Picking a Case,

[MarcVenice]

Looking for a case, and right now I can purchase an Antec Sonata III for 100 euro's. It comes with the antec earthwatts 500w PSU, which is pretty decent and costs 70 euro in Holland. I can either sell it, or sell my current PSU, and with some luck the case only costs 50euro's.

Now, with only 1 back and 1 front fan, will it be enough cooling? It's a somewhat small tower, but my 2 hd's, 2 dvd's, 8800gts, atx mobo and arctic freezer 64 pro should fit without any hassle. My x2 3800+ does run at 2.6ghz and it needs some good airflow.

Any other suggestions then the antec sonata III? Right now I've got a really crap case, I was on a real TIGHT budget when I first purchased this, but the NOISE is killing me, and it's not the components, but the case resonating because of them!

 

[zero2dash]

The front fan isn't really a front fan, or at least it doesn't really intake any cool air from outside the case; it more or less recycles the hot air (sorry but that's the truth).

That leaves the 1 rear fan and there's a million better cases out there with more fan mounts than this.

I wouldn't bother with the Sonata II or Sonata III, personally. The Solo/P150/Sonata Designer (which is the same as a P150 just with blue highlights) is a better case from Antec because it has 2 92mm fan mounts up front that do pull in cool air from outside the case. Solo has no psu and is therefore the cheapest, maybe check out one of those. Those three variants of the same case design are pretty quiet; they do have sound deadening panels as well as cable management hooks on the opposite side of the drive bays.

P180/P182 is also there and slightly more quiet than the Solo/P150/Sonata Designer.

 

[MarcVenice]

http://www.cool-prices.nl/pict...352_1_5011_150x150.jpg

That's the solo you mean, right? Not really impressed with the looks, although I'm not that bothered with looks. How does it draw cool air from outside though? I don't see any ventilation holes or whatever, which the sonata III does have? I like the p180/182, especially the cooling solutions * fan on top of the case * and the rubber mounts for harddrives, but they come for 110euro or so, and no PSU which I could sell. The whole attraction of the sonata III is that it would cost only 50euro or so.

Do you have any other suggestions that could fit my needs but might cost a little less? Would be appreciated, I'm going to ponder about the p180. I do have the money, but I'm a cheap bastard, can't be helped.

 

[zero2dash]

Slits in the sides in the front panel, shown on a picture on this page/review here.

P150/Solo/Sonata Designer has more ventilation holes up front I believe; lots more.
The problem with the Sonata II/III is that the 120mm fan mount is behind the hard drive cage, putting it a good 5"-6" away from the front of the case.

Solo is around $89 USD, I know you're overseas though so I don't know what type of prices you can get on it.

(P180 and Nine Hundred have gone for the same after rebates lately over here in the US.)

You may want to also check out several of the Lian-Li cases, those run around the same price (again, here in the US). Lian-Li PC-A05B (what I have) is a great case, runs very cool, stock case fans are quiet enough for me.

 

[MarcVenice]

Solo is 75ish here I think, but if I'm going to spend 75ish I'm willing to go the extra mile and spend 115 instead on something I love instead of like.

 

[zero2dash]

Absolutely the right thing to do
I went from P150 -> P180 -> 900 -> P150 -> P180 -> P182 -> P180 (found out rev.2 has the features of the P182)...finally bought my LL.

YMMV but I've seen a lot of people (lately) complain that Antec's using cheap flimsy plastic tabs in their cases now that are prone to breaking if you are consistently in-and-out of the case (tweaking, moving things around and whatnot) which is why I decided *not* to buy an Antec case.

But absolutely - don't scrounge on the case. You have to look at the case and hear noise from it more than anything else in the entire system, so yes, by all means...get what you want with the case.

Don't know if you're partial to doors or not but that may be one thing to keep in mind. I know I got sick of opening and closing the door on my Chieftec over the last 3 1/2 years so I knew this time I did not want a case with a door (at least with the P180 it opens 270* so it will lay flat against the side and stay open).

 

[MarcVenice]

Lian Li I guess ? Had to google YMMV lol I guess I'll be carefull, and I'll look into Lian Li cases. I did see one though and didn't like that particular one ...

 

[zero2dash]

The only thing I really didn't like about many of the LL cases is that they use 80mm fans and IMO 80mm fans suck; they're noisy and they do not move enough air.

The case I bought...the A05B has 2 120mm fan mounts and is very non-traditional. The mobo mounts upside down and on the left case wall (looking at the front of the case) rather than the right wall like most cases. With the mobo upside down, the rear 120mm fan is the intake and the front 120mm is exhaust, so the rear 120mm intake pulls cool air right over the cpu where it's needed most (rather than being pulled in the front where it goes over the hard drives and then expansion cards, ultimately getting warmer and THEN hitting the cpu like standard cases). Despite it's size, it uses ATX mobos because the psu mounts up front by way of an extension cord that goes from the rear psu plug spot on the bottom and plugs into the actual psu mounted up front.

Needless to say, I love the case I chose; a lot of people say it's too small, not enough airflow, not enough expandability because it only has -2- 5 1/4 bays and -1- 3 1/2 bay up front, and the HD cage only houses -3- HDs. How many people really have more than 2 optical drives or 3 HDs (unless they're doing RAID which IMO is overkill?). This case was perfect for me at least.

I really liked the V600 case and was going to get that until I realized that the cooling fan on the side obstructs the cpu area and therefore it would be impossible to use an aftermarket cooler (like the Tuniq I intend to purchase) in that case. It'll fit in my A05B though.

V1000 was what I really wanted but I can't fathom spending $200-$220 on just a case. It is a beautiful case and I absolutely love it, but...$200 is $200.

 

[MarcVenice]

I don't see myself spending 120$ on a case, but the noise is getting annoying and financial wise I'm doing okay. Still a student and I simply figured that saving right now is a bunch of bullshit. The few bucks I could save now, won't weigh up to the money I'll be earning when I get a real job. Only keeping some money in reserve but the rest HAS to be spend

Still not sure though, I also want a new, bigger HD, but if I save the money from the HD * 90$ * and the case *110* I got 200$. Maybe it's better saved towards a new PC upgrade, but I just did one, to a 2.6ghz x2 3800+ and a 8800gts 320mb with 2gb of ram On a s939 btw. It's not really the money that's the problem, it's how I want to spend it hehe And the 30$ case I bought a year ago, WITH psu that I actually used for a year, is such a piece of crap you couldn't even fathom how big of a piece of crap it is

 

[zero2dash]

I look at the case as an investment though; do your homework now and get a good case with good airflow and as long as you still dig the look of the case - you'll use it for future builds down the road.

In my case, I had a Chieftec with 5 80mm fans the last 3 1/2 years for my P4 3.0C system and I couldn't stand the noise of the 5 80mm fans anymore. While shopping the case for my future Q6600 build (in sig) I saw this case, then saw it on sale and decided I'd buy it now at a low price ($99 on sale, a week later it was $89, now it's back up to $119), put the P4 in it and when I build my Q6600 come tax refund time 2008 - that will go in my A05B and my P4 will either be put back into the Chieftec and sold *or* I'll buy a smaller HTPC-like case (like the Antec Fusion) and make it a HTPC and sell off the Chieftec case.

Good luck in your search for your ideal case.

 

[MarcVenice]

Thanks, and yeah I agree with you, it should last me a pretty long time, a lot longer then my 300$ 8800gts will last me. I've been searching for some more cases btw, and I don't really like the LL cases that are in my price range. I did find this one though, Thermaltake Soprano Dx and/or Thermaltake Armor Jr.

 

[MarcVenice]

Ok I think I got things sorted out a little now. I like all the nifty stuff in the p180b, and in black it looks pretty good. First concern is the PSU being on the bottom. My PSU draws air from beneath and then passes it out of the back of the PC, if I were to move it down like in the p180b, where is it going to draw 'cool' air from? Or should I flip it over, not sure if that's possible though ... Then, the other cases I mentioned, from thermaltake, including the tsunami case, in black, no window, all look a bit better, but don't have all the nifty stuff the p180b has.

Then again, I could also buy a Arctic Cooling t1-t5 for 90$ with a pretty solid 500w seasonic PSU I could sell, but once again, not convinced by the looks. It would be quiet and provide pretty decent airflow in the case. Then theres the sonata III, man it keeps nagging, it's perhaps one the best looking cases I've seen so far and a bargain to boot. In the end I wish I could get the nifty stuff from the p180 for cheaper, or with a 'better' look. It's still pretty good looking, but the sonata III or the Thermaltake Tsunami look better.

Please help me choose, gotta put my mind at ease before I pull the trigger...

 

[webadala98]

Have you ever considered the size? P180 is rather huge comparing with the Sonata III or P150. What is your main goal anyways? I have the P150 and like it. This is my second Antec case (first being the SLK3000) I see no issue with the quailty except for the cable suspension... it started to crack and break in 3 months, all the heat generating from the HD is causing the cable to harden/crack prematurely so use the HD tray instead.

I installed a comp for a friend on sonata III, I have to disagree on the front air intake tho. The sonata III pulls in more air then the P150. Antec has been making cases with all front intake fan near the bezel and because of the lack of the clearance in the front fan, it actually draws a very faint airflow through its vents..... Sonata III has larger open side vents, more air gets suck in with it. I don't know how but a simple test with a small tissue paper hanging near the vents tells the difference.

I am not sure if the 120mm front fan will fit with 8800gts on the sonata tho, my friend had 8600gts, rather short. Which brings up my original question, I thought the thread originally started with noise reduction in mind and seems to turn into "cooling" focus. What are you really after? more fan = more noise = less heat. If cooling is the main issue, get the P180/P182. Otherwise, P150/Sonata III should do the job quiet nicely....

 

[MarcVenice]

Thanks for the advice, I've allready went with the p182 though. I know it's a fair bit larger. And both are important, I need good cooling, but I need it to be quiet as well. I know you can't have the best of two worlds, but with the fans on low or 1 on medium and the rest on low in the p182 it should still be fairly quiet. It was a really tough choice, because the sonata III would cost me 30$ if I could sell the earthwatts 500w for 70$. The p182 costed me 115$. But in the end I'll be happy either way, coz it should last me several years and be a huge improvement over the case I've currently got.