14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, we reported on how Antec revealed a new product series at the Consumer Electronics Show, a collection of PC cases led by the P380. Now, that P380 flagship has been officially introduced.
The Antec P380 is a pretty large piece of work, large enough to fit not only conventional case types (ATX, Micro ATX and Mini-ITX), but also more unusual ones like E-ATX and SSI CEB.
E-ATX is easy enough to figure out, a type of motherboard that is a bit larger than ATX but otherwise the same.
SSI CEB, however, is short for Compact Electronics Bay Specification (CEB) and was derived from the EEB and ATX specifications. At their core, SSI CEB motherboards have the same IO connector area and many of the same motherboard mounting holes as ATX motherboards, but different processor mounting holes.
Also, SSI CEB are bigger than ATX platforms, hence why it takes a somewhat oversized enclosure like the Antec P380 to accommodate them.
The specs of the Antec P380
Other than the size, the newcomer boasts eight 3.5 / 2.5-inch drive bays, all swappable, as well as the possibility to remove some of the cages to give room to graphics card.
Top VGA board length thus becomes 465 mm / 18.30 inches, more than any board ever truly needs. Still, more space means more room for air to move. The front and top ends of the chassis can hold 360 mm water cooling radiators as well (14.17 inches).
Not surprising. Since this is supposed to be the best chassis in Antec's arsenal, it is naturally geared towards gamers and overclockers. Rubber hose passages are, of course, part of the design also.
On that note, the P380 also possesses noise dampening attributes, so that your computer does not sound like an airplane when running a demanding game or other. The CPU and GPU coolers will still determine the noise though.
Curiously enough, the newcomer only has one slim optical drive bay. The inner room was allocated primarily to internal storage devices, not optical drives, it seems.
Availability
The Antec P380 is part of the Performance One series and should be up for sale at €209 / $242 with a three-year warranty.
"The P380 is impressive not only because of its fine aesthetics and high-quality finish, but also because of its remarkable features," said Jerome Francois, sales director Europe at Antec. "The chassis offers space and sufficient flexibility and design options to meet the high demands of gamers and enthusiasts, while ensuring a smooth running performance and best cooling performance."
