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Antec Sonata for $59.99 after $30 mail-in rebate

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Originally posted by: conehead433
I built a computer for someone else recently and used this case and have to say this has to be the quietest case in the world. With one Seagate 200GB HD installed I could not tell it was even running. I have to agree with others that I do not like the Hard Drive setup for this case. If you were looking for a good HTPC case without spending a lot of money, this case is ideal for that purpose.
Click to expand...

Be careful, user1234 might berate you for not expressing total dedication to Lord Antec.?
 
"Be careful, user1234 might berate you for not expressing total dedication to Lord Antec.? "

I'm afraid now, so very afraid.
 
Originally posted by: conehead433
I built a computer for someone else recently and used this case and have to say this has to be the quietest case in the world. With one Seagate 200GB HD installed I could not tell it was even running. I have to agree with others that I do not like the Hard Drive setup for this case. If you were looking for a good HTPC case without spending a lot of money, this case is ideal for that purpose.
Click to expand...


Look, no one cares about your random likes and dislikes - if you have a specific reason why you think the rotated hard drive cage is worse, you can go ahead and state it, but be prepared to listen to 10x the number of reason why this setup is infinitely better. Everything has advantages and disadvantages, but if you bothered to educate yourself and read a few professional reviews of computer cases you'll see that it's well known that in this case there is wide spread agreement that the rotated orientation is better overall.

[pwned]


btw, fry's in north cal still have a lot of them in the store
 
"Look, no one cares about your random likes and dislikes - if you have a specific reason why you think the rotated hard drive cage is worse, you can go ahead and state it, but be prepared to listen to 10x the number of reason why this setup is infinitely better. Everything has advantages and disadvantages, but if you bothered to educate yourself and read a few professional reviews of computer cases you'll see that it's well known that in this case there is wide spread agreement that the rotated orientation is better overall. "

Well, since I have built and sold computers, I guess that makes me a professional. I have read hundreds of reviews of computer cases and hard drive orientation is rarely mentioned since so few manufacturers actually vary from the standard front to back design. So go ahead and post some reviews that actually rave about the Antec hard drive placement and we'll all become believers. But regardless of what you or they say that design just makes it a pain. So how long have you worked for Antec and don't you have something better to do than troll shopping forums. Their cases will sell just fine without your help.

Oh yea "[pwned]" yourself AH.
 
I meant that a sentence like "... I do not like the Hard Drive setup..." without any reason or explanation is worthless because all it tells us that you don't like it, but all we want to hear are substantail arguments to back up your opinion. I guess saying "...just makes it a pain" is a little better, but still way to vague to help anyone understand exactly what's the disadvantage that you're complaining about.

btw, many new case models share this drive cage design and as I said, it is almost unanimously considered a positive (excluding you, whatever kind of "professional" you might be). For example, here's a review from overclockercafe.com of the X-alien case, which shares this design:

"Now here is something I really like. A side loading drive rack. This works by securing your drive (with screws) to one of the removable tooless drawers. These drawers are loosened and removed just as the 5.25" drive bays are. The side mounting orientation gets high marks in my book because it helps to keep cable clutter to a minimum."

Here's anothere review of the Sonata from Silent PC review (SPCR), which states: "Not only does it make more efficient use of space, this novel orientation improves installation and removal of the drives -- so much that it feels like a revelation. To install, screw metal rail to drive, slide rail into place till locked, then insert power and data cables. To remove, reverse the process."

And so it goes on and on. You need to understand that the drive rails with the rubber grommets can only effectively exist in a sideways orientation, because otherwise you'd need to take out the whole motherboard every time you install ot take out a hard drive (this is a pain even if you have a case with silding motherboard tray). Tom's hardware agrees with that as well.

I guess if you rarely upgrade your system then it wouldn't matter, but otherwise it makes it easier to upgrade even other things like video cards, because the hard disks and their cables don't get in the way.

[conehead pwned^2]
 
Originally posted by: user1234
I meant that a sentence like "... I do not like the Hard Drive setup..." without any reason or explanation is worthless because all it tells us that you don't like it, but all we want to hear are substantail arguments to back up your opinion. I guess saying "...just makes it a pain" is a little better, but still way to vague to help anyone understand exactly what's the disadvantage that you're complaining about.

btw, many new case models share this drive cage design and as I said, it is almost unanimously considered a positive (excluding you, whatever kind of "professional" you might be). For example, here's a review from overclockercafe.com of the X-alien case, which shares this design:

"Now here is something I really like. A side loading drive rack. This works by securing your drive (with screws) to one of the removable tooless drawers. These drawers are loosened and removed just as the 5.25" drive bays are. The side mounting orientation gets high marks in my book because it helps to keep cable clutter to a minimum."

Here's anothere review of the Sonata from Silent PC review (SPCR), which states: "Not only does it make more efficient use of space, this novel orientation improves installation and removal of the drives -- so much that it feels like a revelation. To install, screw metal rail to drive, slide rail into place till locked, then insert power and data cables. To remove, reverse the process."

And so it goes on and on. You need to understand that the drive rails with the rubber grommets can only effectively exist in a sideways orientation, because otherwise you'd need to take out the whole motherboard every time you install ot take out a hard drive (this is a pain even if you have a case with silding motherboard tray). Tom's hardware agrees with that as well.

I guess if you rarely upgrade your system then it wouldn't matter, but otherwise it makes it easier to upgrade even other things like video cards, because the hard disks and their cables don't get in the way.

[conehead pwned^2]
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Just let the people go, let them say what they want about the dang case, yes being more descriptive about what problems they have with the product would be a lot more helpful, but at least saying they don't like it may convince other potential buyers to look into it further to make sure they can deal with whatever the complaint is.

First off I would like to say that I like the idea of the sideways mounted drive cages, but I have yet to actually have a case with them like that. But I do see where these guys are coming from, that orientation can be a bit of a pain I am sure.

Secondly, when you started quoting reviews I was really hoping you wouldn't quote SPCR, but unfortunatel yuo did, which is fine, but you only took what pointed in your direction. According to the review of the antec BQE case with the same sideways mounted drives, here is what they had to say. And I think but am not totally sure, but I think 2 differant people reviewed these cases.

"DRIVE CAGE QUIBBLES

I have two quibbles about this "sideways" drive cage:

The way it's attached to the right side case wall doesn't leave much room for clean routing of flat ribbon IDE cables. There are only two slots available to run your wiring through and if they don't happen to line up (like they didn't on the board I used, which has it's IDE and floppy connectors in a very common location) you'll need to do some fancy cablegami in order to feed the cable through the slots in the drive cage. Not a big quibble."


"My second gripe is reduced ventilation for the hard drives that seems to be caused mostly by this sideways drive cage, a significant flaw in an otherwise well designed case. The drive cage has only four 5/8" x 4" slots in it for air to flow through. This is a similar situation to the drive cage in the Sonata.

With both sideways and normal mounting cages, the space between the drives remains about the same, so the same amount of air is flowing over and under them. However, with the sideways mounting cage, a strip of the metal cage blocks any direct air to the side edge of the drives. With a normal mounting cage, the front edge gets the cooling benefit of direct airflow hitting it. This does cause a significant drive temperature difference.

When I intially setup the 3700BQE I noticed my HDD temps were somewhat higher than I'm used to seeing and I suspected that the more restrictive HDD mounting cage was contributing to this. So I did an experiment: I set up the 3700BQE with the identical hardware configuration that was running in my 3700AMB, the only difference being the mounting of the HDD in the cage. The 3700AMB had the 80GB Seagate Barracuda IV mounted in the middle of the drive cage. Being a standard cage, it is completely open on both ends. The 3700BQE had the same Barracuda IV mounted in the second-from-the-top drive cage.

The systems consisted of:

Intel P4-2.4C with Thermalright SLK900U + 92mm Panaflo L1BX at 1500rpm.
Intel 875PBZ mobo.
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3200 Level II RAM @ 2-3-3-6.
80GB Seagate Barracuda IV (same drive switched between the 2 systems)
ATI Radeon 7500.
Plextor Premiun 52x CDrw.
Sony FDD.
Seasonic Super Silencer 400.
120mm Panaflo FBK12G12L @ 5V as back panel case fan.

When I ran my temperature tests (75°F ambient, system idling for one hour to stabilize temps, then the system was fully loaded by running 2 instances of Prime95 for one hour to stabilize temps), in the 3700BQE, the drive consistently ran 4-5°C hotter than in the 3700AMB.

I then installed a 5 volt 92mm Panaflo L1A fan on the front of the case, a setup that's very effective for cooling HDDs without adding extra noise. I've been running my SLK3700AMB this way and find that it lowers my HDD temperatures by around 6-8°C compared to running with only passive airflow through the drive cage. The front fan did improve drive temp in the 3700BQE, too, but to a lesser degree than in the 3700AMB. With the front fan going at 5V, the drive temp in the 3700BQE was only a degree or two better than in the original 3700 without any front fan. All this, despite the much more open fan grill of the 3700BQE.

I can only blame the higher drive temps on the sideway HDD mounting in the 3700BQE, as everything else between the two systems was identical. The case and CPU temperatures at idle and load were the same in both cases; it was only the HDD temperature that was higher. "

Again those quibbles aren't major, but they can be more then enough reason for someone not to like this case. So leave these guys alone.



And to the people complaining about the case or any product, be more descriptive to what exactly you don't like about the product, that way others can see if that will be a problem for them as well.
 
coolred you forgot to include pwnage­² in your thread. As the new owner I expect you to keep a leash on your dog- He keeps crapping on the lawn. 😀
 
What does the Sonata 380 True have for 12v rail amps? I have an older version of the Sonata and it only has 18a on the 12v....just curious?????

m 🙂
 
coolred, interesting article you quote, which raises two points - one with having a hard time connecting the cables wehn the drives are mounted backward, with the connectors on the right hand side - this must be specific to that 3700bqe case, because in my Antec SupeLanboy, I can easily route the cables to the right hand side (btw, the right hand side is also removable on the lanboy), which causes them to completely disappear from view ! btw, I have 3 different computers that I built, which have the sideways cage, and none of them has this problem, actually mounting the drives backward (with the connectors close to the right hand side of the case) is a great way to hide the cable clutter. As for the second minor "quibble", again I think this must be specific to the 3700bqe, as there are enough spaces in the frame of the cage to let sufficient amount of air through. I agree that a front fan is a very good idea (I use it in all my cases) to cool the drives though.

Mucker: answer - 18a on the 12v in the spanking brand new sonata with a fresh smelling paint job (for $60!!).
Check it out the Sonata's PSU costs $62 on its own !!!
 
This is a great case if it fits your needs. I've got 2 of them. One has my main rig with 2 Raptors in the sideways drive bays and the other holds 4 WD 120GB drives. Both sets of drives are cool or slightly warm to the touch despite running 24/7 in the warmest room in my place. My only gripe about the case is the motherboard tray doesn't slide out.
 
Originally posted by: iwearnosox
coolred you forgot to include pwnage­² in your thread. As the new owner I expect you to keep a leash on your dog- He keeps crapping on the lawn. 😀
Click to expand...

pwnage only insists more pwnage, and I just don't think its very helpful. Had I gone with the pwnage, user1234 probablly would have come back with some lame ass pwnage of his own, but when you start acting like adults you can actually get into some incitful(sp?) discussions. Such as in his reply, he states that the problems I quoted don't seem to be a problem on his super lanboy. While neithe rof those is the product in question, it may give potential buyers other options to think of.

As I said, I think I would like the sideways cages, and the BQE or Sonata may be my next case, but I can see why others don't like them. Again I am not trying to start a massive pwnage war, so from now on, please post informative descriptions of what problems you have with a product, and for anyone that disagrees please post infomative reasons why you disagree. Less pwnage equals a better anandtech. Thank you, this PSA was brought to you by the Letters B Q E and the number 69. Sorry that was my Sesame stree referance of the day.
 
I have the Sonata, Super Lanboy and X-alien and love the sideways cage in all of them because it makes it very simple to swap drives, they don't interfere with the mobo, and they are on rails with rubber stands, so you never have to mess with screws inside the case, and you can hide the cables neatly, plus this type of cage adds to the structural integrity of the whole case because it starts at the bottom and serves as basis for the optical and floppy cages. Like many other people, I don't even consider buying cases with the old design any more, and I'm sure even histerical people which may complain about little things with this setup, will come to realize how useful it is after a while.
 
Originally posted by: user1234
Mucker: answer - 18a on the 12v in the spanking brand new sonata with a fresh smelling paint job (for $60!!).
Check it out the Sonata's PSU costs $62 on its own !!!
Click to expand...

mine says 24
 
Originally posted by: user1234
This will house my next SLI system, oh yes baby, come to pappa
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SLI on 380W PS? I doubt it will be stable, especially if you're planning to add RAID array with 10k RPM hard dirves later on...

 
$18 shipping makes it a warm deal from outpost. This case is highly saught after. I've been trying to find one below retail for about a month.

After shipping and rebate you end up saving about $9. Anywayz, warm deal, I'm in. Prolly buy one for my brother in law too.

 
So what is the verdict? I have just purchased this case from Newegg and I'm going to be faced with same problem trying to hook up HD to optical on same line. Will any 24" cables work? My motherboard only has 2 IDE connectors.

My main boot drive will be SATA but I have other IDE hard drives with existing data as well as optical drive(s).

System-to-be:
AMD 64-bit 3000+
MSI K8N Neo Platinum
Mushkin Dual Pack 1GB DDR 3200
Seagate 200GB Serial ATA
IN-Win 7-in-1 USB Card Reader

plus, will add existing parts:
NEC 4x DVD+/-RW
Transcend ATI 9200 4x AGP
120GB Western Digital 7200RPM
40GB IBM 7200RPM
Sony Floppy Disk Drive
 
well after reading all the discussion on the sideways cage, and 1234 trying to impress me with his super lanboy (bet he has fart pipes on his honda too lol), I have decided against this case, its just not worth it having to use a longer cable and possibly lose some performance just for not having to put in a couple screws ( I can use screws) and I could care less if I see cables, and hiding them in the back doesnt get rid of the mess, thats just like sweeping dirt under a rug to get rid of that. Also, why do all the cases on sale have less than 450w psu's when they know we all want at least 400-450 or preferrably 500 watts, that makes the psu useless for future gen and even a lot of current vid cards. Thanks for the original person for bringing up the sideways hd problem, I appreciate it.

PWNED
 
Originally posted by: Kostya17
Originally posted by: user1234
This will house my next SLI system, oh yes baby, come to pappa
Click to expand...
SLI on 380W PS? I doubt it will be stable, especially if you're planning to add RAID array with 10k RPM hard dirves later on...
Click to expand...


I plan to start with a single 6600gt and later add another one. The combined peak power consump is just a little more than a single 6800U (as well as the performance, even before the 20% overclock potential of the 6600gt). Read some articles on power consumption of SLI systems, you'll see this setup will not draw more than 300W (dual 6800U is a different story). And Antec True 380W is as good as most generic 500W.
 
Originally posted by: fastcuda
well after reading all the discussion on the sideways cage, and 1234 trying to impress me with his super lanboy (bet he has fart pipes on his honda too lol), I have decided against this case, its just not worth it having to use a longer cable and possibly lose some performance just for not having to put in a couple screws ( I can use screws) and I could care less if I see cables, and hiding them in the back doesnt get rid of the mess, thats just like sweeping dirt under a rug to get rid of that. Also, why do all the cases on sale have less than 450w psu's when they know we all want at least 400-450 or preferrably 500 watts, that makes the psu useless for future gen and even a lot of current vid cards. Thanks for the original person for bringing up the sideways hd problem, I appreciate it.

PWNED
Click to expand...


It's not only the super-lanboy, i also have the super cool
X-alien , which also has sideways cage (like the one you should be locked in).

[pwned]

Sonata: Silence is beautiful
Antec: The power of you
 
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