Another Sonata Question: HOW to add the front fan?

[tracerbullet]

Sounds stupidly simple, but sure doesn't look like it now that I have the case in font of me (just received from Newegg yesterday afternoon).

There doesn't seem to be any mounting holes for it, nor even enough room in there. And if you did in fact put the fan in, it looks like it would blow air all over the place, not just into the case.

Anyone put a fan in front of their Sonata? Am I missing something obvious or is it going to be another heavily customized installation like most of my past cases have had to be? I was hoping to avoid that this time.

 

[hytek369]

yes, i have the fan, but i never used. the front fan is actually inside the case, right before the HD rack. you need to use the soft white screw-looking things to attach the fan, exactly like the rear fan.

 

[tracerbullet]

Thanks for the reply. I did notice I had extra "rubber fan mounting thingys" in with the package of screws and such, so I figured they were either: in case I busted the ones already attaching the rear fan, or they were in fact for the front fan. Which would imply that there are mounting holes for it. I just never did see them.

My recollection is that the hard drive cage is almost butted up agains the metal case itself, and there was no room in between. Just outside of that was the filter, and then the plastic bezels. I'll look again tonight, hopefully I missed something obvious...

***edit***

OK, I just thought I'd find some online reviews and maybe one would have it actually installed - and it worked. http://www.bjorn3d.com//Material/Images/277_Dsc00017.jpg <-- this site did just that. Now I get it.

But it seems silly - seems like instead of pulling air from the front, it would really just act to stir it up in the case instead. Unless I block some of it off with duct tape or something...

Something also tells me to just get the rest of my parts on hand, put it together, and see if I even need the fan to begin with :light:

 

[beverage]

I'm pretty sure the fan doesn't go between the HD cage and the front of the case, it goes on the opposite side of the HD cage...so if you were to say it was between anything it would actually be between the REAR of the case and the HD cage, it pulls air across your HDD's instead of blowing into them.

 

[WobbleWobble]

I use the front fan in my Sonata. It goes behind the HDD racks and is great at keeping the HDDs cool. That's my main purpose of using it. The front fan doesn't just blow air anywhere throughout the case, it blows cool air onto the video card. You can also feel the air being sucked in through the little gaps in the front of the case.

It's not a bad design, it's pretty good in my opinion.

 

[hytek369]

can you tell a difference in noise?

 

[Davegod]

Originally posted by: beverage
I'm pretty sure the fan doesn't go between the HD cage and the front of the case, it goes on the opposite side of the HD cage...so if you were to say it was between anything it would actually be between the REAR of the case and the HD cage, it pulls air across your HDD's instead of blowing into them.

that sounds like a really silly design tbh, sure it doesnt go on the other side of the HDD rack, or even take of the fronting and attatch it to the outside of the chassis??

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: hytek369
can you tell a difference in noise?

If you run it on the Fan Only connector, no. Well worth it to have one in my opinion.

 

[tracerbullet]

Home again, and there's no question that IS where the fan goes. Every other PC I've ever put together has had a fan that mounts to the front of the case until now. This one does sit well inside (about 4" or so) the box, near the motherboard. I won't know until this weekend how it really performs (no time to swap parts over yet), but since I got a Zalman "super big assed hunk of metal with a heatpipe" heatsink for my video card, perhaps this will actually be a great location, since it'll be blowing almost right at it.

Perhaps it's a pressure differential thing - makes sense to have the fan at the front of the cage itself to pull the most air in. But, maybe even inside the case, the fan will still cause some pressure differences inside that will keep the air moving. I'm sure not quite as much, but could still be a lot.

Me being myself, I'm sure I'll rig up some kind of wind tunnel for it. I was hoping to not have to modify this case, but you know how that goes

 

[fw3308]

I have had my Sonata for about 6 months and really like it. I didn't order it with a second fan and had to go out a get a Vantech Stealth 120 mm. I like the design and have not really noticed and abnormal volume increase when adding the second fan. This is an extremely quiet case. I would like to replace my wife, son, and daughters cases with this model just based on noise and looks.

 

[Rukkian]

This may be a stupid question, but looking at the description on newegg, it looks like this case comes with the second fan. Is this actually the case, or do you need to order a second 1?

 

[WobbleWobble]

From what I hear, the more recent Sonatas came with the 2nd fan. Earlier ones didn't

 

[Rukkian]

1 more question, I have heard that the USB ports in the front are only USB1.1 and not 2.0, can anybody confirm or deny this?

 

[tracerbullet]

Mine did not, and I just bought it (well, I guess that's obvious from the posts). I would believe Newegg cycles through stuff pretty quickly so...

Antec's site calls it "1 standard" and "1 optional".

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: Rukkian
1 more question, I have heard that the USB ports in the front are only USB1.1 and not 2.0, can anybody confirm or deny this?

Older ones came with 1.1, newer ones are 2.0. Which one you get, hard to say.

If it's 1.1, I heard Antec will send you a replacement. I'll deal with this when I have time. I want to use my USB 2.0 drive in the front of my case

 

[WobbleWobble]

dp

 

[Gravity]

Originally posted by: Rukkian
This may be a stupid question, but looking at the description on newegg, it looks like this case comes with the second fan. Is this actually the case, or do you need to order a second 1?

I bought one from newegg two weeks ago and it came standard with the front 120mm fan. The usb ports in the front were 2.0.

 

[klocwerk]

Originally posted by: Gravity

Originally posted by: Rukkian
This may be a stupid question, but looking at the description on newegg, it looks like this case comes with the second fan. Is this actually the case, or do you need to order a second 1?

I bought one from newegg two weeks ago and it came standard with the front 120mm fan. The usb ports in the front were 2.0.

yeah, the new ones are fully functional.
I got mine a few months ago, early fall I think. 1.1 USB and no front fan.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

Funny, both newegg and Antec say all sonata cases are 2.0 and only come with 1 (one)fan......

 

[SuctionCat]

To those that have installed a front fan on the Sonata, was the temperature drop inside significant? I'm debating about what additional cooling I should buy; I'm definitely getting a Zalman 7000, but I'm not sure if I need a front fan, and/or a replacement for the back one. I'm looking at either panaflo or papst models.