Inside the Antec P280
We've mentioned that the P280 is slightly larger than most other mid-tower enclosures, but when you get inside, it becomes clearly evident that Antec has put every last bit of extra space to good use.
Internally, the chassis feels very roomy, and that makes it welcoming and relatively easy to build into. There's so much space, in fact, that the chassis doesn't only support mATX and ATX motherboards, it'll also quite happily accommodate an XL-ATX board measuring up to 345mm x 262mm in size.
Users of such boards tend to conjure up exotic builds, and if you're thinking four-way graphics, the P280 has you covered with a total of nine expansion slots. Overkill for most users, but having them is no bad thing, and if you're only running dual SLI or CrossFire, it'll allow you to space your cards more comfortably.
Everywhere you look, there's space. Take the cutout in the motherboard tray as an example; it's so big it's better described as a gaping hole. Seeing it gave us concerns about the strength of the motherboard tray (what's left of it), but there are no such problems - the steel tray feels stiff and strong.
And there's no shortage of holes surrounding the tray, either. Antec has provided four large rubber-grommeted holes for cable routing, and there are further cutouts above and below the motherboard area that are ideal for navigating specific wires. The cable-routing facilities are excellent, and they're backed up by a good 30mm of space between the motherboard tray and side panel. There's a lot of room back there, and it's perfect for storing excess cabling.
It's clear that certain features have been well thought out, and the storage bays are another example of that. In addition to the six 3.5/2.5in bays, the P280 provides two dedicated 2.5in mounts that are ideal for solid-state drives. Positioned above the regular hard-disk bays, the 2.5in mounts allow SSDs to slide in and be screwed into place. The 2.5in mounts are a snug fit and work well, so much so that it's a shame the half-a-dozen hard-disk bays can't be removed completely - SSD users may find them to be surplus to requirements.
The hard-disk column does serve another purpose, though, as it can be used to house a further four fans - two at the front of the column, directly behind the door, and two at the back of the column, nearer the motherboard. The mounts are designed for 120mm fans, but remember, none of the four intakes are included as standard, so you may want to consider adding airflow if you'll be using hard disks as your primary storage device.
Elsewhere, there are three tool-free optical bays, thumb-screwed PCIe expansion slots, and an integrated molex-powered fan controller hub that sits in the top left-hand corner. All three pre-installed "TwoCool" fans are connected to the hub, and there's room to add one more - though routing another fan's cabling to the top-left corner of the chassis will prove to be nigh-on impossible, which might explain why Antec opted to ship without front intakes.
Overall, the internal layout is fantastic, and it's generally excellent to work with. But, once again, Antec could have fine-tuned some of the smaller details. All the bundled screws, for example, are thrown into a single bag, leaving the user to sift through them, and the front-panel power, reset, hard disk and LED wiring could be better. The cables are a little short, so you may struggle to route them in your preferred way, and they aren't tied together, so they can get messy.
Still, there's enough room to guarantee a clean-looking build. Our X58 test platform looks tiny in the P280's spacious internal cavern, and high-end components like the Radeon HD 6970 slot in with room to spare.