Building on a classic, successful product is never an easy task. Advocates will be closely watching and criticising too. In recent times Antec have focussed mainly on their gaming chassis leaving the enthusiast to perhaps look elsewhere but it’s nice to see that they are now concentrating on the enthusiast market but introducing the successor to the popular P18X series.

The P280 has a minimalist approach to case design giving credence to subtle and discreet styling. Not everyone likes their rig to be gaudy with flashing LED fan lights. The outside is pleasing to the eye as is the inside too, there is XL-ATX compatibility for those with larger motherboards and thanks to the abundant cable management grommets creating a nice, tidy system couldn’t be easier.

Antec have made a smart move as they did with the recently reviewed Eleven Hundred and integrated a fan controller at the back of the chassis. This fan controller is discreet and gives the user control over fan speeds without having to attach oodles of cables.



Though I was very pleased overall with the P280 it does have a few points to take note of. The front has no intake fans and therefore thermal performance straight out of the box is always going to take a slight hit. Antec’s decision to leave this out of the P280 as already mentioned is due to favouring build quality over pre-installed fans – which when you consider, is a good move since you can always include additional fans but cannot alter build quality afterwards.

Against some of the rivals out there the P280 is priced slightly higher than some comparable cases that offer similar features and quality. Personally I would like to see the P280 that is currently priced at £110-120 to fall closer to the £100 mark – and even possibly on the other side of £100.

Overall the P280 is a brilliant case; it boasts lots of features, looks delightful and will satisfy a good majority of the enthusiasts out there. As a result it just sneaks in the Gold award.