Antec vs Thermaltake vs CoolerMaster - Which to choose?

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ProXie

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
196
The Thermaltake Tsunami Case?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-133-133&depa=1

Antec Silver + Window Case?
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-129-144&DEPA=1

Stylish Cooler Master Case
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-023&depa=1

I need help choosing. I like having a window on my case thats why I'm a bit iffy about the Cooler Master case. It looks like a great case though. As far as the Antec case, I'd like to have a front panel thing so that I don't have to match the drive colors etc. And the Tsunami case looks a little overdone. The side panel of it doesn't look great. I can't find a good picture of the side of it though.. Any ideas? Also, the antec case only has 1 fan? Boo..
 
coolermaster does sell windowed side panels if you dont want to mod the wavemaster.
 
Thermaltake Tsunami all the way dude. The features are just endless, it weighs less then the other cases and the hard drive racks are awesome, the fans are quiet as hell. :D
 
The Tsunami case just looks.. cheap.. To me? I don't know. Looks like one of those light up cases with 20 fans and all that extra bezel junk etc.. But then again, it has some great features :-\. I'm really torn between cases.
 
I just got a Praetorian (which uses the same chasis as the Wavemaster, iirc) and am very impressed by its quality.

I used to be a Lian Li man... I have an original PC-70 that I got right after they came out... but Cooler Master has really impressed me. I would reccommend going with CM.
 
I've always hated Thermaltake cases, don't care for the look of them, but have nothing but respect for their cooling products.

I'd go with the Antec or CoolerMaster.
 
I have the older version of the coolermaster praetorian, the aluminum/gunmetal grey color (all same, just a little different cosmetically), and it keeps my temps very low, while being all metal and high quality. I just drilled a hole and put a side case fan on and it lowered my temps by 4-5°C.
 
The Thermaltake Tsunami looks the best and thats the one i would go with. I'm picking up a black for the new rig i'm building. They are lightweight and good build quality so it will be great for taking to LANs.
 
I faced this exact same dilemma, and I chose the Antec. I did so for the following reasons:

a) The Chenbro Gaming Bomb II STILL isn't available, and I got extremely poor communications response with the company trying to find out pricing and availability. One e-mail was never returned. The second was returned ten days later; I replied to it and never received a reply back. Nuts to them for their poor service.
b) The Thermaltake case has a door. Doors are a pain in my experience, and can be easy to break off if you bump them with something, or have a curious pet like a large cat. Also, if you open the door, the inside front ot the Tsunami isn't that great looking; it's as if they used a nice door to hide a shoddy appearance, IMHO. Same goes for the Coolermaster. I looked at the Praetorian instead, but discarded it for reason C).
c)Noise. The Antec has dual 120mm fan mounts, and the new ones come with BOTH fans, not just one; shame Newegg has not updated their website on this one.. They're both low-noise models, and if you want more airflow than that, get a dual-fan PSU, or make a top-mount blowhole like I'm doing. The Coolermaster cases use 80mm fans, which will be noisier, unless you want to get quiet fans like Vantec Stealths, which are low on airflow.

Finally, the Antec has rubber grommeted drive mounts (once again lower noise) and the USB/1394 ports are on the top front of the case, making it easy to plug in an iPod or digital camera It became the logical choice for me. Only thing I wish is that the removable motherboard tray was done to allow the tray to be removed with the expansion cards still mounted, like on my AOpen HX-08 full tower, where the tray slides straight out the back. Can't have everything, I guess.
 
Coolermaster has better build quality imo... Might not be quite as light as either of the other two but that's just because it uses thicker aluminum, hence less vibration noise, etc. The way it's build helps avoid that too (the way the drive cage walls span the whole height of the case and support it). The mobo tray is convenient.

The Antec might be quiter, it's a bit too flashy imo tho... If cooling is your main concern then just get some silent 80mms and a CM Praetorian (the front grill on it will restrict airflow way less than the Wavemaster's). Or just go with the Antec if you actually like the chrome grill-like bezzel.

The way the Antec mounts the HD is pretty interesting (free grommet rails and it's convenient for swapping drives) tho it hinders airflow a bit more than conventional orientation imo. 120mm fans is a plus obviously tho. You can mount an extra 80mm on the top panel of the WM with a suplied bracket by the way, ya lose the ports tho (the Praetorian has the ports on the front and the fan stock).

My 2 cents.
 
After reading a ton of reviews, I'm going to go with the Antec. I stopped by MicroCenter to take a look at all the cases. I wasn't happy with the Tsunami. They didn't have the wavemaster case. The Tsunami just doesn't look great to me. After reading a review of the Antec from Tom's Hardware, I was sold. Looks like a fairly low noise case which I need. Also all those small great features are awesome.

You can't have everything :).
 
Just say no to doors on the front of workstation cases, imho. Sure, if you're building a server that is going to sit in a rack and never get touched, doors are nice. They absolutely suck for a workstation where you use removable media drives, usb/firewire ports, etc. on a daily basis. The other coolermaster case mentioned, the praetorian, is a nice case, I had two of the previous model before they went for goofy names. Solidly built, just a bit on the small side, if you want to do anything above and beyond.

The antec is huge, light, and quiet. The chrome on the front of the 160 is a bit bling-bling, but it grows on you, especially if you remove the chrome vent inserts and blue leds. It also has what I consider a requirement for modern cases, 120mm fan mounts. Companies sticking with 80mm mounts need to wake up and smell the coffee. Larger fans = lower RPM = same airflow = less noise. I've got an antec 160 worklog on this site, where I crammed an asetek watercooling kit into it. Went back in the last week, sleeved the power supply cables, stuck black dynamat on exposed internal aluminum surfaces, the rig is quiet, especially when the fans are at 7v.

The antec also has the side-mount 3.5 drivebays with rubber isolation mounts for the drives: easy access, easy to hide all your cabling, and nice and quiet. Liked that so much, I ended up sticking the 3.5" floppy I only use on OS installs in there too.
 
When it comes to the Tsunami, I only need to ask myself one question:

"Do I want to spend $130 on a case wtih no removable motherboard tray?"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I recall the Tsunami, along with other TT cases, doesn't have a removable motherboard tray. That's my biggest problem with their cases... you pay so much but don't get a removable tray?

As far as the Anetc: No opinion. I do like the CoolerMaster though.
 
Nitron said:
I've always hated Thermaltake cases, don't care for the look of them, but have nothing but respect for their cooling products.

I'd go with the Antec or CoolerMaster.
Click to expand...
Thermaltake's cooling solutions have always been sub-par (some worse than stock cooling, just with more noise)... you can find a better product out there :p

I like the Wavemaster, but the Tsunami without the window looks okay too. Having the window embossed with "Cool all your life!" is kinda cheezy. I'd consider Kingwin's products also. They're probably one step underneath Lian-Li in-terms of their aluminum cases. You get a removable motherboard tray, build quality rivaling Coolermaster and Lian-Li, and very competitive pricing.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-170-015&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-170-013&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-170-012&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-170-014&depa=1
 
I would go for the Coolermaster myself. The Thermaltake has that ugly X style window, and the Antec case is way to busy in the front, IMHO.
 
The one good thing I can say about the Thermaltake cases is that I have found the doors to be nearly bulletproof.
 
Anyone who has not owned a CM case can't appreciate their build quality... superior to Lian Li, imo.
 
While Coolermasters build quality is great, it can still be much better. For example...The CoolerMaster Stacker. It's HUGE, its perfect in nearly all ways, air flow is great due to size. However the case's aluminium shell is pretty weak, it's easily dentable (not easy, but much easier than with other more sturdier cases like the SilverStone Nimitz TJ03). We're not talking about that case in this thread, but CoolerMaster can really bring up a notch in their build quality with a stronger case for an already great tower.

The WaveMaster is still the best choice, only thing to worry about is heat. It's not exactly the best for keeping things on the cool side.
 
The Stacker isn't really in the same league as the CM cases that people are reffering to here... Heck it isn't even made of aluminum as far as I know, it's a steel body with an aluminum bezzel. The quality of the insides of the WM/Praetorian dates back to their ATC line and is just a matter of design and material used, it just feels better and sturdier than most other Al cases imo.
 
Cooler Master...mod your own window. I personally dont like the design of the Thermaltake's
side panel.
 
Personally I have a CM Praetorian Black and love it. I've owned a Lian Li 71 case, and although I miss the big room and removable HDD tray, I really like the removable M/B tray and blowhole fan of the Praetorian. The aluminum mesh filter screen is also easy to clean. My dream case would be a full tower version of the Praetorian. Silverstone makes one a little taller called the Nimiz http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...=1431&osCsid=9d592b30fdca2db69a6bd7a39ee4d93a but I'll stick with the Praetorian for awhile. Complete Techflex sleeving is on it's way, so that is all I have to do to the case and I'll be set.
 
Cooler Master by far... the aluminum feel's so solid... as other cm owners would know first hand.. I like the drive bays go all the way to the floor of my ATC201. Mine is in piano black and it is pretty damn sharp.

I hate all the gaudy "pre-modded" cases out there now.. most of the cases out there now literally look like a Transformer mated with a christmas tree!

The CM have always been classy looking.

[..::magnetik::..]
 
I really like the look of the Praetorian, I just don't like the fact that it doesn't come with a pre-modded window because if I were to mod one, it'd look terrible. Also, if I did get a window, that front panel USB cord would be sticking out...I wish the Lian Li's weren't so pricey... :( Lian Li's are good at cooling right?
 
If u can find the Cooler Master ATC201.. I think it comes with a side window.. mine did. I think it's the same as the Praetorian but came out before they started to really mass produce them..
 
magnetik said:
If u can find the Cooler Master ATC201.. I think it comes with a side window.. mine did. I think it's the same as the Praetorian but came out before they started to really mass produce them..
Click to expand...

Incredibly hard to find them anymore, and there's price gouging going on whenever left over supplies of the older ATCs show up. You can hide the USB wires on the Praetorian with some ingenuity though, wouldn't worry all that much 'bout those.
 
so is the Praetorian and the ATC201 the same case? I remember mine was like $150 and you can get the Praetorian for like $80-100? I know they look similar but they might be constructed differently. Are the old cases as good as the new ones?
 
Think construction-wise they were built pretty much the same way, dimensions were tweaked a bit (Praetorian is somewhat smaller, less deep I believe) and standarized... So they could start mass-producing it I guess, seeing as the Wavemaster and Praetorian both used the same basic chassis all thru last year (with only the bezzel changing between the two).
 
There were two versions of ATC-201 case before it was renamed to Praetorian, check out this article here for more info:
http://phamcomputer.com/coolermaster/atc201c/atc201c.html

The Praetorian is based off of the newer ATC-201C with the only changes being the improved front I/O ports (USB, 1394, audio instead of just USB only) and omission of painted body.
 
kuyaglen said:
Cooler Master...mod your own window. I personally dont like the design of the Thermaltake's
side panel.
Click to expand...

Does nobody here realize you can buy them without the window? And for $30 less I might add.

DSC00002.jpg


I would say for the features/build quality the Antec would be best, but I skipped out on that very case because I thought it was gawdy as hell. I definitely don't understand how people can find the Tsunami ugly but think the Antec isn't overdone. :confused:
 
I just got my P160.. the build quality is great. The ONLY thing i don't like are the bezels on the side window.
 
Stellar said:
I definitely don't understand how people can find the Tsunami ugly but think the Antec isn't overdone. :confused:
Click to expand...

In what way is the Antec overdone? I realize it has a couple of blue lights, though you can certainly disable those quite easily if you wish. Up close, I don't feel mine looks gaudy at all, and is rather subdued compared to today's alien-biohazard-sharkfin-punisher cases.
 
LoneWolf said:
In what way is the Antec overdone? I realize it has a couple of blue lights, though you can certainly disable those quite easily if you wish. Up close, I don't feel mine looks gaudy at all, and is rather subdued compared to today's alien-biohazard-sharkfin-punisher cases.
Click to expand...

Well, I take that back a little.

Of course I don't think it's that overdone as are many of the shark-like cases of today, I meant relative to the Tsunami. The Tsunami has a totally clean front end, covered by a door with two LEDs and a single piece of chrome trim and that's it, otherwise, given you don't buy the window option, the case is basically devoid of pre-mods. The rest of it is plain black, but with an exceptional auto. paint job.

The P160 on the other hand, has no door, the rather curious-looking round holes on the front (with LEDs), the dubious front aux. panel (which I admit is a handy addition), a raised and sort of beveled front bezel area, and two also curious looking vent holes on the upper side panel. It is quite a well-done and elegant case but I have to admit it is bordering more along the lines of a pre-mod than the Tt by far.

P160_front.jpg


/.02
 
Looks better in that pic than in person... The P160 is a touch gawdy imo, but I'm not particulary swooned by the Tsunami either. Maybe it's just the whole Wavemaster-ripoff thing in the back of my mind... But the Wavemaster still looks a lot more stylish. It's somewhat cleaner, the LEDs are better positioned, and I don't particulary care for the chrome stripe on the Tsunami or the Alu on plastic bezzel (you can't really tell if it's closed though).

I don't like my designs overtly simplistic (see: LianLi) but I like simple in general, something like the Praetorian or some of Silverstone's designs (simple with a few nice accent touches on the buttons or grill, etc.). Beauty's in the eye of the beholder though, and it's not everything. No one runs the same components and what some take for granted is another's make-or-break-deal thing (an extra bay, one more pre-cut fan position, that extra space for a particular wire/cable, etc.).
 
Stellar said:
Well, I take that back a little.

Of course I don't think it's that overdone as are many of the shark-like cases of today, I meant relative to the Tsunami. The Tsunami has a totally clean front end, covered by a door with two LEDs and a single piece of chrome trim and that's it, otherwise, given you don't buy the window option, the case is basically devoid of pre-mods. The rest of it is plain black, but with an exceptional auto. paint job.

The P160 on the other hand, has no door, the rather curious-looking round holes on the front (with LEDs), the dubious front aux. panel (which I admit is a handy addition), a raised and sort of beveled front bezel area, and two also curious looking vent holes on the upper side panel. It is quite a well-done and elegant case but I have to admit it is bordering more along the lines of a pre-mod than the Tt by far.
/.02
Click to expand...

If I'm right on what you're talking about, those "vent holes" on the upper side panel aren't vents: they are twist-locks that hold the case's side panel in place. The rear one locks with a key if you actually wish to do so. Turning both in the same direction will unlock them so you can remove the side panel. They look especially sleek on the side-windowed version of this case, which is what I have.

I actually looked at the Tt case, but the front of the case behind the door looks rather slapped-on to me, as if they used the door to hide the case, not just provide a good-looking cover. The door gives it a great look from the front, but I find that doors are a bad idea if you use your DVD drive or CD/DVD burner a lot. I also have a sneaking suspicion that our cat would find the front door to be a fun toy. :cool:
 
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