Antec Sonata Proto Case Review

Inside Sonata Proto

On Sonata Proto you can only remove the left-side panel, which is attached to the chassis using two silver thumbscrews. This is the same configuration found on Sonata III 500, but on Sonata Elite you can remove the right-side panel as well. Sonata Elite also comes with polycarbonate layers on its side panels to absorb noise, feature not present on Sonata Proto nor on Sonata III 500.

Figure 7: Overall look.

The motherboard tray is permanently attached to the chassis, as it happens on most cases. Unfortunately this tray doesn’t have an opening on the area where the CPU is located – just like it happens with the other Sonata models –, so if you want to upgrade your CPU cooler in the future with a model that comes with a different kind of back plate you will need to remove the motherboard from the case in order to install it. Since you can’t remove the right-side panel this case doesn’t have holes for you to route cables behind the motherboard tray, just like it happens on Sonata III 500. Sonata Elite, however, has this feature.

Daughter boards are fastened to the case using regular screws. It would be nice seeing at least thumbscrews here. Pay attention on the fan speed controller that we mentioned in the previous page in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Overall look.