Antec Sonata III w/ Earthwatts 500w PSU $80

Here's a in-depth teardown review of the PSU included with the case. From the article, "Its an outstanding product..."

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/526

Edit: This review is for the 500 Watt Earthwatts PSU which Antec originally sourced from SeaSonic. It now appears Antec is sourcing from Delta. So the PSU in this case may not be the SeaSonic version.
 
BladeVenom said:
Nice teardown, but the article says they were made by Seasonic. I think they are made by Delta now.
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Good catch. Appears if the PSU model number ends in D its Delta, otherwise its SeaSonic. There's not a close up of the PSU in the pics to tell. When did that change to Delta happen?
 
msabo said:
Good catch. Appears if the PSU model number ends in D its Delta, otherwise its SeaSonic. There's not a close up of the PSU in the pics to tell. When did that change to Delta happen?
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All Antec EA's are Seasonic-made except all models ending in D and the EA650, which are all Delta units. AFAIK.
 
Good deal. My friend jumped on this before for his first rig. Great start for a budget build.
 
chinspecial said:
Good deal. My friend jumped on this before for his first rig. Great start for a budget build.
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You bet, a solid foundation for a budget build, plus its a good looking case. You may to have your friend check out this 8800 GT for $110, also with free shipping. You could be looking at a sub $500 monster rig!
 
the 300 has better overall case airflow while the sonata 3 is a quieter better looking rig.
 
I have done a couple builds for people using this case, for the money it is about my favorite. It is well made, very quiet, easy to work with and looks great. Add a second 120mm fan inside and it cools decently, obviously not like a Antec 300 or 900, but does a pretty good job while being much quieter.
 
This is a great case for cheap.

I grabbed one from Fry's on July 4 for $50 after $30 MIR, and its been great in my new build. The second fan gets better airflow, but an 8800GT barely fits. If 4850s are longer (I'm not sure, the 8800s were pretty long) you may not be able to put the 2nd fan in.
 
I have the Antec Sonata II case with a different power supply. works great I love the case. Had the Sonata I before it.
 
Waffletron said:
This is a great case for cheap.

I grabbed one from Fry's on July 4 for $50 after $30 MIR, and its been great in my new build. The second fan gets better airflow, but an 8800GT barely fits. If 4850s are longer (I'm not sure, the 8800s were pretty long) you may not be able to put the 2nd fan in.
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I have one as well with an 8800gt. I have an undervolted fan between the hard drives and the 8800gt, and I agree that it is a tight fit. But, I can see the case functioning without the second fan, or at least with the second fan in a different location, so I'm not too worried about fitting one of the new cards in there.

I'm holding off on buying a new card until BF:3 comes out because I'm not interested in many other new games, so we'll see how long the cards are by then!
 
thanks OP, i ordered one.

never bought from buy.com before. the item said free shipping, but 32$ shipping charge was added for a total of 108$. i have emailed the CS to see what's up.

update***********************

i had to select budget shipping to qualify for the free. 2-3 day was selected by default.
 
t00thless said:
i have emailed the CS to see what's up.
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Buy.com doesn't have customer service.


Pretty nice deal. I built my brother a system with a Sonata a few years ago. Good series. It's not a big deal who made the power supply. Every PSU manufacturer does what the OEM wants them to do. It's not a POWMAX, so you should be fine.
 
GJSNeptune said:
Buy.com doesn't have customer service.
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Haha I know. I called them once in order to fix my billing address because my order wasn't being processed, and they responded, wait a few days and let the system sort it out.
 
t00thless said:
thanks OP, i ordered one.

never bought from buy.com before. the item said free shipping, but 32$ shipping charge was added for a total of 108$. i have emailed the CS to see what's up.

update***********************

i had to select budget shipping to qualify for the free. 2-3 day was selected by default.
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Man that sux, hopefully you got it sorted out and got the free shipping. You did use the coupon SJetski71 posted, right?
 
GJSNeptune said:
Buy.com doesn't have customer service.


Pretty nice deal. I built my brother a system with a Sonata a few years ago. Good series. It's not a big deal who made the power supply. Every PSU manufacturer does what the OEM wants them to do. It's not a POWMAX, so you should be fine.
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True, but I really trust teardown analysis, when done by professionals. I learn a ton from them.
 
Just ordered one of these for a friend for a budget build:

Fry's e8400 + ECS mobo
Sonata III + Earthwatts
9600 GT
WD 640GB HDD
and optical drive all for just over $500 - what a great time to build a pc.
 
vsboxerboy said:
Just ordered one of these for a friend for a budget build:

Fry's e8400 + ECS mobo
Sonata III + Earthwatts
9600 GT
WD 640GB HDD
and optical drive all for just over $500 - what a great time to build a pc.
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Wow, that's going to be a really nice sub $500 rig. Good shopping...
 
vsboxerboy said:
Just ordered one of these for a friend for a budget build:

Fry's e8400 + ECS mobo
Sonata III + Earthwatts
9600 GT
WD 640GB HDD
and optical drive all for just over $500 - what a great time to build a pc.
Click to expand...

Hey, that IS my cheap-ass sub $500 rig!! Thanks to Fry's for their awesome sales, except I had an 8800 from before and got a cheaper harddrive.
 
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