About this case(Thermaltake Xaser III V1000D)

DragonofthedarknessDragonofthedarkness
edited December 2003 in Hardware
Well I like my case I have now, but it just didnt seem to have the airflow I wanted or any good places to mod it to instal more fans. So when I saw the Thermaltake Xaser III V1000D case and saw that it had 7 80mm fans I thought that was the answer I was looking for.
So heres the problem, I've read reviews on this case, including the one at Short-media, and I keep seeing the problem with installing video cards for this case. I know some people have cut there cards for them to fit in place and I will not take that chance with my 9700 PRo because I don't have the money to replace it. So is there a way around this problem? I've seen that some people have taken off the tooless PCI lack thing, sorry for the lack of technical terms, installed the card then put that back in place. I wanted to know if that actualy does work and if the case actually does keep cool with the seven fans.
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Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I find the case to be no cooler than my chieftec with only 4 fans.

    I assume this is so because the side fans are terribly place and mess drastically with the airflow.

    And I just have a general hatred for those tacky mother****ing cases.

    That said, the 9700 should fit..But I would just get another case, save the money, and put it towards a better component.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    Save your money and purchase a case with proper functionality. Most of the case fans in that god awful looking ThermalTake Xaser don't help the cooling situation in the case at all.

    Look at a proper large mid-tower/full-twer case by CoolerMaster, Antec, Chieftec, AOpen or CompuCase and spend your hard earned dollars on something that will offer better airflow & cooling performance. :)

    ThermalTake... the rice of computer cases. All show and no go.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I cant believe that a videocard of all things should be any problem. Doesn't that case have the same design as the Antec/Chieftech? I agree with Thrax as i own a Chieftech myself, put thay money on a mid-tower Lian-Li instead. MUCH better cooling with LESS fans. Nicer case. I am so tired of the Chieftechs/Antecs/Xaser's/?/??/mambo-jambo/whatnot
    You dont need a million fans to have a working ovrclocking computer. Would i install 2 fans for 2c less case temps? Hell no.

    Just my 2 cents.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    Mackanz had this to say
    I cant believe that a videocard of all things should be any problem. Doesn't that case have the same design as the Antec/Chieftech? I agree with Thrax as i own a Chieftech myself, put thay money on a mid-tower Lian-Li instead. MUCH better cooling with LESS fans. Nicer case. I am so tired of the Chieftechs/Antecs/Xaser's/?/??/mambo-jambo/whatnot
    You dont need a million fans to have a working ovrclocking computer. Would i install 2 fans for 2c less case temps? Hell no.

    Just my 2 cents.

    They have a similar design, but not exact.

    ThermalTake uses a screwless PCI card mounting system that can interfere with certain cards.

    As well, their front panel is considerably different from the stock design.

    Next, their hard-disk mounting system is more like a Lian-Li than the original stock design.

    Finally, their fan locations provide some of the wierdest airflow patterns available that don't actually help in cooling :)
  • DragonofthedarknessDragonofthedarkness
    edited December 2003
    Ok thanks for the input. Ill look into the cases you mentioned and see if I can find one I like.
    Which case would you recommend? I know you've listed brands, but what specific case(s) do you guys like for cooling and functionality
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited December 2003
    Lian Li Pc70, Enermax CS-10181-W (HEAVY! STEEL!), or an Aopen H700B.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    Chieftec Dragon, Antec Performance Plus Series, AOpen HX08, Lian-Li's full-towers (but they are insanely expensive).
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Dragon, how important is noise generation? I can find you a $30 case (if you've already got a PS) that'll cool just about anything, but it'd require 4 Vantec Tornado fans to do so; unless you're deaf, it would drive you absolutely insane.

    How much did you want to spend, how important is size, and how important is noise output? You need a PS?
  • DragonofthedarknessDragonofthedarkness
    edited December 2003
    Well the less I have to spend the better, but if you take into account that I was going ot buy the Thermaltake case and it was $120. I have a PSU and noise.....well I really don't want it to be too loud. If it cools the case like a lot then noise won't be majoly important, unless its REALLY loud.
    As for the other suggestions, I do like the Cheiftec Dragon and Antec performance series cases. I still need to look at the Lian Li cases to decide.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    I would NOT recommend the Lian-Lis. I've worked on them before, and I do not like them very much. I'll look around... lemme see what I can find.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited December 2003
    Geeky1 had this to say
    I would NOT recommend the Lian-Lis. I've worked on them before, and I do not like them very much. I'll look around... lemme see what I can find.

    why?
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Well, one of my favorite cases (Antec SX-1240) has been discontinued. However, Directron still has a Chieftec case that's based on the same chassis. The differences are the PSU mount (in some of the Chieftec cases), and the front bezel.

    Other than that, they're the same, and they both offer just about the best cooling you can get without going to a big cube case, water cooling, or building your own case.

    Chieftec cases (all basically the same, except for color, bezel style, and PS mount):
    http://www.directron.com/da01sld.html
    http://www.directron.com/max01bld.html
    http://www.directron.com/max01bd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01pld.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01bnd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01wd.html
    http://www.directron.com/da01wd.html
    http://www.directron.com/da10bd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01bd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01sld.html
    http://www.directron.com/da01bld.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01bld.html
    http://www.directron.com/max01gnd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01gnd.html

    From Newegg:
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=11-129-119&depa=1
    This Antec is better than the 10x0 series; the motherboard area is much closer to the SX1240's than the 10x0 series', and the cooling is far superior to the 10x0 series.

    There are also these Enermax cases, which are virtually identical to the newer Xasers:
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=11-124-032&depa=1

    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=11-124-033&depa=1

    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=11-124-034&depa=1

    Note that the description for that last one is wrong; newegg got something mixed up. However, the pix show the correct case.

    Beyond those, there isn't much for <$120 that is decent, unless you want to modify the case...
  • DragonofthedarknessDragonofthedarkness
    edited December 2003
    Well I've looked at the cases suggested, and I have one quetion. Does the Enermax CS-10181-W really have good airflow like is says? It appears to be very similar to the Thermaltake case, same number of fans, similat setup,sma etooless PCI slots that I don't really like. So being a very similar case what makes it better? Is the fans placement different? It's obviouslty cheaper, found one for $66, don't know whether that is a good pice or not.
    Geeky1 I'm still interested in what you can find, keep me posted.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Al, why wouldn't I get a Lian Li?

    1. Idiotic design.
    -Power supplies with bottom fans don't fit and/or the bottom fan is blocked. This has apparently been fixed on the more recent models, but...

    -The airflow patterns suck; anyone who pays more than $20 for ANY case with a single 80mm fan mounted next to the ATX backplane is insane. Also, ideally, the intake fans should "bathe" the entire motherboard with cool air; see the G5 case for an example of this. The closest you can get to this on an un-modified PC case is the Antec SX-8x0 series and 1240 cases, as well as some of the cube cases.

    2. Poor construction
    - Why do they cover some of the edges with plastic? What the hell is that? Do it right -deburr the goddamn edge for christ's sake!

    - The case I worked on had had the screw holes for the cards and PS stripped because of the thumbscrews. Think about this for minute: The case is aluminum. The screws are steel. Which one do you think is harder? All it takes is 1 or 2 instances where you put the screw in wrong (the angle was slightly off, etc.) to destroy the threads in the case. They should have sleeved the holes with steel liners, the same way that cars with aluminum engine blocks generally have their cylinders lined with a harder material.

    Coolermaster cases, incidentally, have many of the same problems- crappy cooling, and idiotic design and construction.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    The Enermax cases are identical to the Thermaltake, except for the color and the bezel design. They have the same advantages and disadvantages.

    I have my doubts about the intake fan design on these cases; the hard drive trays block a good 50%+ of the fan cutouts, and there is basically no space between the fan and the cutout, so what you'll end up with is a lot of backpressure, a lot of noise, and very little airflow compared to a fan that doesn't have anything blocking it's airflow path.

    The rest of the design seems fine, but like I said, I don't think you'll be able to do much about getting air into the case without modifying it, and that's a problem. It probably won't cool as well as the cheiftec/antec ones I linked to.

    You could also get an AMS CF-1100 Cube case from www.atacom.com, but it's expensive ($180), shipping is going to be a bitch (it would've been $50 had I had UPS drive the stupid thing the 20 miles from my house to Atacom) because the thing weighs 70lbs or so EMPTY. It also requires a pretty good amount of airflow to work well; it doesn't like low CFM exhaust fans.

    The construction is not up to Antec standards, and there are a ton of sharp edges. However, it's cheaper than any comparably-sized case, and the cooling potential is simply INSANE.

    http://www.atacom.com/program/print_html_new.cgi?cart_id=52490_68_123_120_97&Pagecode=SEARCH_ALL&Item_code=CASS_AMSX_11_00&USER_ID=www
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited December 2003
    Geeky, what do you think of Addtronics cases? I was looking at this one and installing a True Control 550 in it. Looks like it should have decent airflow but I've never seen an Addtronics up close and personal, so to speak. It's a little pricey at $138 w/o psu, but still cheaper than a Lian Li PC70 series and looks hell for strong.
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    If you're going full tower, you can't beat the A-Open series for price/performance. HX-08, as Sim mentioned earlier. Own one. Removable mobo tray. TONS of room, tho a touch narrow. Comes with a (usually) 300W PSU that, while you probably don't want it to power your primary rig, is nonetheless a good quality unit.

    http://www.aopen.com/products/housing/hx08.htm
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    another pic, stripped bare

    The only 2 design flaws are 1) the top has to be removed to get the sides off, tho this is easily remedied in 5 min with a dremel by removing 2 small tabs of metal off the top portion 2) front airflow intake should be *somewhat/somehow* modified to get more.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    I was going to get the Addtronics case you linked to when I bought my 1.4 Tbird, but I couldn't find anywhere selling them.

    My biggest gripe is the hard drive mounting system. I don't like it at all; it promotes elevated drive temperatures and cable clutter more than anything else.

    If you want to mount the hard drives in 5.25" bays, it should be OK. You'll probably want to modify it, tho. The front of the case below the drives looks like it should be able to take 1-2 Comair Rotron Major DC fans, which would do a hell of a lot for cooling.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Keto, that aopen case has one major, major, MAJOR problem: where are the exhaust fan mounts by the ATX backplane? Doesn't look like there are any there, to me.

    Stock, I think the aOpen case has absolutely no potential as a serious overclocking case for anything that generates more heat than a P3; the front of that case looks like it can take 1-2 Rotrons as well, tho. If you were to mount a few of those in it, and open up the back of the case around the motherboard, it would become a very, VERY serious overclocker's case indeed.
  • DragonofthedarknessDragonofthedarkness
    edited December 2003
    I am liking the cheiftec cases. Its hard to tell from the pictures, so do those have side windows with a fan in them or is that a modded case and the ones they are selling are actually just no window no side fan cases? Just curious because it doesnt say anything about a side fan but some pictures show them.
    Um nvm I just saw the option to add them.
    Should I upgrade to have the side fan or is it not necessary?Or should I just mod the normal case so it can have a side fan?
    If I where to get a cheiftec dragon case, do you think I would be able to overclock my system? I hvae a Amd 300+, 1.5 gigs ram(3x500MB),9700Pro video card, 200 gig hd, Antec TrueControl550 PSU. If I can't thats fine since it's not overclocked now and since I'm not really sure how to overclock my system.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Yeah, as you said... it depends on the case. Some of them have them, others don't.
  • W4R-H1LDW4R-H1LD Chesterfield VA
    edited December 2003
    This thread is on time....I too am in the market for a new case/ps and was looking at the Thermaltake cases till I read some post here...glad I didnt order one. I do appreciate all the info the people here at Short-Media make available. On suggestion of the Chieftec cases I found this one==>http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=569775&Sku=DRG-C-S%20W400&CatId=343

    Would this be a good choice?
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    W4(H1LD, that is the more common version of the Chieftec I linked to above; it's the same thing as the Antec SX10x0 series, which is smaller than the SX1240.

    It's also the most common of the Chieftec/Antec cases. I've used them several times, and they're OK. I'm not real fond of them, though.

    Why?
    Mainly because they only (realistically) support 2 hard drives (3 or more would mean filling the only hard drive cage that has a fan mounting bracket to the point where very little airflow would get through it; the drive in the upper cage (it only supports 1 drive, plus 2 more if you don't need a floppy/zip) would cook, since it has no drive cooling.

    It also has a tendency to trap heat above the power supply, which the larger version of the case does not do.

    Basically, it's an OK case, but the hard drive mounting system sucks. The Antec SX835, although smaller, has better cooling, as do the other cases I linked to.
  • W4R-H1LDW4R-H1LD Chesterfield VA
    edited December 2003
    I got ya..thx man. I think this one is more along the lines of what you were talking aobut...this might do the job---->http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/Chieftec/

    I like this one thanks for the help =P
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Nope, that's identical to the one you linked to earlier. The one I'm talking about is bigger than that one. It's got 6 5.25" bays, 2 external 3.5" bays, and 6 internal 3.5" bays.

    This is the one I'm talking about (all basically identical, except for the color, bezel, and PS mounting)

    http://www.directron.com/da01sld.html
    http://www.directron.com/max01bld.html
    http://www.directron.com/max01bd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01pld.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01bnd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01wd.html
    http://www.directron.com/da01wd.html
    http://www.directron.com/da10bd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01bd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01sld.html
    http://www.directron.com/da01bld.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01bld.html
    http://www.directron.com/max01gnd.html
    http://www.directron.com/ma01gnd.html
  • DragonofthedarknessDragonofthedarkness
    edited December 2003
    Should I upgrade to have the side fan or is it not necessary?Or should I just mod the normal case so it can have a side fan?
    If I where to get a cheiftec dragon case, do you think I would be able to overclock my system? I hvae a Amd 300+, 1.5 gigs ram(3x500MB),9700Pro video card, 200 gig hd, Antec TrueControl550 PSU. If I can't thats fine since it's not overclocked now and since I'm not really sure how to overclock my system.
    Sorry for the double post of this but since I did edit my other post I thought people might not see it.
  • W4R-H1LDW4R-H1LD Chesterfield VA
    edited December 2003
    LMAO!! thx man!!! =P
    Im going to get this one--->http://www.directron.com/da10bd.html
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Whether you'll be able to overclock or not really depends... cooling certainly won't be the limiting factor if you get a decent heatsink and the system is in one of those cases... but your motherboard, ram and CPU may not be very overclocking-friendly.

    As for the side fan, it really depends. If you're going to want one, I'd order it from them (but then, I'm slightly accident prone, too, so...). The jury is still out on whether or not they actually do anything. I've given it a lot of thought (and very little real-world testing), and in theory, it should basically send your airflow all to hell, because it's introducing all sorts of turbulence. In reality though, they seem to work very well. Personally, I'd probably get it.
  • DragonofthedarknessDragonofthedarkness
    edited December 2003
    Since I know nothing about overclocking I'll list the parts as best I know. My motherboard is a Soyo KT-400 Dragon Ultra Platnum edition, supposedly it does support overclocking. My CPU is a AMD 3000+, I believe it's a Barton I could be wrong. The ram is 3x512 I believe 266 but I couldn't tell you the brand offhand.
    Also, what type of fans do you recommend? I'd perfer quite fans but I htink I would be ok as long as they are not really loud.
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