Thermaltake Tai Chi Water Cooled Case (VB5001SNA)

To say that the Thermaltake Tai Chi case is solid would be a criminal understatement.  The entire case weighs in at an observed 19.5 kilograms.  As you will see throughout this review, the walls, supports, pretty much every piece of the case is constructed of thick aluminum pieces.  When I say thick, I mean that in the strictness since of the word.  The vast majority of the outer visible chassis is covered with convection fins.  While, I don’t see convection fins on a case making a huge difference in its internal temperature, it does go to show you that Thermaltake is really pulling out all the stops here to make the Tai Chi case a very worthy and respectable case. 

Beginning with the front bezel, two curving doors, one black, one silver, obscure the optical bays.  Thermaltake’s logo and the case name Tai Chi are embossed on the right side in black.  These doors are held in place via small magnets that do an acceptable job keeping the doors in place without requiring hardly any effort to open them.  Behind these doors are eight 5.25” bays with bottom bay occupied by a small tool tray and the topmost bay occupied by one of Thermaltake’s most innovative ideas that you shall now see.

     

The top bay insert has a screen covering the majority of its face which can be easily removed to install a floppy drive.  If you choose, you can also leave the screen in place and use this removable tray to mount a hard drive.  To the right of this area are two activity lamps and two buttons.  Not that you need me to say but these are the power and reset buttons and the HDD activity and power indicator. 

  

Allow me point out that this 5.25” insert can be relocated to any open bay you have at your leisure.  Check out the bay covers.  If they look thick (a word you will see often here) it is because they are constructed entirely out of an aluminum billet.  Two aluminum legs of sorts hold it in place very securely.

Towards the bottom of the bezel is an integrated finger guard for the front 120mm fan intake.  This guard plate takes up the equivalent of three bays and can be removed just as the individual 5.25” bay covers can be.  Below this you can see two finger grips that allow access to a small plastic tray.  The tray is the perfect size for storing CDs/DVDs.  We have seen these before in more LAN box oriented cases but with the Tai Chi coming in a just shy of 20 kilos, I don’t see anyone lugging this one to a LAN.

  
 

BACK                    NEXT

Pg 1 - Introduction
Pg 2 - A closer look
Pg 3 - A longer look
Pg 4 - Inside
Pg 5 - Water cooling goodies
Pg 6 - Operation/Performance
Pg 7 - Conclusion