Thermaltake Armor+ MX Mid Tower Case Review

[AkG]

​

Thermaltake Armor+ MX Mid Tower Case Review

Manufactures Product Page: Armor+ MX
Product ID: VH8000BWS
Availability: Now
Price: Click Here to Check Prices
Warranty: 3 Years



In many ways, the computer case is one of the most researched yet under appreciated pieces of equipment one can buy for their new system. Sure, most people take the time to research how it looks and whether or not it has a window or even if it is a good choice for their niche group (LAN party/ HTPC / etc), but very few people actually take the time to think about what a computer case’s job really is.

The lowly computer case plays a multitude of roles in your personal computing experience. Yes the most obvious one is protection and most people get this, after all it’s what stands between an errantly thrown football and your precious computer; and the same goes for daily life’s assortment of bumps, bangs and bruises. Some people even get that the size and style of the case can directly affect what kind of computer one can have. For example no one would try cramming a pair of 9800GX2 video cards into a Thermaltake DH10; or better yet, try cramming a video server with dozen RAID 10’ed hard drives into a Thermaltake Lanbox Lite!

Unfortunately, very few people look at a computer case and see a highly refined cooling system. Let’s face it, the majority of people (and the majority of equipment for that matter) use air circulation (aka air cooling) to keep their computers from overheating. Since there are multiple hot running pieces of kit in a given system, alot of R&D has to be put into engineering proper air flow patterns inside a case. To make matters worse, Joe & Jane Six Pack may not know their computer has air flow patterns but they’ll instantly know if it is too loud. Thus, the engineers can't just cram a bunch of droning / vacuum cleaner fans into a case and call it a day; they have to be miserly with the number of fans used and even the amount of air said fans move has to be carefully balanced against noise levels. All in all designing a good computer case is tough, arduous work.

While some people do understand, with computer cases at least, form has to follow function; the sad fact is, not everyone does and in fact most people have not even heard of HTPCs or LAN boxes. All they know is their case has to be “cool looking”, yet “not too big” and above all else it can never be an “ugly beige box”. From a manufacturer's point of view this is probably the hardest group to design for, and while it may be the largest segment of the computer case market, it presents a unique challenge. In the end, the computer enclosure has to be large enough to take a wide array of configurations, with everything from multiple hard drives (usually less than four) to multiple burners (cd, dvd, blu-ray), break out boxes (front bay speakers, card readers, audio connectors, etc) and still have room left over for adequate cooling.

This is where Thermaltake and their massive amount of experience enters the equation. Just about everyone who has built or even just improved upon a computer system knows the name Thermaltake. They are world renowned and their reputation is well deserved. Heck, the most apt description of them we have heard was likening them to a Chevy truck. Yes, you could get persnickety exotics which are way more fancy but at then end of the day when dependability is paramount you want something that works every time; and this is the very essence of a Thermaltake case. Apple might have trade marked “It Just Works” but this term fits Thermaltake’s cases a whole lot better we find.

When these masters of case design released the original Armor case, it became an instant classic. It had loads of room, was easy to use and it even came with those funky (yet oh so practical) protective wings on the front. Anyone who has used one knows they are the average joe's Stacker 830; as the Armor may have been just as configurable as the CM Stacker 830 but it cost only about half the price. This combination of flexibility with a reasonable price may have made it a classic but the only problem with it was that it was as large as a freakin’ house!

As with all great companies Thermaltake listened to their customers and has now released a new iteration on the Armor line. The Armor+ MX is a mid sized case which continues the tradition of having too many options to list just like its bigger brother, yet is in a more manageable and user friendly size. This case is available from retailers and e-tailers throughout the country and goes for about $150. The biggest question is whether or not this downsized version is just as good as the original Armor, just in a smaller package; or will it suffer the fate of many down sized cases and end up being jack of all trades yet master of none?

​

 

[AkG]

Specifications

Features & Specifications

 

[AkG]

Packaging and Accessories

Packaging and Accessories

​

Unlike Thermaltake’s CPU cooling solutions which are known for the flamboyant and eye catching designs, Thermaltake has always taken a different approach when it comes to their computer cases and this case is no exception. Don’t get us wrong; this is a very nice looking box and it has all the possible information one could conceivably need, but it is a very muted color scheme consisting mainly of blacks and whites. In some ways it is almost if Thermaltake know they have a great reputation when it comes to cases and therefore don’t need to yell and scream to get you attention. Some people would call this arrogance but we like to consider it more along the lines of a quiet self confidence which usually one can see only in ancient ZEN monks.

After you get over the subtle design scheme the next thing one notices is this box is big for a midsized case. It’s not monstrous like we saw in the http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...super-tower-case-w-liquid-cooling-review.html but it does dwarf many other mid size boxes. Luckily it is not heavy as a log like the Sword's was either as I have misplaced my fork lift and I’m not throwing my back out for any case. This combination of size yet light weight is of course a good thing as all this extra space equates to extra large crumple/trauma zones; and boy are we glad it had them! When this case arrived by Mr. Courier it looked like it had been “touch ‘n go” dropped from the back of C-17 rather than from the back of a truck, or maybe the truck just ran over it a few times, we’re not sure. While we were able to push out and fix the dents in the cardboard box for the photo shoot (yes this is was worse than shown) some of the damage was unfixable. The upside to this rough handling by the couriers is it just highlights how good this protection scheme really is; for not even a scratch was present on the Armor+ MX case!

​

When one takes a close look at said protection scheme it becomes very obvious it is not fancy, and it’s not overly complex but it does work. Instead of taking the exotic materials route, Thermaltake went for the tried and true method of suspending the Armor+ MX in the center of the case via the use of two full length pieces of foam. The case itself was also wrapped in a cloth-like material to avoid scratches, and from first hand experience this combination sure does work. As a side benefit, having the case nestled in the center with huge gaps on the front and back side makes taking this case out of the box very easy. One simply has to reach down on each side of the case and lift it out. No fuss, no hassle and best of all no chance of damaging the case while extracting it from the loving embrace of its protection.

​

The list of accessories is on the long and complete side as fitting for a $150+ case. You get the usual bag of screws and brass stand offs, a decent manual, a small shamy for wiping smudges of the case and lots of zip ties, cable ties and even large stick-on cable ties. All in all the first impression one gets from this case is very good, you could even say that at this point we were cautiously optimistic about it. The only nagging negative feeling has to do with the included shamy, as when a manufacture takes the time to include one it usually means said product is a dust bunny and smudge magnet, and those dusty bunny freeloaders are hard to get rid of.

 

[AkG]

Exterior Impressions

Exterior Impresions

​

As with many other Thermaltake cases in the past, the Armour+ MX will receive very difference receptions depending on who is looking at it. It is flamboyant without having any particular parts we necessarily dislike but many people will look at it as a bit of an ugly duckling since it caries with it a somewhat acquired taste.
That being said, it is alot less "out there" than many other cases Thermaltake has released in the last two years so we can be somewhat grateful for that since the MX's design is actually quite sleek. When one looks at the Armour from the front on, or at just the right angle it can be considered a very charming looking case. Of course you have to squint and tilt your head to do it but it is possible.

​

The very first thing which literally stands out on the exterior of the Armor+ MX is the plastic "spoiler" that Thermaltake has stuck on to the top of this case. Don’t get us wrong plastic is good and fine when we are talking about a $75 case but on a case which is twice that, we expect to find aluminum rather than somewhat cheap looking plastic. Sure, a little tasteful accent of plastic is fine, it can even accentuate the beauty of a case’s lines; but in this instance the plastic spoiler is as subtle, well thought out and above all else refined as much as swift kick to the nads is a subtle rebuttal in a college level debate.

Maybe this is being overly harsh, maybe it will appeal to some people, but the biggest problem we have with it, is it looks like an afterthought which was tacked on during postproduction. It really looks like Thermaltake took a normal square mid-tower case and slapped a plastic spoiler on the top of it. It does not add anything to the lines or help refine the beauty or grace of this case, in fact it truly looks like a first time modder’s pet project gone awry. On the up side, it is only disconcerting when viewed from above or from behind.

​

Now the plastic spoiler is not all bad, in fact there a few really good positive points about it which actually help mitigate the looks of it. The biggest positive is the added ventilation the numerous holes in the spoiler provide. It is a known and easily verifiable fact that hot air rises and in some cases this hot air gets trapped between the power supply and your optical drives. We have known people who in search of lowered burn errors have actually cut out a top section of their case and installed a fan. While this may be a little bit extreme to say the least and while we would have liked to have seen a fan installed to actively push said hot air out the top of the case, at least these holes will make it very easy for any air to passively rise from the case.

​

The second interesting addition is the front half of the spoiler also doubles as a hidden storage bin. While we are not fond of top mounted bins as they tend to take up valuable space, there is a good portion of the general public who do. If there is one thing which Thermaltake have always gotten right it is by following the age old maxim “know your customer” and with touches like this we can see that this Armour has been designed for the masses.

​

Also on the positive side, the top of this case also contains the various power and connector options. From left to right you have a eSATA port, two USB ports, stereo headphone jack, a microphone jack, reset and power button. Just below the reset and power button you have the hard drive activity led and power led. All in all this is a very nice front package which actually melds seamlessly into the front. Even better than the layout was the actual placement of these connections which by mounting them on the top of the case, leaves the front completely clear for the 5.25 bays and armor wings that give this series their unique look.

​

As previously noted the front of this case is different and if you have never seen this style before it can be down right striking in that the entire front is made up of nothing but removable 5.25 bays, all of which are covered in an air filtering mesh grill.

​

These grills are some of the best and well laid out examples of this style we have seen. Instead of relying on small plastic latches for the four sides to hold them in place, these are inserted and removed just by swinging open a little bay door in the center. This easy latch style greatly reduces the chances of breaking them when they are removed for cleaning the dust out of the filters (which you will have to do from time to time). Besides offering a veritable cornucopia of mounting options, having the full front covered in these mesh doors allows for a lot of air movement. As we stated earlier, hot air is the enemy and anything which helps reduce pockets of hot air has to be considered a good thing.

 

[AkG]

Exterior Impressions pg.2

Exterior Impressions cont.

​

In all total there one 3.5 inch bay at the top and five 5.25 inch bays below them. Of course there are in actuality 3 more 5.25 but these bottom three are reserved for the internal 3.5 hard drive bay. This bottom area also houses the front 120mm fan and is responsible for a good portion of the internal air movement. The included air filters are easy to remove and are washable.

​

As mentioned previously, the front of the case also has two large protective aluminum wings which give the Armor part of its distinctive look. These wings easily swing open and closed and when closed are held in position by magnets. If for whatever reason you do not like the look of these wings you can easily remove them by simply unscrewing a few screws.

​

When we focus our attention on the left side we see a perfectly flat shiny and boring metal side panel which lacks any ventilation holes or room for fans. On the right side we see a classic Thermaltake “X” window, which for us, brings back happy memories of the original Xaser cases. To say that this window is a full size window is understatement, in fact a better description is “imposing” as in it’s one honkin’ big window. Somehow it manages to give off this almost palpable vibe of charisma and charm which is really endearing.

​

When talking about the case's side panel / window you really can’t fully describe it without mentioning the huge, awe inspiring 230mm fan which sits smack dab in the center. Its location is perfect for sucking in air over and around hot running video cards, regardless of it is one, two or even four since this bad boy is big enough to handle them all. In an interesting move, Thermaltake has opted for a rather unique venting method for said fan. Instead of a honeycomb hole pattern which one would expect to see, or even an actual hole with wire mesh covering what, Thermaltake has done is cut huge slits into the plastic window so that the fan can suck fresh air in through them. While it’s a little bit on the counter intuitive side, we will see if this increased static pressure can be overcome by the massive 23cm fan.

​

Also on the positive was the inclusion of two large latches which means opening and closing the case is be very easy. If there is one thing we hate it is those old fashioned slide ‘n lock side panels which always jam at the most inopportune moment. This is classic Thermaltake engineering and really shows how user friendly this manufacture is. Goof job Thermaltake.

 

[AkG]

Exterior Impressions pg.3

Exterior Impressions cont.

​

Moving around to the back we can see the layout is fairly standard with the cutout at the top for the obviously top mounted Power Supply, which is not included. Just below this and to the left we can see Thermaltake has taken the time to include an I/O shield and while is unlikely it will be compatible with modern day motherboard, it will protect those delicate edges from damage if said shield was not there. Once again it’s the little things which this which stamp this case as a Thermaltake product.

​

To the right of the I/O shield we can see Thermaltake has included a 120mm fan and while it appears to be a rather restrictive vent for said fan we shall see how well it really is during testing.

​

Below the I/O shield are the seven ventilated expansion slot coverings. Once again this little touch of ventilating the expansion slot covers will allow air to more easily enter and exit the case. This can be especially important if your video card is a hot running single bay style as hot air can still be pushed out the back of the case by that big 23cm fan. These are certainly not ground breaking or even something which would be a deal sealer but never the less all these little things are adding up into a pretty impressive gestalt, funky spoiler or no.

However, one thing was very conspicuous by their absence, were holes for water cooling. In this day and age not including two simple little holes can be considered a major oversight. Yes, we understand there is a model specifically for water cooling, but not everyone wants to spend the extra for full premade Thermaltake kit, and would rather spend less money and put together their own. Heck, alot of water cooling people like building their own loops and they have pretty specific ideas on what constitutes the perfect part(s) for their ideal system which does not include “all in one” or “value oriented” kits,

​

Before we move on we would like to point out the two extra large knurled (thumb) screws which add an extra layer of security to the side panel. These little screws are so much easier to work with, we highly recommend them to anyone and in fact I make sure to include them in all high end custom builds I do. Even better is the fact these screws are captured screws in which as long as you don’t forcefully remove them, they will not fall out of the side panel and thus not get lost unless you really try hard.

These screws may not be expensive, but they are a classy touch which actually helps protect the case in the long run. With the normal little screws as seen on the other panel, you need a screwdriver to remove them, thus the chances are good that at some point your screwdriver is going to slip and scratch the hell out of the case (or worse still is you were impatient and used a knife and thus stuck a whole in the windowed side panel.). It is odd why Thermaltake did not include these for the other side but then again once you are up and running, 9 time out of 10 times you will only need access to the main windowed side of the computer anyways.

​

The bottom of the Armor+ MX is a little bit on the disappointing side. Thermaltake has not included moveable feet or even large rubber feet; rather they have gone for these small feet which don’t exactly instill confidence in their long term viability. After spending the kind of money this case demands, we would certainly be disappointed and maybe even a little upset if we saw such cheesy little feet on our fancy new purchase. On the positive side at least said feet are made of a soft rubber so they do have good anti-vibration properties. As a side note this case does sit fairly high of the ground, and one has to wonder if at some point in the design cycle is was a bottom mounted PSU case. Either way, it was disappointing to see the entire bottom of the case is covered in plastic and one has to wonder how well all this plastic will stand up to life’s bumps and bangs.

Overall this case an interesting combination of metal, aluminum and above all else plastic; and in the end, you will either really like the ascetics of this case or you will hate it as there seems to be not no middle ground. Like it or hate it, the Armour+ MX certainly does nothing by half measures, and in the end maybe that is the best kind of case. After all who really wants a bland case which doesn’t metaphorically speak to you whenever you look at it? Even if you are not fond of the ascetics of the case it is hard to fault Thermaltake for all the little refinements which they have included. Now, if only these refinements had continued onto the top and the bottom of the case, or even to a simple nod towards all use water cooling aficionados...

 

[AkG]

Interior Impressions

Interior Impressions

​

Before we take a closer look at the internals of this case, here is a good overall picture of it with its side off. As you can see, it is fairly well laid out inside but some things (both good and bad) do tend to stick out. In a moment we will zoom in and show you these but to get a good overall feel for the case, nothing beats a wide angle shot! Now, lets zoom in and take a look at the highs and lows this case has to offer.

​

When one first looks at the inside of this case the very first they are going to see is the 23cm fan. This clear 230 x 230 x 20 13 bladed fan is made by Hong Sheng and rotates at a nice and slow 800rpm. In testing this fan exhibited some vibrations and slop but neither were worrisome or very pronounced. The same can be said of the noise it creates, in that it makes very little noise and more importantly, the amount of noise is so little, you have to really be listening to hear it.

​

Even though the single intake and exhaust fans do not appear to be similar (as one is a 9 bladed affair and the other has 7 blades with a blue LED) both are in fact the same model fan. These fans are made by Hong Sheng (model A1225L12S / TT-1225). To make things even more interesting, and for all you eagled eyed viewers, yes this also the same model fan as the one which is used on the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, which we reviewed a while back. It appears the number of blades and even the case material make no difference in Thermaltake's nomenclature. On the upside, just like their Big Typhoon counterpart, both of these fans are very quiet and display very little shaft slop. Seeing these fans in action really shows how serious Thermaltake is about making a case with as small a noise profile as possible, even if 3 seemingly different fans can be all the same model.

​

In the end the fans of this PC case can be summed up by saying Thermaltake made a wise decision with the inclusion of the huge 23cm side fan, and the two 120mm fans should be more than quiet enough for most buyers. It is interesting to note that all 3 fans are wired for 2 pin connectors with 4 pin Molex connectors attached; we can safely say Thermaltake does not want you running these fans at anything less than their full speed, else it probably would mess with the case air flow. All in all the 3 fans are good products and have extra long sleeved wires, but we do wish there was room to mount a few more 120mm fans.

​

As mentioned in the exterior impressions sections, there are a grand total of 7 expansion slots (aka PCI slots). As you can see in the above picture, these slots have a very interesting tool-less design to them. In a nutshell, to install a card what you first must do is yank out one of these little plastic blocks which hold the PCI expansion slot covers in place. You then install your PCI / PCI-E /AGP/ etc card in like you normally would and then push the little plastic sucker back in place.

To be honest this has to one of the worst tool free designs we have ever seen. Even after reading the manual thoroughly, the first time we popped one of these plastics effers out we literally exclaimed “Oh CRAP! I broke it!”. Yes they are that tight when new and even after following the recommend way of pinching in and then yanking out it still felt and sounded like something breaking. This is not a good sound nor a good feeling and would be very off putting to a first time builder (one could go as far as saying morale destroying, but this would be exaggerating things a bit). We truly have to wonder about the longevity of such plastic devices as they do need flex to pop out; as like all hard plastics, they are not exactly a text book definition of malleable and thus are susceptible to fatigue.

 

[AkG]

Interior Impressions pg.2

Esterior Impresstions cont.

​

The hard drive bay is a 4 drive removable cage which can actually be mounted in the 5.25 drive bay section and is held in place with two screws and a plastic level-like mechanism. We will get into more detail about the removal of the hard drive cage in the installation section but for now it is suffice to say it is a tool free design which was very well done.

One very interesting design feature is that the cage sits perpendicular to the rest of the system. While this makes insertion and removal of a hard drive (and its locking drive caddy) easier, it does raise questions about the front fan's ability to circulate air in from the front panel. Similar designs in the past have shown the hard dives block nearly all the air from the front fan and in fact has a negative impact on case temperatures. We will see later if Thermaltake’s engineers were able to over come this by the inclusion of the huge side fan.

​

The 5.25 bays also feature a tool free design; one simply slides in their optical drive (for instance) and pushes it in until it clicks. In a nutshell, these black levers have one side which sticks into the back of the bay and as the optical drive pushes past it this levers the back end of the locking mechanism up and out of its way while driving home two pins on the other end of the lever into said optical drive. This freezes the optical drive in place and keeps it securely there until you wish to remove it.

Removal is as easy as pushing down on the black lever to remove the pins from the side of the drive and then yanking it free from the case. If you wish to add more stability you can always screw in the optical drive on the other side as you would in a normal setup. Either way, this makes for an easy, user friendly yet fairly stable mounting mechanism.

​

One thing which was very obvious to us is that unlike the full sized version of the Armor, this case does not have a removable motherboard tray. While this is not a big deal it will make installing the motherboard a bit more of a hassle as while it is not exactly a cramped interior, room is at a premium. As with most non removable motherboard trays, the brass pins have been laid out and marked for micro, ATX and full ATX. On the upside to having a non removable motherboard tray, this makes for a more secure and vibration free system; and it is not likely most users will miss this feature as they will only be installing a few motherboards into this case over the years.

Also on the positive side, you can give yourself a lot more room to work with by simply removing a few screws and taking out the Power Supply Bar at the top of this case. This will give you a lot more room to maneuver your motherboard into place and then you can reinstall the bar before installing the power supply.

Overall the inside of the case is a very user friendly mixture of old and new technology which blends seamlessly together. When taken as a whole one is left with a very positive impression of this case and if the installation goes as well as we think it will, this will be a very user friendly case to have.

 

[AkG]

Installation

Installation

​

As with any case install we like to start by installing the PSU first. It has been our experience that a slippery PSU which crashes into the motherboard area is only a smaller disaster when said motherboard is not there. Unfortunately, this is where we ran into a little snag, as not all four holes of the PSU lined up with their counterparts on the back of the case. Considering we have installed this Seasonic S12 in numerous cases over the past year, and not one of these cases exhibited this problem it is obviously a QA problem on Thermaltake’s end. On close inspection it became obvious the screw hole was half a hole too high (or conversely Thermaltake missed the mark by that amount) and no amount of cajoling would get it to line up; even with the other screws in place that little sucker was just too far out of alignment. If we were to hazard a guess we would say the PSU rails were installed slightly too high and this was what was causing the issue; rather than holes being mis-drilled.

Once this was accomplished we installed the brass standoffs following the stamped label system which told us which holes were necessary for our ATX motherboard. Here we ran into no snags and it installing them was very quick and easy with no bad threads.

​

After the motherboard was installed the next thing we installed was the video card. As mentioned in the Internal Impressions section this is a tool-less process. We gently and hesitantly snapped off the necessary slot, stuck are card into the motherboard and then reinserted the plastic block back into its location. While we though taking these things out was hard, reinserting them was even more difficult and only after much cursing, cajoling and threatening it with gross bodily harm (via a microwave) the prima-donna clip decided it have received enough attention and slipped into place. Luckily, Thermaltake must have forseen these and does provide the option of screwing in your cards just you normally would do.

​

So far we were 1 for 3 and we decided to tackle the hard drive next. This we are glad to say was extremely easy and went very smoothly. All one has to do is remove a hard drive caddy from the drive cage by pushing in on the front and letting the drive caddy arm swing out. When it was fully extended you simply slide the caddy out of the cage and install your hard drive. This is one area where Thermaltake engineers hit a home run, as even this stage was tool-lees.

​

You can insert screws to fuse the plastic caddy to the hard drive but a much simpler, easier and extremely user friendly way was by using the install clips. These two small clips fit into each side of the caddy and as they have small plastic pins which stick into said hard drive they in effect do the exact same thing as screws do.

 

[AkG]

Installation pg.2

Installation cont.

​

When we had attached the two clips into place we reinserted the hard drive caddy (with the hard now firmly attached) and routed both a SATA data cable and SATA power cable to the back of the case. This was extremely easy since Thermaltake has provided just enough of a gap between the back and side of the case. Of course you have to remove the other side panel but this is to be expected with perpendicularly mounted drives. We are pleased to report that unlike some other cheaper cases (like the CM 690) the drives sit far enough forward that even older PATA hard drives should easily fit. Don’t take this as a guarantee as we didn’t have any PATA drives lying around but there appears to be no physical reason why they shouldn't work.

​

As the case has very little to do with installing the memory unto the motherboard lets just say this was also uneventful and move unto the optical disc drive installation. Since we wanted to see how hard it is to remove those metal cut outs from the front of the case we decided to install the Samsung DVD burner lower in the case than normal. To accomplish this we first had to remove the plastic front panel, like some other cases we have encountered in the past the top panel actually overhangs the front panel, making an otherwise straightforward removal more interesting. In this instance you have to pop the front of the case free and then angle the bottom out enough so the top half can slide free from underneath the top.

​

Thermaltake has pre-stressed these cut outs to the point where popping the bottom one out was as easy as can be. We then simply reinstalled the front of the case by doing everything in reverse. When this was done we simply opened the leaver on the proper meshed blanking panel.

The removal procedure for one of these panels is very similar to the hard drive caddies removal, in which you push the sides (left to right) of the panels and the mesh center swings out (just like the arm of the HDD caddy does) so that you can yank it out. On the upside this makes for easy and quick removal of said panel for dust cleaning but it also makes for very flexible (in a bad way) panels. If you happen to remove the wrong one, getting these wee little flexible beasties can be problematic if you do not line them up perfectly.

​

Once the panel is removed, all one has to do is slide in the optical drive about 2-3 inches before it is fully seated and the friction will increase dramatically, requiring a good shove to full seat it. When you hear the click of the locking pins slamming home you know it is installed properly. As with most other tool-less designs you do have the option of screwing in a screw on the other side if you feel it is not secure enough.

​

When this is done you simply have to route another SATA data cable to the optical drive aong with an SATA power cable. When this is finished, you can then install your CPU, apply some TIM and then install the CPU cooling solution. After this you can install your motherboard and then the last step before you can use your system is to plug in all 3 fans. Since all three use 4 pin Molex adapters your options are limited. Then one simply reinstalls the side panels, plugs in the PSU and starts up their system.

​

As you can see the combination of blue LEDS from the huge 23c, side fan with the blue and red LEDs of the Thermaltake DuOrb make for a very beautiful and striking combination!