A Trio of Thermaltake Towers
by Joshua Buss on August 16, 2006 2:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Thermaltake Eureka - External
Time to move on to a slightly newer case from Thermaltake, the Eureka. Stepping away from the more traditional exotic looks Thermaltake is most known for in their case designs, the Eureka is much more monolithic in its appearance. The all aluminum case is adorned only with the company name and case name on the hinged front door.
The right side panel is completely void of any variations, and a honeycomb stamped grill sculpted in the shape of the number 3 is the only area of interest on the left side of the tower. The same feet which come standard on many Thermaltake cases are present on the Eureka as well; these feet can be rotated if necessary.
Taking another step in a little more unconventional direction Thermaltake made the front door very curved - almost a complete semicircle in fact. It has a very solid feel to it though, and it's held shut with two magnetic points near the top and bottom.
With the door open the case's five external 5.25" bays and two 3.5" bays become visible, along with the power and reset buttons, power and hard drive activity LEDs, and a large ventilation area at the bottom. The divots at the side of each bay indicate the drives slide in using provided rails.
Just like the Eclipse DV, the Eureka's front-mounted ports are located on the right side of the case, just behind the door.
The Eureka's ports are pretty tight though, so one would have to get some extension cables if any of the devices they'd like to plug into here directly are overly large.
There isn't too much of interest on the back of the case; standard-sized thumbscrews are used to hold the right side panel on more permanently, but a keyed latch in the middle of the back edge of the panel does hold it sufficiently.
Time to move on to a slightly newer case from Thermaltake, the Eureka. Stepping away from the more traditional exotic looks Thermaltake is most known for in their case designs, the Eureka is much more monolithic in its appearance. The all aluminum case is adorned only with the company name and case name on the hinged front door.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The right side panel is completely void of any variations, and a honeycomb stamped grill sculpted in the shape of the number 3 is the only area of interest on the left side of the tower. The same feet which come standard on many Thermaltake cases are present on the Eureka as well; these feet can be rotated if necessary.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Taking another step in a little more unconventional direction Thermaltake made the front door very curved - almost a complete semicircle in fact. It has a very solid feel to it though, and it's held shut with two magnetic points near the top and bottom.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
With the door open the case's five external 5.25" bays and two 3.5" bays become visible, along with the power and reset buttons, power and hard drive activity LEDs, and a large ventilation area at the bottom. The divots at the side of each bay indicate the drives slide in using provided rails.
Just like the Eclipse DV, the Eureka's front-mounted ports are located on the right side of the case, just behind the door.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The Eureka's ports are pretty tight though, so one would have to get some extension cables if any of the devices they'd like to plug into here directly are overly large.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
There isn't too much of interest on the back of the case; standard-sized thumbscrews are used to hold the right side panel on more permanently, but a keyed latch in the middle of the back edge of the panel does hold it sufficiently.
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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.