My Sonatas are cool, quiet, handsome. Seriously... I think the next step for me would have to be solid state or it won't be worth it.


If you can get a case that looks anywhere near as nice as the Sontata and runs as quiet as a moded Sonata with front and rear 120mm fans, I will be blown away.

I wouldn't butcher the drive bays. In fact, I'd tape off the ports around the unused bays to force the air to flow around your drives. Drive temps are my biggest concern with the Sonata. I've tried moving the drives around and couldn't tell a difference. I'll be blown away if your Vantec 120mm fan i...

One thing to consider when looking at alternatives is that the AcoustiPack is a two layer material. The bottom layer is very, very dense and relatively thin, and the top layer is much thicker that is not at all dense that is supposed to absorb the sound. My own observation (having purchased Acousti...

I believe opening up the front bezel as described in the Sonata Mods thread will help your temps.

IMO, the Sonata is only OK in unmodified form. Modified, they can be roughly silent. At least, I'm, super happy with mine.

wyonwyon wrote:Can you tell me a little bit more about undervolting or point me to some place where I can find out more about it ?

What motherboard/CPU?

I don't find the stock Sonta PSU fan to be quiet at all. Perhaps it's a few dB more quiet than the Sunon screamers that come in generic supplies. If you swap out the stock Sonata PSU fan for a Panaflo L1A or M1A, you will have a PSU that is roughly silent. I really like the stock Sonata case fan. If...

It's hard to believe that such a concise list could effectively sum this information up given the discussions that have taken place in the forums but it really does. Kudos, Mike. Great job.

The Sonata could have been much better out of the box. The power supply fans start making noise after a few weeks and the airflow is horrible. It seems to me that they could have provided a better PSU fan and improved the airflow for what a Sonata costs. I've owned several Thermaltake products over ...

Interesting project from a cooling/quieting perspective but why are you so stuck on the Prescott that you're willing to go to these lengths? Wouldn't it be way easier with any other CPU?

I didn't vote because I don't own a BQE and I've never even seen a ThermalTake case. I have several Sonatas and love them. There are two things I would consider drawbacks with the Sonata. One is the silver coating on the front connectivity door. Mine are still perfect because I don't use them but I ...

One of my guys asked me about the noise levels in our server room the other day so I did some testing. We've got about 100 servers in about a dozen racks. About half of those servers are 1U Dell units (1650 and 1750). The ambient noise level in the computer room is just under 80dB. There are occupat...

It cites the cooling units as: "1 x (80mm = 42.5CFM ea.), 2 x (40x20mm = 7CFM ea.) Heavy Duty Ball Bearing Fans" Holy cow... 42.5 CFM out of an 8cm fan? How can it not be loud. Why do they even bother with the 4cm screamers? On the bright side... it's probably quieter than a 1U Dell unit. :lol: It l...

I would encourage you to try the stock fan on the Fan Only connector or change it to 5v before you swap it out for another. Mine stock fans are roughly silent at 5v and my system temps are fine on my front bezel modded Sonatas.

Guys,

If you want to quiet your seek noise, add a bunch of RAM to your systems. A disk cache will eliminate a lot of seeks once you have your apps up and running.

meglamaniac wrote:There's just something about it I don't really like.
Yeah yeah, picky I know

From a purely asthetic point of view, I prefer the Sonata. It is capable of extremely quiet running also.

The biggest problem I have with the Sonata is that they show dust very easily.


-- Tom

mshan,

Depending on your video card, you may be able to use a Zalman chipset cooler (NB-47J) to cool your GPU. I've been using Zalman chipset coolers on my graphic cards for a long time and they work great on my nVidia cards. There's nothing quieter than passive.

If a test were to be conducted, I would hope that BlackHole 5 would be included. It is a mature product used inside loudspeaker enclosures to dampen back waves and vibration.

It works pretty good in my Sonata, also.


-- Tom

I used packing tape. :) By the way Ralf, I am not suggesting the 90 degree turned drive cage is better than another configuration, I'm just saying it's very good. Here are the current temps in the Sonata running my desktop: Room: 21C MB: 30C CPU: 36C HD: 34C If I listen closely, I can tell the machi...

I did a dummy run on my Sonata - side panel off, 120mm attached to the rear of the HDDs (where the side panel would be) and temps dropped from 44c to 31c. The main problem with HDD is simply that the drive cage blocks airflow when in a 90degree position - think you mentioned that in your review ;) ...

Thanks for the reply Bomba. The more time goes by, the more I think this mod did help to the tune of a couple of degrees. My environment isn't controlled well enough to collect any quality data but I'm seeing 34~35C idle temperatures now and I was seeing 36~37C idle temps before. I'm content to let ...

Great review and an exciting product.

Are there any plans for a Socket A version? I hope a Socket A/754/939/940 version isn't too much to hope for.

Has anyone else tried partially blocking the airflow through the drive cage to force air around your hot Seagate disk drive? I need HD cooling more than I need CPU/MB cooling so I thought I'd try it. The oval holes above and below the hard disk remain open but all others remain blocked. It seems to ...

As has already been said, for holes up to 1 inch, use a step drill. They make clean, round holes.

Back when I used to buy cheap, junky cases, they all had one rattle or another. It can be fixed in a few seconds by bending the noisy pannel a tiny bit. Don't hit it with a hammer, just bend it a wee, wee bit with your hands. This will pre-load the panel and eliminate the noise. One note on duct tap...

Questions for Tom Brown 1.) How much temp increase did you notice with the sound damping material installed? 0 C 2.) I noticed that you didn't cut the stamped fan grill at the back. Any particular reason? I hadn't thought of removing the grill because it doesn't look restrictive. It probably adds t...

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article_index.php#fans

Jblink, I'm a crabby old man who has been made ornery from years of proximity to hideously loud computers. Please excuse my complete lack of tact.

I did unplug the second fan, but the case is practically just as loud... Yes. The case doesn't make noise, only the active components make noise. ...might switch the stock with the good fan I bought though and see how that cools. It will be loud also, if you run it at 12 volts. There are no 120mm f...

Ralf, I respect your class and patience. Having nice quiet PCs has been a real improvement in my quality of life; much more so than having the fastest CPU or DVD burner. You and a few of the other regulars who freely contribute knowledge and ideas really do make a difference. Thank you. Jblink, you ...

The padding will help very little. You do not need two case fans. The second fan is only adding noise and supplying a small amount of hard disk cooling. It doesn't cost a lot to make a quiet Sonata. Stick with the stock 120mm Sonata case fan at the back. Replace the PSU fan with a Panaflo L1A or M1A...

Temps are fine.

Consider replacing the TP380S PSU fan with an L1A or M1A. The TruePower PSUs are decent.