The upper chamber at first glance looks identical to the previous version. There is a removable hard drive cage with a small parts box attached to the backside of the cage. The box comes in handy for storing extra hardware like standoffs, screws etc. However, I wouldn't recommend storing anything in it that you might need easy access to. If you have hard drives installed it is kind of cumbersome to pull the cage completely out to access the toolbox, the only other option is to pull the side panel on the backside.

The hard drive cage can also serve as a cooling duct if you are not using it for HDD's. Antec includes clips to attach a 120mm fan to the HDD cage which helps to cool add in cards. A fan can also be mounted at the front of the case in front of the HDD cage.

Optical drive installation uses the rail system I'm sure everyone is familiar with. Rails attach to your optical drives with screws and are then slid into place until they lock in.

Now for what I consider the major improvements over the P180. In almost every review of the P180 there was one major complaint, and that was that there was no where to run cables. This meant that everything was just crammed in and looked like a birds nest of wires and cables. The redesigned P182 hopes to remove that birds nest and they have done that by providing easy access to the space behind the motherboard tray as well as rubber tie down straps to secure all of the wiring you'll be hiding back there. Access to this space is provided by strategically placed cut outs in the motherboard tray. There is one along the front edge near the hard drive cage, one at the bottom and two along the top edge, one placed towards the front and the other towards the rear.

It may not seem like much, but this was by far the biggest improvement to the design of the P180. I wasn't expecting much at first, but after installing my hardware I was amazed at how much difference these four small cut outs could make. I went from having what seemed like no room to breathe to having plenty of room to add or remove hardware without having to unplug everything. Remember that pic from page one of the install in the P180? Well here's a side by side of the install in the P180 and the P182.

I consider myself to be the worlds worst at cable management, and even I didn't do to bad with the P182. Both Pics above have the same hardware, the only difference is the pic on the left is in the P180B and the pic on the right is the P182B. As you can see it looks like there's a lot more room to work with, naturally it is the same amount of space but all of the "extra" cabling is now hidden out of site rather than just running rampant.

The pic above shows where all of the extra cabling is hiding. There are multiple notches in the motherboard tray to use the extra (included) tie down straps to help secure your cables.

Cooling, Noise and Final Words

Performance wise nothing has changed between the P180 and the P182. You can get a refresher of cooling results with the P180 here. The P182 still has the same goals, provide great cooling performance while remaining as quiet as possible. Cooling performance is exceptional considering the noise level (or lack of) In most cases you give up cooling for silence, or give up silence for cooling, that's not the case with the P182 (or P180 for that matter)

With the three TriCool fans set to medium speed I was unable to hear them over my PSU or heatsink fan. On high speed they are significantly louder, but I never felt the need to run them faster than medium speed, and most times... even while gaming low speed was more than enough. Naturally water cooling would bring the noise level down even more, and the P182 is ready for an external kit like a Koolance EXOS. I'm sure there are a few "engineers" out there that can manage to fit an internal kit into the P182, but that's not going to be me. That's how I wrecked the P180.

In the looks department the P182 is still one of the classiest looking cases on the market in my opinion. If you are looking for a little more "bling" Antec offers a special edition of the P182 that includes mirror finish stainless steel side panels and a black anodized interior. Or if that's just not enough for you, keep an eye our for the P190, a steel, dual power supply behemoth of an enclosure.

Years ago Antec set out to provide a high performance, high quality case and it all started in my opinion with the P150 which was quickly replaced with the P160. I remember seeing the P160 for the first time and wanting it to be my next upgrade. Over time the P160 has evolved into what we have today, and that's a kick ass, high performance, almost 100% silent enclosure. Everything about this case screams quality. From the finish right down to the rubber feet.

Although I have never used any other top end cases I have had a chance to take a look at several and the Antec Performance One Series (P150 - P190) has always been at the top if my list. The changes made to the P182 are a huge step forward IMO, I only have one gripe and that's the placement of the fan in the lower chamber. More than once I've had to adjust cables to keep them from obstructing fan. Much like the P180, cable length on your PSU is something to consider, even more so if you plan to route cables up behind the motherboard tray. I'm using an OCZ GamerXStream PSU and the cables are more than long enough to reach pretty much anywhere in the case.

All in all this is still my enclosure of choice, it looks great and performance is top notch. There is not any other enclosure currently on the market that I personally would choose over the P182. Antec doesn't skimp on quality, and that's obvious in the Performance One series enclosures.