Antec Sonata Cooling With Intel 915

[reidc]

Hi Guys n'gals!

Been lurker here for quite a while just reading. I am have been building units for myself and a few for others for many years, and now have the opportunity to build myself a fairly good unit.

My son got in on the Intel deal(working at Circuit City) and got an Intel 915PBL board and 3.4 gig 1 meg cache chip- I am sure most of you know the deal anyway.

I am going to take one of my 80 gig WD800's and my Maxtor 160 gig drive from existing unit, and package it all around an Antec Sonata case. The 8 gig drive will be short term until I got the cash for an SATA drive. In the meantime I will use an Promise Ultra 133 controller for the drives, and the Intel board only has 1 IDE.

I still need to buy my memory and video, and that'll be sometime 3rd week January. I anticipate the either the ATI 800(NP???) that SHOULD be about $199 rather than the XL @ $299- if they are available then, or just an Nvidia 6600GT.

I already have the Sonata case, but one of my considerations was buying a TAC 1.1 case per Intel spec- which is the cool air duct from side cover of case and the holes over PCI-E slot. I figured that IF my temps were too high with the Sonata- I could prolly just add some holes to the side myself(I know- kinda defeats having a Sonata!!! Although I bought the Sonata not just for its quiet(looks, looks, looks, and the fact that it has front sound and IEEE where the BQE does not).

Before I start assembling all this- how likely am I to need to open up the side IF I use another 120 MM fan PULLING air in from the front? I realize the openings aren't the greatest in size, and the fact that the drives are kinda in the way. It prolly woulda been better to mount the fan in front of the drives right behind bezel, but no room.

Just wanna see if anyone else has a Sonata with one of the newer 915 chipset boards and ceheck their temps. At least If I need to have some MODS done- I will have time before I start assembling things. Case is empty and still in box now.


Thanks,
Chris

 

[Operandi]

You won't need a side mounted vents or fans so don't worry about that. Still that chip runs very hot and the stock cooler is rather loud so you might wan't to invest in somthing better.

 

[Nessism]

Sounds like you are alalyzing too much😕

The Sonata will work just fine using the single rear 120 mm fan. The stock power supply has a thermal temp sensor and will ramp up the fan speeds if the temps raise above some predetermind level. If you want to add some insurance, invest in a Zalman cpu heat sink and fan, they seem to be the best bang for the buck right not for $30 or so.

Good luck.

Ed

 

[reidc]

Thanks Guys--

I will get a second 120mm fan anyway- even if it pulls some extra air across the drive bays it does its job, and getting the smartfan version $20. I have also been looking at a different heat sink and fan for the CPU. I know there aren't much out there for socket 775, I figured see what the temps are and change accordingly.

I mean with the Intel board- it certainly won't be overclocked or anything- I am just looking for a stable machine to replace my 2.4 gig/Gigabyte 8IHXP with PC 1066 rdram. Now THAT has been stable!!!