Building a New Computer - The Antec Sonata II Case

[Updates below.]

When in doubt, always have your cat check it out. Turbo appreciates good build quality even though he can't explain exactly why. He spent most of the evening rubbing his face on the edges of the chassis and corners of the side panel. So yeah, this thing doesn't have too many sharp surfaces. I found none and I spent more than an hour poking around inside.

In the event someone asks for them, I have high-resolution versions of these pictures available. Send me an e-mail [ drizz (at) drizzten (dot) com ] with a subject line mentioning "Sonata II" and I should be able to help you out. The subject line is crucial because that e-mail gets a ton of spam.

Here's what I was handed on Wednesday. The Windows XP package is on top. The case came shipped in the retail box which was sturdy enough to survive the trek from California. This should be a note of warning, however, to those who go through NewEgg.com: that if you think the case you want will be shipped by itself and might have a flimsy box, you might want to weigh the chances of shipping damage. Antec had the Sonata II well-protected and I didn't find anything wrong, but I've read case reviews on NewEgg that mentioned some issues.

Instant impression: this is a kick-ass computer case. Waiting to get rid of my 25" tall monster tower is getting harder every minute.

Here are the stats:

• 16.75"(H) x 18.25"(D) x 8.13"(W) /// 42.5cm (H) x 46.3cm (D) x 20.6cm(W)
  
• 20.7/25 lbs (net/gross) /// 9.4/11.34 kg (net/gross)
  
• Nine drive bays with three 5.25" accessible from the front, two 3.5" accessible from the front, and four 3.5" internal with rubber grommet installation points
  
• Seven expansion slots
  
• Accepts ATX motherboards up to 12"(W) x 9.6"(L) /// 30.48cm (W) x 24.38cm (L)
  
• High-gloss "piano black" exterior 0.8mm SECC steel surfaces
  
• Front ports for two USB, one IEEE 1394 FireWire/I.LINK, one headphone, and one microphone
  
• Lockable double-hinged front drive bay door (opens 270º)
  
• Lockable side panel
  
• One 120mm Tricool case exhaust fan with three-speed switch
  
• One 120mm case intake fan mount
  
• Washable and removable plastic air filter in front bezel
  
• Advanced Air Chassis Guide (ACAG) air duct that creates an isolated channel for the ventilating of CPUs and video cards
  
• ACAG CPU port has a 92mm fan mount; ACAG video card port has a 80mm fan mount and a fan cap that seals the port when not in use
  
• 450W/12V powersupply, ATX 2.0 qualified

Antec's spec sheet and features listing has all this, but in happier business-speak.

Can't do this on an empty stomach, right? The format of this review will be fairly simple. After going over some notable features, I'll spend the rest of my time discussing the ACAG. The next time I post, it will be in the process of installing the hardware and I'll append any case-related comments to this post.

I will assume the reader is somewhat familiar with computer cases and I won't bother with explaining things like "don't use the chassis as a jack stand" or "make sure to prevent animals from nesting in the drive bays" or "don't piss on the power supply." I don't have to say things like that, do I?

*squints at you*

Good.

Onward to the real shit!

---

I'll remind the reader I have not yet powered anything up nor installed a single piece of hardware in the case. This is a cold review. It's also the point where Turbo backed down and let me take the lead. Whatta cat, eh?

Some views of the interior with a measuring tape. It is more than 11" from back to front, more than 12" from below the SP to the case bottom, and more than 7" wide. I'm not a serious gamer so I won't be dealing with crazy interior situations like SLI video cards. My motherboard also has several I/O devices already installed that I plan on using until or unless they work out badly, so I won't have a bunch of things inserted into mobo slots.

A fearless prediction: I will not have much trouble fitting my mobo, processor, video card, and memory into this case.

Here are the front panel connectors. The faux-chrome cover is flipped up in this shot, rolled back into the bezel. It rolls smoothly and stays firmly in place. I'm not certain, but it does not feel as if it's spring-loaded. The microphone and headphone plugs are color-coded.

I tested the USB plugs with my digicam's USB cord. Though it required more effort than I expected to make a full connection, I don't think the effort is of a damaging level. I suppose the female connector will loosen with use. Still, the slight creaking of the plastic bezel is worth noting.

To the left and the right of the connector panel are clear jeweled inserts. I can't find the source now, but I believe I read somewhere that these glow blue when the system is powered on. Peering behind the front bezel, I found two wires leading to the spots where LEDs would be. If you look at the picture, you can see a small grey area on each side of the connector panel. I think these grey dots are the LEDs. Another picture below shows the same thing.

The wires leading to the front panel electronics are clearly marked, relieving some anxiety. I've had cases where all ya get are black wires and damn-near-identical plugs terminating them.

The rear 120mm fan has these leads. It's a washed-out block of white nothing, but the box to the right has a three-position switch for Low, Medium, and High and the box is marked "L" "M" and "H." This allows you to set the fan speed independent of other factors. The manual warns that setting the fan "to Medium or Low to a fan-control device may result in the fan not being able to start. The already lowered voltage from the fan control device will be further reduced by the TriCool circuitry," so keep those voltages at 5V and above.

A closeup of the many power supply wires. The motherboard power connector is interesting. It is normally a 20-pin harness but can be converted into a 24-pin harness by simply snapping an included 4-pin attachment to it. I'll be sure to let you know if this fails on my Biostar when I get going with the actual installation.

A shot of the rear case interior. The Sonata II came with an I/O panel installed but it is not color-coded. The Ethernet cutout is still in place, as are the cutouts for the joystick, audio line-in, audio line-out, and microphone. Lots of space in there.

I'm curious to hear the 120mm fan running at each of its speeds. My current system is stationed less than 3 feet at eye level from my left ear. I have a generic power supply (PS), a small case intake fan, a busted video card fan, and three very different hard drives whose noise occasionally resonate into a distracting hum. That piece of paper at the top...

...was attached like so. It came like this, reading: By design, rear fan does not turn on automatically at start-up. It is automatically activated as needed. Honestly, my initial impression was that this was insane. Of all the heat-generating devices in a modern PC, I thought power supplies were among the things that needed active cooling at all times. After reading about either this model or one very like it, I'm not too worried and am pleasantly surprised to see PS technology get to this level. In addition, the manual says this:

THE PUSH-PULL FAN QUIET POWER SUPPLY
SmartPower 2.0 features an innovative design to help decrease noise during normal use, but which still allows for superior cooling capabilities as load increases. To this end, SmartPower 2.0 features both an internal intake fan as well as a unique external exhaust fan. The internal intake fan operates when the power supply is turned on. It rotates slowly to blow out the hot air from the power supply, and is thermally controlled, speeding up as heat increases. The external exhaust fan remains off to make sure your computer maintains a quiet computing environment until the power supply senses the required temperature to turn on the external exhaust fan.

Nifty. It attempts to keep the piece of gear most likely to be heard during regular operation inside the case, baffled by PS components and away from direct outside contact with ambient room air.

The bottom of the Sonata II has two tabs which, if pressed together, release the inner air filter. Each square is about 1 1/8" in length and width and as best as I can tell from a crappy measuring tape, the holes are about 1/16" in width. It is plastic and it isn't of a very fine mesh. However, when I blow through it and hold a hand on the other side, "filtering" my breath, there is a significant reduction in air force. If one were anal enough, sticking a foam filter or something with even greater debris capturing ability would not be tough.

The instructions don't mention exactly what kind of "washable" this filter is. It appears sturdy enough to take hot tap water and hand soap.

The internal 3.5" drive bay cage with one rail partially removed.

Closeups of the individual drive rail assembly. There is one black rubber grommet per corner and through those the drive screws are supposed to go. They are soft and feel just loose enough to be able to replace by hand if necessary.

From the manual:

Note: Don't over tighten.

[...]

Note: You can mount the drives with either the connectors facing you or away from you. If you mount them with the connectors facing away from you (into the case) you may wish to connect the data cables before sliding the drive into the locked position.
Note: Mounting the drives with the cables facing you (towards the open side of the case) may make squeezing the release clips more difficult.

This is important to note because the release clips closest to the front of the case are less than a half inch away from the rolled edge of the front bulkhead. Folks with large fingers might have trouble.

The lockable features of the case. My keys have a three digit number stamped on them. You have to push the keys in and compress a spring before you can lock or unlock the doors. I don't have any ballpoint pens handy to see if they can defeat these locks as they can defeat other, more popular cylindrical-locks.

The side panel is "hinged" at the front of the case so the rear swings towards the front of the case. The "hinge" isn't really such; it takes little effort and fewer tools to pull the door off the pivot. There are two oversized thumbscrews to remove; pull the handle and the door comes out with ease.

The instruction manual says the front panel door can be removed and I gave it a shot. I wouldn't recommend taking the door on and off regularly since the short posts holding the hinge in place are just over a 1/16" in width and the "small plastic tab" mentioned in the instructions had to be manipulated with an equally small flathead screwdriver. Getting the door back on didn't inspire lots of confidence to take it back off. You shouldn't expect to slam the door shut, though, and it needs a little guidance to fully close.

I find it easier to open when grasping the top or the middle of the door rather than the bottom. It swings open so far it can almost sit flush against the left side panel. Not quite "parallel" as the manual says, but damn close. When closed, it also conceals the power and reset buttons.

A few reviewers on NewEgg.com have complained, saying the hinge is flimsy. However, beyond my concerns about the two hinge posts, I don't have that impression. It is plastic and it bends a bit when opening or closing. Meh, not that big a deal. I'll probably leave my door attached and closed until I need to access a drive.

These are the drive rails mounted to the inside of the 5.25" drive bay blanks. The instructions suggest attaching the rails to the hard drives and then sliding the apparatus into position. These rails offer the same removable functionality as the internal 3.5" drive bays mentioned above.

The two external 3.5" drive bays. I couldn't tell at first whether these bays had separate bay covers; they do, but you have to remove the entire bay and then using a small Phillips head driver, unscrew the bay cover you wish to remove. They, unlike the 5.25" covers, are painted metal rather than black plastic. Except for the colder feel of the steel, the feel and look of the two are very similar. Antec managed to produce the 3.5" bay covers to match the plastic bay covers' texture.

The supplied case fan is mounted in a straight line behind these 3.5" drives. You can also see the grey LED "dots" I mentioned above to the sides of the front connector panel.

The fasteners and other equipment included in the case. There are plenty of brass motherboard spacers. Note the differences between the lined-up screws on the right and the lined-up screws on the left. In the first picture, the screws on the right are the screws piled in the center whereas the screws on the left are the screws piled near the bottom of the first photo. The manual does not tell you what fasteners to use where (except for the motherboard spacers), so I plan on being careful when attaching things. Antec tossed in a logo sticker/emblem that'll fit a rectangular spot near the top of the door. It measures 1" x 1".

And now on to the Advanced Air Chassis Guide (ACAG) air duct. When I assemble the computer, I'll update this post. I hope the combination of Athlon 64 3500+ and Biostar NF4UL-A9 motherboard work together to place the CPU close enough to the shroud to make it effective.

Here is the ACAG in a variety of positions. It can be adjusted in three ways:

• Height of the shroud off the CPU
  
• Distance of the shroud from the bottom of the PS
  
• Distance of the whole ACAG duct from the backside of the case

The first two are adjusted using large thumbscrews and have five holes in which to fasten them. I tried pulling the shroud out further than the fifth position and screwing the screw into the wall of the shroud, but it didn't hold well and wasn't hard to knock loose. Drilling more holes is always a possibility.

The third dimension is adjusted by gently pulling the whole duct towards the front of the case, also in increments of five.

The manual is clear and accurate* regarding the removal of the ACAG duct:

• Remove the two small screws holding the elbow of the duct to the bottom of the case and loosen the thumbscrews near the 120mm rear exhaust fan and near the PS
  
• gently slide the duct towards the front of the case until the part connected to the PS hits the stop
  
• (here's the tricky part) tilt the duct so that the part near the PS points to you and simultaneously twist the elbow inwards so the whole thing can slide off a rectangular tube attached to the backside of the case

*Except for one thing: the metal joint the elbow attaches to should be removed entirely before taking out or installing the ACAG.

This is the tube lying on the case floor after removal from the backside. It slides off and on easily.

I don't plan on adding fans to the ACAG so I won't go into how to crack it open. However, I did take it apart to get a feel for the process and discovered a design weakness.

Here's the problem. That tiny post inserted through a flange to the left of a latch may be a secure way to keep the two parts together. However, you've got to be careful because the post is tiny and I broke one without knowing it until I had the whole thing almost put back together. You've got to put a bit of force into releasing those latches, so be wary.

I'll be busy until Sunday so I won't be able to get started on the full assembly yet.

But I'll be back no later than then to tackle the serious fun.

UPDATED 1/23/2006 7:01pm

• Building a New Computer - The Past, the Present, and the Parts
  
• Building a New Computer - The Guts Are Here
  
• Building a New Computer - POST Problems
  
• Building a New Computer - Diagnosing My POST Problem
  
• Building a New Computer - Complete!
  
• Building a New Computer - POST Revisited

Posted by Drizzten at December 16, 2005 02:01 AM