Antec Solo II Review: Sonata Evolved
by Dustin Sklavos on September 6, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Antec
- mid-tower
- Sonata
Assembling the Antec Solo II
While Antec has made a lot of strides in at least trying to make the Solo II easy to assemble, I'm not going to lie: I was pretty much dreading actually putting it together once I opened it up. Difficult assembly doesn't necessarily a bad case make (Ed: Says Yoda?); SilverStone produces some incredible cases, but half of the time you don't build them, you solve them.
Ordinarily I'd start by mounting the motherboard, but in the Solo II the absolute first thing you should install is the power supply. SilverStone's Temjin TJ08-E wasn't exactly easy to build either (top-mounted PSUs just seem to be problematic this way), but heaven help you if you ever need to replace your PSU once you've built a system inside the Solo II because you're just not going to be able to fit it around your heatsink. Thankfully the power supply went in alright, and Antec preinstalls most of the mounts for an ATX motherboard by default. The PSU and motherboard were pretty much the easy part.
Update: The Solo II ships with philips head screws attaching the PSU support bar on all sides, so you'll be able to remove the power supply without dismantling the rest of the enclosure.
Antec stashes the drive rails for the two 5.25" drive bays in the bottom of the case, a welcome change that keeps them readily available so that Antec's customer service doesn't have to gracefully send you free replacements (note: they've done that for me as a regular tax-paying ninja before I started doing these reviews). To install the 5.25" drive, along with anything using the 3.5" drive mounts, you'll need to remove the front panel. There are three levers on the inside of the enclosure that you press in, and the front panel actually swings outward on hinges. You're better off just lifting it off and removing it, though.
As much as I appreciate the rails for the optical drive, I've noticed they don't line up quite perfectly by default (you'll see in my completed build that the ODD is recessed), but the real question I have is why this isn't a tool-less installation to begin with. Virtually everybody else has graduated to a tool-less or near-tool-less mounting system for optical drives, but these rails are the exact same ones I installed on my friend's CD burner back when I assembled her AMD Athlon XP 2500+ machine. I wish that were an exaggeration. This needs to be updated desperately.
The press materials suggest hard drives are easy to install and upgrade, but don't you believe it. You have to remove the front panel, then unscrew a hinged ventilation grate (also capable of holding a 120mm intake fan) to get to the drive mounting system. From there you can either strap a 3.5" drive in with the suspension system (I'm not a fan), or you can remove the drive sleds and do it that way. I prefer the drive sleds as they include silicone grommets and can support both 3.5" drives and 2.5" drives. As a nice feature, you still use the grommets for mounting 2.5" drives, a reminder that 2.5" mechanical hard drives still exist (something other case manufacturers often forget), though we'd generally recommend 2.5" SSDs for desktop systems.
Finally, installing the video card was easy enough (as it usually is), but Antec uses old-fashioned screws for mounting instead of thumbscrews. Honestly I'm not sure I care that much either way; I'm terribly frail and generally just don't have the strength to twist thumbscrews unless I'm in a hurry, and I always wind up using a screwdriver anyhow. Cabling was a red nightmare, though, and again I have to stress: modular power supplies are your friend.
I'm keen to point out that SilverStone sent me a little dongle to try out and I've wound up using it in the last two case tests. This cable converts one SATA power cable into four in a neat line, and it is fantastic.
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casteve - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I'm also a long time Solo owner and have enjoyed the case's quiet build. I changed out the single Antec fan for a Scythe fan and added a single fan in front. With decent CPU/GPU cooling, the case is very quiet and runs cool for a moderate gaming build of yor (e8400/HD5770 based). I use the suspension system for my HDD - replacing the original rubber with $0.50 worth of elastic band from a sewing store.I'm glad to see Antec updated the case for USB3. I'm sad they kept the damn PSU brace bar. I can't tell from the pictures...did they keep the lousy plastic assembly for the power/reset buttons? Those things have a short lifetime. Good news is Antec will send you a new front panel. Bad news is you have to deal with it.
Given the Zalman cooler and the Zotec GTX580 aren't particularly quiet, you could swap out the Antec fan/ add a low rpm intake fan to the Solo II and not impact the acoustic performance while significantly dropping the temps.
I guess there's a couple of possible viewpoints for reviews. One is "how well does this stock case work with these benchmark components?" Another might be "what <choose your focus> performance can I get by tweaking this case with these benchmark components?". Dustin does a great job with the former, SPCR does a great job focusing on acoustics for the latter. Different sites, different viewpoints. Both add to the knowledge base. Thanks for the review.
Belard - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
My computer case for the past 4 years is great looking P150 (before it was re-named the Solo) which is a lower cost and door less version of the P18x series.The issues in this review is valid. I've never removed the Antec 430w modular PSU it came with... so I never experienced the pain as stated here. But have built systems with this case and have installed PSUs... and yes, the bar is in the way.
I still like the way this case looks (not so much with the black on black), its great looking for professionals and office settings. For which I use Antec 300 and other similar cases like the HAFs to gaming or performance systems. Some of these improvements on this new SOLO II are good, but not for the market this case is made for. The HAFs are a much better and cheaper than many ANTECs, especially for gaming. A friend bought the semi-ugly Antec 200, easy enough to work on... supposed to be for gaming with its style... but the top fan touches the motherboard and on a particular ASUS board - the fan blades ends up hitting parts of the motherboard once the case is standing up!! Took it back and bought a HAF 912 for $5 more and had far better cable routing and room to work with, drive installation, etc. (I bring this up, because I build systems with various styles)
Anyways... my P150 is next to my display, its inches away from my keyboard, and with its single rear fan (on MED) cooling the quad core CPU, ATI 4670 and 2 Seagate Hard drives - my system is pretty much silent. I like how it looks... and my power button still works (used glue to fix it), I may use it on my next CPU/mobo upgrade. It has room for a single cooling fan on the front - but it already draws in enough air. The suspension system is stupid... but is something that Antec loves to continue using. Guess its a patent issue.
The SOLO II needs far better updating than what they did. Here is what *I* would have done with this case.
1 - PSU on bottom (also makes the case bottom heavy)
2 - Don't aim this case for a gaming-rig... the extra space for video cards is useless... so make the drive cage hold at least 4 drives.
3 - Make the case smaller for mATX boards (how many people really buy ATX boards?) Especially for office users? A smaller case is easier to cool.
4 - Have a 3rd 5.25 bay with a drop down door - to hide a card reader or floppy drive. Also, like the P150, include front plates with matching doors to cover Optical drives. Again, aimed at pro-settings and improves looks.
5 - toss out the suspension system. Saves costs, materials, weight.
6 - Sell it for $100, tops.
Otherwise, there are other cases that costs less and are easier to work with... nowadays.
fishman - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I have a Antec P150, which is similar to the original Solo. I would not buy this case for two reasons - you can only fit 3 hard drives in it if you have two optical drives, and there is no place to put a memory card reader if you have two optical drives. The original Solo didn't have these problems.nowayout99 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Comparing this case to "cheese grater" cases that you can look through and see to the other side of is, well, kind of against the point of this case.I am an original Solo owner, and this is the first case since the original that I would upgrade to. I like clean designs and quiet fans. I cannot stand fugly over-designed cheese grater cases with 50 fan mounts. If you are not an extreme enthusiast, this case and cases like it are perfectly good and enjoyably QUIET.
That being said, these are the points I would make:
- The space for larger GPUs and larger front fans is very welcome.
- The elastic suspension bands sound like a novel idea, but they become loose and sag over time, potentially letting drives come in contact with one another. I would stick to the rigid sleds with the silicone grommets.
- The power button on my Solo 1 broke under standard use. The plastic piece that holds the button in place had snapped. I was not happy about having to buy a new front face for $19 from Antec because of what I consider to be a defect. I don't know why I was unable to get a free replacement while others were. Unfortunately, this case uses the same mechanism. That's a downside. In fact, that would have been the first thing I updated to avoid the cost of replacements. That makes no sense.
- Cramped internals and not being toolless is mostly unnecessary noise. Unless you're afraid of screwdrivers and need to constantly tool around inside a case, it doesn't really matter.
- I would really, really like to be able to clean the front filters without having to disconnect everything, open the side of the case, unlatch the front, and then put everything back and reconnect it. They should really be able to be pulled out from the bottom of the case or something.
But I do agree with the reviewer about the price. $130. Really?
antef - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Reading these case reviews I ALWAYS think back to my Kingwin KT-424. What an amazing case. Thumbscrews for everything, the SIMPLEST toolless 5.25" drive bay installation ever - slide the drive in, slide a rail back and push the lever down, done - installed and secure in two seconds, motherboard tray, HDD rubber grommets, quiet as can be, easy removal of fan filter directly from front. Why can't any new cases replicate all this? The only reason I got another case eventually was because I wanted 120mm fans, and today I want smaller, micro-ATX, but that case was near perfect.Belard - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Yep... I remember those. Actually pretty well made, I thought they did a better job than Lian Li, they sure looked a lot better.Then Kingwin went to cheap generic crap... have been for many many years now.
Robert in Calgary - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
I'm another P-150 owner and I love it.. I have replaced the front panel once because of the broken button issue.I'm using Noctua fans and CPU cooler. I actually wrote Antec a letter 18 months ago asking for an updated Solo. This update is a bit disappointing.
I would have liked to have seen some test results with two fans added.
As mentioned - we still need...
1. Bottom mounted PSU
2. Side-facing drive sleds
3. White version is a must.
4. Easier way to clean front fan filters
futurepastnow - Thursday, September 8, 2011 - link
Another P150 owner here, a white version of this might get me to upgrade.JaBro999 - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Dustin,Thanks for the detailed review.
As others have commented, I would never buy this case if the power/reset buttons have the same rotten design as the original P150/Solo (a frail plastic "spring"). At this price range (or any other) there is no excuse for such a poor design that is guaranteeded to fail within a few months of use. Can you tell if this problem exists in the Solo II.
If the PSU side rail is removable (yet to be confirmed, but it seems that it is screwed in, rather than bolted), I can overlook that design flaw.
It is a shame Antec did not design the Solo II with a two section removable drive cage like the Fractal Define. For those that don't needs a very long graphics card, the case would offer much more storage. Since the Fractal Define costs less than the Solo II, includes one front intake fan & more internal storage options, and also has sound dampening material, Solo II definitely needs a price adjustment.
JaBro999 - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link
It seems that my two biggest complaints about the Solo have been addressed with the Solo II.1) Per Dustin, the bracing bar that blocks in the PSU is removable.
2) The power button assembly has supposedly been strengthened.
See comments from Antec rep:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php...
See comments on power button in review:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_c...