Antec Sonata - Quiet? What a joke....

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:33 am

Cavicchi wrote:
davidstone28 wrote:Cavicchi - I think the thing to look at is MikeC's recommended list. It would be worth you comparing numbers to get an idea of relative quietness. The Sonata scores 6/10 for quietness. The Seasonic PSU scores 8/10 for quietness. A fanless PSU would be 10/10.
No, that is not the Sonata. You are looking at the retail Antec 380 with two fans! Mike has not rated the _single_ fan 380 supplied in the Sonata. Mike C. made a point in his review that the supplied single fan 380 PSU is quieter than the two-fan 380 PSU sold separately. So, I think that would push the suppled PSU in the Sonata to at perhaps a 7, or maybe even 7+?

"Antec Sonata Build 7/10 Noise6/10 Overall 6/10 / Stylish glossy black mid-tower, nice no-fuss quiet (not silent) design. Lots of nice features, a few compromises. Excellent 120mm back vent, bezel airflow restricted but good noise reduction path, easy access side drive mounts come with rubber grommets. Front door over 3 CD and 2 3.5" drive slots helps reduce noise. Supplied with quiet single fan 380W TruePower PSU, a bit noisier than our reference standards. Comes with 120mm fan. Bezel will benefit from some cutting to improve airflow. Reviewed. March 11/03"
http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... =75&page=2

Sounds like the single fan Sonata to me.

Post by **Rusty075** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:48 am

The single fan PSU in the Sonata has nto been reviewed like the dual-fan Trupower or the Seasonic that Cavicchi refers to. The little blurb about in the Sonata review is more of an "impression" than a review.

The Sonata basically boils down to being "quieter than almost any other case/PSU combo available" Whether that equals "quiet" to you is a matter of personal opinion. Obviously there are many ways to make it quieter. Almost no one here would use the Sonata as-is with the stock PSU, but compared to most other cases available it is quieter.

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 8:39 am

The single fan PSU in the Sonata has nto been reviewed like the dual-fan Trupower or the Seasonic that Cavicchi refers to. The little blurb about in the Sonata review is more of an "impression" than a review.

Russ, you need whipping with noodle! Please see Sonata 380S PSU reviewin PSU section, done concurrently with Sonata case review & linked within the case review.

Post by **Rusty075** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 9:27 am

Yeah, see, Cavicchi's got my back on this one.

Mike you must have mistakenly believed that "nto" was a typo for "not". "Nto" is an old celtic word meaning "in fact"

Geez, I thought a wordsmith like you would have known that.

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:01 am

Cavicchi wrote:Ahh, but you didn't give it a rating for comparison with Seasonic and others in the recommended section. We were all talking numbers in the Recommended section and there is no rating in the Recommended section for stock Sonata PSU.

All the other PSUs are available separately. The 380S in the Sonata comes ONLY with the Sonata. There are literally hundreds of cases that come outfitted with a PSU. No way those could all be reviewed. As long as it is only part of an integrated package with the Sonata, that PSU doesn't belong on the PSU list.

But for what it is worth, I'd rank it a 6+. Just maybe a -7, but that's probably a stretch.

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 3:03 pm

One thing that ought to be mentione is how good the TP308S power is. With a Panaflo L1A swap, I would think the TP308S would be way up there with respect to both quality of power and silence. I couldn't be happier with mine.

Don't take my word for it, break out the scope and give it a look see.

-- Tom

bob670 · Post by **bob670** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:12 pm

"Any new Dell system will be much, much more quiet than a stock Sonata."

I'm going to strongly disagree with this, it might have been true a year ago, but no longer. Dell seems to have foresaken quiet systems this year, I just replaced a Dell with my Sonata set up and it's much quieter even before I switched out the stock Intel HSF for the Zalman. My office is filled with Dell PCs and the newer models are quiet loud, in fact that last batch of GX260s I imaged for a client were unbearably loud, I actually broke out the ear plugs when I had a dozen imaging simaltaneously in the lab, but even a single stand alone machine is quite a bit louder than the GX100-240s that we were buying. Same thing for the new Dimensions.

Last year I decided that OEM PCs had gotten so cheap and decent that I would not build but instead buy my next PC. This past may I bought a Dell, and the noise was on my nerves almost instantly, and if you check the Dell forums you will see I'm not alone on this. So the Dell went to eBay and I went with a Sonatat, no regrets.

miker · Post by **miker** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:21 pm

bob670 wrote:... and if you check the Dell forums you will see I'm not alone on this.

LOL, I just went over to the Dell forums and did a highly scientific, empirical study. I typed in the word loud and hit search.

7,452 posts have been logged in the Dell forums that have the word loud in the topic. In the topic.

bob670 · Post by **bob670** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:44 pm

The 92mm exhaust fans on most recent Dimension PCs have been horribly loud, it's quite a topic of debate. And if you call for a replacement one of 3 things happens...

1. You get transferred to India where the call is taken but your request for a replacement part is "lost"

2. The call gets logged and they send a tech to your house (to replace a fan)

3. The tech recomends you reinstall Windows (this one has grown in popularity)

There is also the "open the case and spin the fan with your finger" suggestion, etc... Dell has really taken some backwards steps this year.

miker · Post by **miker** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:46 pm

Well it had to happen. Its hard to be the biggest computer maker in the US and have the best service. I think they are mutually exclusive.

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:49 pm

bob670 wrote:"Any new Dell system will be much, much more quiet than a stock Sonata."

... in fact that last batch of GX260s I imaged for a client were unbearably loud, I actually broke out the ear plugs when I had a dozen imaging simaltaneously in the lab, but even a single stand alone machine is quite a bit louder than the GX100-240s that we were buying.

Interesting.

I'm typing this message on a GX260 that is nearly silent. We have a ton of Dells here and the non-rackmount machines are lovely and quiet. I haven't worked on any systems that are newer than a couple of months old, though. I'm a network guy.

I love my Sonatas. If I had it to do over, I would build the identical systems again. The SLK3700BQE looks fantastic in every way but I'm a sucker for the gloss black. It took some mods but the Sonatas look great, are roughly silent, run cool, and even have a mild overclock. I can't imagine it getting any better than this.

My current temps are:

Room -> 20C
Case -> 28C
CPU -> 40C
HDD -> 34C

Sound levels are low. That, I would contend, is no joke.

-- Tom