Thermaltake Shark PC Case

The specifications reveal that the Shark is a feature-rich PC case.

Most notable are the 12 drive bays, a removable motherboard tray, dual 120 mm. fans and a tool-less design. Keep in mind that tool-lees refers mostly to maintaining the case once motherboard and drive rails are installed.

The door of the Shark makes up a good portion of the total case weight. It is constructed of heavy duty aluminum which incorporates the shark “fin” design. The chrome grill work is purely aesthetic as are the louvers on the bottom of the panel. A blue LED sits behind the upper left panel of the cut out that is visible when the case is powered on.

Behind the door are the five 5 1/4″ and two 3 1/2″ external drive bays. That is more than enough for a pair of burners as well as any monitoring panels and fan controllers. The possibilities are endless. The standard fare power and reset buttons are located next to the 3 1/2″ drive bay. I really wish someone would implement a reset button that wouldn’t require fingers the size of toothpicks to reset. Below that the bezel is slotted to allow the 120 mm intake fan to breathe.

Thermaltake went with dual magnets to ensure the overweight door closes securely. There is also a keyed lock (same as the side panel below) if you feel the need to keep prying hands from accessing the case.

Thermaltake chose to go with a Honey-comb left side panel instead of the traditional Plexiglas window. While it gives the Shark a unique look, the open design allows the possibility for more dust to get into the case. The latching mechanism is simple and works well. The addition of a second lock allows for total lock down of the Shark PC case.

Taking a closer look at the back panel reveals a bracket at the upper most right corner for a water cooling reservoir. Also there are 10 stamped punch outs to accommodate 3/8″ OD tubing for future routing of water cooling tubing should you want to experiment. Included in the box of various mounting screws are the plastic grommets to prevent the case from cutting into the tubing when installed. While this makes routing the tubing very easy, you are limited to puny 3/8″ OD tubing. It would have been nice to see varied sizes to accept tubing up to 5/8″ OD to support the higher end water cooling components.

The right side of the case is standard fair with the exception of the door lock and user friendly ports towards the front of the case.

On the right side of the case are audio out,and microphone jacks, one Firewire port and two USB 2.0 ports. They can be connected to your motherboard via the cables inside the case.

Inside the Shark PC case more than enough room for the average to advanced pc user. All of the edges are rolled so you don’t have to worry about keeping the first aid kit nearby when installing or maintaining your components.

Thermaltake utilized sideways mounted 3 1/2″ drive bays. The orientation makes installing and swapping out hard drives a breeze. Unfortunately, cable routing for the drives can become a chore with the loss of the ‘hiding spot’ that traditional drive bay alignment affords.

The hard drive trays include rubber shockproof pads with EMI grounding for installation. The pads also reduce the vibration of the hard drives that is usually transmitted to the case.

Mounting of the drives requires special screws that are included with the case. The screw incorporates a spacer that passes through the rubber pad and allows any movement to be absorbed by the pads and not the case. Enough are included to mount five hard drives.

Here is the hard drive mounted in the drive tray (upside down to show the drive tray).

Two additional external 3 1/2″ drive bays are located above the five internal 3 1/2″ bays as well as the five 5 1/4″ bays.

The two external 3 1/2″ bays are removable as a single unit.

With the aluminum faceplate removed a floppy can be mounted with the included screws.

Rails for the 5 1/4″ drives are located behind the faceplates to keep things tidy.

5 1/4″ devices are mounted with the included screws as well.

With plenty of room available there should be no problem installing the most demanding power supplies available today. Chassis bracing runs the length of the case to support the power supply and add rigidity to the case.

Interior shot of the 120mm blue LED exhaust fan.

The Shark PC case uses tool less PCI card clip for mounting of the video card and any PCI cards.

An upward pull on the green lever disengages it from the case.

The option is available to mount the cards with screws as well.

The removable motherboard tray fits Standard and Micro ATX motherboards. It is held in by two thumbscrews and a sliding track system.

It is a snap to install the motherboard with the tray removed.

The last feature inside the case is the front port and bezel cabling. Starting with the standard motherboard power connectors.

Followed by the Audio, Firewire and USB 2.0 connectors.

Hidden behind the front bezel is the 120mm intake fan and filter. Releasing the six mounting tabs allows for the bezel to be pulled away from the case to reveal the fan.

It is nice to see that Thermaltake includes the filter.

The only inconvenience is having to take both side panels off as well as the bezel to remove and clean it periodically.