Clash of the Titans - TT Tai Chi vs. CM Stacker 830
by Joshua Buss on February 23, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
Now that we've compared these heavyweights in gory detail, it's time to decide a winner, right? Well, the tough part is that both cases are simply amazing, yet still have a couple of quirks. For starters, these were two of the easiest units that we've ever worked in, yet each one had small annoyances in this arena. The Tai Chi's automatic door is sweet, but turning four thumbscrews each time you want to open it up is not. Sure, one could leave only one screw in, but that's not really the ideal solution. Then there's the Stacker 830's great motherboard tray that eats itself away in normal usage. Again, a simple solution exists – perhaps one could just sand the sharp edges that sit at the entrance to these rails, but is that a perfect solution either?
Minor annoyances aside, these cases both cool amazingly well, offer loads of expansion, and look good to boot. What then are you gaining by spending the premium for the more expensive Tai Chi? First off, casters. On cases this large, it's amazing how much of a difference this simple addition makes. Also, the configurability of the 830 is awesome, but the myriad of various pieces and thinner aluminum construction left us questioning the unit's sturdiness over extended use. The Tai Chi leaves one feeling confident in taking a computer in it anywhere – it's really built like a tank. This, of course, makes the Tai Chi heavier as well, but who are we kidding - neither of these is remotely near “ultra portable” status.
When it comes right down to it, these are both units that an extreme enthusiast with funds aplenty will want to consider seriously for their next mega-rig. We see there being just a few key factors that will sway a potential buyer in the appropriate direction. In no particular order, here's a list of factors, an opinion of what case does a better job in each category, and the degree to which that case beats the competitor. (In order from most to least severe: Extreme, Substantial, Somewhat, Minor).
The 830's pros are its ease-of-use and configurability options out-of-the-box (to get BTX support with the Tai Chi, one has to buy the appropriate rear plate separately). For roughly $70 or so less (~$250), the Stacker 830 gets a strong nod of approval from us for value, which along with the fantastic performance and great ease-of-use also almost justifies its relatively high price too.
We want to extend our congratulations to both companies for pushing the envelope in case design – desktop computer cases simply don't get much better than this, and if these designs are any indications of things to come in this industry, the case and cooling world is in for a treat.
Now that we've compared these heavyweights in gory detail, it's time to decide a winner, right? Well, the tough part is that both cases are simply amazing, yet still have a couple of quirks. For starters, these were two of the easiest units that we've ever worked in, yet each one had small annoyances in this arena. The Tai Chi's automatic door is sweet, but turning four thumbscrews each time you want to open it up is not. Sure, one could leave only one screw in, but that's not really the ideal solution. Then there's the Stacker 830's great motherboard tray that eats itself away in normal usage. Again, a simple solution exists – perhaps one could just sand the sharp edges that sit at the entrance to these rails, but is that a perfect solution either?
Minor annoyances aside, these cases both cool amazingly well, offer loads of expansion, and look good to boot. What then are you gaining by spending the premium for the more expensive Tai Chi? First off, casters. On cases this large, it's amazing how much of a difference this simple addition makes. Also, the configurability of the 830 is awesome, but the myriad of various pieces and thinner aluminum construction left us questioning the unit's sturdiness over extended use. The Tai Chi leaves one feeling confident in taking a computer in it anywhere – it's really built like a tank. This, of course, makes the Tai Chi heavier as well, but who are we kidding - neither of these is remotely near “ultra portable” status.
When it comes right down to it, these are both units that an extreme enthusiast with funds aplenty will want to consider seriously for their next mega-rig. We see there being just a few key factors that will sway a potential buyer in the appropriate direction. In no particular order, here's a list of factors, an opinion of what case does a better job in each category, and the degree to which that case beats the competitor. (In order from most to least severe: Extreme, Substantial, Somewhat, Minor).
The 830's pros are its ease-of-use and configurability options out-of-the-box (to get BTX support with the Tai Chi, one has to buy the appropriate rear plate separately). For roughly $70 or so less (~$250), the Stacker 830 gets a strong nod of approval from us for value, which along with the fantastic performance and great ease-of-use also almost justifies its relatively high price too.
We want to extend our congratulations to both companies for pushing the envelope in case design – desktop computer cases simply don't get much better than this, and if these designs are any indications of things to come in this industry, the case and cooling world is in for a treat.
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Tamale - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
I made the most prominent mention of it right before the sound chart:"With the finding that the Tai Chi cools just as well as the Stacker 830 with half as many fans, one has to wonder if that means that the Thermaltake fans are making substantially more noise. To see if that's the case, we used our sound pressure level (SPL) meter and rated the system's noise subjectively on a scale from 1 to 10."
Even without taking the fans into consideration, the two cases' temperatures were very, very close. Look at the HTPC roundup to see how much they've different in the past.
JoshuaBuss - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
1) It's ok for different people to have different definitions of 'high-end'. For me, a great case for a decent price is higher-end than a case that costs twice as much and doesn't offer as much.2) I mention the passive radiative design of the Tai Chi as a benefit, but perhaps didn't stress enough that the design is for the most part a waste unless one attaches additional cooling equipment to the sides so that conduction of heat to the fins would actually take place. What is true is that the case cools exceptionally well with only two fans. Is it the fins helping? While certainly I agree with you that they're not helping that much, I would still say that they're helping a little.
3) The cage itself lacks any active defense against vibrations unfortunately. Its design is of thinner material that has more bends to it, so inherantely it will aborb a little bit of the vibrations, but not much. We really preferred CM's cage in this regard, for this and the 4 drive capacity. That being said, seagate barracuda drives are still very, very quiet in the Tai Chi.
fsardis - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
making the case out of alu does help dissipate heat from inside. the hot air does make the alu hotter and the fins increase the contact area with the ambient air.the only proper argument against the heat sink design is that although it has fins to dissipate heat outside, it doesnt have a large contact area inside so the hot air of the interior wont transfer heat to the alu as fast. then again all this applies only in cases of passive cooling. with active cooling the whole heatsink design is wasted since the hot air gets thrown out and fresh air comes in.
i am the owner of a stacker 830 and i am disapointed to say the least. there is not a single spot in the case to mount even a single water cooling rad. having read so many reviews on the net about how this case is good for water cooling, i seriously question the validity of other reviewers and not of the anandtech reviewer.
ATWindsor - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
I doubt the difrence between fins and no fins when the side only has contact with air is within uncertanties int he measurments, i see it as little more than a gimmick. And aluminum in itself also have little improvment in heat (over steel).LoneWolf15 - Thursday, February 23, 2006 - link
can be a pain already, but the dual-doors like on the Tai Chi are worse than a single one, IMO. It can make it really hard to put a case under a desk, or in a small area, and I would get really tired of having to open two doors every time I wanted access to one of my drives (which is why I got an Antec P-160, which stealths the optical/floppy drives quite nicely without needing doors).I like the CoolerMaster's design. Still not a fan of a door on a case, but it seems cleaner than Thermaltake, whose cases have always come off as somewhat gimmicky to me.
Good review, guys.
JoshuaBuss - Thursday, February 23, 2006 - link
The dual-doors aren't really as bad as you'd might think, but yes, it will definitely be a problem unless you have a large open space to the left of the tower... that is of course only if you care about opening it at all.. hehkalaap - Thursday, February 23, 2006 - link
I don't think this case is made for small spaces.latino666 - Thursday, February 23, 2006 - link
Uhh I can't see the pictures anyone know reason why?Also I did use Firefox and IE
ATWindsor - Thursday, February 23, 2006 - link
For some odd reason i don't get up pictures on anand anymore if i disable referer-logging, could that be the case for you?TallCoolOne - Thursday, February 23, 2006 - link
I also cannot see the pics, and also tried both Firefox and IE.