Antec P150: Back in Black? [called: Solo]

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:17 am

Got mine set up yesterday. My feelings are sort of mixed...

"Little" sounds like my hard drives and GPU fan are now muted out, which is great. But my rear fan (Nexus 120mm) and CPU fan (Zalman 9500) are just as loud as they were in my old Lian-Li case. Fan noise was one of the main reasons I did this sidegrade.

Some other notes:
-The edges inside are SHARP. I ran a sata through the hole where the cable management hooks are and the rubber coating stripped off on the sides.
-Case temps have gone up about 6 degrees (with 2 92mm fans)
-Case quality is awesome, this thing is a lot more durable and stable than my old Lian-Li case

Overall, I'm satisfied since my case is queiter, however I do not think it was worth the money replacing something that was a little bit louder but much easier to work with.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:42 am

Greetings,

I would assume that the only way to get the Nexus rear exhaust quieter would be to slow it down and/or to cut out the grill and replace it with a wire one.

The CPU fan though, is just more noticeable than it was in the old case? The side door doesn't have vents, right? The Zalman fan probably needs replacing, in order to be quiet...

As for the higher temp, does this change with the side door off? What about drive temps?

DaveLessnau · Post by **DaveLessnau** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:03 am

masumo wrote:"Little" sounds like my hard drives and GPU fan are now muted out, which is great. But my rear fan (Nexus 120mm) and CPU fan (Zalman 9500) are just as loud as they were in my old Lian-Li case. Fan noise was one of the main reasons I did this sidegrade.

I'll confirm masumo's report of sharp edges: I cut a finger digging around in there. I didn't remember how "finished" my Lian-Li PC-60 was until I disassembled it: thumbscrews on EVERYTHING, slide out motherboard tray, smooth edges, plastic molding on high-access edges.... In general, the Solo is operationally better than my Lian-Li PC-60 but, maintenance-wise, less finished.

My noise level is much reduced from the Lian-Li, though. The Lian-Li's rear 80mm fan (or possibly the Antec TruePower power supply) was far louder than the Solo's 120mm fan. On its lowest setting, I can't really hear that fan unless I'm listening for it. I haven't tried it on high, but on its medium setting it's merely a muted whooshing sound. Much less annoying than before. Ditto for my Zalmans: I can't hear them much until they ramp up. And, when they do, the sound is much muted from the Lian-Li. The difference could be from the slight differences in placements on our motherboards.

korsch · Post by **korsch** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:47 pm

masumo wrote: -Case temps have gone up about 6 degrees (with 2 92mm fans)

This has me a bit worried, especially if your Nexus is already at full speed? Did you post your system specs earlier -- I am too lazy to search?

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:51 pm

Here are my system specs:

AMD San Diego 3700+ (OCd to 2.60 GHz)
2x 512 Sticks Corsair RAM (OCd to 240 MHz)
Seasonic S12 500
MSI K8N Diamond Plus
WD Raptor 74 GB

Some new impressions: I installed a spare Zalman fanmate and set the fans to the lowest settings- now the case is almost dead silent. Of course, my temps have gone up a bit too. In my Lian-Li case my CPU would run at about 27 degrees Celcius idle, right now it's running at 34. This case gets HOT. It is however, MUCH quieter than my Lian-Li since the fans have had their RPM lowered. It's a night and day difference I can get used to very easily.

I think I'm going to run Prime95 for an hour to really max out my temps, if my CPU goes above 50 degrees I'll probably sacrifice some silence and turn up my system fans. But as it is right now, I'm comfortable with the increase in temperature.

New Verdict: This case takes some time and patience to grow on you, but it's great. Totally worth it. Tough to work on going from a Lian-Li, gets really HOT even with fans maxed out, but SILENT.

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:02 pm

Update: With fans at the lowest setting my CPU got to 49 degrees celcius at idle... way too hot. My case also got really warm to the touch. Keep those fans running people.

korsch · Post by **korsch** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:21 pm

masumo wrote:Update: With fans at the lowest setting my CPU got to 49 degrees celcius at idle... way too hot. My case also got really warm to the touch. Keep those fans running people.

My P4 idles hotter than that.

By the way, what video card do you have?

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:21 pm

In case people didn't notice, masumo has a "AMD San Diego 3700+ (OCd to 3.60 GHz)".

It's interesting how his vidcard is not mentioned; surely, with such an extremely OC'd processor, it has to be some red hot vidcard, too, which would help explain the 49C at idle.

masumo's ideas about what is hot and cool are as defined by "performance" sites. IMO, 49C at idle is a bit high but has no long or short term consequences. If the processor got much over 60C in real-life long term use (like several hrs of gaming), then it'd be more of an issue, but generally speaking almost any CPU can take 65C casing temp w/o any problem.

I have to scratch my head and say how the heck does the case get "really hot" with all the fans on max? I presume this is the back tricool fan and the 2 front 90mm fans. That just doesn't make any sense. I have built a number of systems in the P150 & that simply is not my experience -- it has very good airflow and it's really easy to ensure a good cooling flow path from intake to exhaust.

How could an older lian-li be cooler? (Unless it had a huge side intake fan?) What, pray tell, feels hot? The air being exhausted from the case? If so, this probably means your old LianLi wasn't evacuating the heat very effectively. The panels? Which ones? If it's the panels, then you've got to reaxamine the airflow paths in your case, something doesn't seem right. On the other hand, maybe you have a quad-sli vidcard setup you haven't told us about?

Harkonnen · Post by **Harkonnen** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:27 am

Well the Antec Solo has been listed on ncix.com. Along with the Antec Fusion and the NSK 1300.

Antec Solo

Antec Fusion

Antec NSK 1300

Only $102 CDN

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:26 am

Oops that is an important detail that I forgot.

Running a GeForce 7600 GT (OC'd to 600 MHZ from 580)

Mike: I say my temps are high because they are a lot higher than in my old Lian Li (PCB Plus or something- the cheapest model with two 120 mm fans and an 80mm on top). The case was a tiny bit bigger and had easier cable management, Also, it sucked in air directly from the outside (but this added to the noise).

How much is a lot higher? Average idle temp in my old case (same clock speed!) was 27 degrees. Right now on this cold morning I'm at 31. Yesterday with fans at the lowest speed I almost hit 50.

My GPU has always run hot however, so I don't really care if it gets into the higher 50s in either case.

I'm going to try to further tighten up my cabling job today after work, maybe I've blocked some intakes or something.

DonQ · Post by **DonQ** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:08 am

masumo wrote:Got mine set up yesterday. My feelings are sort of mixed...

"Little" sounds like my hard drives and GPU fan are now muted out, which is great. But my rear fan (Nexus 120mm) and CPU fan (Zalman 9500) are just as loud as they were in my old Lian-Li case. Fan noise was one of the main reasons I did this sidegrade.

Some other notes:
-The edges inside are SHARP. I ran a sata through the hole where the cable management hooks are and the rubber coating stripped off on the sides.
-Case temps have gone up about 6 degrees (with 2 92mm fans)
-Case quality is awesome, this thing is a lot more durable and stable than my old Lian-Li case

Overall, I'm satisfied since my case is queiter, however I do not think it was worth the money replacing something that was a little bit louder but much easier to work with.

I swapped out my Sharkoon HPS1 (which blows toward the rear)/ST30NF for an SI-97/stock Neo HE430 and my case temps went up by 6 deg, too, from 30 to 36 - and this happened before the weather had a chance to change! So, I put the HPS1/ST30NF back and I'm very, very happy with the relative silence. I also found the two 92mm fans were pretty much useless (with Nexus fans) for affecting anything but the HDD temps, even if I take them out or run them both full blast the VGA/Case/PSU temps dont go up or down. I left one Nexus for the my HDDs. A Med Panaflo did lower VGA/case temps but that fan is LOUD. It may even be that the two 92mm fans are hurting your airflow.

You do have your Nexus 120mm fan controlled, right?

And another thing... my rubber bands for the HDDs went kaputt. I emailed Antec and they said they're mailing me the new kind of bands, should be hear today.

bobov · Post by **bobov** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:24 am

MikeC wrote:In case people didn't notice, masumo has a "AMD San Diego 3700+ (OCd to 3.60 GHz)".

I doubt he can OC his SD3700+ to 3.6GHz on Air. 2.6GHz is more realistic.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:54 am

masumo wrote:...had easier cable management.... it sucked in air directly from the outside (but this added to the noise).

Addressing the second point first -- don't all cases do this? How is the P150 more indirect? Because it has the wide open slotted sides all around the front panel? I just don't see that it is any less open.

I think the comment someone else made about how the two 92mm fans may actually hurt your cooling is relevant -- if the inflow is lower than the exhaust, then the total airflow is actually the inflow. (ie, intake fans blow 50 cfm, exhaust fan blows 75cfm; net flow is 50 cfm. Basic fan law.) So it might be worth trying it w/o any front fans -- or maybe just one, directly in front of the HDDs.

Secondly, I have a hard time believing the LianLi has better cable management. The hooks on the right side of the drive cage are the best cable management tools I've ever seen in any case, and Ralf Hutter (who reviewed the P150) thinks so too. See his comments on this page and this one and the incredibly clean install of his test system below:

*larger image here if you need it.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:47 am

bobov wrote:
I doubt he can OC his SD3700+ to 3.6GHz on Air. 2.6GHz is more realistic.

I agree. I've got a 3700 San diego, and a zalman 9500, and it wont clock higher than 2.7. I may be limited by my motherboards(two abit boards)..still, 3.6 on air seems impossible if phase cooling is required to bring FX cpus to speeds above 3.3ghz.

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 10:08 am

I reckon it was a typo

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:43 pm

Wow. Yeah that was a hell of a typo. 2.6 ghz. My bad.

Mike, the Lian-Li had a lot more little nooks and crannies to stuff cables into. The front panel connectors on the Solo are unneccesarily long (I think you can admit this) and take up at least two of the sets of hooks.

It's a pretty warm day and I left my computer on all day at lowest fan speeds and am getting a CPU reading of 41 degrees. Not too bad. GPU is at 62 though...is this safe?

Anyways, I seem to be getting a lot of flak about my comments about the case. My main complaint is that the temps went up. Is this valid? I think so. Have any of you used my prior case, a Lian Li PC-7B-Plus? Probably not. I'm just telling it like it is, so cut me some slack. I actually really like the Solo.

On that note, the Solo is brand new to me, so I haven't figured out all of the cable management tricks which would probably help my temps out a bit.

Can anyone tell me how the spare PSU cables got tucked away so nicely?

EDIT: Nevermind, the P150 has a modular power supply. Cheater.

Another EDIT: Running now w/ no front fans, rear fan on full. Fan noise is back but we'll see if it makes a difference in temps.

Goldmember · Post by **Goldmember** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:46 pm

masumo wrote:...Anyways, I seem to be getting a lot of flak about my comments about the case. My main complaint is that the temps went up. Is this valid? I think so. Have any of you used my prior case, a Lian Li PC-7B-Plus? Probably not. I'm just telling it like it is, so cut me some slack. I actually really like the Solo...]

Not from me. I appreciate everyone's input in this thread. Both good and bad. Also, I'm sorry that You and Dave had to spill some blood with this case. The pursuit of Silence isn't free nor without sacrifice

. J/K masumo. The PC-7B is a popular case (at least on other forums) so I'm sure someone can give you some help. I will agree that the SOLO isn't the perfect case but I've yet to see the perfect case.

Please keep posting your experiences. Thanks again.

masumo wrote:Can anyone tell me how the spare PSU cables got tucked away so nicely?

EDIT: Nevermind, the P150 has a modular power supply. Cheater.

Haha. I think I saw a pic of Ralf Hutter's P150 with the power cables taped to the motherboard tray/panel. If he can post it, that would give you some CM ideas. The Torrid Thailand article had this pic.

Take care everyone.

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:31 pm

After trying a bunch of different configurations (no front fans, front fans on half, all fans on full, all fans on low, etc) it seems my entire machine will heat up after an hour even at idle.

I'm running load right now and my CPU is at 58 degrees, my GPU at 64, and my motherboard at 58. The motherboard try itself is hot to the touch. Are these safe temps? I'll experiment some more but I think I'll have to gradually accept that this runs really hot.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:27 pm

masumo wrote:Anyways, I seem to be getting a lot of flak about my comments about the case....I'm just telling it like it is, so cut me some slack.

Not trying to rope you up, really, just really surprised. Mebbe the real difference is the fan speeds in the two cases.

masumo wrote:I'm running load right now and my CPU is at 58 degrees, my GPU at 64, and my motherboard at 58. The motherboard try itself is hot to the touch. Are these safe temps?

They're certainly not unsafe, both CPU and GPU are well within normal limits, and as for the mobo, unless you know exactly where that sensor is, you really can't tell much about why it's hot or whether it's meaningful.

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 9:58 pm

I repositioned my hard drives so airflow would improve and it seemed to bring my temps down a bit. I have to admit its getting warmer outside during the day, but some tweaking here and there has helped.

Right now (it's cold out) I'm getting a nice 32 degree reading idle. Still about 5 degrees higher than my old case, but a nice temp regardless.

I didn't have time today, but tomorrow I'm going to do my cables over again from scratch and replace my current rear fan with a spare. I think I'm done testing, I can live with the now slight increase in temperature. The silence makes it worth it.

DaveLessnau · Post by **DaveLessnau** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 4:29 am

Goldmember wrote:I'm sorry that You and Dave had to spill some blood with this case. The pursuit of Silence isn't free nor without sacrifice .

No problem here. With all the playing around in two cases, I expected to get scratched a bit. The key point is that I had forgotten how maintenance-friendly my Lian-Li was until I had to take everything out of it. Once I have everything set up in a case, whether or not it has thumbscrews, plastic molding, or a slide-out motherboard tray won't mean much to me for years. It's the daily annoyance of system noise that counts. And on that front, I'm very happy with the Antec Solo.

Goldmember · Post by **Goldmember** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:16 pm

thenewguy8 wrote:Question - Would the solo work with modern graphics cards? I have an X1900XT, and 3 HDDs and I thought I Read somewhere that with the P150, there were problems of not being able to plug the power connector in on the graphics card due to it running into the HDDs. Anyone confirm?

I read about that also. The problem is that the graphic card's power connector touches the hard drive. That guy's solution was to only use 2 HDs instead of 3. If you suspend the HDs, you should be able to use 3 of them. Not sure.

Harkonnen wrote:Well the Antec Solo has been listed on ncix.com. Along with the Antec Fusion and the NSK 1300.

Welcome to SPCR. FrontierPC also has the SOLO in stock for $105 CAD.

JVM wrote:Any chance those of us with the original P150 can get these better quality rubber bands?

I'm sure that Antec can hook you up. Evidently, the new bands are also on new production P150s.

masumo wrote:I think I'm done testing, I can live with the now slight increase in temperature. The silence makes it worth it.

Noooooo. You must think like a mad scientist like MikeC.

J/K. Your Z9500 would be perfect with a CPU to Exhaust Duct. That might lower CPU temps a few degrees. And could it be that your Lian-Li's aluminum construction provided a small heatsink effect? Just a thought.

Sohjen wrote:Edit 2: I'm so weak, order placed =x.

Resistance is futile.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying their SOLOs and the associated silence.

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:20 pm

Another update: With my case fans at the lowest setting I can barely tell my computer is on. I came back home from dinner and was about to turn on my computer when I noticed the blue power light was already on- if that doesn't make a silent case I don't know what does.

Two things about this case: With fans on full, you'll be very dissappointed like I initially was. I don't think the case does a good job of reducing fan noise, especially in the rear. Also, no matter what I do, it always runs about 7 degrees hotter than my old case. But like I said earlier, I'll take 7 degrees of heat over buzzing and rattling any day.

PS: I cut myself again on this case. Seriously, be careful.

jjr · Post by **jjr** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:37 pm

masumo wrote: Two things about this case: With fans on full, you'll be very dissappointed like I initially was. I don't think the case does a good job of reducing fan noise, especially in the rear.

Have you tried :
- removing the fan grill completely (I have run some of my PCs with no rear grill and got some significant improvement from it),
- suspending the fan (e.g. use clothing elastic between the fan and case and putting some kind of foam / rubber in between)?

petschska · Post by **petschska** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:03 am

Wanted to add my own little review of the Antec Solo case for people so that it may help them. I ordered mine through Amazon for US$86 with free super saver shipping. It arrived in 3 days, shipping from Pennsylvania to Raleigh, NC.

It was shipped in a large cardboard box with packing paper stuffed between it and the retail box. The manual can be found inside the upper case holder.

After taking off the plastic, a stunningly beautiful case is revealed.

The case has thumbscrews for the left side panel that do not disconnect from the panel. This way you can't lose them. The right side panel is held by regular screws. I first found the loose drive rails and took them out of the case. I installed the power supply. You have to hold the PSU in place and screw at the same time; because there is very little metal to hold the it in place. I screwed in 5 more motherboard mounts for my standard ATX MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (I already had the CPU and cooler installed). Then, I dropped the motherboard down onto the mounts. It was a very tight fit to drop it down. You cannot fit both hands on either side and drop it down. I had to turn the board diagonal to fit it down there and even hold it by the CPU heatsink for a second. No damage though.

I then hooked up all the case cables for the front. They were excessively long; however this came in useful for me with the audio and firewire cables for which the ports are at the rear of the motherboard. The cable management hooks were an incredibly useful feature.

I then installed the optical and floppy drive. The front bezel can be removed by pushing the 3 black tabs through the left side towards you and swinging the front bezel towards the right side of the case. Then lift up and it comes off its hinges. Antec uses its typical drive rail system with one drive rail on each side. The tab to remove the drive faces the front of the case. Drives are added and removed through the front of the case. A 5.25â€

petschska · Post by **petschska** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:12 am

In addition to my post above, has anyone measured chipset temperatures in relation to 92mm front fan configurations. I would like to know if my nForce chip will be fine if I just get a nexus and put it up front. Thanks.

Also, pondering whether I should get the Matrix Orbital MX610 as a fan controller/thermal sensor/info displayer since I have no way of knowing what my chipset and RAM temps are. I already have a Vantec NXP-301. Your thoughts?

Update: I tried playing Warcraft III for 2 hours and the heatsink didn't seem to be too hot after that.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:17 am

Welcome to SPCR! And thanks for the informative first post, too!

Goldmember · Post by **Goldmember** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:33 pm

petschska wrote:After taking off the plastic, a stunningly beautiful case is revealed.

Ooh, that's one sexy SOLO.

petschska wrote:...You have to hold the PSU in place and screw at the same time; because there is very little metal to hold the it in place...

Yeah, unfortunately both the P150 and Solo allow the psu to sag a bit. If you look at the P150 photo that MikeC posted on this page, you can see a blue grommet propping up the NeoHE. I'm sure there are many soft things that one could use in the same way if so desired.

petschska wrote:Also, pondering whether I should get the Matrix Orbital MX610 as a fan controller/thermal sensor/info displayer since I have no way of knowing what my chipset and RAM temps are. I already have a Vantec NXP-301. Your thoughts?

Here's a pic from the anandtech thread in my previous post. Here's a bit-tech review of the MX610 in a Sonata. The Matrix would probably look better but whatever floats your boat.

I use software to monitor temps, but obviously that's not optimal while gaming. I think part of masumo's problem is that his ambient temps fluctuate so much. Since you have your A/C on, your ambient temp stays pretty steady.

Thanks for the review!

masumo · Post by **masumo** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:03 pm

the cable organizers ARE great, but like petschska i wasted them on the two foot long front panel cables.

oh well, nice case!

bugeja · Post by **bugeja** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:06 pm

any sign of this case in europe?

Antec P150: Back in Black? [called: Solo]

Ncix