I will be building a new computer a a couple of months time, and am currently doing som pre-research (too much at this stage really - I obsess, but I guess you know the feeling). A case that I really like is the Antec Sonata Plus 550 (an Antec Sonata Solo bundled with a supposedly excellent Antex Neopower PSU). It's been getting excellent reviews. Anyway, I intend to try my hand at overclocking, and I am a bit unsure about the case from this perspective (I'm a system builder novice overall), since it only has one 120 mm fan and two optional 92 mm in the front. The touted feature, after all, is silence, and not temperature management... I think maybe other people may be interested in this to, so let's commit some advice to the archives!

Preliminary, I plan to get (I state this to give you some idea of what temperatures may be generated, and the feasibility of using the Sonata case):

C2D E8400 and OC to 3.6 or possibly to 4, OR C2Q Q6600 and OC to somewhere around 3.2 to 3.6 (currently leaning towards the E8400). I'm eyeing the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 cooler.

ATI Radeon 4850/4870 graphics card (which one depends on price and benchmarks).

I guess that's what's of most relevance. What do you think? Will the Sonata be suitable?

Otherwise, I don't know what case I want. Perhaps a P182. But I really like the Sonata... Any advice would be appreciated.

The sonata is a nice case, but youll find the Xigmatek wont fit in the case (side panel wont go on.)

Thanks for your reply; that's certainly good to know. So should I go with the Sonata, in other words, I should try to find out the maximum height of the cooler... Can't see any such figure on Antec's page though. What would a good cooler be?

EDIT: Done some research, (http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32599) and apparently Scythe Ninja fits (on an AMD processor, but should be more or less the same right?), and that one is 150 mm, so that gives me some idea.

There's so many factors.

On a side note, what's the deal with Tom's forums and Opera (admittedly the beta, but still)? Most of the time only the header displays... Thought it was a server issue, but in IE it worked directly... Strange.

But anyway, will it provide adequate case cooling? I'm thinking it won't be a problem, but what do I know?

I read this on Newegg:

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My only other complaint is the large section of ventilation holes on back of case. I did airflow testing with smoke and could see how with those holes open the air would flow in at that part of the case and right out the fan just above resulting in no case cooling. Once I blocked them off the air was then forced to flow from the front of the case through the air filters and then out the back as intended. Also the holes just serve as a source for leaking noise if you are going for a quiet build.

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Thanks.

The Xigmatek HDT-SD964 is a slightly smaller (133mm vs 159mm) version of the HDT-S1283 cooler and it's nearly as good.
It's listed as one of the top 10 HSFs over at FrostyTech
Slightly less than optimum airflow should not be a problem except in unusually hot environments.
You can use system monitoring software to check the temps of your system to ensure it's well ventilated.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into it!

And I may add, I'm in (the south of) Sweden... Not exactly tropical climate.

I find more and more tidbits as I scrounge the net, and I'll just put them here for reference to others:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page4.html - some comments on airflow and noise level (with a numerical rating...).