X-bit labs

Thermaltake Tai-Chi System Case Review (page 9)

Category: Coolers

by Vasily Melnik

[ 01/17/2006 | 01:54 PM ]

The only type of components that can be fastened without any screws inside the tai-Chi case is the expansion cards:

Yes, your guess is absolutely right: the fastening mechanism here is also borrowed from the Armor case, with that only difference that all cards sit firmly in place:

The assembly process inside the Tai-Chi case is fairly simple and fast, and nothing stands in the way:

We should specifically dwell on the coolant loading procedure. Thanks to the relatively wide reservoir you don’t have to invent any special funnels or other helpful tools. All you need to do is fill the reservoir to the top, turn on the pump and pump the system through. Then you add more coolant and repeat this entire procedure as many times as necessary until the system is fully loaded. Our experiments showed that a little over half a bottle of coolant supplied with the case is enough for the complete system loading. When the system is on, the blue status LED of the water-unit goes very nicely with the light-blue highlighting of the pre-installed fans:

All in all, we have very mixed impressions from the Thermaltake Tai-Chi case. It is definitely a very thoroughly designed case, however, there are two pretty questionable things that aroused some doubts. First it is the massive ribs on both sides of the case that do not participate in the heat dissipation process, and second, it is the price. In fact, only the latter issue affects the purchase decision, because the former comment refers mostly to the design. Well, let’s get down to practical tests, maybe we will be able to justify for the high price of this solution.