Antec Sonata II: A Brief Review

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 10:48 pm

Through the blue wire. When a fan stops working its know as a fan fault. The motherboard sends a fan fault message to the controller in the psu and the controller tries to restart the fan by giving it a full 12v. The smartpower fan is running, but just slower that the psu fan threshold set at the motherboard. The same thing happens when your computer starts up and the cpu fan in not running or not running fast enough. You get a fan speed error press F1 to continue. With the cpu fan, however, power is supplied from the motherboard. Different controllers handle faults in different ways. Sometimes fans are turned up to 12v for several seconds just to make sure they started and then they slow to a programmed speed.

wim · Post by **wim** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:35 am

afaik the blue wire is -12 Vdc.
or did you mean the blue wire on the fan cable? i can't believe that either because we can't have the fan counter and the mobo header both trying to put a voltage at opposite ends of the wire, bad engineering..

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:43 am

I mean the 2 wire fan speed connector from the psu that plugs into the mb. If you connect a 3 wire fan to the mb the middle wire is 12v. The others are ground and a speed sensor - just a pulse. I checked the pin locations on my enermax and they are same as the smartpower. The black wire is located in the ground position and the blue wire is located in the fan speed location. Power would normally come from the middle pin, but in the case of the psu, it supplies power to the fan directly, so a wire for the middle pin is omitted. There is no way its getting power from the mother board. It does however get a signal from the mb through the tach wire that the speed is below the mimimum acceptable speed according to the motherboard (a fan fault in fan controller terms), and it tries to restart the fan at full power. The fan speed goes up, the fan fault goes away and it continues to run at high speed. I am using my enermax at the moment, but I will be reinstalling the smartpower in a few days. Then I will be able to see if I have the same ramp up problem and if it can be corrected by adjusting the bios or mb software. - FG

Artagra · Post by **Artagra** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 1:19 am

Simple solution - only plug in the one wire of the plug into the mobo - can't remember which is which (only got a Notebook atm) but I think it's the black one.

Artag

wim · Post by **wim** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 4:17 am

i know what the 3 wires for a fan/fan header are (or i thought i did) but i thought fan fault was just a mobo internal signal, where it beeps or something if a fan fault is detected. i didn't know there was communication between psu and mobo fan headers in the case of a fan fault. are you saying the mobo sends a signal (voltage) from the fan header input and back down the tach wire, and the psu is also constantly monitoring the tach wire listening for this fan 'fault signal'?
this seems strange to me for two reasons: firstly, the psu fan controller can monitor the psu fan internally, and if it stalls it can manage this itself automatically (be it by kicking the fan, warnings, switching itself off or whatever) there's no need for the mobo to tell the psu when its fan is faulting. secondly, when designing circuitry usually expressly forbid the possibility of two devices ever trying to put a voltage on the same line at the same time (if unequal, very high currents flow). (even if the tach counter is a passive signal, it would still be strange for that wire to be an input and an output)
sorry to push the issue, it's not that i doubt what you're saying frank (on the contrary it does seem like the most feasible explanation given the symptoms), i just like to understand these sort of things properly..

Artagra wrote:Simple solution - only plug in the one wire of the plug into the mobo - can't remember which is which (only got a Notebook atm) but I think it's the black one.

don't think this would make any electrical difference compared to just having it unplugged

leafman · Post by **leafman** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 6:39 am

I also just purchased my antec sonata II. So i guess we're pretty certain that the black/blue wire is only used for RPM Monitoring and it cant cause any problems such as PSU overheating. However, when I have the black/blue wire unplugged the rear fan on my PSU doesnt spin. Is it usually always spinning, or only at certain times?

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 6:58 am

The black/blue wire or fan spd wire, as in other power supplies, should allow you to monitor the intake fan speed. Early models of the sp 2.0 (according to antec), when the monitor connector is plugged in to the mb, run at full speed all the time. If you disconnect the monitor wire, the sp will run as it should. The intake fan will run at < 1000rpm and the rear fan will only run at higher system output or if trying to remove a lot of case heat. You can return the sp for a new one if you want. - FG

LDFX-31 · Post by **LDFX-31** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:20 pm

is it normal that when then balck/blue wire is connected, the rear fan doesn't work ?

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 1:17 pm

It is not supposed to start unless the temperature reaches a certain value. Mine rarely comes on and mine works properly with the blue/black rpm monitor wire connected. The intake fan is normally running at about 1100rpm. - FG

=assassin= · Post by **=assassin=** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 4:15 am

Any news on when SPCR will review the Sonata 2?

DarkKnightBG · Post by **DarkKnightBG** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:45 am

Hey all. I also have the Sonata II and have unplugged the blue and black wire. However, while the external PSU fan almost never turns on now, I have noticed that within 5 minutes of turning my computer in the morning, the inner PSU fan begins to spin up and down, up and down (with the external fan still off). It gets *VERY* annoying and I'm not sure how this can be remedied. It seems that the fan is just stuck on some temp threshold. Is there maybe a way to control temperature thresholds for these PSU fans?

My motherboard is a DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-D.

Thanks.

to fast · Post by **to fast** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 1:42 am

how much does the front fan help cooling wise, does it decrease cpu temps, gpu temps, harddrive temps? has anyone tested.

alainhel · Post by **alainhel** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:08 pm

I bought a Sonata II case. I have a Intel 3.2 MHz CPU with OEM fan and heatsink. I have added an Antec 120mm smart fan on the intake.

I am a bit disappointed by the overall performance of the ducting system.

1) I added a Vantec 92mm fan in the duct. My temps were as follow: CPU 37C and motherboard 37C. Variable 0C.

2) I removed the 92mm fan and the duct. My temps were as follow: CPU 35C and motherboard 31C. Variable 4C.

3) I reinstalled the duct without the 92mm fan: My temps were as follow: CPU 36C and the motherboard 33C. Variable 3C.

Therefore, I conclude that the duct is useless and adding a 92mm fan in the duct actually blows the CPU hot air inside the case resulting in increased motherboard and overall case temperature. This is probably also due because the rear 120mm exhaust fan efficiency must be greatly reduced by the duct being right in the path of the airflow.

=assassin= · Post by **=assassin=** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 9:00 am

alainhel wrote:I bought a Sonata II case. I have a Intel 3.2 MHz CPU with OEM fan and heatsink. I have added an Antec 120mm smart fan on the intake.

I am a bit disappointed by the overall performance of the ducting system.

1) I added a Vantec 92mm fan in the duct. My temps were as follow: CPU 37C and motherboard 37C. Variable 0C.

2) I removed the 92mm fan and the duct. My temps were as follow: CPU 35C and motherboard 31C. Variable 4C.

3) I reinstalled the duct without the 92mm fan: My temps were as follow: CPU 36C and the motherboard 33C. Variable 3C.

Therefore, I conclude that the duct is useless and adding a 92mm fan in the duct actually blows the CPU hot air inside the case resulting in increased motherboard and overall case temperature. This is probably also due because the rear 120mm exhaust fan efficiency must be greatly reduced by the duct being right in the path of the airflow.

lol... what a useless design that is then - they could have saved money, and lowered the price of the case, by not having a duct at all when shipping.

The duct is just too large and interferes with the case airflow - probably just an attempt by Antec to make it look like they updated the case more than they have, in terms of effectiveness.

Tazka · Post by **Tazka** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:05 am

I've had Antec smartpower 2.0 for 2 days now and it have been worked well...
But today when i started my computer the psu starts to keep whining noise like some wire was rubbing it. Anyone know what's the problem and how can i fix it?

edlight1 · Post by **edlight1** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:01 am

Checking the user reviews of Antec cases on newegg, the Smart Power psu's are quite a mess. I wouldn't trust my components to one. I'm looking hard at the Sonata II -- they have a $50 rebate on it that ends today.