A Trio of Thermaltake Towers
by Joshua Buss on August 16, 2006 2:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Introduction
Lately, with all the commotion in the CPU and GPU markets, the case industry seems rather unexciting. Somehow AMD buying ATI just seems a little more important than choosing the tower of your dreams for your next rig. But with huge shifts in anything - be it a new processor or a better integrated platform - the number of people interested in building a new PC at all grows, and with that growth comes the necessary interest in new cases.
While it's certainly nice to see Conroe generating much, much less heat than the Pentium D series, we certainly won't be able to get rid of worrying about the thermal outputs of our computers altogether any time soon. Also, with even decently-configured towers becoming so inexpensive to build the emphasis on looks and low noise levels is at an all-time high in the case realm.
Taking all these factors into mind, Thermaltake has been busy revamping some of their older products, as well as refining the aspects that have made previous cases of theirs so popular. After polishing up their work they sent us three different cases that showcase some of the fruits of these labors.
While we've already examined the ThermalRock Eclipse in a large roundup from last year, we're going to take a brief look at its latest incarnation, the Eclipse DV - now officially a Thermaltake product. This newer case is very much like the original, but will serve as a good comparison to the newer designs Thermaltake has to offer as well. The Eureka is targeted as a true server case, and although some of its design features will definitely make this obvious it could still fit into a lot of users' "perfect combination of features" list. Lastly we'll examine the very new Aguila desktop case, a product quite similar to the very popular Armor Jr. case but with a couple useful tweaks. Here's a quick breakdown of what the different models offer:
(TL: Tool-less, TS: Thumbscrews, SS: Standard Screws,
TR: Tool-less rails, SR: Screwed rails)
Time to look at the first case!
Lately, with all the commotion in the CPU and GPU markets, the case industry seems rather unexciting. Somehow AMD buying ATI just seems a little more important than choosing the tower of your dreams for your next rig. But with huge shifts in anything - be it a new processor or a better integrated platform - the number of people interested in building a new PC at all grows, and with that growth comes the necessary interest in new cases.
While it's certainly nice to see Conroe generating much, much less heat than the Pentium D series, we certainly won't be able to get rid of worrying about the thermal outputs of our computers altogether any time soon. Also, with even decently-configured towers becoming so inexpensive to build the emphasis on looks and low noise levels is at an all-time high in the case realm.
Taking all these factors into mind, Thermaltake has been busy revamping some of their older products, as well as refining the aspects that have made previous cases of theirs so popular. After polishing up their work they sent us three different cases that showcase some of the fruits of these labors.
While we've already examined the ThermalRock Eclipse in a large roundup from last year, we're going to take a brief look at its latest incarnation, the Eclipse DV - now officially a Thermaltake product. This newer case is very much like the original, but will serve as a good comparison to the newer designs Thermaltake has to offer as well. The Eureka is targeted as a true server case, and although some of its design features will definitely make this obvious it could still fit into a lot of users' "perfect combination of features" list. Lastly we'll examine the very new Aguila desktop case, a product quite similar to the very popular Armor Jr. case but with a couple useful tweaks. Here's a quick breakdown of what the different models offer:
(TL: Tool-less, TS: Thumbscrews, SS: Standard Screws,
TR: Tool-less rails, SR: Screwed rails)
Time to look at the first case!
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cbuchach - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
I have been looking to upgrade my case for some time now with my planned new build and really think the Aguila may fit the bill. Unfortunately the windowless version that I would be interested seems to be very hard to come by in the US at this time. We'll see.imaheadcase - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Yah been hard to find windowless one in the states, I found one but they inflated the price to like $300. lame.Budman - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
One word. YUCKKalessian - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
I don't understand why you would say that. The Eureka is very plain... what kind of cases do you like?I think a black Aguila would look great.
imaheadcase - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
The agila is the only decent case, the others look like rejects from Voltron casting.Frumious1 - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
There's a law on AnandTech case reviews: no matter what they might review, a bunch of people have to show up and grouse about how the cases look like crap, or they're nice looking but too expensive, or some other opinion followed by the statement that "no one would ever buy these...." Luckily, AnandTech seems to do a reasonable job of just presenting the facts on the cases and letting people decide for themselves whether or not they like how the case looks and would be interested in purchasing one.Too bad the Eureka is loud and cools the HDD/mosfets so poorly. Of course, I prefer a bit smaller cases anyway, and the Aguila looks pretty decent.
Frumious1 - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Oh yeah - I still don't trust the big orange TT fans. Things spin pretty fast and make a decent racket in my experience. Maybe some of them are better now, but the older 120mm dayglo orange things were pretty mediocre. I'm actually surprised any of these cases can manage to come in under 40 dB! Guy I know bought an Armor last year; freakin' turbine that thing is! Doesn't need to blow dry his hair if he angles the fans properly....tk109 - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
I agree. They are ugly as butt.I saw the first one and I thought that maybe the rest will be better. But nope. One of them isn't too bad but I'd still not want to own it even if it was given to me. Like most of the case trends in recent years I think you have to be one of those super nerds to like em or something. They try way to hard on cases. Clean, straight, and simple is the way to go.
GoatMonkey - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Get yourself an iMac and be done with it then.
KorruptioN - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Or a Lian-Li.