Antec SLK3700BQE is out!

miker · Post by **miker** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 12:38 pm

Good question. I guess we have to wait til some retailers have stock. I can't find any yet.

hitman47 · Post by **hitman47** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 1:05 pm

Yea I reckon the only reason people would choose a Sonata over this is
-Front Headphone and Mic jacks
-blue light
-glossy paint job
-size restrictions

else give me the SLK3700-QBE any day

Syphon869 · Post by **Syphon869** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:33 pm

Jan Kivar wrote:How's the price compated to 3700AMB and Sonata?

The 3700AMB is $72 from Newegg, but it's currently on backorder.

MikeK · Post by **MikeK** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:52 pm

Here's where I bought my 3700AMB, it's $67.20

http://www.knowledgemicro.com/detail.ph ... CA-3700AMB

I am a bit jealous of this new case but there are some reasons why I like mine better. I don't like the turned HDD cage, SATA or not. The 3700AMB's drive cage slips out so easily. I have decided I don't like black, and this case doesn't pull off black like the Sonata does. I take solace in the fact that my case will be better than this new one when I'm finished with it

AntecRep · Post by **AntecRep** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 10:16 am

BQE is listed at $99.00 compared to Sonata's $129. SLK3700AMB is listed at $84.00

AntecRep

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 12:20 pm

AntecRep wrote:BQE is listed at $99.00 compared to Sonata's $129. SLK3700AMB is listed at $84.00

AntecRep

Well, here we have Sonata ~130-135 €, and 3700AMB ~100€. I'm thinking that 3700AMB was dearer when it was released, yes?

Cheers,

Jan

sockeye · Post by **sockeye** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 12:42 pm

AntecRep wrote:BQE is listed at $99.00 compared to Sonata's $129. SLK3700AMB is listed at $84.00

AntecRep

Thanks...any idea when they will hit the street and who will have 'em?

Does Antec consider the BQE to be as quiet as the Sonata?

thanks!

Katana Man · Post by **Katana Man** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 12:57 pm

AntecRep, thanks for answering some of our questions. But I bet you could save a lot of typing if you put up some good pics

It never ceases to amaze me the tiny pics that big manufacturers put on their web sites.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 4:44 am

sockeye wrote:
AntecRep wrote:BQE is listed at $99.00 compared to Sonata's $129. SLK3700AMB is listed at $84.00

AntecRep
Does Antec consider the BQE to be as quiet as the Sonata?

thanks!

Not to dis Antec but who cares how quiet they say it is? They're in the marketing business, they can claim that it can fly or wash the dishes if they want. It's the unwashed mases (us here at SPCR

) that will ultimately judge this product on it's merits, not on marketing hype.

BTW - There's nothing particularly "quiet" about the Sonata per se. It's just a case with some features (made of steel, a fairly quiet PSU by the average Joe's standards, 120mm fan, very restrictive front bezel, rubber mounts for HDDs) that help keep the noise level of the components inside quieter than a normal case. There's nothing magical about the case, it was just designed a certain way. The SLK3700 family (including the BQE) is just as "quiet", if not more so due to it's very similar design features.

AntecRep · Post by **AntecRep** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 2:17 pm

We're working on getting 360 degree views of the cases. The problem is getting enough work done on that to make it happen. Well that and at times our site is slower then we'd like which we're also trying to figure out.

BQE is not as quiet as Sonata. We had it tested at the same lab as we had the Sonata, and it came out about 2 dBA higher/louder.

Ralf: No offense taken. Good reviews of products are what will convince people to buy or not.

AntecRep

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Wed Sep 10, 2003 5:28 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote: 2) I'm not totally sold on those sideways drive bays, especially if the mounting cage is as restrictive as the one on the Sonata.

I'm totally not sold on them and I can say that from the perspective of a Gateway owner that has that type of drive bay arrangement. It might seem easier for popping drives in and out, but it's really not the best for air flow at all. Also, there is more turbulence noise where my intake fan is located due to the restricted passageway of this bay design.

The removable drive cage (the fact that it is removable) found on the 3700amb is just as easy to work with as this new design is intended to be.

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 2:28 am

Wedge wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote: 2) I'm not totally sold on those sideways drive bays, especially if the mounting cage is as restrictive as the one on the Sonata.
I'm totally not sold on them and I can say that from the perspective of a Gateway owner that has that type of drive bay arrangement. It might seem easier for popping drives in and out, but it's really not the best for air flow at all. Also, there is more turbulence noise where my intake fan is located due to the restricted passageway of this bay design.

The removable drive cage (the fact that it is removable) found on the 3700amb is just as easy to work with as this new design is intended to be.

Hmm... Will SATA drives fit in both ways (connectors out/in, that is)? It would make less clutter, if the wires are near the motherboard. With PATA this is no problem, but the SATA connector is bit longer, plus the wires come out from the end of the connector.

Cheers,

Jan

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 6:26 am

Now that there's an Antec Representative here, I'd like to pose a rhetorical question:

why are there no silent BIG cases?

I mean, a lot of the silent enthusiasts are power users and need lots of space.

Why on earth are all the "silent" cases mid-towers and other midget sized things?

It's so difficult to cram everything inside one of those mid-towers and keep the air flow still going nice without extra fan power.

It's much easier to achieve good layout on a big tower, but then again one must mod all silent features into them by hand.

Just my thoughts and I'm not sure I represent a large population, but I sure would buy an Antec 6700, which was 2-4 5,25" slots taller version of SLK-3700 with "silent case features".

regards,
Halcyon

PS I already modded one Chieftec Scorpio (AOpen HQ48 innards) full tower some years ago and it was nice to work with, but required way too much modding to make really silent.

AntecRep · Post by **AntecRep** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 1:35 pm

Serial ATA: In our manual we recommend that the side with the connectors facing out.

When you come down to it full towers just don't sell that well. That's why when Performance Plus/II came out we dropped the 12 series, the 1240's just didn't sell that well.

However I'll let the bosses know of the interest.

AntecRep

aaronspink · Post by **aaronspink** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 1:04 am

AntecRep wrote:Serial ATA: In our manual we recommend that the side with the connectors facing out.

AntecRep

While that may be the recomendation, it will work the other way as well. I have a sonata with 3 drives in the cages, with one of them even having a PATA to SATA converter. For the converted drive, I did need to get a right angle SATA cable but for the other two a straight SATA cable worked fine.

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 1:22 pm

aaronspink wrote:
AntecRep wrote:Serial ATA: In our manual we recommend that the side with the connectors facing out.

AntecRep
While that may be the recomendation, it will work the other way as well. I have a sonata with 3 drives in the cages, with one of them even having a PATA to SATA converter. For the converted drive, I did need to get a right angle SATA cable but for the other two a straight SATA cable worked fine.

Thanks, this is what I was after.

Jan

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 3:02 am

If you wanted the silicone mounts and a nicer finish, why wouldn't you buy a Sonata? The product already exists.

I have a Sonata ,I also have an SLK 3700 . I have issues with the Sonata s ability to collect large ammounts of dust in a small ammount of time(3 weeks) I am not unhappy with the SLK 3700 as with a fan on the front with a slightly higher flow than the rear the case does not collect dust at all. After 3 weeks my Sonata has noticeable deposits around the optical drives and small dots of dust just inside the Antec holes . It sounds to me like the 3700 qbe is the case I wanted all along .I will most likely get one , depending on the outcome of an issue I am having with the Australian Distributor over a warranty issue .I may still get one any way . My only issues with the Sonata are the Antec holes and the fact that the fromt fan is BEHIND the hard drives . both issues appear to have been resolved with the 3700 qbe

hitman47 · Post by **hitman47** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:38 pm

AntecRep, still no updated/360degree pictures, nor any info on a european release

Kind Regards

lazybum131 · Post by **lazybum131** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:59 pm

For any Canadian's that's itching for the 3700BQE, it's available at Vibe Computers. Currently selling for $126.46.

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 3:28 pm

Still waiting for it to hit Australia - our local distributor (Altech)said they would be here after the Computer show thingy in Taiwan but in VERY short supply at first . but still I will wait - no estimate on price in AU though

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 5:17 pm

This may also be relevant to the 3700BQE (because of the side mount hdd's)

Antec Rep:
I have found that in the Sonata, that with SATA cables and power attached to an SATA Drive (with the Power and Data facing out to the case openening, that when I go to close the case it puts quite a bit of force on the two cables. I am worried that this may damage them, or cause power problems... so in the next model you may need to make the case wider, or have the mounting holes a little deeper on the HDD trays.

I am in the process of doing a reivew of SATA to PATA converters also, which I will hopefully post this weekend. But a heads up, I can't use any of them in the Sonata on the 3.5" drives or I have to leave the case open

The 5.25's are less of an issue. For those interested, I am reviewing the abit, Vipower and Acard converters.

Anyway, All this will be convered in the review, with Pics, so when it is done I will provide an update.

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 7:50 pm

on the sonata case I originally had Abit serilell adaptors when I first set the machine up and the adaptors did fit in the case with the cables to the off side of the case (just) but was a total pain to connect every thing - now that I am using the Raptors I still have the cables inwards and have zero problems this way but I still prefer the design of the 3700 BQE it looks to have most of what I like about the Sonata and none of the Quirks that the Sonata has designed into it (fan behind the drives, Antec holes , fixed off side panel etc.)
But in my oppinion ,I personally would not like to see the cases any wider as this would be too invasive for me if they were I would not buy one , they are already a little large for my liking . But I accept that they cannot be a lot smaller and still fit everything in - Although I have a P4 soltek(2.8/533) full atx in a Lian Li C30 which has everything that it needs (including 4 drive raid) but it is built to be transportable and is far from quiet - but it does fit with a reasonable ammount of room but to quieten it would result in overheating . (it has 80 mm screamers temp controlled)
The point is ,comromises have to be made
I would not like to lug a Sonata full of components around - But I would not want a Lian Li full of sreaming fans in my bedroom

CoolColJ · Post by **CoolColJ** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 1:48 pm

Antec rep

How does the P160 compare noise wise to the Sonata and 37000BQE?

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 2:53 am

Today our ambient Temp hit 37c and I found that the Antec Sonata's ventilation (on the PSU fan connector ) to be ,a little short of the mark . my Cpu ,a P4 3.06 with original cooler Could not cool the cpu . I am running Panaflo "m" fans 1 front one rear .I decided to try putting the fans straight to 12v (giving them 1850 rpm ) and the situation improved considerably , the computer in the Slk 3700 did not overheat at all . It has one original fan and one Antec Sonata fan , both on a Fanstorm controller (speed varies by temp) .
My Question is - Does the SLK3700 BQE get sufficient air pst the 90degree rotated drives for the front fan to be fully functional as I have every intention of getting one of these and if it is as good as it appears probably 2 and the Sonata will most likely hit eBay as the Sonata just is not Quite on the mark ,it is quiet straight out of the box but has issues that I am finding it difficult to live with - not so with the SLK 3700 mb .

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 3:50 am

pony-tail wrote:Today our ambient Temp hit 37c and I found that the Antec Sonata's ventilation (on the PSU fan connector ) to be ,a little short of the mark . my Cpu ,a P4 3.06 with original cooler ...

I think that Intel specs their coolers with 35°C max. ambient temperature. Did your computer crash or what? I'm thinking that the noise of that original CPU fan is really loud, if it's fed with 12V.

Cheers,

Jan

EDIT: Fixed the quote.
EDIT 2: Made the EDIT-text too small...

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 4:12 am

It does not crash till it hits 60degc and then it just slows and the fan does scream ,but the point was that the SLK was 8deg cooler in the same situation which is substantial , and in Febuary it will be hotter than it is now Which will mean I will have a Sonata Cased P4 which is as noisy as a Delta fanned Droid Box and an Slk 3700 Which , albeit after some small modifications as Quiet as the Sonata should be . I suspect the temps where the antec cases are designed do not approach this . But I doubt I would recommend a Sonata to any one ,even more so with the Slk3700 Bqe on its way .It appears to be What the Sonata Should have Been. the other thing is that the SLK is MUCH cheaper and works better ,but does not look as good.

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 2:24 pm

After further research Intel Spec their Coolers for a max 40 deg c ambient
- It sometimes exceeds that here in Summer in the afternoon

Post by **MikeC** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 3:19 pm

The key to getting better thermal & noise performance from the Sonata is to hack away behind the front bezel. As noted in my review, there is an extra layer of plastic between the outside bezel and the filter, as well as excessive plastic around the vent slots on the outside. All of this can be cut away & the airflow capacity through the bezel vents at least doubled with NO visible signs of modding from the outside. If all this is done, and the original PSU either fan-modded or replaced with a quieter PSU, a Sonata-based system can be quiet and cool.

I agree that straight out of the box in stock form, it is moderately quiet and does not have great thermal behavior, the 3700 is better. But as repeated in the forums ad nauseum, noise perception is highly subjective; most who have never heard a really quiet computer will consider a decently built Sonata PC to be very quiet.

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 6:38 pm

Ialso have a G4 Mac cube which is silent(0 fans)
I have removed excess plastic from the Sonata and have round IDE cables and my HDDs are SATA the SLK still breathes better and by rubber mounting the fans and drilling out the holes in the fan grills have amost eliminated fan noise (until the unit gets pretty hot as it is on a temp controller and at a case temp of 38 deg c the fans start to increase speed to a very audible level).
The problem I have with the Sonata is mainly the location of the front fan (if fitted) In a shop with no internals it looks like not that bad an idea , but when you get it home and live with it for a couple of months it builds up masses of dust (almost none of it in the filter) more dust in 6 weeks than the dual p3 I have has done in just over 3 years (Macase full tower which has 1x90mm front fan and 2x 80mm rear + PSU fan all except the psu fan are on a temp controller )
one thing though the ambient temps here vary between 16 deg c mid winter to 40 + deg c mid summer so cooling efficiency is essential .
and even using a 3500 rpm delta (in the rear) wont bring the temps in the Sonata down to where the Slk is (I tried this today) but this afternoon I am fitting a Thermalright heatsink (SP 94 with a 92mmx38 mm papst variofan and external thermistor) but I have to remove the motherboard to do this and have to work out where and how I am going to mount the thermistor on the heatsink, possibly thermal epoxy as close to the die as possible
Anyway I will just see how things go together as I go.

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 8:38 pm

I actually found that my System (see spec below) Ran heaps better WITHOUT a front fan than with.

When I added a front fan, it basically caused bad air turbulence in the case.

I run a 2ghz (xp 2400+ and it idles at about 27c and maxes out at 34c).

That is with the stock Sonata setup but the PSU replaced with a Silenx 400w. (see sig)

I think that you should try without the front intake fan for a few minutes and see what happens to your temps.

Antec SLK3700BQE is out!

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