Thermaltake Tai Chi Water Cooled Case (VB5001SNA)

Extra helpings

Included with the Thermaltake Tai Chi case was a small bit of extras you will need for the cooling.  These included a 500cc bottle of green UV reactive coolant, copper water block with an acrylic cover and blue LED, mounting hardware for any current Intel or AMD platform, big bag of thumb screws for mounting drives, two 3/8" OD green UV reactive tubes measuring approximately 750mm each, standard hardware bag and an instruction manual.  The manual was reasonably well laid out and seemed more than adequate for any level of user.

The water block is effectively the same block we have seen in most all the other Thermaltake water cooling kits we've seen before.  I'm glad to not see any changes in it because its very good just the way it is.  A thick copper base with an acrylic top and a small blue LED.  The water inlet and outlet ports are screw type connections.  The receptacle is for a 3/8" OD line to be pushed to be secured by screwing the nut down on top of it.  This allows for clean and quick installation.

  

The base presented itself as reasonably clean and smooth.  The lapping job wasn't a mirror finish on the processor contact area but it was far better than average and very acceptable.

  

Installation

Opting for our tried and true P4 478 pin test rig, we started installation into the Thermaltake Tai Chi.  Installation went as you would expect with any other case.  The difference here is the addition of a native water cooling system.  The H shaped mounting bracket is near universal (for any board with holes around the CPU that is) allowing installation on to most platform.  Screws are run up threw the holes on the mainboard in this Intel install and up through the H bracket.  The bracket is then screwed down firmly over the water block as shown below.  Once this was done, the majority of the install was over.  Connecting the hoses and filling the reservoir was as easy as eating pancakes.

Here is a quick shot of the large bag of thumb screws Thermaltake included for drive installation.  For years case manufacturers have been trying to come up with the perfect drive rail or otherwise tool free assembly and thumb screws have been here all along.  Kudos to Thermaltake for thinking outside the box.

 

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