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Antec Sonata II and P180 coming soon

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Originally posted by: MTSteel
Any word on what PSU the Sonata II will ship with(if any)?

Damn trying to figure out what to buy is frustrating!! Sonata looks like a steal with a good 380W PSU in it, BUT the newer Mobo's I am looking at need 24 pins. 🙂
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From what I've read, it will be an updated version of the special 380W PSU in the current Sonata.
 
Originally posted by: MTSteel
Any word on what PSU the Sonata II will ship with(if any)?

Damn trying to figure out what to buy is frustrating!! Sonata looks like a steal with a good 380W PSU in it, BUT the newer Mobo's I am looking at need 24 pins. 🙂
Click to expand...

You sure that they absolutely NEED 24 pins? A lot of mobos have backwards compatable 24-pin connectors that will work with a 20-pin PSU (provided you have good amps). The Intel 915 mobo I am using on my wife's PC runs fine with the stock Sonata PSU (latest 24A version) plugged into the first 20 connectors of the motherboard PSU connector socket. The manual even mentions that the board has no issues with decent 20-pin PSUs, so long as you plug a Molex into a connector on the motherboard near the x16 slot. The connector provides extra power to the x16 slot if you are running a card that draws more than 75W.

From what I've read, the nForce 4 boards seem to approach the slot in the same manner. As long as you aren't SLIing a pair of 6800GTs you ought to be okay with the included Sonata PSU (and if you are doing SLI you likely need more watts and a case with better airflow anyway). Most of the mobo manufacturers have the manuals available for download on their website, so if you are in doubt you read through the manual and see if the board supports running a 20-pin PSU before you make your purchase.
 
Originally posted by: Gravity
Dang, just bought one of the old ones.
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So did I. 🙂

I was about to purchased my 3500+, Winchester 939 Processor and all that goes with it yet. I may just wait on that purchase until the new SONATA 2 comes out and fill the SONATA I have with something inexpensive. I suspect the new one will be out this spring, or later.



 
Originally posted by: jshuck3
Anyone have any new info about when the P180 will be shipping?
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It has been said 1st Q 2005. Then it was narrowed down to the "end of Febuary." There has been an Antec rep over at SPCR forums commenting on these 2 cases, but he doesn't offer too much info. Price is suppose to be ~ $ 169.00 for the 180. Anxious to see this case and hoping they will produce a black one as well.
 
So, how does one tell if the Sonata you are buying has the 24A or the 18A without popping it out of the box?? I notice the picutre on the outside of the box shows a PSU, it shows 18A, BUT this is just a picture on the box. The guy at the store said it was the 18A, but I honestly am not sure he knew for sure, his answer was it is 18A becuase it is only a 380W PSU....Uhh but the new Trupower380 with the Sonata has 24A.
Maybe I will just have to ask to look at it out of the box.
 
I can't wait for the P180. I assume the TruePower 2.0 Power supplies will be release during the same time? I could really go for a early release for those power supplies so I can replace my 5 year old 400 W antec that is on its last leg.

The truepower 2.0 sounds good w/ a 120mm fan. Just playing the waiting game now.

 
Originally posted by: AntecCSR
That's the current target, [February 2005] we've got some other products in the pipe that are coming out before that though that we're focusing on.

AntecCSR
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I'm currently waiting on building a new system The primary reason for the wait is the P180 and Phantom 500 PSU.

Any new estimates on availability for these items?

 
I gave up waiting and just bought the old sonata. I think the response of people at Antec has generally been it comes out when it comes out so they don't get tied to any date. If I were you I would just build, what do you need 500W for anyway?
 
I'm waiting because the Sonata II will ship a TruePower 2.0 380W PSU, which I assume is an ATX 2.0 part. It should have better airflow than the original Sonata. Also, the Sonata's front USB ports are version 1.1, and I need version 2.0. Antec sent me the 2.0 replacement part for a machine I built for a friend, but I'd rather not have to wait for that.
 
Originally posted by: veggz
what do you need 500W for anyway?
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Good question and maybe you can help me with this. First, I don't really know if I want the 350 (preferred), 430, or 500. The question was based on the 500 being larger than the others and not wanting the case to be a limiting factor.

As for my logic...

I want the quietest PSU available that provides all the power necessary plus some. Obviously, a simple wattage is not sufficient to determine that, but it is a start!

While I don't plan on purchasing the "most powerful" video card on the market or even dual video cards I do plan on purchasing one of the better cards and may someday step up. The better cards currently use 200-230 watts under load.

I plan on getting an Intel system rather than AMD so instead of needing about 85 watts I will be needing an additional 115 watts.

Total, 345 watts. Thus, the 350 watt supply will not suffice based solely on wattage, more on this in a moment. Perhaps the noisier but still relatively quite 430 watt supply will do.

I do not know what power the HDDs, CDs, DVDs, sound cards, MoBo, will be using.

Plus, I don't know (this may be the key) if the 350 watt has multiple rails that the video card can use by itself with the cpu and other items using another rail which would be ideal!

This decision will not be made until the case is available and it seemed the time to ask since, if it needed, I don't want to modify the case design myself.

Now you have my (il)logic so give the novice side of me a clue! 🙂

BTW, I have had computer stores ignore my plea for quality (even seeing the items I was purchasing) and sell me "cheap" PSU only to have troubles with memory chips later on.
 
Originally posted by: ExpertNovice
The better cards currently use 200-230 watts under load.
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Where'd you get that statistic? I really doubt a single 6800 GT can consume that much power. According to a few pages, entire A64 machines use under 200W during load.
 
Originally posted by: Gerbil333
Originally posted by: ExpertNovice
The better cards currently use 200-230 watts under load.
Click to expand...

Where'd you get that statistic? I really doubt a single 6800 GT can consume that much power. According to a few pages, entire A64 machines use under 200W during load.
Click to expand...



Sorry for the delay, I just got back. I'm trying to find the link and thought it was on Anandtech.

I finally found it: http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040414/geforce_6800-20.html
So, I went back and read a little closer. Two pages before this chart was:
For the sake of clarity, we would like to emphasize one thing again: The following numbers do not represent the power consumption of the graphics cards alone but that of the entire system, in this case obviously our review system.
Click to expand...

Thank you for making me take another look. BTW, I edited this and below is what had been written before finding the article. The second link is a good one from TomsHardware that others might find interesting.

Thanks Gerbil!






However, here is the only page I found and it is not the page I remember. (The one I saw talked about ~100 watts being used but under load after 30 minutes ~200 and one, the 6800 Ultra hit 230.)

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040405/gddr3-11.html



Ok, I found this article which supports your comment/question:
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041223/atx12v-24pin-03.html

then I noticed in another article that they were talking about "generating over 100-watts of heat" so perhaps, I misread and they were talking about video cards "generating over 200-watts of heat, under load, after 30 minutes." That would make more sense to me.

In this case, my initial favorite (Antec Phantom Fanless 350w) may be what I would like.
 
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