Antec P193 Mid Tower ATX Case Review

Antec P193 – Exterior Impressions

On the front of the Antec P193 is a plastic door with an aluminum plated face complete with the Antec badge on the top right corner. This is held firmly shut by magnets. Normally, I’m not a big fan of front panel doors because they end up being a hassle if you access the optical drives a lot, and especially if the USB or audio ports are hidden behind it. I actually like the design of the P193 door because it will open 270 degrees and will stay that way until you close it. As such, you can leave it open full time if you choose and have the best of both worlds. There is no option to swap the hinge side of the door, located on the left, which some people may not like depending on where their PC is situated.

You can see that the eSATA, USB 2.0 & audio ports are located on the lower right edge of the front right below the power and reset switches. This is a decent spot, although those that keep their machine on the floor may wish for a more elevated position. By default, there are vacant spots for 2 x 120mm fans hidden behind dust filters on the lower front. These filters swing open for easy cleaning was is extremely handy. The bad news here is that the P193 doesn’t ship with any fans installed in the front for intake. This is likely a cost cutting move but having fans in the front of the case is arguably essential so it seems odd to have been left out on a case that is not considered a budget model. The vents around the front door allow air to flow in and the door does a decent job of reducing the noise from the fans when closed due to the 3 layers (steel, plastic and aluminum) of material of which it is composed.

Also present of the front panel is a key hole allowing the locking of the front door. This is a bit of a mystery as the only thing locking the door actually prohibits is opening the door and accessing the optical drives. You can still reach the power and reset buttons through the ventilation holes if you have somewhat narrow fingers or an instrument like a pen on hand. The HDD activity light resides near the reset switch and is blue but the case does not feature any other power or decorative LEDs – no complaints about that here.

The right panel is virtually devoid of features and from this angle the vents along the edge of the front door are clearly visible.

The left side panel is where the BigBoy 200mm intake fan is mounted. Unlike the P190, the P193 has bumped out the mount so that there is more room inside the case for large CPU coolers which was a problem on the P190.

Like the front door, the vents are around the perimeter of the piece that
juts out and has an aluminum plate for decoration. The sound emanating from this area is very low and Antec lists the fan rating at 24 dBA to 29 dBA depending on the speed for which it is set. It busts out a hefty 83-134 CFM depending on the speed setting.

This fan also has a nice slide-out dust filter which makes cleaning hassle-free because there is no need to remove the entire panel. Since this fan is an intake fan, an argument can be made that the front fan is unnecessary but a lot of hard drives run hot, especially 10k RPM drives so having ample airflow up front to keep them cool is prudent.

The top features two TriCool 140mm fans with switches for speed control. They are mounted on the rear of the case. 140mm fans will run a little quieter than the 120mm fans at low speeds while pushing more air comparatively. Antec lists these fans as rated at 20 dBA, 21 dBA and 32 dBA for the low, medium and high settings, respectively. Of all the fans in the system, these are the most audible simply because there is nothing covering them to buffer the sound.

On the rear, a 120mm TriCool exhaust fan is mounted. It’s rated for 25 dBA – 30 dBA, and because it is in the rear, the sound from the fan is nearly inaudible. Also found on the back is the I/O panel plate, 7 expansion slot covers with ventilation holes, two rubber grommet-protected water hose apertures and the cut out for the PSU.

A closer look at the TriCool fan speed switches shows that they are identified with labels that correspond to their location and have the L, M & H designations for speed level.

The bottom features 4 silicone feet which appear to be affixed via adhesive and are non-adjustable.

Let’s move on to the inside where the all the good stuff happens.