Question about my antec Sonata!

[big4x4]

I don't know if I am blind, but I cannot find out where to put my 120 mm intake fan. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

[mechBgon]

It goes on the rear face of the drive rack, see the four holes for fan screws?

 

[big4x4]

Yes....i see it now! Thank you

That is not a front intake....its more like a middle intake! I dont get the purpose it would serve though because wouldn't that intake fan be sucking hot air from those hard drives and blowing it in the case? I would think they would put it in the front like most cases have intakes

 

[mechBgon]

Well, whether the air is pushed through the HDD rack or pulled through, it's the same heat off the drives either way. My guess is that they located it there because it's a lot further from the front of the case and will be less audible, while still providing forced-air cooling to the hard drives.

Bigger picture: do you need a 120mm front intake really?

 

[big4x4]

Well, if I overclock, wouldnt you suggest one? I will prorbably run both fans on dedicated molex's and not just the fan only for better cooling. What are some good and quiet 12 cm fans?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: big4x4
Well, if I overclock, wouldnt you suggest one? I will prorbably run both fans on dedicated molex's and not just the fan only for better cooling. What are some good and quiet 12 cm fans?

I could see the front 120mm being a significant boost to the video-card cooling in particular, if you're going to OC that, because it'll blow straight at it. Panaflo L1A 120mm x 38mm is a nice one, about 60cfm at full speed, with moderate noise level.

If you're open to modding the case a little, then cutting out the rear grillework and using a chromed wire grille could boost the exhaust flow while lowering turbulence and noise from the rear fan, sort of a win-win situation if you don't mind hacking up the case a little 😀

 

[MDE]

The Sonata doesn't really need the front fan unless you have 3 or more hard drives (which is the only reason I got the front intake for mine). Honestly, running the fans off of normal molex connectors ruins the case's appeal for me at least (being silence) and doesn't help temperatures much. I run my system with both 120mm fans slowed down (the rear on the fan only connector, the front controlled by my motherboard) and I'm still running CPU temperatures below 60C.

I'd recommend running the case as-is out of the box and see if you need to increase cooling and noise. Mine is running beautifully with an overclocked P4 3.2, 6800GT, 2 Raptors, a 7200RPM drive, Audigy2 ZS Platinum, and a couple other PCI cards.

 

[big4x4]

Good suggestions! Right now in the system in the sig, I unplugged ALL my case fans, and the computer is almost dead silent. The loudest component in the system in the sig is my 9800 pro w/ vga silencer on high, followed by the CPU fan, then PSU, and HD. Unplugging all of those extra fans has increased my case temp by 10 degrees C and my computer temp by 14 degrees celecius!. Just one case fan made the case LOUD, and they are only 24 db! So, would I be able to hear a vga silencer on HIGH over the sonata? Computer temps of 60 is pretty high. Mine used to be how they were in the sig until i unplugged the fans, not it is at 47!

 

[MDE]

Well, my CPU is overvolted with the Zalman CNPS7000A heatsink turned all the way down and two instances of Folding@Home running, so the temperatures are a bit high, not to mention Abit motherboards regularly report high temperatures. The loudest component in my system is my BFG 6800GT, which in 2D mode isn't all that loud as well as the Raptors.