Antec Sonata & Dust

pocketmoon · Post by **pocketmoon** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:30 am

Hi folks,

I've had a Sonata running for a few weeks now, about 5 hours/day and I'm getting some interesting dust features building up.

The removable dust filter gets does collect a small amount of dust (the holes are very big in this ?!) The manual indicates that there are two pieces to the dust filter, looksl like the platic mesh plus some sort of filter insert. Which is correct ? Is the filter just the plastic mesh ?

Removing the side panel shows a big build-up of dust on the side of the upper drive bays, in wierd 'standing wave' type mounds! (I'll post a pic later)

There a lot of dust accumulating on the inside of the case along the hindge side of the front door.

I wonder if the sonata is a bit of a failed design. The antec logo holes along the top go right against the quiet objective that the sonata is supposed to embody. The bulk of the airflow (based on dust collection!) appears to avoid the front intake/dust filter and instead leaks through the front drive bays. If Antec did intent the plastic dust filter to hold an insert (which it looks like it should from both the design and the manual) then perhaps antec dropped the insert because it would have reduced airflow through it even more.

I'm running a cool'n'quiet AMD 64, no overclocking anywhere and my case temps never rise enough for the case fan to pick up from it's minimum RPM.

I've installed SpeedFan which during idle (mp3 playback, email, browsing, downloading etc ) throttles the CPU fan back to 20%. So, all-in-all a cool system.

So this is my plan for this evening. Grab a filter from the Dyson and cut it to fit the plastic filter tray. Get some foam edging strip and seal the gaps around the inside behind the door. Cover the logo holes.

I'll report back on what that does to my temps and dust!

Rob J
UK

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 6:41 am

You might want to read these previous threads:

Weird dust accumulation problem on Antec Sonata
Antec Sonata - dust around the 5.25 bays?

You're not the first victim of this malady.

pocketmoon · Post by **pocketmoon** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 1:19 am

It looks like the sonata is indeed a duff design.

BTW I got a reply from Antec saying i should have a 2nd part to my dust filter!

So, who's just got the single plastic tray and who's got a seperate filter ?

axhind · Post by **axhind** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:34 am

pocketmoon wrote:It looks like the sonata is indeed a duff design.

BTW I got a reply from Antec saying i should have a 2nd part to my dust filter!

So, who's just got the single plastic tray and who's got a seperate filter ?

hmm strange, I think that I only have the plastic tray too.... I'm not 100% sure though so I'll check it out tonight (If I don't forget it that is

)

lm · Post by lm » Wed Feb 25, 2004 2:40 am

Uh i have a plastic tray too and i don't remember seeing anything different in the review.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 6:40 am

pocketmoon wrote:It looks like the sonata is indeed a duff design.

BTW I got a reply from Antec saying i should have a 2nd part to my dust filter!

So, who's just got the single plastic tray and who's got a seperate filter ?

I have no idea what Antec is talking about. There is a one-piece filter that is plastic and mesh but it's just one piece. If you order a replacement, you will get one single piece and that's it. The air filter is one single piece: mesh attached to a plastic frame.

kie · Post by **kie** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 9:55 am

I'm sure that the filter is a 1 piece affair too. It appears to work very well in my system.

In my system I get most dust building up on the front filter although I do get some around the drive bays and the "antec holes" as well.

Putz · Post by **Putz** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:36 am

pocketmoon, have you performed the airflow-improvment mods to the front bezel of your Sonata? They will probably help your situation a lot. At least, they did for me.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Wed Feb 25, 2004 1:18 pm

kie wrote:I'm sure that the filter is a 1 piece affair too. It appears to work very well in my system.

In my system I get most dust building up on the front filter although I do get some around the drive bays and the "antec holes" as well.

I covered up the Antec holes and so that solves that problem.

I also get some dust around the drive bay area like in the plastic grooves inside. I think that's because the door does not seal out all the air. There is a fine opening around the front door and that's how the dust gets in. There is also the problem of how the plastic spacers for the drive bays do not fully cover the area. However, the openings in the front drive bays do allow air to get in and I suppose helps the case ventilation somewhat.

This Sonata is the first case I've seen with so much space around the drive bays due to their mounting system with those drive rails.