Help me decide: Sonata vs. SLK3700AMB

[echoes]

First off, I started reading SPCR a few days ago and am very impressed by the quality of reviews, and of the message board in general. What I've read has been very helpful in my search for a new case, but I have some questions.

Here's the system to go in my new case:

Abit NF7-S, 1700+ @ 2.1 GHz, 1024 MB Mushkin PC2700
18 GB Maxtor Atlas 10K III, 160 GB Maxtor (with FDB), 80 GB WD SE (not sure about FDB)
Ti4200 with Zalman cooler, Zalman northbridge heatsink, Lite-On Optical drives, FDD, some vantec stealths, etc etc.

Obviously with an aircooled overclocked CPU and 3 hard drives my PC will never be silent by the standards of this site but I just want to bring it down to a lower noise level, and that's good enough for me.

I have narrowed it down to two cases that seem to be popular here: The Antec Sonata and the Antec SLK3700AMB (which I think I heard will soon be revised and re-released; does anyone have any info on this?).

Here's my understanding of how the 3700 compares with the Sonata:

-Inferior rear exhaust (but can be modded)
-Doesn't allow fans to be mounted with isolators (also can be modded to fix that)
-Inferior hard drive tray/cage (this is a huge reason why I like the Sonata).
-Harder to have neat case wiring (the Sonata's HD tray seems to really help with that)
-Much cheaper than the Sonata
-Better location for front fan
-Despite having a capacity for 5 drives, it seems like the 3700 can only hold 3 drives if you want to leave a gap in between them. Whereas the Sonata can hold 4 while still having a gap for airflow in between each drive. I have a SCSI drive so this is important to me. And while I only have 3 hard drives, I'd rather have expansion room just in case. Especially at the rate HD prices are falling.
-Inferior stock PSU, but I just found out that if you buy the 3700 at Directron you can swap out the loud stock PSU for a more quiet 300 watt Fortron FSP300-60PN. While it may be silent, how well does this PSU handle overclocking? They give you many options for PSUs to take instead of the stock one, are there any others I should consider? Also, I wonder if a 300 watt PSU will be sufficient, especially with future GPU's that will consume tons of power. How would it compare overall with the Sonata's PSU?
-I am guessing it comes without rubber feet, hopefully one of you can verify this for me. How much of a difference do the rubber feet on the Sonata make?
-Better front intakes than on the Sonata? This may not even be an issue depending on number and speed of case fans, etc. Also the Sonata can be modded to correct that.

I guess the reason for this post is to ask why the 3700 is so popular, considering that the only advantage seems to be superior airflow, which if you modify the Sonata intake, is no longer true. There's also price, which is a secondary concern. I'm not sure which case I prefer aesthetically, I like the Sonata's black finish, but I'm not a huge fan of the word Antec drilled out of the side- are those "vents" really necessary for PSU cooling, or could I block those off?

Am I completely forgetting something that makes the 3700 that much better?

thanks for reading.

[MrMajestic]

The SLK3700 has rubber feet, dont know how the Sonatas look so I dont know the difference.
You can mount 6 drives in the SLK3700. There is one more drive slot in the floppycage. I have 4 in mine mounted in the regular cage.
The cage on the Sonata is one of the reasons I didnt buy it. I have some drives with Serial ATA adapters on them. They wont fit when mounted in the Sonata.
If you can change the PSU, do it. I've modded the one that came with mine, but you wont have to. 300 might be a bit low for huge videocards like the Radeon 9800 Pro, but I cant really verify that.
Sure the Sonatas finish looks cool, but I bet its a bitch to keep clean from fingerprints and dust

[dago]

I got the same problem, decided for the sonata, then, 3 month later, when I had to build another case, took the SLK3700, because during this time, I got a Nexus PSU for cheap ...

Anyway, there are a few other difference :
- rack system is different : you have to remove the front bezel on the SLK3700
- rubber feet on both
- front audio on the sonata where not on the SLK3700
- right side of the sonata is fixed, while you can remove it on the SLK3700
- holes

So, at the end, my answer to your question is ... choose whatever you prefer depending on the look.

The differences are so little that you can adapt your rig depending on the case and have a approximative identical result.

[grnarrow]

... and the Antec SLK3700AMB (which I think I heard will soon be revised and re-released; does anyone have any info on this?).

I'd sure like to know too, because I'm about to buy one, and I have this sinking feeling that as soon as I do, they'll release a new version that would save me all the trouble of cutting out the grills and trying to fit a nice fan in the front.