Originally posted by: nwrigley
Ginstar:
Could you go into more detail about your opinion of this case versus the Antec TX640B? These are the two cases I'm considering, so I was wondering if the price difference was worth it for the Sonata II.
I will do my best. Here goes nothing:
Antec TX640B
I picked this case up from Newegg to hold my new computer components until the Sonata II was avaiable. Now that I have my Sonata, this case will get some modifications and go to my parents new computer. Now for my opinions of it.
The case itself is identical to the Antec SX635(B)II serious minus some new added features. The new features the 640 now include is a new front bezel, CPU duct, side vent holes, PSU, LED's, and paint. I will discuss these in more detail below.
The front bezel is a sleeker design and looks more sophisitcated overall. The intake slots are not much improved from the SX635 series... or at least I havent really noticed it. Dont get me wrong though, there are plenty of slots for the air to flow into the case and provide adquit case cooling. The front bezel also included a covered area that has build in Front Panel Audio (Headphones & Mic.), 2 USB ports, and 1 Firewire.
A CPU Duct is included as well. THe duct can be positioned using a couple of screws to be directly over the CPU, although I hear some motherboard/heatsink combinations do not make that possible - Mine fit fine and there is tons of room for adjustment so i think people were just to lazy to adust thing properly to fit it right. The duct suck cool air right from the side of the case and puts it directly into the CPU/HSF. The problem with this is that there is no filtration associated witht he vent/duct, so dust is a MAJOR issue. My Zalman 7000CU was filled with dust just after a month. The duct can also hold and optional 92mm fan.
Side vents. There are two side vent on the right panel (right panel looking from the front of the case). The top panel is for the cpu duct. The bottom vents are located right above the GPU posotion. An optional 80mm fan can be attached to it as well. Same problem with the bottom vent as well as the top vent: no filtration. Dust gets in and stays in.
PSU. Included is a 400W SmartPower unit. It is a backwards compatible 24-Pin and PCI-E ready. The fan is a push pull design incorporating 2 fans. One in the front of the unit that is powered by the motherboard and always stays on, and one in the rear to exhaust. The exhaust fan is off until a certain temperature/wattage is reached. The PSU is on the louder side ( at least for me).
LED's. This is a personal issue of mine. All the LED's on the case (Power, HDD, etc) are super bright blue. I'm more of an old fasioned kind of guys and prefer the less intrusive green and orange combo. The LED's are ALL Blue and light up my floor at night haha.
Paint. One of the better upgrades from Antec. The SX series had a charcoal grey/black paintjob that was impossible to match with black drives. The TX640B is truely black and will match your black drives. I had a NED floppy and DVD-RW in there before I swapped them into the Sonata and they match both perfectly.
The inside of the case is a bit cramped, but that what you have to expect from a mini-atx design. It is not hard to work with however. There are optional fan that can be mounted in the hard drive rack and one right after the intakes. If you have any high performance HDD, such as WD Raptors.. you might not like the vibration noise. Since the hard drive rack is all metal and is attached to the case by metal hindge, the vibrations from the Raptor spread throughout the entire case. I ran a Samsung 120GB drive in there for some time and that was not a problem.
Another Issue I have with the vents besides dust, is that it lets a whole lot of noise excape from the case. Im a silence buff and dont really like noise leaks from the case. Also another concern of mine is that the exhaust 120mm fan becomes useless when you have large vents on the side of the case. The airflow no longer flows from front to back like it sould, instead air just gets sucked in from the side of the case therefore resulting is highter mobo temperatures and HDD temperatures (assuming no fan is installed behind the HDD's). I have contacted Antec and ordered a Right panel so I can retrofit it to the left side and eliminate the holes. This can be done easily, just turn the right panel 180 degrees and it becomes a left panel - I tried it out. All I have to do is dremel the holes for the latches.
Antec Sonata II
I picked up the Sonata II from Newegg for $120 two last saturday and recieved it last monday. This is by far my favorite case of all my previous ones (Antec SX635BII, P160, TX640B). The SX635BII is old and in the trash, the P160 was too large (and doofy) for me, and the TX640B I also adored and is going to my parents.
The Sonata II is also identical to the original Sonata except for a few minor improvements. The overall look of the case is the same with the very professional glossy paint job. Some people do not like this, but I love it - as long as you dont mind the fingerprints.
Antec designed a new intake for the Sonata II, the curves are larger and the cutout is also much greater. The new door is on a plastic double hindge that allows it to open a full 270 degrees. I havent found much of a need for it to open so far, but I assume some of you may need it. The LED's on the Sonata II are the more traditional Green Power and Orange HDD (There are only 2). The front bezel also included a covered area that has build in Front Panel Audio (Headphones & Mic.), 2 USB ports, and 1 Firewire much like the TX640B. The port are covered by a movable flap and have 2 blue LED's on either side. I have removed the LED's.
The PSU is a SmartPower 450W unit with the same push pull design as the above mentioned SP400W unit.
The hard drive rails (4 total) include small rubber grommets to help absorb vibrations. My Raptor no longer vibrates the whole case and its noise is more muffled (but far from gone).
The included duct sucks in my opinion. It draws air in from the back of the case and then bring it into the case, make a 90 degree turn upward and extends to the CPU. The duct aslo has an optional opening near the GPU and can hold an optional 80mm fan within. The CPU end of the duct is large squre that can hold a 92mm fan within. The CPU end of it can also be adjusted laterally as well as height-wise to center it over the CPU/HSF. Anted recomends a gap of 20mm between the HSF/Fan and the Duct. In my scenario, I'm using a XP-120 HSF with a SilentX 120mm Fan mounted on top, there is no gap between the HSF/Fan and the Duct. The two are right on top of each other. Another problem with the duct is that it is so large to begin with. It blocks the rear 120mm fan and and airflow it might bring. In my opinion, do no install the duct. I have removed mine and saw temperatures drop 3C.
In the near future, both cases will be fitted with AcoustiPack sound dampening materials and will have upgraded PSU's. Both cases are wonderful and I will stick to them for at least the next few years (or until Antec releases an Sonata III ). You can't go wrong with either case, however I really like the Sonata II. Hope this helped.