No point in posting again so I will revise with updated thoughts now that the system is up and running:

(i) Cable management. This is not as easy as in other cases since you can't just shove everything between the mobo tray and the side panel and be done. As noted in reviews, there is very limited depth behind the mobo tray, so the cable management needs to be done a little more creatively and a modular PSU will be a big help. Having said that, once you rearrange your expectations, there is enough space for cable management (there are a lot of useable nooks) and Antec makes the built in cables (e.g., USB, etc.) black for the most part so they can be run along the bottom of the chasis without being visually obtrusive. If you get really desperate, as long as you have only one optical drive, you can use the second optical drive bay to store cables. For a clean build it helps to have your cables black and sleeved so that they blend with the case.

(ii) Cheap black paint. This may be the case for all black cases (this is the first time I've worked with one) but if you screw something into the case firmly (like the power supply) and then want to readjust, you will find that when the screws are removed, all the black paint is gone and all that is left where the screws were is aluminum. I used a marker so that it's only obvious up close but I would think they would use something that doesn't come off so easily.

(iii) Wide Optical Drive bay. I cannot comprehend what Antec were thinking when they designed the optical bays, but they are much wider externally than an optical drive so an optical drive has a 2mm gap on both the left and right sides. It looks like crap.

(iv) Rubber Mounting Fans. There is no room behind the front fan filters for properly rubber mounting the fans. Essentially, once the fans are rubber mounted, you have to destroy the rubber mounts by cutting off the front nubs in order to properly close the filters (otherwise, while the filters will close, the nubs will push up against the filters and eventually warp them outward at the edges).

(v) Poor QC. My case was missing one of the optical drive rails.

(vi) Built in parts. Almost everything is removable. I really appreciated being able to physically remove the LEDs from the case along with their wires and also the back fan with its fan controller. However, the length of the USB3 header cable is way too long - I understand that this was probably done so that someone using a USB3 add in card with an internal header can hook up to the front ports but for a typical build with the header on the motherboard, the cable can be run all the way to the top of the case and then down the case and still have enough slack to connect to a mobo header. The fact that the cable is in essence two cables, makes it really annoying given the limited room for cable management.

(vii) Drive suspension. This is really a neat design as it keeps my WD drives from making a peep (other than seeks) but it is *barely* a retention system - you should not move the case at all using the suspension or the drives are likely to slide right on out.

(viii) Nice solid build. The case and panels are rigid and definitely help to keep the whole system quiet.

(ix) Solid airflow. I am currently using four slow pwm fans (two front, one CPU and one back) and the case airflow is excellent. Using the comprehensive thermal monitors included in my motherboard reveals that temps are kept very low given the low airflow.

Other than that, I don't really understand making a black case and then including silver screws and rivets.

Overall, I am pleased with the case but there is a lot of room for improvement.

I'm sorry if this is a daft question, or has already been asked (it's late here and I'm very tired), but every time I look at a picture of the rear case fan I find myself wondering if the long rubber isolators are likely to be hitting (or possibly hitting) a big heatsink. I'm in the process of planning a new build, and really like the look of the Solo II, but don't want to order the case, motherboard, heatsink etc. and then find that the rubber isolators are too long and are hitting the heatsink. Has anyone encountered such an issue, or am I just being dull?

PS Apparently, my last visit here was Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:21 pm :O

Simple solution: just snip them if necessary, after installation. They're that long so it's easy to pull them through when mounting.

Ah, so that's why they're that long! Good to know that I can snip/shorten them after installation. Thanks a lot.

PS I promise to visit more often

Probably (another) daft question, but I want to buy a SSD, and have decided on the Crucial M4. I have no idea how exactly the SSD attaches to the case in the dedicated SSD mount, so can anyone tell me if it matters whether I get the regular M4 or the slim version? If both fit fine, I thought I'd get the slim version so that I'd have the option of some day moving it to a laptop, should I want to (just trying to think ahead here with my purchase).

Thanks.

Go ahead and get the slim version. If it doesn't work using the supplied hardware...just velcro the SSD to the case.

I was confused by this on the original Solo too, until I realised the extra space is necessary if the front of the case is to swing open without fouling the optical drive. It's not very neat, but I'm pretty sure it's there for that reason :-/.

SSDs in general have the same system as HDDs: four holes on the sides, four holes on the bottom. The "dedicated SSD mount" here is nothing but four holes in the motherboard tray, so you can screw the SSD to it bottom-first.

Word of warning about the slim: the laptop I replaced a drive in used a 9.5 mm drive (the non-slim in this case). 7 mm would have been left rattling loose. Not sure it's a good idea, unless you can be SURE the laptop can use this slim type of drive. Could always pack 2.5 mm of antistatic, non-conductive, non-capacitative material in there to make the slim drive fit, of course.

Hello,

If you desire some black colored screws or anyone else for that matter, we have some that can be possibly sent out to you. Please send an email to vip@antec.com if you require some.

Antec

First: Hello

Second: To the administrator: There's a serious flaw in your registration question. You ask, who has been assassinated (Martin Luther King, or Gandhi). And you only accept King as answer, but Gandhi was assassinated as well. So both answers should be correct!!!

Third: About the Solo II

Up 'til now, I used a SOLO 1. I mostly liked it, apart from a few drawbacks.

Now I'm looking for a new PC, and so also for a new case.

After ages looking at different reviews, I still couldn't find the case which would suit me perfectly. Maybe you can help

First my thoughts and question on the SOLO II:
* If I'm correct in looking at the pics, it seems the SOLO II has no dust filter on the top for the PSU. Is that really the case? If yes, then this is IMHO a complete no go. Unfortunately you don't mention anything about it in the review.

* About the same problem of needing to open the case to get to the front dust filter:
Some people here mentioned, that this wouldn't be a big issue. But I got already a SOLO 1, and it is a very big issue. At least if you place your PC like me under the table in a quite fitting place. I have to disconnect all cables at the back, then pull it out of the table and then only can I remove the side to be able to open the front. That's just terrible.

* That there's no door in front of the 5.25" slots is IMHO also a drawback, as it usually is quite effective on reducing the noise from optical drives. Unfortunately, the quiet Multibeam-technology for optical drives has been dropped.

* I also don't like that there are only two 5.25" slots. I usually have 2 optical drives (for easy copying). I also like to have integrated card readers. So that's already too much for this case. That's a real bummer.

So these drawbacks. especially if there's really no dust filter for the PSU, are some real points, which speak against this case for me. But I also couldn't find a case which could satisfy my needs.

I want to make a PC with the following components.
* Intel 3770 CPU
* Z77 mainboard
* Radeon 7750 (fanless)
* SSD
* 2xHDD
* DVD Burner
* (DVD Reader)
* Card Reader
* Super Flower Platin PSU

I had a look at your recommendation articles. But unfortunately as it seems they are all quite a bit outdated.
So here are my questions:
* What casing would you recommend, for a silent solution? (BTW: If there is a case door, it has to open to the right)
* There are different cards available for the Radeon 7750 fanless. What do you recommend? Some have the heat fins parallel to the card (sapphire isilence), some have it perpendicular to it (Club 3D) and some have both at the same time (Sapphire Ultimate)
What is the best version, for keeping the cooling at it's best. I guess the one with the fan lamellas parallel to the card have the least airflow obstruction.
* What current DVD burner do you recommend for silent operation?
* About the PSU. When does the 500W version with fan start to use the fan? E.g. would the 500W version with fan remain fanless most of the time in my case? Then I would go for this one, otherwise I would go for the fanless version.
* What do you more recommend for CPU Cooler. A top down blower, or a sideways blower. I like the idea, that a top down blower also cools the DC-switchers on the mainboard. But I guess on the other hand it also obstructs the airflow through the casing. So overall what is your recommendation?

It may sound lazy to ask you, I know. But I'm now steeping through the net since a week, and am still about where I began...so maybe for some of you experts this could be an easy task. So sorry for the questioning...

Yes there is no fan filter on top, the mesh on top is very small though. But if this is a problem for you there are magnetic filters that should solve this for you, like DEMCiflex 140mm Magnetic Dust / Fan Filter - Black - (Steel / Aluminum / Plastic Chassis)

Look into Corsair Obsidian Series Black 550D Mid Tower Computer Case (CC-9011015-WW), it has a frontal door that open both ways (right and left), with magnetic fan filers all over the case (front, top, side, bottom) very easy to remove/clean, has 4x 5.25 slots and has noise dampening in the sides and front, has very good cable managment design (solo lacks here), you can also remove the top hdd cage (the bottom should be enough for your 2hhd+ssd) for direct airflow to your passive gpu, imo fits more what your looking. Another that might fit what your looking Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl w/ USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Silent PC Computer Case, the only drawback over the 500d is their design for the front filter with the fans attached... thats just to much work for me, but it might be worth to check for you.

For the other questions i think its best for you to open a new thread as its not directly related to the review of the solo II.

Thank you a lot. Also for the filter source.


I also already had a look at this one. But the absolutely silly placement of the front connectors within a hole in the front door is a complete no go. I use headphones all the time. And you would have to unplug it every time you want to open the door... I'm really wondering how ignorant one has to be to make such a design???
Maybe I could cut away the upper part of the front door? Then it would work.
But I'm getting too much offtopic.
I'm still asking myself, if I would be happy, if I use a SOLO 2, with the mentioned filter on top, and with the front door modified, so that it can open without taking away the side (small magnetic lock).
As it seems from the test, it is a very silent case. Price doesn't matter that much.

BTW: Where should I start a new thread? In the case section?

While i dont disagree with you in terms of the door afecting people that use heaphones or even attach usb perif, etc. I think there are other solutions, if you use a lot of headphones... i would recommend to check USB DACs, most of the audiophiles dislike on board sound cards, and prefer to have an external Digital to Analog converter (DAC), this would solve the issue of using headphones from the front port interfering with opening the door. Here is an example, FiiO E10 USB DAC Headphone Amplifier, but there are a lot of choices here that will work a lot better than integrated sound card.

Another option that i forgot to mention but since you pointed the door design, is the Antec P280, similar to the 550D (well larger), but the door can open with all things attach to the front pannel. It also has noise dampening on the doors and front, 3x 5.25 slots, and extremly easy to remove/clean front fan filter. The only 2 drawbacks that i do see in it is the top 2x 120mm, its open so noise will leak there, but you can probably just close it with some noise dampening, like Fractal does with their cases and the second is the door opens to the left. Speaking of fractal, i also edited my previous post to add the Fractal Design Define R4, its a great case, and it has the connectors on top, so it will not interfere like the 550D, the only drawback for me its that the front fans are installed on the filter, and im lazy, so the least i have to dissemble to clean regularly the filters the better, but to each to its own, the case itself is great. Another downside of the R4 for you is it opens like most of the cases to the left.

I think the best route for what you are planning is still the 500D + USB DAC.

I really dont know how it will end up... the door of the SOLO II is the hole front, im not sure how will you do a door with it, but if you are good into modding maybe it can be done. I wouldnt put to much stress into not having a door though, the front suspension for the hdds will make them extremly quiet, and the rest.... well chose quiet components, i see your going with passive GPU and maybe passive PSU... so its only going to be the fans and cpu cooler fan, so just go for good quiet fans and the door imo shouldn't be a issue. If it is, then you can get into modding it =). The only issue might be optical drives... personally i dont use them anymore, hell i dont even have one installed on 4 pcs, i do have an external for sporadic use, but maybe once a year...

I think you have a lot of topics, so i would address each separated, personally i like to start with the case and psu, so that will be my suggestion, then work yourself into each component into separate threads. Remember to search as there are lot of threads with very similar subjects that might help you.

I built a system for a friend with this case a couple of months ago. Actually, I simply cloned my own PC, but in a black chassis (I'm one of the lucky few still got a P150). He was amazed by how quiet my computer was and how powerful, even overclocked, it was still silent.

I find the case a GREAT evolution of the SOLO/P150. I would gladly buy one if there were a glossy white version like the P150 was. We should spam Mike Chin to get a P150 II SPCR White Limited Edition!!! (P180 SPCR Black Limited Edition back in 2007, had bought one on day 1). We should make a poll about this!

In the meantime, I've modded my P150 by removing the HDD cage and cutting the back panel so that I could change easily my CPU heatsink without full disassembly. But that was for LGA775, when I upgraded to LGA1155, I was pissed that the socket wasn't aligned with the old one, didn't go to the trouble to cut the steel again with my Dremel.

I've also removed the reinforcing bar of the chassis that ws always in the way when needing to remove PSU. See pictures below.


For whatever reason, ImageShack rotate my picture like a retard.

Anyways, back on SOLO II:

Like others have said, I find questinnable the paint quality for this case. My P150 white does not have this low quality paint problem with the screws. I don't even tighter the side panels screws on my friend SOLO II and the paint goes off.

I've also encountered problems with the mounting of the 5.25 bays. My friend didn't had an optical drive, but he had a Startech HSB100SATBK: http://ca.startech.com/HDD/Mobile-Racks ... SB100SATBK .

The width of the bays are slightly larger than they should, so using the rails wouldn't work correctly with the Startech HSB100SATBK. With an optical drive I think it could have worked still well enough, but with the Startech product, If you look at the picture below, you'll understand that the design of the HSB100SATBK makes it difficult to install on this case .



I had to fill the spaces between the mounting brackets attached to the HSB100SATBK, because the way the swap bay is designed, it is only attached to the "main harddrive bay" by 2 screws in grommets(for less vibration I presume).

So by design, the HSB100SATBK sides will fold inwardly around the top edges. With the slightly larger 5.25 bays of the SOLO II, the rails would simply get off the tracks. On one of the side of the HSB100SATBK, there's the eject mecanism that connects to the front door of this swap-tray. It was an even harder job to fill the free spaces to make sure I wouldn't interfere wit the eject mechanism.

With the spaces filled, the sides would go outward instead of inward. I had to use several layers of cardboard on each sides to fill the spaces.

Another complain I have with the SOLO II, but it is mostly with the design of the USB3.0 internal connector, so not a SOLO II specific. The USB3.0 internal connector is HUGE. The cable is heavier than the connector itself, so once pluggued in the USB3.0 headers at mid-board, the cable could disconnect overtime just by the weight of the cable pulling away the connector. Compared to USB2.0 connectors, I find that this design has major flaws..

Even worse, most motherboard USB3.0 mid-board header are right next to the ATX 24-pins power connector, so cable management is a real pain with such big and heavy cables. They do not bend/fold/curv that easily.

Other than that, I find the SOLO II a great case. I actually found the stock Antec TrueQuiet fans (at low speed) quite good. But I already had ordered the Nexus 120mm for my friend, so the Nexus went in. I agree that at the pricetag of the SOLO II, Antec should have included a front intake True Quiet fan too.

I would strongly suggest to not use the PCI-slot bracket that comes with the SOLO II. Those bracket just let tons of dust gets in your case. I've upgraded mines for the Nexus PCI-300, and I no longer have any dust in my case, I need to clean them once a month since they'll get full of dust, like the fan filters at the front. This means that the video card fan is strong enough to suck the air inwardly from the back of the case. I would also strongly suggect to close the "honneycomb" section to prevent dust from coming in.

With the Nexus 120mm silicon mounting strip, I did not experience that Bar81 experienced with the space between the filter and the case being too close.

So I just switched into the SOLO II from an Antec 1100 gaming case because I am re-designing my desktop around my audio engineering work, so I thought I would write a review from my perspective because I disagree with a lot that is being said.

I will start by saying I strongly believe in utility over visibility. I see a lot of people complaining about 5.25 bays and the suspension mounting, bla bla bla... IMHO you should not have spinning drives if you are serious about silence. Buy the minimum SSD size you need for your applications, and get a NAS. Also, get an external optical drive; how many times a week/month/year do you use your optical drive? Most people probably use them once or twice a month, as a result wasting power, resulting in extra heat, resulting in extra noise for the entire rest of the time. All that said, I wish they would do away with the 5.25 and 3.5 bays and replace them with 2 slots for 2.5, not bays but case mounted to minimize space and vibration.

As far as the price is concerned, I feel it is very fair. My Antec 1100 and 900 were both the same price point, and the quality of materials used on the SOLO II is 10 fold better than either of those. The case feels like it was designed for professionals, ie audio engineers, graphic designers, cad designers, programmers and the like, meaning a MASSIVE gpu is absolutely required, for all except the audio engineers, for the CUDA cores. So now with those to base ideas I approached the SOLO II. As far as cable management goes, I couldn't be happier. I have 3 power cables coming off my PSU and the 3 fan power cables going to my mobo on top of the cables that connect to the case, while all other cables are bundled at the top oldschool style until I get a quieter modular one next month.

The build
- ASUS P8Z77-V LE PLUS Z77
- CORE I5 3570K OC'd to 4.2 on stock cooler for now (42c on load)
- 2x4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3
- XFX 650w Core edition PSU
- PNY 480 GPU
- Revodrive 240GB PCI-E SSD

PROS
- Most solid case I have ever touched (also the heaviest for its size)
- Minimal number of drive bays to get in the way (could be a con for RAID happy people, but for silent PC builds, this is a plus)
- Massive space for PCI-E cards!!!!
- EXCELLENT COOLING! I cannot stress this enough, there is zero air leakage anywhere in this case aside from the 5.25 bays, meaning less airflow is needed for high static pressure, meaning lower fan speeds needed. I am running OC'd 30% with stock cooler on my CPU and 2 TQ-PROs on the front and the 1 TQ on the back and a PNY 480, at 44c CPU and 28c mobo. That exact same level of cooling took 7x 120mm 2000rpm, and 1x 180mm fans in my 1100 for reference.
- Vibrant black finish looks great sitting under my Schecter C1 Ex (paint comes off on locking screws; That is part of the design of the screws. They have teeth to keep locked in)
- Air filters behind hood (I see a lot of people complaining about accessibility, but accessibility would put in a place to be heard.)
- Air filters clip in tightly and as a result stay silent
- Massive cutout behind CPU makes for massive ease of cooler install

CONS
- I don't like the top mounted PSU slot primarily because the PSU is one of the few things we have very little control of the noise on. BUT if you are going to external source air it really has to be on top if you want to be able to use it on carpet which is probably the reason they did the top mount.
- I also disagree with the external air sourcing for the PSU as it points the PSU noise straight at the user-space, and it takes the PSU sourcing away from the static pressure you should have built in the case, thus making the PSU work harder to stay cool making it noisier. That said, you can mount the PSU either direction.
- Power button is flimsy, but time will tell... worst case I will have to swap the reset button and the power button
- Air filters can be difficult to remove
- Side panel must be removed to open front panel

Whatevers\Nifty
- USB 3.0 front ports work
- front audio ports (get a DAC... period. all the current inside the case walls affect the sound fidelity)
- Holster on bottom of the case for drive rails
- Case lid lock (oldschool)

Conclusion
Excellent quiet case for the money. If you usually buy quality that is...

You forgot to post pics of your new build!

Pics will be here next week when I get my CPU cooler back. I promise! Then all that remains is new PSU and GPU cooler, and it will be dun!

Hello! Long-time reader, first time poster

In the market for a new silent and dust-resistant computer case, after being on a coolermaster HAF 912 plus for a few months now that has been giving me headaches, and for my build (i7 960@3.6 Ghz, asus rampage iii gene, 2 hdds, 1 ssd, corsair ax760) I so far seem to have narrowed it down to either the Corsair 550D or the Antec Solo II...the Define R4 is too heavy a case for my taste and I am not sure that the define mini would be a better choice than either the 550D or the Solo II.
So to all fellow Solo II owners, I have a couple of serious questions:
1. How easy is it to install a 120mm fan in front of the HDD cage? I have a couple of Noctua's NF-S12As that I plan to take full advantage of...
2. Graphics card clearance....the PCI Express slot on my motherboard is right at the top in terms of expansion slots. So, my question is (because I have so far been unable to tell from photos), how much lower (if at all) is the first PCI expansion bracket in Solo II from the hard drive cage? If I cant fit the gfx card there, it would be a deal breaker for me
3. Anyone that has used (aka spent some serious time with) both the 550D and the Solo II? Impressions?

Thank you all, appreciate any and all answers

Welcome to SPCR =)

Here is your call, SOLO II strong point are its hdd suspension mechanism if you are using 2 mechanical hdds, its very solid much more than r4 specially the top n bottom, what i dont like over the r4 is the cable management on the solo II is almost none existent, there is very little space behind the motherboard tray, so you have to get creative, not a big deal overall but R4 has very nice cable management, another good thing on the R4 is it can fit coolers up to 170mm while the solo II i believe around 160 (dont quote me on this). The 550D i never used nor seen, but seems a solid product.

Its pretty easy, you have to remove the plastic front cover of the solo II. The top one has like a cage that you unscrew and you can just install the fan there, its pretty straight forward. The bottom is also easy, but done from the inside, if you use standard screws its easy, but if you use rubber screws its takes some time (at least that was my case) there is very little room behind to have a pliers pull the rubber screw, but it can be done, just tricky.

The first PCIe slot (some mobos has here the 16X some have it on the second slot) is right in line to the hdd cage, you can see pics on it on my signature on HTPCmi build, i used a solo II and micro atx mobo (this means the 16x slot is on the first pcie), you will see its practically align with the hdd cage, you can still fit long gpus, but not extra long. Now if you are on the second PCIe slot (this is more common for value mobos), it should clear full depth of the case. Check also this video, should give you a better idea into graphics cards and the mounting of the fan on the cage, #62: Antec Solo II Case Review (CCReviews)

Nope sry cant help you here, i dont have any experience with 550d. Personally i would go with solo II over the 550D if
- Mechanical HDD noise matters to you, the rubber mounting mechanism should help
- Solid construction, Antec is by far the most solid cases i have ever used, they are like tanks on their steel.
- Cheaper
If those dont matter to you, go with the 550d.

Thank you very much for the answers!

For the CPU cooler, it is the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo, so Im assuming it should fit?

What is the actual length of the space between the bracket and the hard drive cage? My card is the Gigabyte HD7950 windforce 3x, so it is a bit long at 285mm. If it doesnt fit, Corsair 550D it is...

On my HTPCMi build (see sig), i used a Scythe Mugen 3 that its 158mm on height, the 212Evo is 159mm height, my guess is it should fit.

Idk the exact measurement, but more important whats your motherboard, if it has the PCIe16x on the second slot you can fit very long gpus, let me see the layout of your motherboard.

Motherboard is the Asus Rampage III Gene
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_III_GENE/#gallery, so PCIe16x is at the first slot...

Partial truth - PCIe16x for the first AND third slots.

Indeed, though ASUS 'recommends' in the manual to populate the first PCIe16x slot first for optimal performance in single graphics-card mode....electrically both of them should be at x16 (this is the x58 chipset), so I am not sure why they make this recommendation...

Just got an Antec Solo II.

Is it normal that the right side of the front panel is slightly warped? It looks like the two buttons are pushing the face panel outwards.

No warping visible on mine, at least. There's a surround that protrudes ever so slightly, but well less than 1mm.

I was thinking about this case for an update build I'm working on. I do like Antec esp regarding the decent thickness of metals they use. However I then looked at the price and was quite shocked to see it selling for over £100 where I live.

That's a bit too much for me, so I opted for a micro ATX case Ace Ecco 250 which cost about £35
Antec really need to look at their prices, they've become a bit too expensive in recent years.