Thermaltake - no creativity, no class

I've owned one Thermaltake case in my history (Kandalf) and it was absolute garbage. It's no wonder that they are now ripping off other companies.
 
I have always seen Thermaltake as the "Wal-Mart Brand".. cheap, and not at all performance driven they sell parts for the budget audience and the uneducated.
 
Not likely to buy anything from these copy cats in the near or foreseeable future.
 
Thermaltake makes shit

I hope anybody who buys this knowing the whole story about what's happened recently, receives a broken mess and gets their warranty ignored

seriously TT can eat shit
 
ghostyclaw said:
I have always seen Thermaltake as the "Wal-Mart Brand".. cheap, and not at all performance driven they sell parts for the budget audience and the uneducated.
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I don't think that is true of all their product segments. This is going to be anecdotal, but I owned an 850W Toughpower PSU and it operated like it was built like a tank for 8 years before I decided to replace it in my new build solely due to its age. Corsair, as much as people seem to like them, even has their own turds.

However:
I think that the cases Thermaltake has built have always been junk. Looking back at the Kandalf I owned, I honestly don't see what I saw in it. It was fugly, difficult to work with, and warped from the factory to add insult to injury.
 
I think it's pushing it to say the waterblock/sli-bridge, fan, and fan controller (though there are some similarities in the LCD design features) are copies--there are only so many ways to design a fan, or a water block (especially one as plain as Thermaltake's). I think the fan borrows more from Corsair's, honestly. The cases are pretty blatant, though.
 
I've never heard anyone argue that Thermaltake was a top notch company when it came to quality or creativity...
 
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for the longest time it seemed like thermaltake took to market the designs that cooler master threw away. not until maybe the last two years did it appear that their cases were worth using in builds. i used their blue chaser a31 once before and liked it quite a bit.
 
Thermaltake Core X9 was this a ripoff case from caselabs as well? eitherway its perfect for my price range
 
Who cares if it is a copy or not? Is the price right and is it well made? That is really all I care about, if you can make something as good or better for cheaper, I am going to buy it, I don't care if it is a copy.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Who cares if it is a copy or not? Is the price right and is it well made? That is really all I care about, if you can make something as good or better for cheaper, I am going to buy it, I don't care if it is a copy.
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That's the thing. You should care. You might not realize it but Tt watercooling products have flooded Newegg. Small companies like EK have been trying to get into business with Newegg for a long time now. You will see the average Joe buying Tt knockoffs without realizing the history and the innovation that went into those products .

What ends up happening is they will buy the cheaper, knockoff version thereby making Tt lots of money. This will push the smaller guys out of business, the very same people that created and innovated. If this keeps happening, Tt will be a major player and knowing their history, you will be buying the same copied stuff for years...No innovation, no competition. You lose.
 
Lower prices and you wont go out of business. I have to deal with the same shit with my labor business. Low ball fuck heads but i compensate with better quality and customer service..
 
cambrian said:
That's the thing. You should care. You might not realize it but Tt watercooling products have flooded Newegg. Small companies like EK have been trying to get into business with Newegg for a long time now. You will see the average Joe buying Tt knockoffs without realizing the history and the innovation that went into those products .

What ends up happening is they will buy the cheaper, knockoff version thereby making Tt lots of money. This will push the smaller guys out of business, the very same people that created and innovated. If this keeps happening, Tt will be a major player and knowing their history, you will be buying the same copied stuff for years...No innovation, no competition. You lose.
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don't bring up EK as some sort of underdog we want to support

I would like to stuff this HF "supreme" block with the failed plating right up the EKWB guy's ass.
 
Thanks Steve. I'll be posting in that thread as well.

EK aside, Caselabs designs and manufactures their cases in the US. Fully aluminum, using a decent thickness to ensure rigidity. When they started, there was nothing at all like what they offered. The ability to swap the front bays of the case? Drop in radiator mounts? Expansion pedestals? Take a look at their products to see the level of flexibility and modularity they provide.

Intelligent companies like Phanteks have adopted their own version of radiator drop in mounts, for example, without simply copying what Caselabs has done. Thermaltake is not known for quality control either, so you are most assuredly getting a cheaper product for a cheaper price.
 
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Thermaltake has been doing stuff like this for years. This isn't anything new for them...

Plus the outside of that case pictured looks just like an old Rocketfish case I bought from Best Buy years ago too. Course it was a rebranded Lian Li case so.... :D
 
jojo69 said:
don't bring up EK as some sort of underdog we want to support

I would like to stuff this HF "supreme" block with the failed plating right up the EKWB guy's ass.
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Hmm i have a gold plated. One never had a problem.
 
turbolude said:
Hmm i have a gold plated. One never had a problem.
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You know, the plating fiasco was not even the deal breaker with them for me. It was the denial, threats, feeble excuses and blame throwing that EK engaged in when it was discovered. If they had done the right thing, owned up to a QC failure (which happens occasionally to every manufacturer) and replaced a few blocks I would be an enthusiastic customer today.

They will never get another penny from me.
 
Similar? Yes.
Outright knock-offs? Not to me.

If every company bitched about the product similarity of every other company, then we'd have a hell of a lot fewer brands to pick from and exponentially higher prices on just about everything. This is about as petty as Apple suing Samsung over fucking rounded corners and a home button.

I don't think these complaints against Tt are warranted or justified at all.
 
After reading some posts in this thread, and looking around for myself I am inclined to agree that Thermaltake has gone and stolen other companies designs.

I will therefore no longer buy ANY Thermaltake product and as for stuff in my current rig that are from Thermaltake, they will be dumped as soon as possible.

I've probably sold 20 to 30 different people on their cases and power supplies over the years, that will also end.

Way to go TT, yah cheap cheesy bastards...:eek:
 
cambrian said:
That's the thing. You should care. You might not realize it but Tt watercooling products have flooded Newegg. Small companies like EK have been trying to get into business with Newegg for a long time now. You will see the average Joe buying Tt knockoffs without realizing the history and the innovation that went into those products .

What ends up happening is they will buy the cheaper, knockoff version thereby making Tt lots of money. This will push the smaller guys out of business, the very same people that created and innovated. If this keeps happening, Tt will be a major player and knowing their history, you will be buying the same copied stuff for years...No innovation, no competition. You lose.
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You have to offer something of better value, we are also talking water blocks and rads here, tech behind this is very well known, nor is it hard. And you could say the same thing about any kind of copying, and if the original business has anything substantial to offer, such as support, build quality etc etc people will buy it, that is why GoPro is still around despite probably hundreds of china knock offs, yet we also have other action cams that are very good come from it. Same with cases, this would not be the first time someone copied cases, yet all the good names are still around.
 
So far a lot of people seem to ignore that CaseLabs started by stealing/borrowing/taking designs from MountainMods and changing the materials etc.

Thermaltake just did the same thing but made it available to the masses
 
Yop said:
So far a lot of people seem to ignore that CaseLabs started by stealing/borrowing/taking designs from MountainMods and changing the materials etc.

Thermaltake just did the same thing but made it available to the masses
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You clearly can't differentiate between being similar and being a copy (in regards of external design).

Caselabs and MountainMods are similar (you can differentiate them in a blink of an eye). Fractal Define series and Nanoxia Deep Silence are similar (you can differentiate them in a blink of an eye - the chimney, the dual door, no hole for side fan) etc.

F51 vs Define - the only visual difference is the top panel with buttons.
Caselabs vs TT Caselabs copy - sorry, i can't even find anything outside the logo to be different.
 
But wait... Didn't everyone copy the case from Antec? Boycott everybody lol
 
How much does the Thermaltake case cost? It's shitty to rip off a popular design, but if they are offering something people want at an affordable price, then you can't fault them for making the profitable decision - to cater to that price point.
 
Thermaltake has and always be shit.

Some of these designs are strikingly similar. Technically speaking, there is little you can do to differentiate the mechanical design aspects of a case. Drives go in one spot, PSU another, motherboard in another area, etc. etc. Very few companies change up these formulas in a striking manner (e.g. Silverstone with 90 degree rotated motherboards). That leaves the asthetics as one of the few things to make it look different.

-The Thermaltake F51 is a clone of the Fractal R5:mad:
-The Thermaltake Riing Fan is a clone of the Corsair fans, not the Antec's:mad:
-The Thermaltake WP200 is a clone of the CaseLabs TH10 :mad:
-Thermaltake also ripped off the CaseLabs SM8.:mad:

The rest of the examples in the article are passable in my opinion, but the fact that there is even one example that is a clone is inexcusable.
 
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