System Builder Tip: System integration on the Antec P180B

When integrating a system into the Antec P180B chassis, one needs to be aware of a bit of a manufacturing quirck if that last slot is going to be needed.

In this case, we put together an Intel based X6800 on an Intel BadAxe D975XBX motherboard. ATI X1900 CrossFire and X1900XTX PCI-E video round out the system. CoolMax provides 1 KiloWatt of power and Zalman will be keeping the processor cool.

With the two ATI video cards covering pretty much every slot except the last PCI slot, that was the only place the Creative Audigy X-Fi sound card could go:


This is where we ran into the snafu. There is a folded piece of metal just behind the slot opening that the sound card's bracket should be passing through.

It took some "fancy" dremel work and a bit of prying with a flat blade screwdriver to get the card to settle into place properly:


On this particular build, there were a number of the hard drive rubber isolator grommets that were missing from the box. A call to Antec's support line and a few days later we had the requisite number of grommets to install the hard drives.

Besides having good quality chassis products, Antec's post sales support has been really good to us when needed.

Antec's Web Site.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.