Sonata Case...First Version. How/Where to mount front fan?

[DaveR]

***UPDATE***

I was told it goes on the side of the HDD cage towards the back of the case.


Just a quick question for any of you who have the Antec Sonata Case. It says that we can add a front Case fan. I assume it is the same 120mm x 25mm fan as in the rear, but I see no place to mount it, or how. I assume that I just need the fan and that no other hardware is required. The small manual mentions that it should be installed behind the 3.5" internal drive bays. Just where is "behind the drive bays" supposed to mean?

TIA

 

[Boobs McGee]

I have a Sonata, but I haven't ever put a front fan in it.
I do know that you can pull the front plastic face off. When they say behind the HDD cage I bet it would actually mean in the front of the cage if you were looking at the case head on. IIRC there is a place right behind where the side vents are on the front face, so outside the actual metal case but inside the front face.

 

[Paperdoc]

I have a Sonata II and mounted a front intake fan - sounds the same as your case. You're right about size - 120 mm. It mounts at the back of the HDD cage, facing the back of the case. Make sure to turn it so it sucks air in from the front (foam filter in front panel), over the HDD's, through the fan and onwards towards the back of the case near the bottom. I remember using some of the typical fan-mounting self-tapping short fat screws to get it in, but it wasn't easy.
The screws had to be inserted from the front side of the HDD frame's back wall, through four pre-drilled holes, and be turned into the fan's plastic frame at its pre-drilled corner holes. Turning the screws into the plastic took a fair amount of force, and that was awkward because the screwdriver is sort of inside the HDD cage! I think I took the front panel off, removed all the HDD's and the foam filter, then used a longer screwdriver to reach through to the screws from the front outside the case.

 

[kalster]

can you mount the front 120mm fan using regular screws , i have an original sonata but don't have the plastinc mounting screws that came with the case (its been a while)

 

[0roo0roo]

its not necessary unless your case is stuffed. 2 fans working in parralel only help to better reach the output of one fan through obstruction.

zip tie cables out of the way and so its tidy

 

[0roo0roo]

as for mounting, whatever works works. i've even zip tied fans in place before improvise.

 

[DaveR]

Thank you all:

Yes, the fan mounts on the left side of the HDD cage (looking from the large side access door). Fry's had a sale of the Tricool 120mm BDD fans for $5 including shipping, so I got 3. I wonder if normal screws and nuts would be OK? I could also use rubber gromets if needed for noise. I am thinking of keeping it on high speed. The reason for this is that I have 4 SATA drives in this system and the drives got so hot that they kept retrying in my RAID0 setup. I took the door off and felt the drives and I can not keep my finger on them they were so hot. With a large 10" fan blowing into the side all is OK so I assume that pulling air across the HDD's would be a good thing.

 

[0roo0roo]

ok thats bad then if they get hot. perhaps sonata 1 is not the best case for a 4sata RAID setup!!!
and yes screws and nuts works fine. use grommits or something to dampen it or its going to transmit all the noise through the case.

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
ok thats bad then if they get hot. perhaps sonata 1 is not the best case for a 4sata RAID setup!!!
and yes screws and nuts works fine. use grommits or something to dampen it or its going to transmit all the noise through the case.

Well, it is OC'ed as well! For the $5 I figured I would try it.

P.S. I started this thread here as the cooling thread was down when I posted. It still will not come up for me.

 

[Ike0069]

I have original Sonata (passed down for the kids PC now) and the case just has very poor air flow from front to back, even with the "front" fan installed. The fan installs with rubber grommets if you have any, or you can use small botls/nuts. Fan screws do not work with this arrangement.

I ended up cutting a hole in the case door and installing a 120mm fan there to help keep my 6800GT cool, because it was getting way too hot in that case and making eveything else in the case get too hot. Not sure if you actually want to do that but it really does help tremendously with bringing case temps down.

One thing you can do to help is remove the bottom panel and make the side and bottom openings as large as possible use a dremel or similar tool. This is one the changes they made on the Sonata II to help get more air into the front of the case. Of course you can always remove the front intake filter also.

Her is what mine looks like:
Inside the case
Case door with 120mm fan

 

[DaveR]

That looks good. Mine is not too bad it is just that the HDDs are getting hot. I will mount the 2nd fan where they suggest, and see what happens. I would hate to remove the filter as I would like to keep the inside as clean as possible.

OH, does anyone know why I can get to the Cases and Cooling forum, but if I log in it says I do not have permission? That seems strange!

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
I have original Sonata (passed down for the kids PC now) and the case just has very poor air flow from front to back, even with the "front" fan installed. The fan installs with rubber grommets if you have any, or you can use small botls/nuts. Fan screws do not work with this arrangement.

I ended up cutting a hole in the case door and installing a 120mm fan there to help keep my 6800GT cool, because it was getting way too hot in that case and making eveything else in the case get too hot. Not sure if you actually want to do that but it really does help tremendously with bringing case temps down.

One thing you can do to help is remove the bottom panel and make the side and bottom openings as large as possible use a dremel or similar tool. This is one the changes they made on the Sonata II to help get more air into the front of the case. Of course you can always remove the front intake filter also.

Her is what mine looks like:
Inside the case
Case door with 120mm fan

sure, but its all defeating the purpose of a sonata!
esp a side panel fan..noise leak city
you need to just get a p182

 

[DaveR]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: Ike0069
I have original Sonata (passed down for the kids PC now) and the case just has very poor air flow from front to back, even with the "front" fan installed. The fan installs with rubber grommets if you have any, or you can use small botls/nuts. Fan screws do not work with this arrangement.

I ended up cutting a hole in the case door and installing a 120mm fan there to help keep my 6800GT cool, because it was getting way too hot in that case and making eveything else in the case get too hot. Not sure if you actually want to do that but it really does help tremendously with bringing case temps down.

One thing you can do to help is remove the bottom panel and make the side and bottom openings as large as possible use a dremel or similar tool. This is one the changes they made on the Sonata II to help get more air into the front of the case. Of course you can always remove the front intake filter also.

Her is what mine looks like:
Inside the case
Case door with 120mm fan

sure, but its all defeating the purpose of a sonata!
esp a side panel fan..noise leak city
you need to just get a p182

A p182 is a lot more than the new fan was.

Also, I fixed my problem with not being able to get to the cases and fans forum.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

Originally posted by: Ike0069
I have original Sonata (passed down for the kids PC now) and the case just has very poor air flow from front to back, even with the "front" fan installed. The fan installs with rubber grommets if you have any, or you can use small botls/nuts. Fan screws do not work with this arrangement.

I ended up cutting a hole in the case door and installing a 120mm fan there to help keep my 6800GT cool, because it was getting way too hot in that case and making eveything else in the case get too hot. Not sure if you actually want to do that but it really does help tremendously with bringing case temps down.

One thing you can do to help is remove the bottom panel and make the side and bottom openings as large as possible use a dremel or similar tool. This is one the changes they made on the Sonata II to help get more air into the front of the case. Of course you can always remove the front intake filter also.

Her is what mine looks like:
Inside the case
Case door with 120mm fan

sure, but its all defeating the purpose of a sonata!
esp a side panel fan..noise leak city
you need to just get a p182

I know the Sonata was built for silence, but if your components are overheating you have to do something. I agree with the OP, a new fan is a lot cheaper than a p182.

 

[0roo0roo]

true, but in the case of higher end pc, its penny wise pound foolish
the rest cost so much the case is not significant.

 

[DaveR]

You were not kidding about the Fan. I got a 120mm Antec DBB fan from Fry's for $5 shipped. In fact I got 3. What were they thinking about the screws they send. The holes on the left side of the HDD frame are too small for them to go through! Anyway, I used some 6-32's...not happy with mounting, but OK so far. Not a New CPU, so new case can wait. I am using P4 2.4GHZ at 3.32GHZ and it is at about 44C when idle. It can go to 60C when ripping a DVD but I believe that a P4 can go over 70C for short periods without issues.