Antec Sonata II or P150?

R4cOOn · Post by **R4cOOn** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 4:37 pm

I'm looking at a silent case. I have an "old" system with an XP 2000+ and I'm only using Linux (so no gaming).

I discarded the P180 because it's too expensive, too big and I don't have the use for the extra cooling. I looked at the Sonata II and the P150 and I can't really say what's the difference between the two. It looks like the P150 is built with more performance in mind and comes with an extra fan, but that's about it.

I looked around the reviews and the forums but couldn't find any information on which case is more silent without mod or anything. The Sonata is about £30 (around $50) cheaper. Is the P150 worth the extra money?

Any help appreciated. Cheers,
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R4cOOn

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 5:16 pm

Well, the differences are pretty obvious from the review of the P150 I would have thought - the P150 has a completely different HDD mounting method, with the drives placed longitudinally instead of laterally, to the benefit of airflow, and with a superior fan cooling arrangement. It also has an inbuilt option for suspending the HDDs, it has a better PSU (so long as it's compatible with your mobo, something you'd need to check), it has superior sound baffling/ventilation on the facia, it uses sound-deadening composite material on its panels...oh, and it's white with a silver front, and it doesn't have a door...

I've recently bought a P150 to replace the old and much-treasured SLK3700AMB which previously housed my main rig, and I'm very pleased with it, especially as my ham-fisted attempts at suspending the drives in my AMB weren't very satisfactory. I'd say it's worth every extra penny over the Sonata, although from what I've seen the Sonata II is much improved over the original and isn't a bad case by any means...

BlueCan · Post by **BlueCan** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:08 pm

I've had both a P150 and "original" Sonata--heavily modified (dremeled out drive bays, suspended drives, ST300, Nexus fans, Sonata II front bezel). I never really could get rid of "fan whoosh". The Nexus fans never got below 7 volts. Ever.

Without reservation, buy the P150. I pulled the guts out of my Sonata and stuffed them into one. Temps are WAY down, noise is down--fans are running at 5V resulting in 7-8C lower CPU temps. 10C lower drive temps.

The airflow situation with the P150 is just that much better than the Sonata (which my wife got).

-Patrick

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:19 pm

While the P150 is superior noise wise. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole if I was going to mount a relative old socket A board in it. The may have fixed the problems with the NeoHE PSU and certain Asus boards, but I haven't seen any indication that this fixed the problems it had with some older boards. So unless you don't mind taking a gamble on extra return shipping costs, don't buy it.

dddibley · Post by **dddibley** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 10:41 pm

I had the same dilemma and ended up with the Sonata II. Apart from price and availability, the biggest selling points were the side mount HDD cage, intake filtering and a half decent PSU (it's actually better than that). Just lose the ACAG and stuff a filter in there too.

As for silence.. that's a function of the parts you put in them.

ddd

zhenya · Post by **zhenya** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:08 am

Tibors wrote:While the P150 is superior noise wise. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole if I was going to mount a relative old socket A board in it. The may have fixed the problems with the NeoHE PSU and certain Asus boards, but I haven't seen any indication that this fixed the problems it had with some older boards. So unless you don't mind taking a gamble on extra return shipping costs, don't buy it.

That is certainly a risk, but the price, at least here in the US, has come down recently, and imho, the P150 is well worth it whether the PSU works for you or not.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 7:30 am

I love the hell out of the P150, but the Sonata II is a nice improvement over the original Sonata. With it's improved airflow, it's within a few degrees C of the SLK3xxx series, temp-wise. PSU is nice too, but not quite as quiet as the NeoHE in the P150.

If I wasn't worried about PSU compatibility issues I'd definitely go with the P150, otherwise the Sonata II should do fine.

R4cOOn · Post by **R4cOOn** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 11:33 am

Thanks for everyone who posted. I've just ordered my P150 along with a couple of 8mm fans to draw the required 1A on startup.
I hope I'll get the PSU to work.

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R4cOOn

Shining Arcanine · Post by **Shining Arcanine** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 8:31 am

Tibors wrote:While the P150 is superior noise wise. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole if I was going to mount a relative old socket A board in it. The may have fixed the problems with the NeoHE PSU and certain Asus boards, but I haven't seen any indication that this fixed the problems it had with some older boards. So unless you don't mind taking a gamble on extra return shipping costs, don't buy it.

You do not have to use the bundled PSU if you do not want to.