A Closer Look

The plastic front of the case is visually divided by a chrome streak, which is made of the same material. The rear of the case features the usual layout of mid tower cases. Antec included a snap-in door lock, to make opening and closing it easier, but the door itself is also secured by large and very comfortable thumb screws.


The bottom of the front does not house any real functionality. It only serves the purpose of letting air pass through the front of the case through two large air vents on the side. The design of these is actually very well done and gives the case a modern touch. The chrome divider houses two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port and a pair of audio connectors for microphone and headphone connectivity. Even though there is no fan in the front of the case, there is a dust filter, which can easily be removed by placing the case on its back and pulling it out. This design has two advantages: it can be cleaned easily and even if it is clogged with dust, the filter will not get in the way of every day use.


The upper part of the case houses the external drive bays and power/reset button behind the door. You will have to open the door every time you want to power up or reset your computer. The door swings open 225° which is much wider than some other doors and works great. The hinges used are made of metal, so you will not have to worry about the door breaking off, if you were to bump into it. While the front of the door looks great, the inner side looks somewhat crude and unfinished.


The rear of the Sonata III can be divided into three areas as well. The bottom houses the seven standard PCI slots, with an air vent next to it. It should be quite easy to mod this grill to accomodate external water cooling. This would have been a useful feature to be included right out of the box, as the space goes unused. The middle holds the included 12 cm fan and the backplate for the mainboard, while the top space is filled by the power supply.


The side panel has a simple snap-in lock which can be further secured by thumb screws and a key, so you will not have to worry about someone getting away with your brand new graphics card at a LAN party. The back of the panel reveals the overall construction of this device. Everything is made of high quality, solid plastic, which is held in place by screws. The Sonata III only has one removable side panel. There is no reason to remove the other side anyways, as the drives can be installed with rails.


The 3.5 inch bays are quite solid, just as the rest of the case. All sharp edges are rounded or folded, so you will not have to worry about cuts or worse injuries during installation. Antec has placed the drives sideways. This means that you will have very quick access to the hard drive drawers, can install them with the connectors facing the opposite side for better cable management and have enough space for large graphic cards as well. The system used for hard drive and internal layout of this case is similar to that of the Ultra Aluminus we reviewed here.


The PCI covers are secured by individual screws and are made of the same material as the case itself. You can also reapply these covers, as they do not need to be broken out. The Tricool fan from Antec is powered by a pass-through Molex connector and has a three speed controller attached to it. This looks much like the same fan used inside the Antec Veris Fusion we reviewed here.