Antec Sonata Elite

Updated version of Sonata III

Author:	Jouni 'Jipa' Vasama
Published:	23.02.2009
Manufacturer:	Antec
Product Group:	System Enclosures
In English Suomeksi

In Use

Antec Sonata Elite

While testing the temperatures the radial fan was in use. For load temperatures the system was loaded with some gaming and Intel Burn Test and the temperatures were written down from CPUID Hardware Monitor after they had stabilized. During the temperature tests the CPU cooler fan controller was disabled and the fan was running at full speed all the time. Idle temperature reading was taken after the load.

Across the board the temperatures are all fine. The graphic card cooling may still prove inadequate with some card/cooler combinations, but atleast the card in out test rig worked just fine. Also even without extra HDD fan all the 3 drives in the test system stayed at under 40°C at all times.

Noise

Antec Sonata Elite

The radial fan is a new addition to Antec's product range and it was interesting to see and hear it in action. I'd say it's just about as quiet or noisy as the normal 120 mm Tri-Cools. At low setting it is reasonably quiet, but still easily audible while at high speed I can't imagine really using it for any extended period of time.With both fans at lowest setting, the noise is already reasonable and the tone pretty pleasant. Also the sound dampening stuff seems to be doing its job as unlike with the Sonata 3, this time closing the side panel really lowers the noise.

Conclusion

PROS

Sound dampening material

All changes went to the right direction

CONS

Silver Award!

Overall the Sonata Elite is very close to the Sonata 3. There are some changes in the layout and some new features and they all seem to take the model to the right direction. Sonata is advertised as a quiet case and I think now it can really stand for the marketing speech with its new sound dampening materials. On paper the difference may seem small, but atleast I found the Elite better than the Third edition.

Beside the sound dampening material there has also been some changes to the motherboard tray that now supports hiding cables behind it. Again a rather small detail, but one that makes installing easier and doesn't have any downsides. The new hard drive rails may be a bit harder to get in place than the sledges on the Sonata 3, but get the job done. The only real downside on the internal layout is the support bar that still seems to serve no real purpose.