Antec Sonata II and P180 coming soon

[Spike]

Originally posted by: AntecCSR
P180 is not replacing P160, but rather filling out the Performance One line of cases. Which means yes there will be more cases in the Performance One line of cases (P180 is just the closest to being ready for shipping). Front door is aluminum/plastic (IIRC, I've only seen a sample once), and the side panels are layered aluminum/plastic/aluminum to absorb noise.

As far as jumping intothe aluminum case trend late goes. Initially we didn't want to go there, but enough customers asked us to make an aluminum case, so we've done so.

Sonata II may replace the Sonata, it hasn't been decided yet. Also from what I've seen in house the front intakes are indeed wider/better on the II versus the original. Thankfully we got rid of the logo (I was never a fan of that idea).

AntecCSR

Thanks mr CSR dude. I think the aluminum and plastic layering idea is a good one, I just hope it does not impact heat dissipation to greatly.

-spike

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: AntecCSR
P180 is not replacing P160, but rather filling out the Performance One line of cases. Which means yes there will be more cases in the Performance One line of cases (P180 is just the closest to being ready for shipping). Front door is aluminum/plastic (IIRC, I've only seen a sample once), and the side panels are layered aluminum/plastic/aluminum to absorb noise.

As far as jumping intothe aluminum case trend late goes. Initially we didn't want to go there, but enough customers asked us to make an aluminum case, so we've done so.

Sonata II may replace the Sonata, it hasn't been decided yet. Also from what I've seen in house the front intakes are indeed wider/better on the II versus the original. Thankfully we got rid of the logo (I was never a fan of that idea).

AntecCSR

Thanks for the information. It's nice to have you people lurking around to tell us these things. 🙂

Two questions:
1. MSRPs for these items?
2. Why the crab avatar?

 

[govtcheez75]

this explains all the rebates on Antec Cases of late.

 

[AntecCSR]

I believe estimated MSRP is $169 (however I'm sure that the usual suspects will sell them for less than that).

As for the crab, I'm a Cancer.

 

[imported_fungus]

If I weren't going SFF for my next box, I think I'd get the Sonata II. I'm running a Sonata I right now and it's always treated me well.

 

[Salvador]

Why don't they paint that ugly chrome front panel cover black like the rest of the case? I bought a Sonata and returned it because of this disco ball front cover. I hated it that much.

The 180 looks pretty nice. I'll have to wait until I see it in person first though.

Does anyone have a photo of the BK640?

Sal

 

[PC911mickster]

AntecCSR
Any chance of getting a pre-order in on the P180? I want one and I want it BAD!
Think of the improved profit margins by taking pre order deposits like game companies do...offset the design and initial production costs plus increase the margin by selling them through the Antec website....no middle man!
Help a fellow crab! June 25 is my b-day

 

[villageidiot111]

Those both look like sweet cases, although it will be a while before I trade in my P160.

 

[Tab]

Suggestions to Antec

-Remove the "Ultra" bright power leds
-Top exhuasts are stupid. No one wants stuff falling into their cases
-Durablity is a huge plus, make it look durable as well.
-Thumbscrews
-Don't over do it, huge curves, things that stick out.

 

[Salvador]

Does anyone else have any issues with the black rubber feet on the Antec cases ruining stuff? I ruined a table cloth and a laminate desk by putting Antec cases on them. The black rubber feet left black marks that I can't get out.

I'm going to have to buy those clear neoprene feet to replace the stock feet. They should help with noise as well.

Sal

 

[acx]

I really hope they removed the little bumps in between the exansion slots for your PCI cards on the inside of the case. They get in the way of dual slot cooling cards like 6800 ultras. :|

 

[Mucker]

Although I agree with you on mounting aggrevation of double wide cards, it is not Antec's fault. They have designed the PCI guides to specification. If anything, the fault is Nvidia's, see here for PCI bracket spec...... http://www.bracket.com/downloa...kets/pdf/94560000A.pdf

m 🙂

 

[styrafoam]

The only thing I dislike about my sonata is the hinges on the door. The top one cracked so it didn't have enough tension to keep the door from falling off when I opened it. Other than that I love it, best case I have owned.

 

[Mucker]

Yes, the Sonata is a well thought out design except for that top front door hinge. Antec supremely blew it there. $100 case with a $0.0001 crap hinge. I busted mine too with minimal force. Antec wants $6.99 for a replacemet, but I'll be damned if I pay $8.00 for shipping. $15.00 for a 10 cent piece of plastic. Talk about gouging their buyers.......

m 🙂

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Mucker
Yes, the Sonata is a well thought out design except for that top front door hinge. Antec supremely blew it there. $100 case with a $0.0001 crap hinge. I busted mine too with minimal force. Antec wants $6.99 for a replacemet, but I'll be damned if I pay $8.00 for shipping. $15.00 for a 10 cent piece of plastic. Talk about gouging their buyers.......

m 🙂

I've taken the door off my Sonata multiple times and the hinge hasn't come close to cracking.

 

[Mucker]

So you are saying the hinge is a good design for a $100 case? I'd beg to differ.....

m 🙂

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Mucker
So you are saying the hinge is a good design for a $100 case? I'd beg to differ.....

m 🙂

No, I never said that, just that mine hasn't come close to cracking. It's a terrible design but it works.

 

[Mucker]

I hear ya! It's just something you shouldn't have to worry about. I know every time I took that door off I worried about cracking the hinge. That is totally unacceptable for a high priced case. You should be able to remove it umpteen times without worry ever entering your mind....

m 🙂

 

[Granorense]

Looks like the Antec is getting great feedback in this forum for their products!

 

[PC911mickster]

Originally posted by: Granorense
Looks like the Antec is getting great feedback in this forum for their products!

They've earned it!
I've been using Antec cases and psu's for about 8 years. While not always the zenith, they're well thought out, designed and built well..at least mine have been. Love their psu's!
Their service is excellent also. I had a power switch on my old 1040B go south. I went to the website and did the AskCasey thing. Got an email back quickly and a whole new set of wires...no charge. I'd had the case about 2 years at that point. I love that level of service. It gets my loyalty.

 

[dgevert]

-Top exhuasts are stupid. No one wants stuff falling into their cases

Uhh...then why is the top blowhole exhaust one of THE most common mods done? Hot air rises...

Preventing stuff from falling inside is easy. That's what fan grills are for. Add a square of hex mesh in underneath if you're paranoid.

 

[reidc]

Hello Mr Antec CSR-

Is there an anticipated temp drop between Sonata and Sonata II?
I have an Intel 915PBL and 3.4 S775 chip. I also have a Sonata sitting here in the box and haven't started building anything yet- as I still need to buy MEM and Video. I do anticipate heat issues having this hardware, either a 6600GT or ATI X something, and 2 WD800's and 1 Maxtor 160.

Is the Sonata II being released to be quieter than the original or cooler than the original?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[bluslice]

is there a more exact date of when the sonata-II and p180 will be shipped out? Q1 of 2005 isn't specific enough. I was planning on building a new system and might be willing to wait a bit longer for these uber cool cases.

 

[Bullhonkie]

The P180 looks awesome, just about perfect case to me. Separate ducted thermal zone for the PSU. Moving the motherboard and subsequently the CPU to the upper back of the case, where distance to the back and top exhaust are shortest. I'd wager you could run an XP120 heatsink passively on A64s with some good ducting work and those two exhaust fans up there. Further isolation of hard drives from the cages and soundproofing of the doors saves work that the low-noise people would do anyway.

The things I want most in a case:
[*]120mm intake and exhaust fans (decent airflow with low noise with undervolted fans)
[*]some sort of 3.5" drive isolation (lower noise/dampen vibrations)
[*]front panel door to cover the 5.25" bays (to further reduce noise leakage)
[*]no larger than mid-towerish size (4x 5.25" max)
[*]front USB/sound (pretty commonplace nowadays)
[*]side window (somewhat counter-intuitive for lowest possible noise because it's one less panel you can soundproof, but I want to be able to show off my near-silent system dangit!)
[*]styling that doesn't want to make you gouge your eyes out (subjective I know)

The P160 almost fit the bill, but the lack of a front door and it's garish love-it-or-hate-it looks have kept me from pulling the trigger. The Silverstone Temjin TJ05 is my next best choice, but it uses a rather crappy drive rail system, intake airflow is somewhat restrictive, side window still isn't available last I checked, it's a little bit bigger than I'd like, and build quality just doesn't feel as good as most Antec cases. It does have looks going for it though.

Make a side window option for the P180 and I'm all over it. Just don't make it an ugly window like the P160 with those elliptical circles. Plain or with an understated Antec logo would be best. I'd probably get one anyway since the P180 is shaping up to be the case I'd have to do the least amount of work to.

Good to see that Antec has been taking notes from the silent crowd and sites like SPCR and implementing the suggestions in their designs!

 

[AntecCSR]

Ok time for some answers.

Pre-orders: I'm all for it, however management isn't. Mostly because of the potential for many problems that will frustrate the hell out of the customers and us (production problems, shipping overseas problems, delivery problems, final QC etc etc).

Top exhausts and things falling into the system. If you look at the pictures and you see where the top fan is. The extra part on the top part of the case is a mesh cover over the fan. So yes extremely small things could fall in, however things like pens, paperclips etc will het the mesh cover and not get in.

Sonata II: We haven't had it tested yet to see how quiet it will be, however it's designed to be as nearly quiet as Sonata but still handle high end systems (3.4ghz+ etc). Not sure how much trade-off there is the higher you go (performance wise) though, since you can end up using 4 fans.

As for specific dates, that's hard to do at this point. At CES we only had pre-production samples, there's still a ways to go to get them to final status (not the least of which is the packaging, manual, getting samples to testing facilities, getting said testing results, final production checks etc etc etc).

AntecCSR