Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
After removing the tempered glass side panel, we can have a closer look into the interior. The black color remains constant throughout the entire case. The PSU shroud covers over almost all of the bottom of the case, while leaving a small bit of space at the front for a radiator or other cooling options. We have very little space underneath the shroud, given that there is a drive bay underneath. On top of the shroud is fairly bare as there is nothing but two cutouts for cables to run through. There is a break between the motherboard tray and the right side of the case to allow for easy cable routes to the front.
Alongside the top are more cable management cutouts. I found this cutout to be satisfactory in fitting the CPU power cable as well as routing a fan cable to the back of the case. On the top of the case, you can mount up to three 120mm fans, two 140mm fans, or even a full 240mm radiator. Additionally, there is a magnetic dust filter to further reduce dust intake. There is a small amount of space to place fans here, so you must consider the amount of space you need for the CPU cable or motherboard. There is an additional preinstalled 140mm fan in the back and preinstalled standoffs for an ATX motherboard. There is also a large opening for the back of the motherboard for users to install a backplate for third-party CPU coolers. This will help in the future by letting you install or replace your CPU cooler after the motherboard is installed. The case can support coolers up to 178mm in height.
There are two cut outs as mentioned before on the PSU shroud. These two cut outs allow for easy cable routing. There is no dedicated cut out of GPU power, making cable management a little harder and potentially with a worse outcome in terms of looks. Looking at the clearance for the graphics card, the Antec P82 Flow allows for up to 380mm cards. There are three more 140mm fans at the front of the case. You can see the space at the front allows for a radiator up to 360mm to be installed. The space for the radiator is quite tight and may face problems regarding space. There are seven expansion slots as I have mentioned on the previous page you can break off with the addition of three extra brackets. There is a lock on the expansion slots that you can remove with two screws.
There are three intake 140mm fans at the front of the case. These fans do not have anti-vibration pads, meaning the fans may run louder given the vibration. The same thing applies to the 140mm fan at the back of the case. Fortunately, the front of the case does have a dust filter, reducing the amount of dust entering the system. This is an excellent addition, given that this case is designed for optimal airflow. Additionally, the P82 Flow has about 30mm of space at the front of the case to allow for better air intake. I can feel some of the air being pulled in when I put my hand near the top, bottom, and side of the case, and the fans do not seem to be getting choked out.
As for the fans, they are all three-pin fans. The case comes with a splitter to connect all four of the fans to a Molex connector on your PSU for ease-of-use. The issue with this design is when you connect the fans to the PSU using Molex, you lose the ability to control the fan speed. A better implementation of fans would be to use an integrated fan controller with the addition of a SATA connector for power. The result will be better control over the fans while reducing the amount of cables used in your build, as Molex is a less commonly used connector nowadays. SATA, on the other hand, will likely already be used to power a drive.
The back of the Antec P82 Flow looks standard to other cases on the market. The P82 Flow includes two vertical 2.5” drive mounts with the addition of a 3.5” or 2.5” drive bay. The two 2.5” mounts can be found on the left of the case, while the 3.5” or 2.5” drive bay sits at the bottom. The P82 Flow has plenty of cable tie loops to hold down cables. This allows for a cleaner cable management, which is essential for a case of this smaller form factor. It would have been nice to see Velcro straps included to make the cable management look better. Furthermore, while the area behind the front has a gap of 25mm, the gap between the motherboard tray and the side panel is only 8mm. This is quite tight, and it will be a little hard to get the CPU power cable to fit. Given this tight space, the addition of the use of Molex on the fan splitter hinders the case here as the addition of another cord further reduces the amount of usable space.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
