Review – Antec Sonata Elite – Part 2

Following on from part one of our review of the Antec Sonata Elite PC case, I have now had time to build a PC with this case and test it out for a few days.

I am more of a hobbyist PC builder than an expert, and when I am building a PC there is usually a fair amount of swearing going on as I try to cram all the components into the case.

This wasn’t the case with the Antec Sonata Elite, there is plenty of room inside the case and the positioning of the hard drive caddy makes it really easy.

Overall the Antec Sonata Elite is a very easy case to build a PC in, there is plenty of room inside for all your components and nothing feels jammed it, there is still plenty of room for taking components in and out this minimum effort.

The case comes with two fans, a built in 120mm fan on the back, with three speed settings, as well as a 120mm exhaust blower fan, that can be seen in the picture above,the fans are very quite, even on the highest speed setting, which make for an almost silent PC case.

The Antec Sonata Elite features a large side intake vent, which is right next to the hard drives, the vent is designed to keep your hard drives nice and cool, the only downside I can see to this intake vent, is that if you have noisy hard drives then you will be able to hear them though the vent, a small price to pay for keeping things nice and cool.

Here’s a reminder of the full specifications.

• 7 drive bays
• - External 3 x 5.25″
• - Internal 4 x 3.5″
• - Included 5.25″ to 3.5″ adapter for external 3.5″ device
• Two layer, steel with polycarbonate, side and top panels to deaden noise
• 7 expansion slots
• Advanced cooling system:
• - 1 rear (standard) 120mm TriCool™ 3-speed switch control exhaust fan
• - 1 slot 120mm exhaust blower with 3-speed switch
• Built-in washable air filter
• Front mounted I/O ports
• - 2 x USB 2.0
• - 1 x eSATA
• - Audio In and Out (AC’97 and HDA compatible)
• 0.8mm cold rolled steel for durability
• Motherboard: Mini-ITX, microATX, StandardATX
• No power supply included
• Unit Dimensions:
• - 18.9″ (H) x 8.1″ (W) x 17.3″ (D)
• - 48.1cm (H) x 20.5cm (W) x 44cm (D)
• Package Dimensions:
• - 19.9″ (H) x 10.5″ (W) x 21.4″ (D)
• - 50.5 cm (H) x 26.7 cm (W) x 54.3 cm (D)
• Weight:
• - Net: 21.6 lbs /9.8 kg
• - Gross: 25.6 lbs /11.6 kg

Overall the Antec Sonata Elite is a great PC case, I would definitely recommend it, it is certainly well built, and the design is great, I especially like the way the hard drives are mounted which gives you extra space inside the case, and is bound to improve the airflow.

The Antec Sonata Elite is available for $119.99 from Antec.

You can read part one of our review here:-

Review-Antec Sonata Elite – Part 1

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