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Clash of the Titans - TT Tai Chi vs. CM Stacker 830

 by Joshua Buss on February 23, 2006 12:05 AM EST
55 Comments | Add A Comment
55 Comments
Cooler Master Stacker 830

Cooler Master's first Stacker received huge praise from the community for an abundance of space and a wealth of options in terms of how to place components inside the case. The 830 continues these traits, but extends them with a more stylish design and additional options aimed at making this a truly enthusiast-friendly case.


Click to enlarge.

While the Tai Chi is one of most massive cases that we've worked with lately, the Stacker 830 puts up a good fight. The case is extremely deep, with a total front-to-back measurement of 25½”. This is 4” longer than the Tai Chi – however, with the casters, the Thermaltake case is two feet tall - 3” taller than the Cooler Master. With the same relative size, but a significant difference in the two main dimensions, users will have to take care in selecting a unit that will fit where they intend to put their computer. Neither unit is that well suited for being on a desk, but with the flared feet, the Stacker might not look too bad.


Click to enlarge.

In this shot of the front, most of the various materials that make up the case are visible. Brushed aluminum is the predominant finish, but black painted steel, gray plastic, and a slightly darker gray plastic (now black plastic on many units) are all present as well. The front mounted ports are at the top, but face forward, and unlike the X1 reviewed last month, they don't get covered up when the door is closed. The recessed area above that is actually the front handle, and slightly in front of that is where the power button is located.


Click to enlarge.

The front-and-center Cooler Master logo is very nicely made - it was difficult to capture the real look of it, but this close up does a pretty good job. Overall, the fit and finish of the 830 is fantastic just like the logo. This is a stately case for the serious enthusiast just like the Tai Chi, but the approach to get to this feeling is pretty different.

The main design aspect that sets the cases apart is how complex the styling is. Where the Tai Chi is very monolithic, the new Stacker has quite a few intricacies and a whole lot of functionality. When the main door is open, some of this complexity is revealed.


Click to enlarge.

Like the Tai Chi and other similar cases, the 830 has many external 5¼” bays accessible externally, but only nine as opposed to the Tai Chi's eleven. Another difference is that the covers are vented in this case, and each one has a second filter behind the metal grill as well. The covers hold themselves in place very loosely, but aluminum flaps span the height of the case to provide additional holding power.

This next shot turned out much better as a collage of three separate pictures, and serves to show how these flaps and the front ports look up close.


Click to enlarge.

In this shot, we've opened the main door and left flap too, and towards the far right, the spring-loaded latch that keeps the door on its hinges is visible as well. Notice the ample spacing between ports and intricate molding of the plastic. Overall, this is one of the most unique port clusters that we've seen yet in terms of visual appeal, and although it might not appeal to everyone, its functional design is hard to criticize.


Click to enlarge.

Viewed from a more perpendicular angle, the layout of the top panel is easier to get a sense of. Two more USB 2.0 ports, the de-emphasized reset switch, and HDD activity LED are present along with the blue backlit power button. Cooler Master's choice to label these elements is certainly an issue of taste, but at least the font that they used is futuristic and consistent with the theme of the case.

Thermaltake Tai Chi (cont’d) Cooler Master Stacker 830 (cont’d)
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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.. heh

  • kalaap - 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.
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