NeilBlanchard wrote:
Hello:
Ralf, thanks for the link to Jim's Cool Cases! Nice. I'm salivating over a black D8000 with both fan grills punched out... Do the (white) grommets in the HD mounting holes that I see in the pictures over at New Egg work well?
They work great. Drives are noticeably quieter when monuted in this case.
NeilBlanchard wrote:
And New Egg sells that Evercase in black sans PS for $36 including shipping! But at that price, they are out of stock at the moment... I know someone who has used several Evercases (w/ the supplied PS) and he likes them; they are very servicable. Though, IMO they are quite yoogly; fugly in fact! Though part of what bothers me visually may be a great functional feature: the air intake slots on the sides.
Those Evercases are a great deal for the money but they look kind of ugly to me too. Lots of features/value for the money though.
NeilBlanchard wrote:
On the hotter than normal HD's in the Sonata, could this be improved by *blocking* the "ANTEC" holes in the sides? This might improve the air flow through the drive frame, since there is some drag through the front intake? It's too bad, really because it would seem to be a real nice case, otherwise... Ironic if it's unique inovation turns out to be less than ideal. Elevated HD temps can take their toll in terms of reliabilty and longevity of the HD's. This is where the SLK3700/D8000 would seem to have an advantage over the Sonata, huh?
My gut feeling about the Sonata all along, since I own a SLK3700 and am familiar with it's airflow/cooling capabilities, is that the Sonata has inferior airflow to the SLK3700, mostly because of the front bezel setup, although those holes on the sides worry me as well. I just don't think they're good for airflow management.
I started with only the 5-volted 120mm L1A on the back and no fan on the front of my SLK3700 and had excellent case temps. My cuda IV was running a little hot though so I added a 5-volted 92mm L1A to the front of the case. This dropped my drive temp by about 6-7°C. Case temp stayed the same.