Antec SONATA III 500 Chassis - SONATA III
Antec Sonata III Super Mini-Tower w/ Earthwatts 500w Power Supply

This is a great quiet case for the money. The power supply is efficient and stable as well.
 
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I installed an Asus P5E Deluxe (x48) mother board without a cut or scratch. Was very easy to install all my devices. Front panel connections all have clear text labels. Quite and Sexy Case
 
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I got this case when it was on sale and free shipping, so bang for the buck was very high. pros: love the look of it. two 120mm fans. nice HD cage. nice PSU comes with it. cons: finger print magnet. my power and HD lights don't work, but not a big enough deal to RMA. my ati 4850 is too long to be able to use the front fan. one of the two clips that you use to remove the front filter broke off (they seem pretty flimsy) and now i have to use pliers to remove the filter.
 
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Overall, an excellent case. None of the usual problems with cheaper cases such as power switches that stick, screw holes that don't quite line up, parts that need to be "massaged" to accommodate the parts you're fitting to the case, missing screws, etc. It "just works", and it's quiet as well. My only complaints are 1) the mounting for the (optional) front 120mm fan is not behind the front panel, but mounts behind the hard drive cage where it can overhang motherboard components and/or cables, and 2) the included 120mm rear case fan is 2 wire so it can't be monitored/controlled by the motherboard. Instead, it has a 3 position switch at the end of a ~6" dongle to change its speed. Much less convenient than controlling it with software. All things considered, it's still an excellent case. Highly recommended.
 
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This is my second Sonata III (third Sonata overall), and they just keep getting better! EarthWatts PSU is one of the best around and far more powerful than 500w while being extremely efficient. The drive bays with dampening rubber grommets are a very nice touch and make installing/removing drives a breeze. The only downsides I've found are the bays can be annoying if you are using IDE drives and don't mount them back first, and if you have a fan mounted to the HD bays, the case is JUST big enough for an 8800GTS, but that's cutting it very close. Other than that the case is flawless!
 
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Found the unit to be first quality, no flaws. Having the higher quality power supply pre-installed aided in getting the build completed more quickly. My sample of this item had a bonding jumper in place between the case frame and the front chrome bezel, so I haven't had any problems with the static build up around the front ports area that others have reported. The unit is quieter than most I've used and cooling with an optional, supplementary front fan was very capable for the 89 Watt processor, 1 SATA HD, 1 DVD burner, 1CD drive, and 512 Mb video card configuration of this build, with medium fan speed settings. I didn't overclock anything. I bought the unit for under $80 here at Buy.com and couldn't beat that value anywhere else. I am completely satisfied with this purchase.
 
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Bought this case for 75.00 after the 5% off coupon. I'm very surprised at the quality of this case. I usually nitpick for days on end about build quality, but it's a great case with a powerful PSU to boot. At 75.00 (on buy.com), why not? Free shipping on Buy.com shipped on the 13th, arrived within 2 days. Great deal, great case, great experience.
 
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I've been using this case for about 6 months now and I'm very happy with it. It's quiet, has good cooling (I did add an extra fan) and had plenty of room for my Gigabyte GA-EP35c-DS3R motherboard. With 2 HD's, DVD writer, TV tuner and MSI 8600GT OC the PSU has plenty of power. The front power switch was sticky and Antec shipped me a new one quickly. I've had no problems with static discharge from the front chrome panel reported by early users. It took the usual 10 weeks or so for the rebate, but no problem getting it.
 
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Great looking case. the fan can only be connected direct to the psu with no option to connect it to the mobo. the case is only quiet with the fan is on low. anything else and it sounds like your sitting next to a runway.
 
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I have two of these cases. LOVE the Earthwatts 500 powersupply. That alone makes buying this case a good deal. I like the smooth black look. Blends in with other electronics. 3-speed case fan is nice. Might have preferred a variable speed fan controllable by MB, but adjustor switch is nice. Connection to MB was easy. Cables were well-labeled. Small enough that it's not hard to work in and large enough for moderate expansion. My preference is for cases without a door over the CD-drives. Would have liked access to power button without opening the door, but set my BIOS to power on from keyboard so it's not a big deal.
 
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Case: Pros: Comes with Power Supply, a good power supply. Very quiet. I thought my motherboard didn't work because I just couldn't hear the system when I first turned it on (there was a fan running in the background). Vibration dampeners for 3.5" drive bay work well. Provided all the screws you will probably ever need for the tower. Security flap incidentally quiets the system down even more. Drive trays are nice. Everything is fairly well placed. Power supply has enough cables for all you can (should) put in there. Fans are well-made. Easy to open, because of the hand-screws on the back of the case. Cons: Missing one hole for screwing in my motherboard. Not especially pretty-looking. Antec rebate process is shady and annoying, but whose rebate isn't? Other thoughts: My first Antec stuff (that I can remember), and it is really good.
 
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Case was very easy to work with. Enough power for Q6600, 4GB RAM, HD3870, HDD, and DVD. Plenty of room for HD3870. Sharp looking and quiet, especially with fan on low (would have liked to see external switch for the fan speed). HDD slide-in mounts have rubber bushings, and DVD bay also has slide in mount rails. I anticipate decent clean power from Antec 500w power supply. Seems like it might handle SLI or Crossfire, but I would probably go for better power supply if I intended on doing that. Decent value if you can find it on sale and/or with rebate, otherwise a bit pricey.
 
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Extremely well built, easy to use, and quiet. A great all around case. I liked it so much I bought another. I do kind of like lighter cases though...
 
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This is a heck of a steal - not only a pretty decent case, but also a good power supply. Used this set-up to power a new Q6600 system, with 8800GT graphics. Plenty of drive bays, front USB ports are handy. Can only recommend!!!
 
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After rebate - this baby cost less ($80) than what the power supply alone would have cost. But not a bad deal without the rebate. 2 Cons: Wish the 3-speed rear fan plugged into the MB. Gonna replace it. Also, you have to open the front panel to turn on power button.
 
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This case looks good and has a good layout. There are no sharp edges to cut your fingers. Plenty of power connectors are available. Nice slide out drive bays for all of your drives. Quiet 3-speed fan.
 
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The case is very well layed out. I especially like that nearly everything is removable. I have had problems with electrostatic discharge (ESD) on the front metalisized plastic panel. If you do a search, you will find that this is an acknowledged defect in the design. My computer will instantly freeze up if I touch the panel or try to insert a USB stick. I'd wait to buy this case until Antec has come up with a solution to this ESD problem.
 
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I liked the look of the case. The inside of it was a little small for a ATX motherboard, but it fit. I installed a MSI P35 platinum in the case. It comes with a Antec 120mm tri-cool fan which is really nice. It also has room for another 120mm fan by the hard drives. If both fans are installed it does start to get a little loud. Overall the case is very nice.
 
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A nice case that includes a quality power supply. The case has a number of nice features including easy to use rotated internal drive bays, a variable speed case fan, and nice attention to detail that is to be expected in an Antec case. The case is a little tight for the large video cards cards like the Radeon 38xx and Nvidia 8800 series especially if you decide to install an optional 120mm front fan. Overall, a nice looking and quality case. The noise level depends on how many fans you have installed. My build isn't particularly quiet, but it's not the case's fault- it's my video card's noisy fan.
 
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I haven't bought a new case for about three years. I decided not to disassemble my older computer from it's Lian Li quiet case, as it was just too much trouble. So I ordered a new Antec Sonada case that was listed in Rob Williams artcle entitled "My Super PC". Boy, was I glad I did! It was fairly easy to build into, even without a slide-out mobo panel. The power supply is more than enough for my needs (not a gamer). I used a Gigabyte mobo that could keep up with my new Intel quad core cpu along with an Intel cpu fan. I paired this with four gigs of PC800 memory and a WD Raptor 10K 150gig HD. (I loved the isolation grommets for the hard drive(s). I left the 120mm case fan set to "low" to see how it would perform. Now I was ready to fire it up! I pushed the "start" button. I could see the HD light blinking along with the "on" light. I could see the BIOS starting up on the screen. BUT, I COULDN'T HEAR ANYTHING! NOTHING! IT WAS TOTALLY QUIET! I quickly looked inside the case (I had left the case open in case I had to change anything) and I could see the fans turning, but they were almost silent. Amazing! I checked in BIOS to see what the temp of the cpu was, and it said it was 35 C. Wow, barely warm! The inside case temp showed 33 C. As I write this review, I'm checking the current temp of the internals. The room temp is 69 F. The CPU temp is curently 33 C and the case temp is 34 C. That's hard to beat! I highly recommend this case if you want quiet and cool.
 
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Nice solid case, finish excellent. Very quiet and has lots of room. Only drawback is that the motherboard tray is not removeable but I knew that when I was shopping.
 
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I ordered this case because it comes with a descent Power supply. I was told it is very quiet. Yes indeed it is quiet and keeps the MB nice and cool. Delivery time was fast. It only took Three days.. Not bad for free shipping.
 
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