Xaser III Aluminum: ThermalTake drops Chenming

Final Thoughts

Performance proved to be on par with what we expected.  Aside from the side panel enhancements, there were only a few changes made to the thermal dynamics of the case.  Although the case performed well, it did not completely blow away the competition.

It is not very often that we see a complete product turnaround inside of a revision.  Typically, we usually see a manufacturer add an additional fan to a chassis and call it “Version 2.0”.  Even though there are elements of the Chenming design still persistent in the V2000A, we can see that ThermalTake clearly spent a lot of time in the research and development department.  Several of the features on this case were simply spectacular.  We would classify this case as a truly tool less case; the only time we picked up a screwdriver during the entire review was to mount a floppy drive.  The additional side swinging panel and top mounted USB2 also proved themselves as near invaluable.

Unfortunately, it seems as though all this product development and a new manufacturer come at a price.  The model we reviewed today costs approximately 199USD (CompuHQ) and is only available in limited quantities. 

For many of us, that seems slightly expensive.  Many resellers offer two or three traditional first generation Chenming chassis for the price of one Xaser III aluminum.  The Japanese steel units are considerably cheaper, around 150-160USD.  Keep in mind though, many of the features found on the Xaser III will not show up on any other case available on the market.  Furthermore, all 7 fans are bundled in the case, although you will have to invest in an additional power supply.

ThermalTake is playing the same card as Cooler Master and Lian Li right now: high end, no holds barred.  The Xaser III easily competes with any Lian Li and Cooler Master unit on the market right now, even with the 200USD price tag.  We would like the price tag to come down a little on this unit, but just as the Xaser II had a high debut price, the Xaser III will come down in price eventually.  Buyers beware, however, you will need 24” IDE cables if you plan on connecting more than one drive per bus on this unit.

Enermax has a similar unit they are working on very hard to get to market, although it seems like ThermalTake has beat them to the punch.  ThermalTake has demonstrated they can stand tall with the big players in the case business, but will they emerge ahead of their world class competition?  Time will tell; stay tuned for more case reviews as we have new products from Enermax and Lian Li on the way!

Update: Directron has informed us that Casetek is the OEM manufacturer of both the Enermax and ThermalTake cases. Unfortunately, they seem unavailable for consumer purchase at this time.

Special thanks to ENPC.com for providing us with a sample Xaser III for this review