Thermaltake Armor A30

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HaX

[H]ard|Gawd
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Stumbled upon this and the Level 10 GT, your thoughts go!

Thermaltake Armor A30, Price Point: 119.99

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http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1466&ID=1989
 
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So it's just a fugly Lanbox that doesn't do anything to address the shortcomings of the original.

Brief summary of its limitations (because I had one ;))
- Low profile cooler only
- HD bracket will probably need to be cut for 2nd video card
- 40mm fans are useless; only real exhaust = PSU
- Bottom HD rack blocks most of airflow
- Top fan is completely useless; blocked by PSU + optical drive cage
- Installation is a beeoch; the modular design crap is crap

Close thread and move along now :cool:
 
While I think it's ugly, and has an almost sinfull, no balls, PSU placement above the CPU socket, it does have the advantage of almost everything being on trays!
 
Looks to transformers for me. I do like the bottem left cage with the 5 1/2 and 2 2.5s with what looks like a 3.5 on bottem.
 
lowteckh said:
So it's just a fugly Lanbox that doesn't do anything to address the shortcomings of the original.

Brief summary of its limitations (because I had one ;))
- Low profile cooler only
- HD bracket will probably need to be cut for 2nd video card
- 40mm fans are useless; only real exhaust = PSU
- Bottom HD rack blocks most of airflow
- Top fan is completely useless; blocked by PSU + optical drive cage
- Installation is a beeoch; the modular design crap is crap

Close thread and move along now :cool:
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definitely agree with you on your comments...after looking at it a second time lol

though the thread will be open so that everyone can bask in it's fuglyness
 
Hideous, just like most if not all Thermaltake cases.
 
I've seen worse. A LOT worse.

This isn't even close to hideous.
 
Yeah, seriously, what were the designers thinking. If they hire any one of the regular posters of the SFF forum to design it, it would have been so much better.
 
JaYp146 said:
I've seen worse. A LOT worse.

This isn't even close to hideous.
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Totally agree. I got this case just because the numerous amount of drives it can hold. Seven, if I count correctly. Also, it supports full length video cards. Using it to build a gaming/HTPC rig. The look is ok to me. Will be posting pics of the setup when it's finished.
 
Johnny Digital said:
Totally agree. I got this case just because the numerous amount of drives it can hold. Seven, if I count correctly. Also, it supports full length video cards. Using it to build a gaming/HTPC rig. The look is ok to me. Will be posting pics of the setup when it's finished.
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If your counting the total number of drives it beats the v354 by 1 drive (Thats with the extra drive cage removed from the v354 to accommodate long video cards). At the same time though this thing rely's on a 92mm fan for intake rather then the pair of 120mm fans.. For exhaust a 230mm fan & a fucking pair of 60mm fans.. What the fuck, why would anyone use 60mm fans anymore.. Only time I can see them being used & not bitch about it is when its a mini ITX that doesnt allow for anything else (Antec isk 300 size and smaller). Where as the v354 uses a 140mm & a 120mm fan exhaust. Also of note most of the airflow out that 230mm fan is blocked by the PSU..

Now if this armor case went for 40-50 bucks it wouldn't be a bad buy.. but at 120 this thing is a ripoff.. No mATX case made out of steel should cost that.
 
adjas said:
if you wanted a small cheap case, this can't be beat for the price, and it's all aluminum. Though it uses a lot of little screws, beware. $60
and notice, it's got a 120mm fan in the back.

3btech_2141_5344271


http://3btech.net/chfcsmfoalmi.html
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Actually at 60 bucks thats a RipOff too.. its a cheap piece of shit case & is infact identical other then the front plastic to the Bgears BG01176 b-Envi thats 45 bucks on zipzoomfly (there is also a slew of other names & brands associated with the same case sometimes as low as 20 bucks shipped).. Of note though the 120 in the back would be ok, if it had anything worth a shit in the front. But this only has a single 80mm intake.
 
bastage said:
Actually at 60 bucks thats a RipOff too.. its a cheap piece of shit case & is infact identical other then the front plastic to the Bgears BG01176 b-Envi thats 45 bucks on zipzoomfly (there is also a slew of other names & brands associated with the same case sometimes as low as 20 bucks shipped).. Of note though the 120 in the back would be ok, if it had anything worth a shit in the front. But this only has a single 80mm intake.
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Damn man. Is there a case you actually like?!?!? LOL. As to your comment, why the small fans? I guess they thought the large top fan would pick up the slack. From build pics I've seen online, the top fan is NOT totally blocked by the drive cage & PSU.

http://www.techspot.com/review/355-thermaltake-armor-a30/page3.html
 
well I had a clone of that case, I managed to mod it into something respectable, though it was loud as hell in the end. Here's what you could do with that case, plus the case I mentioned has windows on the roof and both sides, aka you can take out the windows and stick mesh and a 120mm or 1600mm fan and voila much better airflow. Here's some pics of my mods to that same case:

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with just a little thought you can turn it into something much better, though I ditched it in the end, cause it just got too loud.
 
my brother had a Apevia x-qpack .. dreadful yellow color. It had windows on top and sides.. in all looked like a cheap microwave.
 
As far as I'm concerned the case is not the worse looking I have seen but those small fans is just an insult and totally inadequate. Modern SFF cases should not use anything less than 120mm fans IMHO. The cases got bigger to fit the bigger GPUs we gamers like to use. The A30 is not a small case of the old days. No reason not to have 120mm fans now. Just my opinion anyway.
 
this case answers the question: how do you make a bad design worse ?

without being able to remove the sides, this case is a nightmare to work with.
 
burnin8r said:
this case answers the question: how do you make a bad design worse ?

without being able to remove the sides, this case is a nightmare to work with.
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give it a poopy olive green color with bedazzle rhinestones all over it?
 
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