Clash of the Titans - TT Tai Chi vs. CM Stacker 830

Thermaltake Tai Chi (cont’d)

The Tai Chi doesn't really do anything too out-of-the-ordinary when it comes to its components, and, in fact, is very similar to the hugely popular Armor and Kandalf cases released previously. For instance, the hard drive cage with attached 120mm blue LED fan is identical; however, this means that it inherits the not-so-appealing trait of requiring either a magnetic screwdriver or simply a little patience to secure drives in the cage with standard bolts.

After putting in the hard drive and fixing the cage in place in any three adjacent empty bays, the power supply area deserves our focus next. Unfortunately, the Antec supply pictured here was defective and couldn't be used for the actual testing. It is, however, in all the pictures of our assembly in the Tai Chi, and it is a standard size, so for getting a sense of the Tai Chi's PSU compartment, it is perfect.

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Notice how the vents shown earlier are now obviously positioned smartly, directly above the PSU with a little space for extra heat to find its way out the holes. Another couple of nice features about this area are that even large supplies can be slid into place without removing the crossbar or anything else, and the supporting pieces on both sides are thick and sturdily attached.

Moving downwards, we find the Tai Chi's motherboard tray. This concept is simple, but the Tai Chi executes it slightly differently than previous incarnations, with it only being the plate itself instead of the plate plus back of the case. This is what allows the change from an ATX to a BTX style to be relatively simple – only the rear needs to change.

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Besides being able to handle just about any motherboard form factor besides extended ATX, this black plate is thick and strong – the same 1/8” thickness as the rest of the metal in the case.

The overlapping construction and design choice to put the handle right at the join of the plates makes for a very solid feel to sliding the assembled motherboard + tray assembly into place.

After putting the motherboard on the tray, putting it over the standoffs, and sliding it towards the back, two screws (one at the top and one at the bottom) are used to keep the tray from sliding forward.

Click to enlarge.

With the ample space inside of the Tai Chi and the wide-opening door, putting this tray in place is quite simple, even after installing the hard drive cage. Another nice feature of the layout of the case is that if not all the drive bays are needed, a water cooling pump and even radiator can be placed on the bottom mesh/drive bay area. The options for setting up lots of additional components in the case are quite numerous.