Simple fan replacement for Antec P180?

This should not be hard to do, but there are some "wrinkles". In terms of size, this is a common "120 mm fan" size, the same as many case vent fans, so spacing of the mounting holes should be standard. To get at them, though, I see from the manual that the top fan has a "spoiler" which looks like a low plastic diversion hood over its top opening. I guess it directs air to the back. It has simple tabs that fit into slots in the case top. You should be able to slide it towards the back and then lift it out of the slots. Then the mounting screws should be accessible.

Now, those little 3-position speed switches on those Tri-Cool fans are NOT "standard" and cannot be used with other fans. They are just switches on the ends of cords. The actual resistor components are on a board inside the fan motor case, and other fans do not have these. So you cannot adapt those switches to other fans. If you want to keep that feature, you will have to buy a new Antec Tri-Cool fan.

If you buy a different fan, FIRST you need to decide what type to buy. Your motherboard has two SYS_FAN ports on it located on either side of the bottom ends of the RAM module slots; one is 3-pin, the other is 4-pin. A 4-pin fan can fit onto either of these ports, and CAN be controlled automatically by the mobo's systems. That is, the SYS_FAN port can change the fan's speed according to how hot the interior of your case is, slowing it down when it does not need to provide lots of cooling. On the other hand, a 3-pin fan (usually a little cheaper) can ONLY be controlled by the 3-pin SYS_FAN port. So, look at those ports and determine which (maybe both) is unused and available. Buy the fan type that matches your available port.

When you have installed the new fan physically at the top, plug it into the port you planned. When you first start up, boot directly into BIOS Setup by holding down the keyboard "Del" key until the Setup opening screen shows. Choose PC Health Status to get to where you can configure the fan port. See your manual, p. 56. Ensure the SYSTEM FAN you're using is set to Enabled and set to Automatic. If you had to change any setting, remember to SAVE and EXIT.

Set up this way, you should find that your new fan at the very first start-up will come on at full speed for a couple of seconds, then slow down. Later as the system warms up you may notice it speed up a bit.

I'm slightly confused. The manual I found on-line may be for an older version, but it only has two SYS_FAN mobo ports. You speak of SYS_FAN3.

IF your mobo has a 4-pin SYS_FAN port, then it can control the speed of any 4-pin fan. BUT a 3-pin fan can only be controlled by a fan port operating in true 3-pin fan mode, better called Voltage Control Mode. So you're better off choosing a 4-pin fan design. Yes, it can be controlled automatically by the mobo SYS_FAN port (assuming the port configuration is set to its default "Automatic" mode), VERY much like the way the CPU cooler is controlled. The slight difference is this: CPU cooling is based on a temperature sensor built into the CPU chip itself, whereas the SYS_FAN ports for case ventilation fans are based on a different sensor, one built into the mobo by its maker. This is the optimum way to control a case vent fan.

I see what you mean about the pinout labels on manual p. 23. Unfortunately I have found many manuals have incomplete and confusing information, sometimes even outright wrong! But here's the thing that can save you. The newer 4-pin fans are designed with a backwards compatibility feature. If they are plugged into a true 3-pin fan port (or even into a "fake" 4-pin port) that is operating in Voltage Control Mode, they still will work under mobo speed control. If they just don't receive a PWM signal from Pin #4, they operate on the varying voltage supplied on Pin #2 just as a 3-pin fan would.

For future reference in case you want to replace another of those case fans, a good guideline is that you CAN connect up to two "normal" fans (but not more) to one SYS_FAN port by using a Y-splitter that converts the port into two output connectors. The splitter is constructed so that the speed of only one of those two fans will be measured by the mobo port, and the speed of the other is ignored entirely, but that's no problem. For systems using only 4-pin fans on a true 4-pin port in PWM Mode, there are other ways to connect even more fans to a single port under control, but you don't appear to need that.

Good to hear. Thanks for posting this update.And thanks for Best Solution.