X-bit labs

Roundup: Six System Cases from Thermaltake (page 17)

Category: Other

by Vasily Melnik

[ 09/12/2005 | 03:35 PM ]

Thermaltake Shark (VA7000SWA)

The Shark was the first Full Tower system case from Thermaltake’s new model range we had a chance to test in our test lab.

The box is pretty-looking, handy and very light. The aluminum chassis and the lack of a power supply made me suspect for a moment that the box was altogether empty. Contrary to my apprehensions, the box contained one of the most beautiful system cases I have recently seen.

Maybe it’s just my subjective opinion, but this system case look real cool and imposing, without being gaudy or tasteless. It is going to become an eye-catching thing in the living room of a PC enthusiast with its uniform color scheme, neat and functional mesh window in the side panel and smooth curves of the front door.

The front of this Shark is cleverly shaped:

None of the elements seems superfluous – they all match each other perfectly. This nice-looking face cover conceals a well-known front panel:

You can tell the actual maker of the chassis at first glance, also by such details as the feet or the brackets in the expansion card slits. Well, I think this kinship is rather a good thing after all.

The door opens up smoothly, without unwanted sounds. It is quite heavy, so when the case is empty, it simply falls forwards if you open the door at 90 degrees (of course, I don’t say that this is a problem; people don’t buy such system cases just to left them empty as part of the interior). The side window is not in fact a window but a cutely-shaped air inlet which is going to provide excellent thermal conditions for the CPU and the graphics card.