With the HTPC starting to become mainstream, I wanted to build one. Since I wanted to have the computer in my home theater rack, I needed a case that would look good, and be the correct dimensions to match the standard home theather equipment.
I looked at a lot of cases from Silverstone, Ahanix, Antec, and Thermaltake. Although the other cases were OK, I really liked the graceful curves of the Thermaltake Tenor.
Of course this is a personal decision of taste, however if anyone else is considering this case I would like to offer my feedback.
The case arrived well packaged. In the box was a simple instruction manual and a cloth to wipe the case with. A nice touch I guess to make it a bit classier. The standard box screws was also included.
The case has room for a standard ATX motherboard and PSU. There is not a lot of room, since the case has to fit a standard home theather rack size, but with some planning I never found anything too cramped. I would suggest putting the PSU in last to keep the cables out of your way during mounting of the hardware, but if you need to route any cables under your motherboard then you will just have to deal with the cramped conditions.
A silly feature is a second door on the front door, which nicely opens and would be perfect for a DVD drive you would think. Luckily from research I did on the case, I never fell for this trap. With an ATX motherboard, there is not enough room to mount a DVD drive on the lowest slot. Because of this the extra door won't work for DVDs. Thermaltake recommends a Vacuum Flourescent Display (VFD) and I believe they sell one. I have no need for one of those so I'll keep the door closed.
Speaking of doors, the main door is quite large, and held up by two clips. They seem well designed, but of course only time will tell how durable they are. I will just be careful with them and I think they will last. A nice feature of the main door is the gear driven resistance mechanism that stops the door from falling open.
The last physical component I have to speak of is the LEDs in this case. If you look at Thermaltake's website, the lights look like a nice subtle touch. This is not the case at all. The blue LEDs in this case are extremelly bright. I actually have the Power LED disconnected as it shines directly into my eyes. The front LEDs that shine down do not glow at all, they project a beam of light that will keep your living room nice and bright. I wasn't a big fan of that. Some reviews I had read suggested disconnecting the front lights, but I soldered some 560 ohm resistors into each wire which helped a lot. I would suggest a resistor from the 560 to maybe as high as 1k ohm which really helps the glare.
Cooling was a big concern of mine when I purchased this case. I am a bit of a silence freak, but I figured with the case in a room as large as my living room, and me sitting 10 feet away, a bit of noise wouldn't bother me. I was wrong.
The case comes with 2 60mm exhaust fans. They are actually quite quiet, but they don't exhaust a lot of air. The front intake fan is an 80mm fan, also rated as silent. The front fan was NOT silent at all.
I installed an Antec 380w power supply with a single 80mm exhaust fan (from my Sonata). Now that I have experience with the case, I would recommend a PSU with much better exhausting capabilities, such as a Seasonic with a 120mm fan pulling air from around the CPU area. The PSU gets a bit warm and the fan spins up, creating a bit too much noise. I installed a second 80mm fan on the front of the PSU to force air through it, which has helped.
As I said before cooling was a concern for me. With the cramped conditions in the case, I knew it would not be as cool as my main computer with large 120mm fans. It was even a bit worse than I thought it would be.
My CPU runs around 5C hotter, which isn't bad, but the fan is turned up higher to keep it there. The graphics card was the real issue in my case. I have a Gigabyte silentpipe 6600GT, which I put in the HTPC. The passive card always ran a bit warm in my main PC - 58-60C idle, 75-80C gaming. In the HTPC with just the MPEG-2 decoder running, the graphics card was already 75-80C.
I did a few things to help this out. First, I popped the front off the case and got out my jigsaw. I removed the front 80mm fan and cut out a hole for a 120mm fan. This seriously reduced the noise levels at the front of the case, and added a lot more intake air to the case. There was easily room for the 120mm fan, and I am a bit disapointed that Thermaltake didn't have one there from the factory. Second, I added some slow spinning fans from A64 heatsinks to the passive video card. This has dropped the temps about 15C.
In case no one read this entire review, I will summarize here in point form.
PROS:
Stylish case
height and width match home theater components dimensions (depth is a bit longer to fit the ATX components)
Excellent finish
CONS:
Poor airflow
very cramped especially around the CPU area - if your CPU HSF is over the edge of your motherboard, it won't fit as the PSU comes almost in contact with the motherboard
small factory fans
lower door will not fit a DVD drive
LEDs are far too bright
RECOMMENDATIONS:
I would recommend this case as a HTPC case despite its drawbacks. It is fairly well laid out and fits in well with the HT components.
I recommend a lower power video card than the 6600GT AGP that I have. A 6200 would likely be plenty for a HTPC.
I recommend a PSU with a 120mm fan to exhaust air from the case, to help the small stock fans.
I recommend installing a 120mm intake fan to replace the small noisey 80mm intake that comes with it.
I recommend putting resistors in series with the LEDs, or leaving them disconnected.
If anyone has any questions or comments about this case, please feel free to respond here.
I looked at a lot of cases from Silverstone, Ahanix, Antec, and Thermaltake. Although the other cases were OK, I really liked the graceful curves of the Thermaltake Tenor.
Of course this is a personal decision of taste, however if anyone else is considering this case I would like to offer my feedback.
The case arrived well packaged. In the box was a simple instruction manual and a cloth to wipe the case with. A nice touch I guess to make it a bit classier. The standard box screws was also included.
The case has room for a standard ATX motherboard and PSU. There is not a lot of room, since the case has to fit a standard home theather rack size, but with some planning I never found anything too cramped. I would suggest putting the PSU in last to keep the cables out of your way during mounting of the hardware, but if you need to route any cables under your motherboard then you will just have to deal with the cramped conditions.
A silly feature is a second door on the front door, which nicely opens and would be perfect for a DVD drive you would think. Luckily from research I did on the case, I never fell for this trap. With an ATX motherboard, there is not enough room to mount a DVD drive on the lowest slot. Because of this the extra door won't work for DVDs. Thermaltake recommends a Vacuum Flourescent Display (VFD) and I believe they sell one. I have no need for one of those so I'll keep the door closed.
Speaking of doors, the main door is quite large, and held up by two clips. They seem well designed, but of course only time will tell how durable they are. I will just be careful with them and I think they will last. A nice feature of the main door is the gear driven resistance mechanism that stops the door from falling open.
The last physical component I have to speak of is the LEDs in this case. If you look at Thermaltake's website, the lights look like a nice subtle touch. This is not the case at all. The blue LEDs in this case are extremelly bright. I actually have the Power LED disconnected as it shines directly into my eyes. The front LEDs that shine down do not glow at all, they project a beam of light that will keep your living room nice and bright. I wasn't a big fan of that. Some reviews I had read suggested disconnecting the front lights, but I soldered some 560 ohm resistors into each wire which helped a lot. I would suggest a resistor from the 560 to maybe as high as 1k ohm which really helps the glare.
Cooling was a big concern of mine when I purchased this case. I am a bit of a silence freak, but I figured with the case in a room as large as my living room, and me sitting 10 feet away, a bit of noise wouldn't bother me. I was wrong.
The case comes with 2 60mm exhaust fans. They are actually quite quiet, but they don't exhaust a lot of air. The front intake fan is an 80mm fan, also rated as silent. The front fan was NOT silent at all.
I installed an Antec 380w power supply with a single 80mm exhaust fan (from my Sonata). Now that I have experience with the case, I would recommend a PSU with much better exhausting capabilities, such as a Seasonic with a 120mm fan pulling air from around the CPU area. The PSU gets a bit warm and the fan spins up, creating a bit too much noise. I installed a second 80mm fan on the front of the PSU to force air through it, which has helped.
As I said before cooling was a concern for me. With the cramped conditions in the case, I knew it would not be as cool as my main computer with large 120mm fans. It was even a bit worse than I thought it would be.
My CPU runs around 5C hotter, which isn't bad, but the fan is turned up higher to keep it there. The graphics card was the real issue in my case. I have a Gigabyte silentpipe 6600GT, which I put in the HTPC. The passive card always ran a bit warm in my main PC - 58-60C idle, 75-80C gaming. In the HTPC with just the MPEG-2 decoder running, the graphics card was already 75-80C.
I did a few things to help this out. First, I popped the front off the case and got out my jigsaw. I removed the front 80mm fan and cut out a hole for a 120mm fan. This seriously reduced the noise levels at the front of the case, and added a lot more intake air to the case. There was easily room for the 120mm fan, and I am a bit disapointed that Thermaltake didn't have one there from the factory. Second, I added some slow spinning fans from A64 heatsinks to the passive video card. This has dropped the temps about 15C.
In case no one read this entire review, I will summarize here in point form.
PROS:
Stylish case
height and width match home theater components dimensions (depth is a bit longer to fit the ATX components)
Excellent finish
CONS:
Poor airflow
very cramped especially around the CPU area - if your CPU HSF is over the edge of your motherboard, it won't fit as the PSU comes almost in contact with the motherboard
small factory fans
lower door will not fit a DVD drive
LEDs are far too bright
RECOMMENDATIONS:
I would recommend this case as a HTPC case despite its drawbacks. It is fairly well laid out and fits in well with the HT components.
I recommend a lower power video card than the 6600GT AGP that I have. A 6200 would likely be plenty for a HTPC.
I recommend a PSU with a 120mm fan to exhaust air from the case, to help the small stock fans.
I recommend installing a 120mm intake fan to replace the small noisey 80mm intake that comes with it.
I recommend putting resistors in series with the LEDs, or leaving them disconnected.
If anyone has any questions or comments about this case, please feel free to respond here.
