listed? Are the cables on the OCZ GameXStream 600W long enough to work on this case?
I want to keep my case as dust free as possible. I notice the P180 has "Built in washable air-filter".
2. What areas of the case does the "Built in washable air-filter" cover and what areas of it does it mean I don't need dust filters over my fans for? How many fan dust filters would I need to buy in order to keep this case as 100% dust-free as possible?
3. Which direction should I make my Zalman CNPS9500 LED face?
4. Is there any way to disable the LED of the Zalman CNPS9500 LED since I can't see it anyhow with this case?
5. Should I use the thermal grease that comes with the Zalman CNPS9500 LED or buy some Artic Silver instead? I want to do whichever is more ideal.
6. Does the Antec P180 come with a manual?
7. Are there any technical reasons why it may be better for me to have a professional assemble my parts into the P180 or would it be just as good for me to do it myself even though I have never worked on a case that unorthodox before? I do know how to build computers for the most part although what I am uncomfortable with in general is: mounting the motherboard, putting thermal paste onto a heatsink, mounting the heatsink, connecting the highly technical small cables of the motherboard (not the large molex connectors; I mean like HDD light cable etc.)
8. I forsee problems with my IDE drive plans seeing as the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe apparently only has one IDE connector. Is there any way to work around this problem so that I can use all 3 of my 3 IDE drives with this motherboard?
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB Retail
Zalman CNPS9500 LED Copper CPU Heat Sink 92MM Fan 1350-2600RPM 18-27.5DBA W/ Blue LED
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12 240PIN
Dual Channel Memory Kit
OCZ GameXStream 600W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe ATX LGA775 975X DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 GBLAN Sound Motherboard
EVGA E-GEFORCE 7600 GT KO 580MHZ 256MB 128BIT 1.5GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card
I plan on taking my old IDE hard drive and IDE DVD drive and IDE CDRW drive into this case if possible.
Here is my questions. Specific answers to all of them would be greatly appreciated.
Questions
To optimize performance of your P180 the choice of your power supply is crucial. Antec strongly recommends choosing from our Phantom, NeoHE or TruePower series
1. Would my OCZ GameXStream 600W be fine in the P180 case or am I really in trouble for not getting the ones they listed? Are the cables on the OCZ GameXStream 600W long enough to work on this case?
I want to keep my case as dust free as possible. I notice the P180 has "Built in washable air-filter".
2. What areas of the case does the "Built in washable air-filter" cover and what areas of it does it mean I don't need dust filters over my fans for? How many fan dust filters would I need to buy in order to keep this case as 100% dust-free as possible?
3. Which direction should I make my Zalman CNPS9500 LED face?
4. Is there any way to disable the LED of the Zalman CNPS9500 LED since I can't see it anyhow with this case?
5. Should I use the thermal grease that comes with the Zalman CNPS9500 LED or buy some Artic Silver instead? I want to do whichever is more ideal.
6. Does the Antec P180 come with a manual?
7. Are there any technical reasons why it may be better for me to have a professional assemble my parts into the P180 or would it be just as good for me to do it myself even though I have never worked on a case that unorthodox before? I do know how to build computers for the most part although what I am uncomfortable with in general is: mounting the motherboard, putting thermal paste onto a heatsink, mounting the heatsink, connecting the highly technical small cables of the motherboard (not the large molex connectors; I mean like HDD light cable etc.)
8. I forsee problems with my IDE drive plans seeing as the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe apparently only has one IDE connector. Is there any way to work around this problem so that I can use all 3 of my 3 IDE drives with this motherboard?