Intro

Antec has been manufacturing pc products for 17 years. They have become one of the dominant sources for computer components all over the world. They have grown to manufacture accessories for the pc upgrade to the do-it-yourself modders alike. The case I have here is from the Antec LifeStyle series, The Antec Sonata. This case has been designed to be in the quiet and stylish market. There have been a plethora of products that involve making the pc more tolerable to the ears. The quiet market has steadily grown from low rpm/ high cfm fans to the extreme of water cooling. While the stylish market has gone from pre mod windows to glossy paint. This is how antec combined both to create the Antec Sonata.

The Case

This case arrived when I was at Comdex. So I was very pleased to see, when I arrived at home, that the box was in good condition. It seems the postal service (USPS, UPS, and FedEx) have been getting rough with packages lately. My first glimpse of the case was very impressive. The outside has a glossy piano black finish with the front bezel a matt black. The front bezel door and side panel have the trademark lock from Antec. We all know this lock is to detour away from tampering, not theft. If someone was to steal anything it would be the case or whole system. Also on the front is a little chrome door, that hides 2 USB, 1 1394, mic in, and mic out ports. There are 2 super bright leds on both sides of this little door. The name “antec” is drilled into both sides of the case. Why they are there is still a mystery. Are they for venting or a "New Styled" look?

From the outside the top and right panels are riveted, so removal will be a major project. A look inside and we have a nice assortment of items to control the noise within the case. The first thing you'll notice is the 120mm fan mount on the rear of the case, and a little closer you can see the silicon rubber mounts for the fan. There is another optional mounting spot for a 120mm fan. But the placement is more for active cooling for the hard drives, more on that later. There are 4 bays for internal mounting. The power supply is an antec True380s. There is a lot of hardware to accommodate this case as well. It all has a purpose too. The steel construction of this case is of .9 stamped steel with rolled edges. Note there are no sharp edges either. Behind the HDD trays you will notice some slots that act as a cable organizer.

The front bezel is removable with the assist from a long screwdriver to bend the tabs. Why? You ask, well the only removable door is the left side. The rest is hard mounted. Once the bezel is removed you can see the air filter, i/o port mounting, and breather slots from the back of the bezel. The filter is a washable element that consists of tiny little holes instead of a mesh material. The removal of the filter is from the bottom. This can be a real pain if the case is on the floor or in a cabinet. The removal of the filter is a little tight, you have to press the tabs in and pull down on the little hooks. Almost a 2 handed operation. This filter is washable in warm water and a mild detergent. Also note, see those little feet the case sits on. They are rubber to. It makes it hard to slide around but all the more to absorb any and all vibration possible.

Power Supply

The power supply is an antec True380s. The True power series are power supplies that have independent voltage rails for max voltage for each rail. The “s” is for the SmartFan feature. This feature enables all the fans to run at same speed as the power supply fan. Since there is no speed sensors for the fans this has to be done by altering the voltage thermally internally. For this they have 2 plugs just for the fans with this feature. They say you can tell a good psu by how much it weighs. This unit weighs five lbs. Its no wonder with those heat sinks in there.

I did have 2 problems with this psu. When I first opened the box and saw the back end I noticed the advertised external molex plug was missing. I don't know if this feature is discontinued or not, but its still shown on their web site. The second issue was that when I plugged it in the first time the fan was not operating. I opened the psu cover (this does void your warranty on the psu) expecting to replace the fan, when I found the problem. The fan plug was not in all the way. Pushed it down and plug it back in with no problems after that. When I had the cover off of the psu I could not help to notice the detail to the mounting hardware for the wires. If you look closely you'll see little silver clamps supporting small groups of wires to the board. Nice touch for a long lasting psu. One thing missing that new psu's are starting to have is the serial ata power adapters.