Antec Sonata III or something else

[freezspirit]

Ok firstly my current case is an aspire x-qpack, its lightweight with the 3 viewing panels and a 420w psu. I was transporting the pc from room to room and friends house but don't need to do that now, so pc will just stay in computer room.

My main concern is noise, I want a quiet pc, I've changed the 120mm fan to a quieter version, added damping pads to the second hard drive, fan and psu so all the noise now is the hard drive. So when browsing for a new psu I discovered this pc case which includes the psu for around £75.

Can anyone tell me if its ultra quiet or give me the name/model of another case that will do the job. Not interested in any with viewing panels and lights etc. I have now matured a bit and want to save up for better hard ware (New build in June).

[staffsMike]

What sort of budget do you have?

The sonata is pretty quiet but I'm not sure it's exactly silent.. depends what you consider silent I suppse
A corsair VX 450w is ~£40 and is certainly silent. But without knowing the budget I wouldn't like to suggest what you mate that to..

There is a coolermaster case for around £50 which is pretty good I believe. If you are already running a uATX motherboard then this is actually quite a well regarded combo
Antec NSK 3480 Micro ATX Case - 380W Earth Watts PSU

[Webby]

The Sonata series as a whole are all generally quiet I personally like the look of the Solo/Designer/Plus 550 over the Sonata III the Solo also allows you to choose your own PSU but does work out a bit more expensive, the designer has the same PSU as the Sonata III and the Plus 550 has a 550W modular PSU included.

If your budget is a bit larger then the P182 is a safe bet for a quiet system.

Obviously a case can't make loud components quiet but the right case can deaden the sound a bit but combined with quiet components you can really have almost silence.

[freezspirit]

Sorry forgot to mention budget, yep I don't really want to spend more £100 including psu. After June this will become my secondary pc (already upgraded memory to 3gb, graphics card, tried putting a extreme gamer soundcard but seems to be something wrong with mobo pci sockets) so can't really spend more on it as would like to save up for new build.

I was considering either corsair, thermaltake or zalman psu for my new build cos I've heard they are best and quiet.

[staffsMike]

sonata is a good bet then.

VX 450w + this coolermaster is the other way to go which fits the budget.

Or if you can find a reasonable deal on an Antec 900 that would be the best way to go but will go a few bob over budget

[UseItNow]

I had the Sonata a while ago, it is pretty quiet.
However, the one thing that seemed to bug me was the PSU in the case that came with it, I was never sure whether or not it was any good and straight away replaced it with the Corsair VX450. So I can't really say if the PSU will be suffice for your needs. Anyway, staffsMike seems to have you covered in every angle, top bloke, always around with a helping hand.

The Coolermaster CM-690 looks like a good case too.

[staffsMike]

I'm not exactly sure how good the Earthwatts PSU is either tbh. It's not exactly a psu I would recommend on it's own but I firmly believe they are trust worthy enough. I would probably ask Blitzen on here about it if you can get him involved, he knows this sort of stuff.

I've not read any horror stories about them though, and within antec case + psu combos's they are often recommended by reviews so I don't think you can go far wrong.

I always think that sonata is a good way to get a great spec machine around the £500 mark rather than just a good spec. But again, that said the coolermaster + vx450 won't break the bank either and that case comes well recommended for it's price.

[UseItNow]

...that said the coolermaster + vx450 won't break the bank either and that case comes well recommended for it's price.

Ditto.

[freezspirit]

I had an amazon voucher to use so I got the antec sonata iii for £72 including delivery. But I've had a setback done my back in (doc reckons a slipped a disc) so I can't lift the case out of the box onto the table to install parts.

There was nothing with the other recommendations but I don't know from the pictures of the case it looked better.

[Pob255]

The Earthwatt psu are made for antec by seasonic, seasonic also make the vx450 for corsair.

All told it's suposed to be a very good fuctional psu, although no frills and used to be highly recomended.
The only reason it's no longer so recomended is the corsair vx which comes with extra frills for the same rough price. (black paint, 120mm fan & sleeved cables)
don't try to sli/crossfire with it and it may struggle with the latest greatest graphics cards, but if you plan to slap a 8800gts 512mb or less in there it should cope fine.

I'd not really look at teh cm-690 if I wanted a quiet case, don't get me wrong I really like the cm-690 esp as a gameing case with nice layout and air flow, just not slience.
The NZXT Hush is suposed to be very good however it cost around £70 without psu so it's out of budget.

The Antec 300 gamer case is looking good, esp for thoes on a budget. might be worth looking at that and a set of Akasa Pax mate2 to put inside it.

[SiM]

Don't get the sonata for a gaming PC. It is a great case I have been using the mark 1 sonata for 4 years mostly without problem. But when you stick a high power graphics card in (if it fits - I had to bend the case lol), it does get very hot.

[Dreaming]

The sonata is extremely quiet. I had the first edition one (still have it in the garage) and rate them very highly.

[freezspirit]

Yep pc not really used for gaming, ok maybe the occassional game or two. The pc will be used in the future for graphic/photography/art work etc but in the meantime I use it for watching movies/tv dramas either online or dvd etc and to listen to music.

So far got Creative T40 speakers. Work fine for me (they had alot of mixed reviews). Currently got a POV 8400GS 256mb graphics card was going to run a xfi xtremegamer (but either dodgy card or motherboard pci socket alot of conflict) anyway running a creative xmod with no problem there.

When I do move everything over to the Antec Sonata iii, will replace graphics card and sound with powercolor HD3850 512MB and just bought a X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Soundcard with front unit.

[Pob255]

In that case then the antec sonata should be exellent and the 420w earthwatt psu will cope fine.