Antec Sonata cool enough??

Armistad123

Member
May 29, 2003
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Would an Antec Sonata case be cool enough to cool this setup?? How many fans does it come with? i think 2?? I just want to be totally sure before i buy something and regret it.

Motherboard: ABIT IS7,Intel 865PE chipset for Socket 478 P4 ATX motherboard RETAIL
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 / 2.8CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - RETAIL
Case: Antec Sonata
RAM: KINGSTON HyperX Series 184-pin 1GB Kit (2x 512MB) DDR433 (PC3500) DDR RAM modules, Model# KHX3500K2/1G
HD: Seagate 120GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Barracuda 7200.7 ST3120026AS - OEM
CD-RW: Lite On 52x32x52x Black Color CDRW Drive LTR-52327S - OEM
DVD-ROM: LITE-ON XJ-HD166/XJ-HD 165H 16X DVD ROM Drive BLACK- OEM48X CD-ROM
Speakers: Logitech Z640 5.1 Speaker ? RETAIL
Video Card: POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9800 128MB DDR DVI/TV-out 8X AGP (Non Pro) RETAIL
Keyboard+ Mouse: Chieftec Wireless Keyboard and OPTICAL Mouse Combo, PS2 Retail
 

Hanzou

Senior member
Apr 29, 2003
373
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0
Originally posted by: Armistad123
Would an Antec Sonata case be cool enough to cool this setup?? How many fans does it come with? i think 2?? I just want to be totally sure before i buy something and regret it.
It comes with one 120mm exhaust fan, with an the option to add a 120mm intake.
 

nowayout99

Senior member
Dec 23, 2001
232
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76
It gets the job done but it's not much quieter/cooler than their other cases w/ smartfans.
 

capricorn

Senior member
May 8, 2003
219
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76
I just built a system with this case last weekend. It's my first attempt at a "quiet" PC, so I can't comment on how it compares to other quiet pcs, but this one is very, very quiet. All my other PCs are at the "small jets taxiing for takeoff" noise level. I had to turn off the other PCs in the room just to hear it. Even with my ear right next to it, I barely hear a hum. I added a second 120mm fan, which installs behind the drive bay in almost the middle of the case. It's a PC Toys Stealth fan that runs at ~1500 rpm. (The fan included runs at ~1500 rpm, too.) I can't hear it much either, but it did raise the noise level a tiny bit. I didn't seem to make any difference on the CPU or motherboard cooling though. The drives seem to be keeping a bit cooler.

The setup is similar to yours:
P4 2.6C GHz
Asus P4P800
Corsair Twinx 1GB Kit
2 - Maxtor 120 MB 7200 rpm ATA133 drives in RAID 1 (mirror)
LG electronics DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128 MB
Leadtek WinFast TV2000 XP deluxe
Samsung floppy drive

Operating temps are 34c idle 38-39c under load. That's better than a number of my older systems that have 4-5 noisy fans. I haven't tried any overclocking yet and probably won't. The goals for this system were quiet and reliable (hence the RAID 1 configuration, dual matching memory modules [it could run on just one if it had to], extra cooling, rounded cables, etc.). I was even considering a matching pair of the combo optical drives just for safety.

You indicated that you're getting black peripherals, so I won't remind you. :) Asus includes special screws for attaching the disk drive(s) to their removable cages. The screws have shanks that fit through the rubber grommets without smashing them. (Someone else that had this case mentioned the screws ruined the grommets. All I can figure is they didn't use the supplied screws.)

-cap
 

Armistad123

Member
May 29, 2003
76
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thanks for the help Cap.

Another question (im just full of questions ;p)

Does the 2.8C overlock well?? im not planning on overclocking right now, but maybe later on when the computer starts to get a little sluggish, or should i siwtch to the 2.6C?
 

OneOfTheseDays

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2000
7,052
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excellent case, great paint job, and it has many cool sound silencing features. The harddrives are mounted in such a way that it quited my old ibm deskstar by about 50 %. Also the fan mount has grommets to reduce vibrations. The included powersupply is also very quiet, and it has 7 volt power connectors to quiet your noisy fans. My only gripe is that this case isnt overclocking friendly, the airflow is not great and the front impedes airflow. There is no intake fan either so things can get kinda stuffy. It's not like you won't be able to overclock but your temps wont be as good.
I highly suggest you look into the D8000 case from coolcases.com. The case is beautiful and offers the same advantages that the sonata has (grommets, rubbermounted hdds) and it has 1 120mm intake and 1 120mm exhaust. It's the best of both worlds.
 

Armistad123

Member
May 29, 2003
76
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0
Doesnt the Sonata have a space to add another 120mm fan for INtake?? and it already comes with a 120mm Exhaust fan right?

Also is there any similar case on Newegg like that D8000? im not tooo worried about noise, if there is a good case with good cooling and a PSU i can get for 150$ i can get that also.
 

randumb

Platinum Member
Mar 27, 2003
2,324
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All the new 800mhz bus P4s overclock well. The 2.8 should go to around 3.4 or greater.
 

capricorn

Senior member
May 8, 2003
219
0
76
Originally posted by: Armistad123
Doesnt the Sonata have a space to add another 120mm fan for INtake?? and it already comes with a 120mm Exhaust fan right?

That's right. It comes with the one 120 mm exhaust fan. Rubber mounting thingys (don't know the technical name) are included in the package of screws for a second fan. The manual recommends not adding a second fan unless it's really needed as it just adds to noise. I added one, but made sure it was a quiet fan. The odd thing is the location of the fan. Best way to show it is a picture. The fan I added is circled in red. The front of the case is to the right. Note the orientation of the drives, too.

-cap
 

capricorn

Senior member
May 8, 2003
219
0
76
Originally posted by: randumb
All the new 800mhz bus P4s overclock well. The 2.8 should go to around 3.4 or greater.

I was wondering about that myself. I haven't tried overclocking this one to see what it's limit is. I thought I had heard that the 2.4, 2.6, 2.8 and 3.0 models all clock to about the same limit (which I don't recall, but it wasn't that much more than 3.0.) The explanation was that all the CPUs are manufactured to be 3.0 GHz models, but those that don't test well at 3.0 are tested next at 2.8. If they don't work well there, they are tried at 2.6. And so on. I've also heard that many of the 2.6s and 2.8s tested well at 3.0, but were remarked to a lower speed to meet marketplace demands for the cheaper chips. Therefore, they all tended to top out at about the same place when overclocking. That seemed to make sense, but I haven't done any testing myself. I might have to play with it just to see what I can get.

-cap