Antec Performance One P150 'super quiet' chassis

By Matt Davey, Hexus.net • Get more from this author

28th June 2006 14:12 GMT

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Both side panels can be removed from the P150, and while the motherboard-facing side features quick-release screws, the other side features regular screws, which, given the market Antec is aiming at with this case, is disappointing. So too is the lack of a removable motherboard tray. At this price point, that seems a very odd decision.

antec p150 performance one chassis

The only place you will find any aluminium in the P150 is on the front panel. The rest of the chassis is high-gauge steel, which does explain the chassis' high weight when empty.

The P150 is touted by Antec as being a "quiet" chassis and, as such, you'd expect some sort of acoustic material to be fitted inside the chassis. The P150 does indeed ship with such material, but it's surprisingly thin and quite a hard material.

One upside, however, lies with the Antec-branded PSU. Antec is renowned for the quality of its power supply units, and the enclosed PSU is one of the new Neo High Efficiency Modular units with a 430W rating. It alone, we reckon, would cost around £50.

Antec provides you with a very basic user manual together with the obligatory bag of screws and the necessary modular connectors.

antec p150 performance one chassis

You can use any of the four rubber-mounted HDD trays, which use the screw mounts under your drive to provide protection and noise absorption, or, alternatively, you can mount three drives using a new HDD suspension system. This consists of two hooks either side of the chassis with a large rubber band fixed in between them. Put simply, you slide your drive through the centre of the bands, one at each end of the drive.

Having tried both systems the HDD suspension system results in a slightly quieter drive when in use, but, using common sense, it's highly recommended that you never move your chassis when using the new HDD suspension system.