Antec Sonata II Piano Black Case w/ 450 W Power Supply
Not Quite Perfect, but Extremely Close
My former case had four lighted 80mm case fans, a clear side panel, a front bezel with more lights, and a gumball machine quality power supply that came with it. I was tired of the flashy look and the power supply was beginning to fail, so I decided it was time for a new case.<br /><br />I chose the Antec Sonata because I wanted a quieter computer. At its current price, this case is worth it for the power supply alone, which is a special quiet version of Antec's Truepower and isn't sold separately.<br /><br />When I got the case, it was all that I had expected and then some.<br /><br />The first thing I noticed was the looks. This is a very nice looking, understated yet elegant case. The paint is excellent, like a new car (you have to buff any fingerprints off in the same way). The drive cover gives a sleek look, and is removeable if you want quick access to your drives. I didn't like the front LED lights, but you can disable them by just not plugging in the ATX power connector that comes from the front. My front ports were USB 2.0, but if for some reason you get 1.1, Antec will replace them for free.<br /><br />I was also pleasantly surprised to find a built in removable, washable air filter under the front intake. This was a great addition, as I usually add my own filter material in order to keep the case relatively dust free.<br /><br />One aesthetic detail I did not like was the locks on the front and side, these are silver and detract from the look of the black case, while serving no purpose for most home users.<br /><br />A bigger issue with the case are the \\"bullet holes\\" spelling antec on each side of the case. Here we have what is sold as a quiet PC, with huge holes punched in the side which will let out sound and let in dust. Presumably they are for venting, but I think the designers could have found a better way which did not detract from the otherwise sleek look of the case. I ended up covering them with some filter material, to still allow venting but prevent any dust from entering the case.<br /><br />The case is easy to open, with two thumbscrews and a simple latch. Inside is 1 Antec 120mm fan, placed in exhaust position with rubber strips in place of screws to dampen the sound produced by the fan. When I first plugged in the fan I was disappointed by the sound of it, but after I plugged it into the \\"fan only\\" connectors on the powersupply, it was whisper quiet. The fan on the power supply is even quieter; I couldn't tell if it was on or not the first couple of times.<br /><br />When it came to installing The drives, I was very happy with the clever design of the 5.25\\" bays. Each bay has an easily removable cover with two drive rails on the back. Just screw the drive rails to the drive and slide it in. The exterior 3.5\\" bays were fairly convenient as well: slide out a solid 2 bay face and then screw the drive into the top or bottom.<br /><br />The interior 3.5\\" (hard drive) bays are unique. They are rotated 90 degrees, so that either the connector side or the front of the drive faces you as you are looking into the case. This is an unusual choice, but seems like a great idea for easy connection. These bays have slide out tabs, which are a great idea as well. They also have rubber washers on each screw hole, to reduce the vibration produced by the drives.  I found myself very frustrated with the internal bays at first. The problem is that the standard cables shipped with most IDE hard drives are 18 inches long. It was not possible to connect two IDE drives (one master, one slave) to one slot on my motherboard.  I ended up having to  separate the drives.<br /><br />A simple solution would be to buy longer cables, but the average user is just going to want to use the cable that came with their hard drive. This probably doesn't apply to SATA drives either.<br /><br />A lot of users think the other side of the case should open, but really there is no need for that with the tool free external drive insertion and rotated internal bays. A removeable motherboard tray would also have been nice, but would have meant a higher price, and isn't that big of an issue to me.<br /><br />Once I got it set up, everything was quiet except for the fan on my processor, which was formerly the quietest fan in the case. I am going to replace that, and should have a whisper quiet PC as soon as I do.<br /><br />An added bonus is that once I added an additional 120mm fan to the system, I dropped my average CPU temperature by about 8 degrees Celsius, which is an amazing change.<br /><br />Overall this is a great case that does a lot of things right, but I just can't give it 5 stars due mostly to the bullet holes on the side and the rotated drive bays. Neither of these is a deal breaker, and I would highly recommend this case to anyone who wants a quieter PC.ave meant a higher price, and isn't that big of an issue to me.    Once I got it set up, everything was quiet except for the fan on my processor, which was formerly the quietest fan in the case. I am going to replace that, and should have a whisper quiet PC as soon as I do.    An added bonus is that once I added an additional 120mm fan to the system, I dropped my average CPU temperature by about 8 degrees Celsius, which is an amazing change.    Overall this is a great case that does a lot of things right, but I just can't give it 5 stars due mostly to the bullet holes on the side and the rotated drive bays. Neither of these is a deal breaker, and I would highly recommend this case to anyone who wants a quieter PC.