Thermaltake's Xaser III Skull Series - A Case For the Tough Guy
by Purav Sanghani on March 11, 2004 4:20 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Hardcano
The VM3000A also features an updated design that includes an rheobus, which Thermaltake calls the Hardcano. This module can be removed just like, and can be replaced with, a normal 5-1/4" drive. The panel itself has an LED display with a 2 color backlight: blue for normal temperatures, and red for the alarm mode. The display shows the user specified alarm temperature on top and the current CPU temperature below. A temperature alarm can be set by an inset dial using a small flat screw driver. When the temperature rises past the set alarm, the Hardcano produces an audible alert along with the red backlight display. On the right half are 2 dials to control the speed of 2 case fans connected directly to the power supply. This number seems insufficient, since there are a total of 4 fans installed. There are also twin ports for USB and a port for firewire capabilities. A disadvantage to the included fire wire adapter cable is that it needs to be taken out externally through the back and plugged in to a fire wire card on the back panel.
Click to enlarge.
Though the Hardcano has a plethora of features, it also has an overabundance of wiring, especially for the USB ports. The bundle of wires to connect the USB ports to the motherboard are separated with their own plugs, which can be time consuming and frustrating to plug in and also confusing, since the labels are not standard.
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KristopherKubicki - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
Purav has been with us for a couple years, but this is his pilot review :) Congrats Purav - much better than my pilot ;)Kristopher
CZroe - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
"The Thermaltake Xaser III VM3000A's main feature is its completely screw-less design. Though it can be difficult to deal with some screw-less features, such as drive mounting rails, Thermaltake has done a great job with the design and construction of its chassis."Umm, I must know: Is it as "great" a job as the ThermalTake Xaser III chassis? I've already posted in the forums about it (See the URL below), but basically the chassis' screwless slot design prevented full-length PCI cards from being inserted even though the case had special slots to stabilize them (Full length PCI cards have a plastic handle which fits the slots).
There aren't enough pictures to tell if the case even has these slots, so I must ask :) Also, a better description of the "swing bar" is needed as well as an image. I'm still confused as to how it can stabilize a PCI card...
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=...
klah - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
Hey Purav, have any pictures of the interior with all of the components installed?sandorski - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
I got 1 of these cases 3 weeks ago, I really like it. The flashing light is kinda hokey, but overall the screwless design and appearance of the case really impress me. The case looks and feels solid.The review was entirely correct about installing the power supply, it is very difficult if the mobo, cpu, and cpu hs/fa is installed. I managed to get my old noisy 350watt Enermax in, but only after removing the rear fan shroud first.
tfranzese - Thursday, March 11, 2004 - link
Near identical to this SilverStone I looked at, but I dig the SST's looks far more. Anywho, I just wonder if the design flaws were fixed.Case I'm referring to is here: http://www.soundcardcentral.com/reviews/cases/sst-...