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Antec Sonata

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2003 5:28 pm
by Francis Parsons
Hi! I know this case was reviewed already. Has anyone seen one yet, besides the good folks at SPCR? If so, is it pretty well constructed? Google only turned up one place that's taking "preorders".

The SPCR article mentioned that there's a place to mount a 12 cm fan next to the hard drive cage. According to the article, it would mount not at the end closest to the front panel, but the end in the interior of the case - correct?

Anyone care to speculate on how much noiser installing the extra 12cm fan would make a PC? (I know it's pretty subjective) - "not much" , "noticably" , etc? This case looks pretty interesting, but I'd like to use it for some 10K SCSI drives and so want to be sure they're kept pretty cool.

Wish they were selling this case without the PSU, as I already shelled out for a "quiet" PSU.

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2003 6:48 pm
by GamingGod
no they dont seem to actually be selling this case yet, the antec site has it on preorder i think too for $150.US w/shipping. Yea the extra 120mm fan is deep inside the case so i doubt it would add too much noise. I also agree that they should be able to buy them without power supplys because this would be a really really quiet case with a nexus power supply instead of the antec true380s.

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2003 7:31 pm
by DaveSimmons
I also agree that they should be able to buy them without power supplys
Hopefully SPCR (or one of us readers) will let us know if a Chieftec equivalent is released like with older Antec designs. They were sharing designs until now, haven't heard anything about the relationship ending.

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2003 7:37 pm
by MikeC
if a Chieftec equivalent is released like with older Antec designs. They were sharing designs until now, haven't heard anything about the relationship ending.
I've been told this is a sore point between Antec and it major case supplier. The design was Antec's -- whether by Antec or for Antec, who knows -- and they were supposed to have an exclusive supply for XX time. But the OEM supplier found loopholes in the contract & ways to sell it to 3rd parties who then passed it on/around/into the US under different names. I would be surprised if Antec lets this happen again.

US$150 even with shipping sounds steep, but what do I know? Just a poor Canadian.

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2003 5:50 am
by Francis
MikeC wrote:US$150 even with shipping sounds steep, but what do I know? Just a poor Canadian.
Here's what I found on Google:

http://store.yahoo.com/upsource/535134.html

They're taking "preorders", but the price is only $105.US

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2003 3:44 pm
by Dru
Francis wrote:Here's what I found on Google:

http://store.yahoo.com/upsource/535134.html

They're taking "preorders", but the price is only $105.US
I think someone stated in another thread here that their shipping was over $60? That brings the price over $165. :(

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2003 3:58 pm
by MikeC
Must depend on location or something. I tried a Boston delivery address and the total came to under $130.

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 8:11 pm
by mikemike2
Just had a thought about the hard drive mounting on the Antec Sonata. I was wondering if the 4 rubber grommets that the drive sits on are compatiable with the tapped holes on the bottom of all harddrives. If they match, then I would really like to see how drives attached thru the bottom holes using plastic screws (from any hardware stores) would improve vibration-caused noise from the HDD.

Maybe someone has thought about this already. I know the review has been up for some time.

edit: Opps, I'm quite a moron....this is actually stated in the review already! Hee hee.... :oops:

Antec Sonata Case Availability

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 2:37 pm
by Franz
I am interested in the Antec Sonata case. I couldn't find any information on availability after calling about 6 local shops here in Vancouver Canada. No one was interested in ordering one either. I called Antec, and after some phone tag, "Sean" said, if everything goes according to plan, U.S. shipping should start in about a week, and Canada in about 2 weeks. This was on Jan. 24.
Does anyone know any computer stores in the Vancouver area that are used to the concepts of quiet computers? Or any that are easy to deal with in regards to ordering parts?
Thanks,
Franz

Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2003 3:39 pm
by Mike Sae
Does anyone know any computer stores in the Vancouver area that are used to the concepts of quiet computers?
New Type in Yaletown is the best I've found. They carry the Antec, Zalman and Aopen lines. They seem to actually have everything in stock, as well.
If anyone knows of better shops I'm all ears.
www.ntcw.com

Or any that are easy to deal with in regards to ordering parts?

Sprite in Surrey will order anything that's available to Lower Mainland distributors within 24-48 hours.
I've bought my last 3 computers from them. Steve at Sprite actually stayed until 5pm Christmas Eve to assemble my latest computer. They're not really with the silentpc gameplan, though.