Antec Solo build/review

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 5:15 am

Well I did it! I cut out the rear fan grill and the front fan grills and I am amazed at the drop in sound coming from my Solo. The wooshing noise is gone and there is less of a sucking sound from the front bezel. On the down side, I have identified another noise and now I have to figure out where that one is comming from.

For those out there thinking of cutting out the grills on your cases, the thread about tin snips is awesome. I went to Lowes and bought the Wiss M-1R snips and it cut out all three grills like I was cutting zip ties with sissors! easy and clean and done in about 5 minutes per grill. I highly recommend this mod!

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:00 am

I am having problems posting my pics for the grills cut out, I will get them in eventually... For anyone who wants to cut out the grills, check out the sticky in the beginning of this sectionhttp://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=2307. You can't go wrong.

cyberspyder · Post by **cyberspyder** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 6:03 am

i have a question about the fans. are you running the two nexus intakes on 12V (ie full speed), or do you have a fan controller? how loud is the system altogether?

Brendan

*EDIT*, can you use a 120mm hole drill to drill out the grills?

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:07 pm

eoctanker wrote:I have to go and get the tin snips and will knock this out over the weekend. I won't use the dremmel becuase I don't want to dissassembel the whole computer to get this done. I can use the snips and not worry about any metal pieces getting near the Mobo.

Big Fat Warning

Tin snips will give you indeed less metal dust and metal slivers than using a rotary tool or hole drill, but they can give you some small slivers of metal. Only one tiny sliver of metal can fry your mobo.

If you want to take such a risk, is of course your own decision.

About the 120mm hole drill:
See the warning about using a hole drill without a drill press in the thread about tin snips.

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 1:17 pm

I don't have a system set up in my Solo yet, so this is premature, but I did cut out one of the 92mm intakes and the 120 exhaust with the dremel over the weekend. Tin snips would be very easy, but I already have a dremel and plenty of cut off wheels, so...

The steel is very easy to cut, took about 20 minutes, counting the time to grind down and smooth the cuts. We'll see how she performs in the next couple months!

Sgt_Strider · Post by **Sgt_Strider** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:04 pm

Is the front bezel made of aluminum or plastic? I don't really like the silver colour of the bezel. Is it possible to get the bezel professionally painted to the same black colour as the rest of the case?

If the front bezel is made of aluminum then that can be a problem. When I use to use aluminum cases in the past, the black metal doesn't quite blend in with the black plastic bezel of the optical drives. You can tell that one shade of black is ever so slightly darker.

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:08 pm

I am running one front fan at around 7v with zalman fanmate2. The rear 120 at around 5v with the zalman fanmate2 also.
I have speed fan pwming the cpu fan and the second front fan around 450 rpm and 743 rpm respectivley. My vga fan (zalman vf900) is run by a zalman fanmate2 also.

Sound is almost non-exsistant. All I hear is a slight woosh of air when the whole house is silent. I am now searching for a silent keyboard cause mine has suddenly gotten really loud

.

The front bezel is made of aluminum, with a kind of clearcoat covering, with the edges made out of plastic.

vitaminc · Post by **vitaminc** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:43 pm

Sgt_Strider wrote:Is the front bezel made of aluminum or plastic? I don't really like the silver colour of the bezel. Is it possible to get the bezel professionally painted to the same black colour as the rest of the case?

If the front bezel is made of aluminum then that can be a problem. When I use to use aluminum cases in the past, the black metal doesn't quite blend in with the black plastic bezel of the optical drives. You can tell that one shade of black is ever so slightly darker.

plastic.

bikerdjr · Post by **bikerdjr** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 6:40 pm

MasterWerk wrote:nice temps! i've got a similar rig but with a zalman 9500 and i usually idle at 36-38 with qfan running.

i love, love, love this case. far easier build than the p180 and plenty of room for just about anything.

Any clearance problem with the ZALMAN CNPS9500 and the Solo?

I am looking forward to a conroe, e6600 build in a few weeks (waiting to see the Nvidia 590 motherboards next week). I would like to use the Zalman cooler in the Solo case.

Thanks

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:45 am

No problems. Especially if the Scythe Ninja fits! Zalman also works great with the Asus MB becuase they have the two graphics slots spread out so much you can have SLI with two Zalmans running without space issues.

NyteOwl · Post by **NyteOwl** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:50 am

its unfair that antec didnt make the stealth optical driver mode for solo just for p150

I wonder if the stealth aluminum faceplates for the p160 would fit? They might make for a nice contrast with the black and match for the front aluminum.

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:42 pm

I don't think you really need the stealth drives when you have a black area for the drives themselves. It is easy to match optical drives to the black face. Just make sure you pick up the black faceplate version of whatever drive you are planning on putting in the Solo. Unless you are moving stuff from another case that had another color, then you should be good to go.

NyteOwl · Post by **NyteOwl** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:23 pm

Sgt_Strider wrote:Is the front bezel made of aluminum or plastic? I don't really like the silver colour of the bezel. Is it possible to get the bezel professionally painted to the same black colour as the rest of the case?

I was just looking about Antec's site and came across this in the Server case seection:

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=91540#

If you look at the description, and then check out the extra views and look at the inside of the chassis, you'll find the innards of a Solo/P150 in disquise.

It doesn't come with the dampening material applied like the others or the hard drive suspension clips but that could be easily added. Alternatively you get a 550W PSU and a side vent.

The apparenly somewhat more subdued paint job might be easier to keep smudge free as well.

nightmorph · Post by **nightmorph** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:36 pm

@eoctanker:

Do you have enough clearance with the Ninja + fan to use all four memory slots if you wanted, or only 1 or two of them? Looks pretty tight from the pictures so far, but maybe that's just because of the angle.

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:47 am

I can use all four slots. The ninja and the fan are designed to ride above the slots. If you look at a ninja, the base is narrow and you get about an inch of small footprint until you get to the fins and then it spreads out. Without a fan there is definately no issue about blocking the sims. I have my fan offset just a couple of fins so it is above the first sim slot (which is filled). I could drop it down one fin slot if I wanted to but then the wire that holds the fan on would touch the sim and I don't want any chance of grounding it out.

All of the above applies to my mb of course. I cannot state how the ninja affects different mb, but as far as clearance, it can be done and still have the fan mounted and fitting into the case.

nightmorph · Post by **nightmorph** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 4:46 pm

eoctanker wrote:I can use all four slots.

Okay, good to know. Next question: how have you mounted your hard drives? Did you go with suspending them, or did you hard-mount them? I've heard that the Solo can really only accomodate 3 drives suspended, but I'm not sure if this applies only when you use built-in suspension support (if any), or if this also applies to home-brewed Stretch Magic use. Think there's room in there for 4 suspended drives?

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:37 pm

I have mine hard mounted currently. I only have one drive in right now and I hard-mounted it in place becuase I knew I would be taking the system apart as I modded stuff. I actually barely hear the hard drive seek right now, I will suspend it eventually. You are correct, the mounting system is designed for three. If you modd your own, you could fit four as the rail mounted method mounts four. You then of course have all that heat too... You could do four though if you wanted to rig it yourself.

bobbavet · Post by **bobbavet** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:04 pm

Gday Guys

Bobbavet from Australia.

Buiding a Solo E6600 on a KISS(band) theme.

Will post pics of progression if someone can tell me how to do it.

Has cutting the grill hole made a substantial decrease in noise? Don't know if I could go to that effort.

One problem Im having to decide. I am using a Aerocool Gate watch fan controller. http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod1733.htm

It has 4 controllers. If I haves 2 92mm fans in front that gives me 5 fans in total.

Does this mean I will have to lose 1 92mm fan OR can I join the 92mm fans with a three way plug and the controller will adjust the voltage to the 2 fans simualtainiously?

Gateway manual - http://www.aerocool.com.tw/p-peripheral ... manual.htm

Any help appreciated

Noni · Post by **Noni** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:33 am

A few questions mate! Appriciate if you could answer them-

1. The Scythe Ninja, how tall is it with the fan? Also, did you use the Scythe backplate or just use the Asus one?

I would get a Ninja if it fitted and I could install it on my backplate.

2. The VF900, is ok to just drop the card on the VF900 rather than "twisting" it over and things?

Great system! I envy you!

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:41 am

The fan controller isn't your only avenue to control your fans. Depending on your mobo, you can control 1, 2 or maybe even three fans. My mobo controls two fans, so with your fan controller hooked up to my system, combined they could control 6 fans. Without knowing your mobo or processor, I would run the CPU fan on the mobo using speedfan and run the others through your fan controller. Either way, you will not have to combine fans onto one controller.

eoctanker · Post by **eoctanker** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:45 am

Don't know how tall it is with the fan, I will have to open my case up and measure later for you.

I am using the Asus backplate with my Ninja. It was easy to replace the front bracket while retaining the back bracket.

I don't understand your question about the VF900... I took the stock fan and heat sink off and attached the VF900 on using the standard equipment. Very easy to do on the Evga card. I don't know what you mean about "twisting it over and things?"

Noni · Post by **Noni** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:54 am

Thanks for the reply!

I meant that can you just drop the cooler on the card (not literally) and not do the hard twisting over bit to acess the thumbscrews for the back?

Thanks.

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 12:10 pm

Hi folks, glad I found this thread. I have my Asus M2N32SLI installed in a SOLO. For me too it seemed the absolute best mix of features and I am also very impressed, surprised even, with its quiteness.

I am running a 4400 with a Zalman 9500 and supporting 2 x 1GB Corsair 6400C4. I have two BFG 7900GTs in SLI mode and stock cooling. My opticals are a Plextor 716 slot load and a Samsung SH/S162 DVD etal. I have them in the top and 3rd down slots with the slot between open. Down below I have two 74GB Raptors and two 250GB Samsung Spinpoint SATAIIs mounted in the trays with the grommets. I can hear the Raptors during extreme seeking but its just barely audible; frankly, I think the rubberband suspension is overkill, I doubt it would make any difference.

For fans, I installed a Nexus Real Quiet 120 for exhaust and two Nexus RQ 92s for intake. I am seriously considering removing the grilles for all the fans. I don't have any little inquiring fingers about so its not an issue.

Overall, the case is everything I hoped for and a lot more. Unfortunately, its setting hides it so the great looks are sort of wasted. The quietness is amazing. Other than the minor seek noises of the Raptors, the sound is pretty much just a soft whrrrrr. I can tell its running, but just barely and only when there isn't much ambient noise, like very late at night.

Othewise, the case is fabulous, the only feature I would like is for the motherboard to be tray mounted, perhaps the whole back panel and tray could slide out the back.

One issue I was concerned about was the noise/efficiency of the PSU, in my case an Antec NeoHE 550. I was very impressed with the setup of the P180 with the PSU in a separate bay, which means it doesn't have to cool itself with the warmed air of the main bay. So I built and installed a baffle between the upper part of the SOLO's main bay that separates it and the 5.25" drives from the rest of the case. I just used stiff thin cardboard, carefully cut to fit quiet tightly and including some flaps to press against the opening left side panel. The cardboard baffle is supported by the cross beam that supports the PSU. This is why I have the one open bay on the front. I hope to eventually find or make a suitable grille with a filter for that opening or install some sort of intake fan there as well. So far my PSU temp has never diviated from 40C. Of course, it also doesn't help with cooling of the main bay, but I feel its a successful tradeoff.

I will get some pictures soon, next time I clean the filters and fiddle around inside. Maybe this weekend.

My basic temps, CPU and MB, from the Asus board sensors, seem high, but I believe that's a 'feature' of the BIOS. Reading my cores with CoreTemp and SpeedFan shows core temps in the 30s with up to maybe 50 under full load. The M2N32SLI board appears to read a sensor in the socket for CPU and the board has a passive heatpipe system for chipset and voltage regulator cooling. The latter does a good job, only in the most extreme cases does the MB reading go above 52 and 54 is the highest I've ever gotten. Normal MB is 48 to 52.

If anyone has any questions, ask away.

I really like this case and recommend it to anyone with similar requirements.

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:23 pm

I've gone ahead and removed the fan grilles, whoever it was that said it was easy is right, the metal (steel) is relatively soft. I just used wire snips, but it was still very easy. Maybe 15 minutes for all three, the 120mm in back and the two 92mms in front.

Didn't really notice a change in noise. I did, however, clean the filter in front which was pretty thick with debris in places. Since then, I've had some other events involving the BIOS on my Asus M2N32SLI and the temps have dropped another 3C to 4C, though the MB is still running at around 52C. Never goes above that, but it never drops either. The HDDs went down about 2C. I think I corrupted the BIOS during some OCing and the result is they seem to have stablized with a lower temp reading.

Still trying to get some photos up.

wolfy84 · Post by **wolfy84** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 3:47 am

recently bought an antec solo and an arctic freezer 7 pro for my p4 530 (@3ghz). installed the system and run some tests. first i tried with PWM enabled and obtained 42C in idle at 500rpm (cpu cooler) and 51/52C in full load at 1000rpm.
the system also has a front 92mm antec cooler running at low speed; back case cooler (120mm) is also set to run at low speed.
after that i turned off pwm and run the system first at 3ghz and then at 3.45 ghz.

running at 3ghz with pwm disabled (cpu cooler at 2900rpm, constant): 32C idle, 43C full load;

running at 3.45 ghz after 10 minutes of full load the temperature was constant at 46C, while in idle i had 32/33C (without the pwm, the cpu cooler runs at about 2900rpm).

room temperature was about 22-24C. (not very sure since i din't have how to mesure it...it's jus my personal aproximation)

today i had to replace the dvd-writer and decided to cover the vertical holes from the back of the case (round,small hales, next to the pci slots) in order to prevent dust from entering the case.i ran some test again and obteined the same results with pwm disabled, but worst result with pwm enabled. also after first start i heard a different cooler sound...like it was badly centered...that self-resolved after 1 minute.

running with pwm enabled, in idle i now have 44-45C (470rpm) and in full load 62-64C (~750rpm).
first of all i don't understand why doesn't the pc cooler run faster if the temperature is higher, and second, how could the covering of the holes influence only test with pwm enalbed...

so, what are those holes for? to bring fresh air into the case (along with dust) or is it a remaining from other antec cases that used an advanced air duct (like sonata2) ?

otherwise, the case provides silence and is nice to work with. but i can't open the front bezel with the side panels on...is this normal!?

temperatures and rpm were read with EVEREST unlimited edition 2006; MB is a gigabyte 8IPE775.

[LATER EDIT] It turned out that PWM was only reaching 770rpm because in bios there was a 3PIN setting instead of 4PIN. it now runs cooler....39-40C idle and 49-50C full load (at 1500rpm)

L3thal · Post by **L3thal** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:14 am

I cut out the back grill in my Solo as well, then lined the edges with rubber U-channel. I tried using the tin-snips, but ended up using my dremel because the snips were too big and awkward to get into the tight corners...all of this was done before components were installed, of course.

Here's a pic:
http://img340.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... rgewi2.jpg

Bursk · Post by **Bursk** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:18 am

Pardon my stupidity, but I can't seem to grasp what exactly you did when using the zip ties to attach your fans. Obviously you put the one end through all the holes, but you then have to loop that end around so that it fastens to the other end, right? How did you do this? Do you have some pictures from other angles?

Also, would your technique work if you wanted to mount two fans in the front of the case?

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:40 pm

Wolfy84 - Can you be more specific about these holes? If I am correct they are the grille of 1/4" diameter holes that form a rectangle about 1-1/2" x 6" just to the right of the expansion slot covers on the back of the case.

If so, I believe these are just there to provide air flow, either in or out, depending on whether or not you have big powerful intake or exhaust fans. I am interested because I am thinking of cutting that grille out and using a crossflow fan either exhausting the heat of the graphics cards or with a filter, providing them with fresh cool air.

Regardless, I have no explanation for why your temps would change with the holes blocked while your fans on PWM and not when they are not. It doesn't make sense. The only thing I can suggest is closing off the holes changes the air flow and somehow the sensor the PWM is reading is getting cooled while the sensor that your temperature monitor is reading is getting hotter. I don't know how that could be but its the only way I can think of.

Do you know what your PWM is reading? What PWM system are you using, that built in on your motherboard or a third party program like SpeedFan? I personally wouldn't use any of the built-in PWM fan control systems I have encountered. I do use SpeedFan, its really amazing. I whole-heartedly endorse it. If you are interested, I can help you set it up.

RAFH · Post by **RAFH** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:45 pm

To mount my fans I just used plastic screws and nuts. Not the best but I also used soft rubber washers and some soft material with adhesive facing as gasket.

Bursk · Post by **Bursk** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 3:59 am

My Solo arrived today, and I noticed that the left-hand side panel isn't flush against the front bezel; there's a gap a couple of mm wide, and I can look through it and see inside the case.

Also, when looking down at the top of the case, there's another gap of a similar size on the left-hand side by the top of the front bezel, which gradually reduces as you get to the right-hand side of the top of the case.

I can't for one second think that the case is supposed to be this way.