|
I hadn't seen one of these cases yet
so it was a pleasure to be able to work with a case of this caliber.
I am in the sales business and when we get damaged products, it slows us
down, and ultimately costs us money. Therefore I begin my review
at the first logical point, the packaging.
The delivery service pulled up and as the guy
walked up with the large
TT Shark box carrying it by its built in
plastic handle, let the judging begin. As soon as we opened the box, we were impressed. The case was well
packaged even in its stock factory box. There was a pretty good
sized damage point on the box but the case inside was completely
untouched.
After pulling the protective plastic wrap off
from the case we began taking the obligatory pictures to show you our
readers. We noted first the high quality and attention to
detail that
Thermaltake put into this one. This isn't your run of the
mill cheaply or even poorly painted case. The entire exterior of
the case is anodized black aluminum. Because I have my hands
in cases every day, I usually end up with a ton of small nicks and cuts
on my fingers and hands. NOT with this case!! I couldn't
find a sharp edge anywhere on this case. Smooth, very well rolled
aluminum edges, and those that weren't rolled were ground down to smooth
surfaces.
From an aesthetic standpoint I am not typically
one for stylized cases with fancy designs or themes other than color
schemes, this case is one of the few exceptions to that prediliction. The look of this case is very sleek with smooth lines and
subtle features integrated throughout it. The side panel has two
large openings that strike me as reminiscent of 70's era muscle car hood
scoops that are backed by large diameter honeycomb metal mesh.
Opening the front panel of the case, the first
thing you notice is that it isn't the typical hard plastic or flimsy
metal of most paneled cases on the market. This thing is two
pieces of heavy gauge aluminum that has been meticulously crafted and
well executed. The blue accent lighting does very well to compliment the
black anodized finish of the aluminum. There is a small section of
silver mesh on the lower left hand corner of the front it appears to aid
the intake for cool air on the front of this case. The door has
two small magnets that hold the door to two steel bolts that match up on
the case. There is also a key lock on the front side to keep your
case secure. Up front and just to the side, you find your ports
for front audio, usb and firewire.
Typical of
how I approach system assembly
I removed a drive bay cover for the
installation of the DVD+- RW drive. The bay covers are all
tool-less tension clip style with easy access via the finger recessions on
both sides of the covers. Nestled behind the bay cover you start to
see just how well thought out this case was, the necessary drive rails
are mounted on tenons. This is a very nice touch by
TT.
With the bay cover off I move to the inside of the
case. To do this I have to remove the side panel, to do this you
need to unlock the panel and remove two large thumb-screws from the
rear. After that you have to slide the handle on the panel
forward. The panel then pivots out and removes easily. The
secondary panel involves much less work to remove. Two standard
Phillips screws and you are done, it pivots out the same as the the other
panel.
Next step is the motherboard tray.
This tray is not typical of most that I have seen.
TT has
incorporated two handles and mounting pegs that the tray slides over so
that only two thumb screws are necessary.
With the Motherboard tray removed I am now clear
to move on to my next step, preliminary wiring. This case
does not come stock with a power supply, but I have the
TT 480watt silent purepower series power supply on hand for this build. This is
one meaty PSU with enough juice for nearly any typical gaming machine.
I have a lot of wires to attempt to hide, so I need to start this first
and I will need every millimeter of tolerance that I have between the
back panel and the support rails for the case.
Wiring complete, I move onto motherboard
installation next. I mounted the motherboard to the tray with the
included standoffs with no problem and then guided it into the case.
It lowered onto the mounting pegs easily but then I ran into a slight
snag, literally. The add on sound module for the DFI board got
hung up on the rear 120mm fan. The first two times that I tried to
install it, the module got dislodged from its place on the board.
Some assistance from staff writer Digital by way of holding down the
module while I angled the tray and it slid into the I/O shield
with ease and
secured it with the thumb screws. The
board that I am using is atypical for its onboard sound and therefore
the header for front panel audio is located on the removable module.
This makes connecting the front audio ports a touch difficult given that
it would be a tight run to get them in place and it will need to be
precisely run in order to keep from interfering with the CPU cooling.
The 1394 and USB front connecters like their
brethren front audio are single plug type connectors, which as someone
who build systems everyday, I must say is a very nice touch. As to
be expected with single plug connectors, the installation went smoothly.
The only modification the the manufacturers layout that I had to do was
to run them through different locations in the HDD rack so that they
would be less conspicuous once they were run.
The rest of my power/reset/indicator light
wires were all fairly straight forward installations given that
everything was well labeled and used the standard color codes that I am
used to seeing.
The DVD installation didn't go as smoothly as
everything else had up to this point. I measured the rails wrong
the first time and was off by one set of mounting holes. When I
went to remove the drive I couldn't get the right side to break free
without pressing on the clip with a screwdriver. I can probably
account for this as initial installation break in. I
adjusted the clips, reinstalled the drive and then removed it just to
see if it would stick again, but it removed as smoothly as butter baby!
For this build I have two 120gb SATA drives to
install. With two of the drive cages removed, I start the
installation. Without a manual for those just in case moments, I
of course encounter a just in case moment. I noticed that the drive cage only has two mounting holes on the side.
Simply turning the
drive cage over you can see four rubber grommets for vibration
dampening. Using the special screws that come with the case
I quickly attached the drives and was ready to go. *note, you will
need a torx bit or decent straight screwdriver for the HDD screws.
Mounting the drives presented a slight problem.
Now I never mount HDDs without leaving at least one bays-worth of air
space between them for cooling. I chose the second and fourth
slots for mounting the drives so that I could take advantage of the
120mm intake fan to cool them efficiently. Not using the Front
Panel Audio cable yet has come back to haunt me. With the cable
tucked behind the HDD rack, the HDD cages will not lock into place
without doing some more fiddling with the wire placement.
With my wiring problems resolved, this case is
done. I did my final prep for the initial smoke test, crossed my
fingers and then
fired the beast up. Instead of roaring to life, it gently purred.
The 120mm fans didn't generate very much noise but did circulate a
generous helping of air though the case.
This case has been designed by
Thermaltake
to accept up to 3/8" water cooling rigs, most especially those made by
Thermaltake
but most any with 3/8" setups should work very nicely. There is
more than ample room in side the case for your custom setup and the 3/8"
knockouts make it even easier for installation. I would say that
it provides a much better looking alternative to the I/O slot
throughputs.
Conclusion, I really enjoyed working with this case. From the
moment I pulled it out of the box it was a constant stream of sensory
enjoyment from aesthetics to admiration of the foresight and engineering
prowess that
Thermaltake put into this case.
Pros
- Sleek stylish design
- Sturdy well manufactured construction
- 120mm x 2 fans included
- Tool free drive rails and add on card
retention plate
- Side panel facing HDD rack with removable
trays
- Block type panel connectors
- 3/8” hose access ports built into the rear
panel
- Rolled aluminum for cut free installation
Cons
- Honeycomb side panel will make dust removal
a weekly process
- Structural rails on the backside are a bit
wide and make cable management somewhat cumbersome.
|
