Clearance inside a chassis is essential to enthusiasts, in this section we will be looking at all areas to reveal just how flexible P280 really is.

Firstly the CPU cooler clearance, Antec claim that the P280 will house CPU coolers that have a maximum height of 170mm. Installed within the P280 is the Noctua NH-U12P, this is 158mm in total height. The bigger flagships like Noctua NH-D14 and Thermalright Silver Arrow are 160mm in height so this case is compatible with these coolers.



Moving to the graphics card, Antec claim a maximum length of 13”. Installed inside P280 is the NVIDIA GTX480 which is 11” in length and you can see from the picture below that there is another few inches of clearance before it touches the HDD cage. The room here pretty much covers anything currently on the market.



Lastly to the clearance behind the motherboard tray. This gap is important because it means the more space we have the better able we are at storing unwanted cables and keeping the other side nice and tidy. The P280 has just short of 2.5cm of clearance between the back of the motherboard tray and the side panel – quite a generous amount indeed.



Over the next page we will consider the P280’s thermal performance.