Loud Antec Sonata... ideas?

Hey everyone,

In my Antec Sonata (see basic setup in signature), I have the 120x25 exhaust fan that came with it. When I started to get into overclocking, I also bought this fan (105 CFM, wow!) and replaced it with the fan in the back, and put the old one in as an intake fan behind the hard drives. Now, these two fans along with my Smart Case Fan II on my CPU are pretty dang loud, and it's starting to make my ears ring! So, are there any quieter fans out there, or can anyone suggest any cooling modifications?

To start with, I cut out the 120mm fan grill in the back of the case. It's a shame because I like the way these fans work... keep my motherboard =<21-22*C at all times basically, and my CPU is never over 40*C, but the noise is unbelieveable. Also, the newer Antec ball-bearing fan is HUGE, 38mm depth.

Anyway, any suggestions are very appreciated. Oh! one more thing, does anyone know where to get those rubber grommets that Antec uses to mount their fans? I can't find them on Newegg nor on Antec's site.

Thanks,

Odie

If I were you, I'd get myself a good rheobus to mount in a 5 1/4 bay, and then adjust the speed of your fans to the level of your liking and a sound level you can stand...

Cheers, Flix

Do you know of any good ones off the top of your head?

I just bought the Sunbeam Rheobus from SVC. Thanks for the help, flixotide.

Odie812 said:

Hey everyone,

In my Antec Sonata (see basic setup in signature), I have the 120x25 exhaust fan that came with it. When I started to get into overclocking, I also bought this fan (105 CFM, wow!) and replaced it with the fan in the back, and put the old one in as an intake fan behind the hard drives. Now, these two fans along with my Smart Case Fan II on my CPU are pretty dang loud, and it's starting to make my ears ring! So, are there any quieter fans out there, or can anyone suggest any cooling modifications?
...

Thanks,

Odie

Click to expand...

Ducting is a good substitute for the "lots o' fans" approach to case ventilation. Get cool air directly on your CPU, or remove warm air from your CPU directly out the case, and you have much better cooling for the amount of fannage.

Also you only need a wee little fan (if any) to ventilate hard drives adequately, so a huge fan on your hard drives is overkill, if that's what you're putting it there for.

and I have to agree a rheobus or any other means of varying the power to your fans is an excellent idea.

the wesson

Re: Re: Loud Antec Sonata... ideas?

TheWesson said:

Also you only need a wee little fan (if any) to ventilate hard drives adequately, so a huge fan on your hard drives is overkill, if that's what you're putting it there for.

Click to expand...

The front fan mount on a Sonata is behind the hard drive cage.

Odie, if you dont have 3 or more hard drives you can fit the 120mm fan in the hard drive cage closer to the front of the case. I haven't built my rig yet so I don't know if it will help airflow at all. Once I get mine all put together I am going to test it though. Since I don't have enough to start building yet I have just been looking at my case thinking of ways to improve airflow

Dermen said:

Odie, if you dont have 3 or more hard drives you can fit the 120mm fan in the hard drive cage closer to the front of the case. I haven't built my rig yet so I don't know if it will help airflow at all. Once I get mine all put together I am going to test it though. Since I don't have enough to start building yet I have just been looking at my case thinking of ways to improve airflow

Click to expand...

I actually do have three hard drives: 2 SATA in a RAID, and then one IDE for my operating system, so I'm a bit tight for space in the hard drive area. They couldn't have made the Sonata 1.5 inches bigger in depth? heh..

Thanks for the idea, Wesson. Again, however, the problem is that since I have practically no room already in this small case, I feel like ducting might make it worse and prevent air from moving at all within the case. I want to try to avoid a metal box full of plastic. I'll try it out though and see...

Odie

Odie812 said:

Thanks for the idea, Wesson. Again, however, the problem is that since I have practically no room already in this small case, I feel like ducting might make it worse and prevent air from moving at all within the case. I want to try to avoid a metal box full of plastic. I'll try it out though and see...

Odie

Click to expand...

Sure thing ...

I'm doing well overclocked with CPU fan reversed and ducted to the exhaust, in a mid-tower (4 bays.) Case temps ambient, pretty much, with 2x Panaflo 80mm.

I'd probably be OK with no case fans, actually, but I'm not going to bother trying since it's quiet already anyhow and these fans don't contribute much noise.

Anyhow I'd be interested to hear about your ducting experiences if you do go that road. If you reverse+duct, I'd foresee a small rise in CPU temps for you ... worth it for the quiet?

By the way for me here's CPU fan speed vs temp:
CPU fan @5500 RPM: 46C under load.
CPU fan @3200 RPM: 50C under load

4C or "much quieter"? I chose quieter.

the wesson

Other thing - are you happy with your sonatas?
Are they very quiet? Is PSU supplied with them quiet and if it produces enough power? How stable it is?

I'm just asking as I considered buying it an I'd like to get some info from 1st hand.

Odie,
do your HDDs support temp monitoring?
If so, what are they and how far above case ambient are they?
Have you tried stopping the front fan altogether and seeing if it's actually improving things commeasurate with the noise?
If you could lose the front fan and then experiment with the rear one ( flip it so it's an intake) you may get acceptable results.

Also...
I am not specifically acquainted with the grommets that Antec uses, but I have used the rubber grommets available at most hardware stores in the electrical dept. to good effect. They are available in a wide variety of sizes and are cheap.
To be honest though, I can't tell the diff with/without them...

Odie812 said:

Hey everyone,

In my Antec Sonata (see basic setup in signature), I have the 120x25 exhaust fan that came with it. When I started to get into overclocking, I also bought this fan (105 CFM, wow!) and replaced it with the fan in the back, and put the old one in as an intake fan behind the hard drives. Now, these two fans along with my Smart Case Fan II on my CPU are pretty dang loud, and it's starting to make my ears ring! So, are there any quieter fans out there, or can anyone suggest any cooling modifications?

Odie

Click to expand...

Next time before you buy a fan, remember to look at the dba rating also, not just the cfm output. It says 44dba on that site right? IMO, anything above 35dba is too loud

7 volting the back fan would quiet that puppy down a bunch...