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
Conclusion: Silence at Any Cost
The takeaway from all of our testing of the Antec Solo II is a pretty simple one: if you prioritize silent running above all else, your choice is fairly clear. For the office environments Antec hopes to cater to, the Solo II is going to be a stellar enclosure with its understated appearance and equally unobtrusive acoustics. It's simply one of the quietest cases we've ever tested, if not the quietest.
Unfortunately, Antec also wants to cater to enthusiasts with the Solo II, and in that respect it's just not competitive. In order for Antec's offering to compete with cases like the much less expensive BitFenix Shinobi or Corsair Carbide 400R, they really needed to at least include one intake fan, and preferrably two. I have trouble fathoming a situation in which building an enthusiast-class machine in the Solo II would be wise. If you want a quiet machine for moderate gaming, then yes, it'd probably be adequate. But just because you can fit an AMD Radeon HD 6990 or two into the Solo II doesn't mean you should.
I also think Antec is having the same problem with the Solo II they had with the Sonata IV: it's priced right out of competition. At $129 it just doesn't make sense. Is BitFenix's Shinobi a little smaller and chintzier-looking? Sure. But it's also a lot less expensive and capable of offering only slightly louder acoustics in exchange for much better thermal performance (which is probably what would happen if you added a 120mm intake to the Solo II). If you're willing to switch to Micro-ATX, then SilverStone's $99 Temjin TJ08-E will blow the pants off of the Solo II. I recently assembled a system for a sound engineer in the TJ08-E; get even an inexpensive tower cooler in that case (Cooler Master's Hyper 212 Plus is my personal favorite) and marvel at how quietly and coolly it actually runs. That's an enclosure that's arguably as attractive as the Solo II, but both smaller and more efficient.
Antec's engineers have a lot of good ideas in the Solo II, but there's still a ways to go. The suspension mounting system should probably just be ditched entirely (personal preference) in favor of four drive sleds, and the case desperately needs intake fans. This is a very quiet case with excellent soundproofing, but adding intakes might actually improve acoustic performance under load as the processor's fan will have much less work to do. I'd also like to see just a little more room behind the motherboard tray. Finally, that pricetag really needs to go down. $129 is unreasonable for what you get when other vendors are willing to give you more for less.
I'm a huge Antec fan—always have been, always will be. The Solo II is definitely a much stronger step forward compared to the middling Sonata IV, and their engineers seem to be on the right track. But the enclosure market is extremely competitive these days, and this design still has a ways to go before it can earn a full-blooded recommendation. If you're interested in silence above all else, it doesn't get much quieter than the Solo II, but I'm not sure it's worth the costs.
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ClagMaster - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
This is a nice article about the Antec Solo II which I found informative.Bottom line is this is not a enclosure for serious overclocking. This is a nice mainstream enclosure for running stock processors and graphics cards drawing no more than 450W thermal power. Add a couple of 120mm fans up front doing 800-1200 RPM and these thermals will be improved while maintaining its quietude.
A P67 motherboard running a i7-2500 and a mainstream video card such as an AMD 6850 will do just fine thermally speaking.
The enclosure looks elegant inside but its too bad the internals are hidden from view with solid side panels which sound-proof the system
The front end is revised for USB 3.0 and USB 2.0. It has filters which are a welcome addition. Cable routing with this case is extremely easy with this compared to ATX cases available 10 years ago.
There is one point of this article which I find cliquish and ridiculous: why does a case have to have tooless attachment for optical and harddrives? Why does people obscess about these features. Everyone in the Western world has tools to mount a motherboard so mounting optical drives is no big deal.
There is nothing wrong with using screws requiring a philps screwdrivers or a hex-driver. I consider such attachments to be more rugged and highly desirable if you wish to move the system
JasonInofuentes - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 - link
Long time Solo user, just stepping in to say that in terms of thermal design, it's a lot better than you might think. If the buyer is interested in a quiet case, they will benefit at stock and at moderate overclocks from the design which is optimized for noise reduction. BUT, if the buyer wants to crank things up, they can add the same number of fans as comes in many other cases (including an intake fan) and discover that the case was designed with thermal headroom in spades.There's a lot of harshness going around that is unnecessary (not necessarily from you ClagMaster), but what needs to be remembered is that this was a review of a shipping case, as delivered. The baseline that's presented shows it to be a case with excellent acoustics and excellent thermal design, when considering the limited airflow of a single exhaust fan. And users can see that in the data and in the text.
TrackSmart - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
Spot on. This case performs well considering the single fan. Things never get loud. And they don't get hot until you throw a high-powered, overclocked system into it. It seems well-suited to its mid-range, quiet computing aspirations. Still, I'd like it better at $100 than at its $130 MSRP.ClagMaster - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
No harshness intended in the above comment.Quality of article is excellent. The Antec Solo II is an excellent mainstream enclosure for mainstream computing. It was optimized for good looks and acoustics in the office of a banking executive than on the workbench of an overclocker.
Only complaint I have against the case is its not made of aluminum to reduce its weight.
Again, running a Q6600/G965/7950GT or a i7-2500/P67/ATI6850 would operate just fine at stock setings.
I am frustrated with articles that bash otherwise excellent cases because they have tooless attachments which I consider frivolous and unnecessary.
TrackSmart - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
I didn't think you were too harsh, but I think probably were.I generally agree regarding tool-less designs: Sometimes figuring out the crazy attachment system takes 4 times longer than just screwing the part on the old fashioned-way. Ease and convenience are more important metrics than whether I need to use a screwdriver. That being said, I don't want to bust out the tools just to clean the dust filter or open the side panel. I think we agree that there's some balance to be struck.
nowayout99 - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
This case is great for the VAST majority of people -- It's perfectly fine for users with even the hottest CPUs and GPUs on the market today. And it will help keep your gear quiet.Keep it in perspective. It's not like the system is going to implode on itself just because it's 5 degrees warmer than a case that looks like a cheese grater the size of a tire and has half a dozen fans.
Temperatures only need to come into consideration if they want more than 1 GPU... In which case they should get a proper "gaming" case.
Zap - Saturday, September 10, 2011 - link
<-- Have owned Antec Solos for years. Here are a few thoughts.1) Tri Cool fans aren't really that quiet. The high speed setting is 100% useless for a quiet system, so this new fan with 600/1000RPM settings (or whatever they are) sounds really good to me. According to SPCR the fan is quieter in all ways than the Tri Cool, even at the same RPMs.
2) Drive suspension is probably not needed these days, unless you own a WD Caviar Black. BITD I had Raptors (not the quieter VelociRaptors) and the suspension actually muted the sounds it made. However, if you are not using a super noisy HDD to begin with, the excellent grommets are probably sufficient.
3) Love the looks. Not everyone wants their system to look as if it was owned by a 14 year old gamer. I've since "graduated" to Lian Li cases which have similar, clean elegance. About the only thing I'd change to the outside is the placement of the front ports/switches. My system sits on the floor, so top mounted ports/switches are easier to use.
4) I agree with some previous comments that the HDD cages could have been side mounted.
5) Some of the "complaints" of the previous Solo have been addressed, such as not being able to fit large graphics cards, "strange" contrasting silver front and using mere 92mm front fans. Also, love the huge cutout for the CPU backplate.
6) If you want to fill up your system with a zillion HDDs and ODDs, this case is probably not for you so stop complaining about having too few drive bays.
7) I like the compact size. Most tower computers are just big boxes that are mostly empty.
8) With all the comparisons to other cases, you can't ignore the fact (yes, FACT) that it is easier to build a QUIETER system in the Solo (and now Solo II) than most other cases. SPCR even reports this case to be quieter than some other cases marketed as "quiet/silent" and in fact almost equaling the Define R2 in acoustics while having lower temperatures.
Really though, it all comes down to quiet. There are plenty of decent cases in all price ranges but this case is made for quiet. If you haven't ever obsessed over every little bit of noise your computer makes, then you probably won't find value in the Solo II. If you have, then the Solo II should be on your short list.
<-- Recovering "silent" fanatic
BlueReason - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
I love your reviews, Dustin, honestly. I understand having to review the case with what it came with, but then you have to use a testbed that somewhat reflects the product's use, otherwise your test environment is a bit misrepresentative. Makes sense, don't you agree? Would you review a Rosewill Thor with a testbed consisting of an i3-540 running stock with onboard graphics, then slap a Zalman 9900 on there and marvel at the 20c idle temps.The case provides built in options to mitigate performance setups; mid-range setups at least. To what degree it can accomplish this, we can only guess, because you stick fairly high end gear in there without making use of those options. No rig builder on the planet would put the gear you put into that case and leave the intake fan slots empty unless they had mental issues. Imagining someone who slapped a GTX 580 and an 875k in that rig would look at those two fan slots on the front and go "NAH! I'll be good with just that one in back!"...doubtful.
If you're gonna use those sort of components in a non-performance case, at least give us one round of tests that show the case's built-in potential. We're not talking cutting holes or installing a WC loop, we're talking putting fans where the case has places for fans. Even some cheap ones. Unreasonable? You point out how the top mounted, top vented psu allows for placement in line with those fans. Well?
But yeah its overpriced.
jb238 - Monday, August 18, 2014 - link
I don't understand all the haggling over a few dollars of case price in the comments. I have 2 white Solo cases for 10 years now and a black Solo at the office. They had 2-4 different sets of electronics inside during that time, which easily cost 10 times the price of the case. Do I care about 10$/year case price difference?People who buy a Solo do so because they want excellent build quality, elegant looks and a quiet PC. They may treat the case with car wax to preserve the bijou finish. They don't care about overclocking, 400W graphics cards and 1000W power supplies.
The Solo needs 2 front fans. So the case does not ship with 2 high quality front fans. This is fine by me, because I don't have to dispose of 2 cheap fans. Instead I invest a few $ in 2 quality fans.
There are different priorities for a computer case and there are lots of different cases. So everybody can find the perfect match.