Antec Sonata PSU with AMD Athlon 64

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:00:06 +0000, Shantanu Sen while doing time wrote:

> I bought an Antec Sonata case with 380 W PSU and will install an Athlon 64
> in it. On reading up various docs in the AMD web site I saw that AMD
> thermal engineers specify a PSU with bottom air intake as the desirable
> PSU for all AMD processors. I have read through a lot of reviews of the
> Antec case - and in some of the reviewers were running Opteron in the case
> - but nowhere I could find anything regarding this.
>
> By default the case comes with one 120 mm rear fan with the option to
> attach a similar air-intake fan at the front. The 380W PSU has the air
> intake opening at the end and not at the bottom as specified by the AMD
> engineers. I do not plan heavy duty games and do not plan to overclock. So
> I plan to run the default settings - i.e. no fan installed at the front.
> Should I go for a different case with a different PSU? Or should this
> suffice?
>
> Any comments?
>
> Thanks,
> Shantanu Sen


I have the SLK3700 which similiar design but better than the Sonata. But
that design does keep the air around the psu fan and cpu warmer than a no
name case I was using. So the cpu is running 4-6 degrees hotter than it
was before moving it to the SLK case. Still a great case, easy to open,
work on components and clean.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

So, the PSU that you had for the old case - was the inlet at the bottom
instead of being at the opposite end of the outlet?


"jaster" <jaster@home.net> wrote in message
news an.2004.09.28.16.42.21.855294@home.net...
> On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:00:06 +0000, Shantanu Sen while doing time wrote:
>
> > I bought an Antec Sonata case with 380 W PSU and will install an Athlon
64
> > in it. On reading up various docs in the AMD web site I saw that AMD
> > thermal engineers specify a PSU with bottom air intake as the desirable
> > PSU for all AMD processors. I have read through a lot of reviews of the
> > Antec case - and in some of the reviewers were running Opteron in the
case
> > - but nowhere I could find anything regarding this.
> >
> > By default the case comes with one 120 mm rear fan with the option to
> > attach a similar air-intake fan at the front. The 380W PSU has the air
> > intake opening at the end and not at the bottom as specified by the AMD
> > engineers. I do not plan heavy duty games and do not plan to overclock.
So
> > I plan to run the default settings - i.e. no fan installed at the front.
> > Should I go for a different case with a different PSU? Or should this
> > suffice?
> >
> > Any comments?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Shantanu Sen
>
>
> I have the SLK3700 which similiar design but better than the Sonata. But
> that design does keep the air around the psu fan and cpu warmer than a no
> name case I was using. So the cpu is running 4-6 degrees hotter than it
> was before moving it to the SLK case. Still a great case, easy to open,
> work on components and clean.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:43:15 +0000, Shantanu Sen while doing time wrote:

> So, the PSU that you had for the old case - was the inlet at the bottom
> instead of being at the opposite end of the outlet?
>
>

Inlet at the opposite end of outlet.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

I have one of these running with 4 hard drives it it. Seems okay.

"Shantanu Sen" <sdsen@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:W%e6d.2328$JG2.10@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com...
> I bought an Antec Sonata case with 380 W PSU and will install an Athlon 64
> in it. On reading up various docs in the AMD web site I saw that AMD
thermal
> engineers specify a PSU with bottom air intake as the desirable PSU for
all
> AMD processors. I have read through a lot of reviews of the Antec case -
and
> in some of the reviewers were running Opteron in the case - but nowhere I
> could find anything regarding this.
>
> By default the case comes with one 120 mm rear fan with the option to
> attach a similar air-intake fan at the front. The 380W PSU has the air
> intake opening at the end and not at the bottom as specified by the AMD
> engineers. I do not plan heavy duty games and do not plan to overclock. So
I
> plan to run the default settings - i.e. no fan installed at the front.
> Should I go for a different case with a different PSU? Or should this
> suffice?
>
> Any comments?
>
> Thanks,
> Shantanu Sen
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

In article <W%e6d.2328$JG2.10
@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>, sdsen@pacbell.net says...
> I bought an Antec Sonata case with 380 W PSU and will install an Athlon 64
> in it. On reading up various docs in the AMD web site I saw that AMD thermal
> engineers specify a PSU with bottom air intake as the desirable PSU for all
> AMD processors. I have read through a lot of reviews of the Antec case - and
> in some of the reviewers were running Opteron in the case - but nowhere I
> could find anything regarding this.
>
> By default the case comes with one 120 mm rear fan with the option to
> attach a similar air-intake fan at the front. The 380W PSU has the air
> intake opening at the end and not at the bottom as specified by the AMD
> engineers. I do not plan heavy duty games and do not plan to overclock. So I
> plan to run the default settings - i.e. no fan installed at the front.
> Should I go for a different case with a different PSU? Or should this
> suffice?

I'm running an Opteron 144 in a Sonata case with the
default PSU. I moved the 120mm stock fan to the front
(to draw air in over the hard drives) and installed an
auto-speed 120mm fan for the exhaust port (speed adjusts
based on temp). Using the stock heatsink/fan that comes
with the Opteron 144 CPU.

Everything has been working fine for me (gaming,
creating PAR2 sets) for a few weeks, and the ambient
temp in the office fluctates from 70F to 85F.

The 120mm exhaust fan can move *a lot* of air, and if
you're really worried you can always replace the PSU
with a side-intake model.

The only disadvantage of the Sonata vs the p160 case (my
other favorite) is that the Sonata is smaller, which
means you end up with a hotter interior (or need more
air flow). All the components are also packed closer
together, and the 3rd 5.25" bay can interfere with some
motherboards if you try to put a "long" 5.25" device in.
The temp gauges on the Antec p160 case are a nice bonus
(as is the additional 5.25" bay).