( 8 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 22 2009
everyone seems to encounter the same problem. Not enough room for larger power supplies. If your machine only requires a 400 or 500 watt PSU, you problably have no use for liquid cooling. I am using the Thermaltake 750 toughpower, and it barely fits. Unable to use the support brace they included. However, it doesn't seem to be necessary so i'm not using. Haven't finished the machine yet, but everything else is ok. Lots of room, lots of fans. I like it!
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Posted: Sep 5 2008
don't mind that then this is the case for you. Its a monster...the pump works well...actually have an extra bottle left over they give you two. I have a water block on the north bridge (modded), a vidio card water block, and an aquos on my drive too...plus the chipset block it came with. This thing has lots of room, is quite...easily modded, I cut in 3 more fans and added a fan controller as well... The radiator sytem works excellent and you can't put togehter a water based cooler and system cheaper...so as you might be I was worried it was going to be average or just junk....boy was I surprised...love the unit and highly recommend it for home based systems...but if your lanning...go to they gym before you even consider this thing. Specs on mine: asus MB, 8 gigs G Skil 2x4 800ddr2, g-force 8800gts, 6 samsung 500gig 7200 sats, 150gig raptor, 2 samsung dvd sats lots of water cooling and some other modds for fun
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Posted: Jul 13 2008
This case has a lot of nice features, in actuality it's a stroke of genius. First off, it's a TANK, made primarily of 3mm rolled steel with aluminum doors on the front chassis. The doors are held closed with small magnets and both of them open, making the installation of drives a breeze. The radiator being mounted on the doors both cools the water loop and increases airflow inside the case itself. The size makes working inside this case very easy and it has enough room and expansion slots to handle all your upgrading needs for years to come. The seven expansion bays have removable honeycomb-grilled covers with foam inserts to keep dust out; if you've ever had to clean a computer once a month you can definitely appreciate this feature. The side panel is easily removed by depressing the two latches (lockable to keep little hands out, w/ 2 keys included) and swinging the panel outward. No more having to muscle and pull side panels off from the rear. The two removable HDD cages (one forward, one rear) are a nice touch, just load 'em up and slide it in. Inside there are also pre-drilled screw holes on the bottom panel, enabling the installation of almost anything you can conceive. The watercooling components appear to be well made, if somewhat 'average'. This isn't bad mind you, but if you're a hardcore enthusiast or overclocker you'll want a more high-end water block and pump, such as the D-TEK Fuzion and Swiftech MCP655 respectively. On that note, the tubing is 3/8", adapters will be required for 1/2" loops. For a LC novice however, this setup will be more than sufficient. Now for the not-so-good: This case is heavy, clocking in at a whopping 51 pounds. Even its all-aluminum twin, the VD4000SWA, comes in at 32 pounds. Plus with the feet installed it's 20 1/2" tall, so it may not fit under all desks. With that, the main USB and Firewire ports are mounted on top, so they will be inaccessible if your desk (or keyboard tray) barely clears the top of the case. The fastening tabs for the PCI expansion slots are nonstandard, possessing opposable prongs instead of straight tabs, so intelligent use of screws is necessary to secure most graphic and sound cards, USB cards, etc. Finally, due I suspect to precision machining, the installation of larger power supplies is trying to say the least, I had to lubricate the rails with isopropyl alcohol to get my 750W Thermaltake Toughpower in. With the exception of the size and weight, these are mostly minor annoyances which are simple enough to overcome, but those possessing less brawn and smaller desks will definitely want to look elsewhere.
