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Antec Sonata = Very poor cooling

G

govtcheez75

Platinum Member
I got a Sonata a few months ago for it's awesome looks and quietness. I bought an extra 120mm fan to install in the front and thought that it would do an adequate job of cooling. Boy was I wrong! I would constantly get 42-44 degree idle temps and the HDD temps were VERY poor. I blame most of this due to the position of the front fan. I doubt that it really did anything except circulate hot air around and not let it escape as efficiently.

I finally got pretty fed up and decided to look for a replacement. I came across a great deal on the Antec SLK-3700BQE and scored one ($40 after rebate from BB). I just got done transferring everything over and immediately notice some improvements. The front fan in this case is actually positioned where it should be! The idle CPU temps dropped to 38-40 and my HDD temps all dropped 4-5 degrees! This case is actually quieter than the Sonata too, so I am VERY impressed.

I admit that the Sonata looks better with the Piano black finish, rather than the dull grainy black finish, but I'm willing to sacrifice that for MUCH improved temperatures. 🙂

Just a heads up in case someone was thinking about purchasing one of these cases.
 
I used a Sonata in a build (3000+ not oc'd & stock HSF) and temps were great. Did you ever try a higher cfm exhaust fan? The stock 120mm moves very little air. That would of done more for your temps than an intake imo. Either way glad you are happy with the 3700....its a nice case.
 
Originally posted by: JBDan
I used a Sonata in a build (3000+ not oc'd & stock HSF) and temps were great. Did you ever try a higher cfm exhaust fan? The stock 120mm moves very little air. That would of done more for your temps than an intake imo. Either way glad you are happy with the 3700....its a nice case.
Click to expand...

If that fan is used with the stock PSU and the "fan only" output, then it's silent and moves very little air. I use a OCZ PowerStream 520w PSU and have all my fans on a Vantec Nexus. Even when that fan and another 120mm intake fan was blowing full blast (loud, fast and hard), the case had pretty bad ventilation and my CPU/HDD temps were not very good.
 
I agree with ya govtcheez75. The cooling is pretty bad.. I think as soon as I move to a place with a bigger room (I am a college student living in a small house with 5 other roommates) I am going to get a P180 and ditch the Sonata.
 
Originally posted by: govtcheez75
Originally posted by: JBDan
I used a Sonata in a build (3000+ not oc'd & stock HSF) and temps were great. Did you ever try a higher cfm exhaust fan? The stock 120mm moves very little air. That would of done more for your temps than an intake imo. Either way glad you are happy with the 3700....its a nice case.
Click to expand...

If that fan is used with the stock PSU and the "fan only" output, then it's silent and moves very little air. I use a OCZ PowerStream 520w PSU and have all my fans on a Vantec Nexus. Even when that fan and another 120mm intake fan was blowing full blast (loud, fast and hard), the case had pretty bad ventilation and my CPU/HDD temps were not very good.
Click to expand...

Question---why does a silent fan move very little air???

 
Originally posted by: JBDan
I used a Sonata in a build (3000+ not oc'd & stock HSF) and temps were great. Did you ever try a higher cfm exhaust fan? The stock 120mm moves very little air. That would of done more for your temps than an intake imo. Either way glad you are happy with the 3700....its a nice case.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm intending to buy a 120mm fan for my front and I was thinking I could move the back fan to the front and buy a good exhaust fan for the back... What would you reccomend?
 
Originally posted by: srygonic
Originally posted by: JBDan
I used a Sonata in a build (3000+ not oc'd & stock HSF) and temps were great. Did you ever try a higher cfm exhaust fan? The stock 120mm moves very little air. That would of done more for your temps than an intake imo. Either way glad you are happy with the 3700....its a nice case.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm intending to buy a 120mm fan for my front and I was thinking I could move the back fan to the front and buy a good exhaust fan for the back... What would you reccomend?
Click to expand...

I think you have got the right idea. 🙂 This >http://www.jab-tech.com/customer/product.php?productid=2686&cat=81&page=1
 
Originally posted by: govtcheez75
I got a Sonata a few months ago for it's awesome looks and quietness. I bought an extra 120mm fan to install in the front and thought that it would do an adequate job of cooling. Boy was I wrong! I would constantly get 42-44 degree idle temps and the HDD temps were VERY poor. I blame most of this due to the position of the front fan. I doubt that it really did anything except circulate hot air around and not let it escape as efficiently.

I finally got pretty fed up and decided to look for a replacement. I came across a great deal on the Antec SLK-3700BQE and scored one ($40 after rebate from BB). I just got done transferring everything over and immediately notice some improvements. The front fan in this case is actually positioned where it should be! The idle CPU temps dropped to 38-40 and my HDD temps all dropped 4-5 degrees! This case is actually quieter than the Sonata too, so I am VERY impressed.

I admit that the Sonata looks better with the Piano black finish, rather than the dull grainy black finish, but I'm willing to sacrifice that for MUCH improved temperatures. 🙂

Just a heads up in case someone was thinking about purchasing one of these cases.
Click to expand...

I agree with you there the SLK3700 is a nice case,I got one myself but found 1 flaw (that i later fixed).

it cools the hd's a lot better than the sonata but i find the the very top half of the case from the bottom of psu on up traps hot air there,i guess having the back exaust fan in the middle is the cause.

So my fix was to cut myself a nice 120mm top blow hole and put a fan there and the temp dropped a lot .

So when you get a chance you might want to try out that mod. 😉

Btw i took out the back (middle) exaust fan now that i have a top exaust and it runs very cool.
 
I too ditched my Sonata. While my CPU idle temps were great (I was using a 94CFM rear exhaust fan) my video card and HDD temps were very bad. My video card would idle at 48-50c and my HDDs were constantly in the high 30s/low 40s celsius range.

I have since change to a P180 and my CPU temps are still as they were in the Sonata but I have very good improvement on my video card and HDDs now.

My temps on the video card are now (ambient temp 73F) 42c and my HDDs are in the upper 20s to low 30s Celsius!! I have a thread over in this forum if you care to see spec and sig.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=37&threadid=1692475&enterthread=y
 
currently on my Sonata II with front, rear 120mm fans and one 80mm fan by the GPU (using the air duct):
(degrees celcius of course)
CPU: 34
GPU: 41
HD1: 33 <- seagate IDE 120gb 7200rpm
HD2: 28 <- WD Raptor, sata, 10,000rpm

This is Idling (using internet)

what specs do you have?
Venice 3000+
6600gt pci-e
 
I too ditched my Sonata...Pitiful thermal performance.

But the thing that just absolutely drove me crazy was the way it filled my floppy, card reader and optical drives with dust.

Hopefully they have addressed some of these issues with the new Sonata II...My first experience with the Sonata would rule out the Sonata II for possible case choices for new builds.

 

"Question---why does a silent fan move very little air??? " JY

Because it's not running - the only truly quiet fan being one that's turned off. 😉

All these low and slow 120mm fans aren't worth the powder to blow 'em up!

.bh.
 
Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Originally posted by: govtcheez75
Originally posted by: JBDan
I used a Sonata in a build (3000+ not oc'd & stock HSF) and temps were great. Did you ever try a higher cfm exhaust fan? The stock 120mm moves very little air. That would of done more for your temps than an intake imo. Either way glad you are happy with the 3700....its a nice case.
Click to expand...

If that fan is used with the stock PSU and the "fan only" output, then it's silent and moves very little air. I use a OCZ PowerStream 520w PSU and have all my fans on a Vantec Nexus. Even when that fan and another 120mm intake fan was blowing full blast (loud, fast and hard), the case had pretty bad ventilation and my CPU/HDD temps were not very good.
Click to expand...

Question---why does a silent fan move very little air???
Click to expand...


silent or quiet fan usually = slow fan. There are fans that are more efficient than others, but usually for a fan to move a good amount of air it needs to spin pretty fast. Fast spinning motors generate noise, and so does the air being moved (think turbulance). I have 2 extreme ends of the quiet (Panaflo/Yate Loon) fans and the loud (Delta) fans. Trust me when I say that the Delta is MUCH louder and moves MUCH more air. If you put it faced ground and crank it up, I think it might actually fly away. I know that if you put it on a flat surface, the air pressure actually moves the fan. It's pretty cool to watch. 🙂
 
I use the Sonata for a quiet case for my old P3 file server.

For my main rig, which gets hot, I have a much louder case.
 
I have a 120CFM dual ball fan here and the sides of my case bulge out when I crank it up full... (hyperbole there) Now where did I see those 230CFM Deltas?

.bh.
 
Originally posted by: govtcheez75
Trust me when I say that the Delta is MUCH louder and moves MUCH more air. If you put it faced ground and crank it up, I think it might actually fly away. I know that if you put it on a flat surface, the air pressure actually moves the fan. It's pretty cool to watch. 🙂
Click to expand...

What's not as cool is when the fan sucks up a loose screw and sends it off like a bullet. Had that happen with one of the old 60x25mm 7000RPM units back in the day.
 
I found the Sonata had horrible cooling unless the case was modded (HDD cage cut and front bezel snaded down) and I ducted the CPU. In addition, I had the acoustifoam installed which made it warmer inside. I moved to the Silverstone TJ-05 which has significantly more breathing room.
 
I have Sonata I and II cases. Both CPU's (P4's) are watercooled. Case temps are 33*c with the Antec fan as exhaust and a GlacialTech 120mm 1000 rpm as intake fan. The rad and rad fan are exterior mounted. I'd say a case temp of 33*c isn't too bad. Cpu temps are 39*c and room at 23*C
The P160 case (Barton 2800+) is also watercooled but runs at 50*c ; 33*c case temp.
The CPU's are not idle temps, but under full load.
 
I am awaiting the arival of my watercooling set later this week!!!! I am pretty excited as it is my first venture into water cooling. I wish I could use the Sonata I had just to see what would have happened to the temps.
 
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