Thermaltake Armor LCS VE2000BWS

[PAGETITLE=Introduction] There is little doubt that the Thermaltake Armor is one of those cases that most everyone can appreciate. It's spacious, looks great and is built well. Matt took a look at the case back in April, and walked away impressed. It was not jaw dropping, but delivered enough to earn itself an 8 out of 10 on our scale. Building upon the success of both the Armor and Kandalf cases, Thermaltake thought it was a good idea to create a new version of the case with the addition of water cooling. This was far from being a bad idea. The Armor is a big case and really allows water cooling enthusiasts to enjoy the benefits of having a large space to work in. However, there are a few people who love the idea of water cooling, but don't want to dive into the complete DIY realm of the hobby. That includes me. Personally, I enjoy water cooling however I am not knowledgable in the regard. I could throw together a water cooling rig just fine, but I am still a complete noob when it comes to understanding which parts are better than others, what metals not to mix with a certain type of coolant... and so on. Both my primary workstation and benchmarking PC run off of Corsairs N500, so that's evidence to the fact that I am not the type of person to plan out the ultimate solution with a DIY setup. However luckily enough, the N500 proves to be a great all-in-one solution that I've come to enjoy quite a bit. Being the noob that I am, I looked quite forward to receiving the Armor LCS to see just how easy it would prove to be to setup and use. Since this is the first time I've ever touched an Armor, I will give my experiences on the case overall as well. Closer Look The case arrived in a huge box... I am sure the mailman was pleased to deliver such a beast. I did not include photos of the box itself, because it apparently had quite a rough journey making it across the Continent to me in Canada. Upon opening, the first thing you will see is the case wrapped up in a strong blanket-like material used to prevent scratches. Chances are any scratches that will occur would be when you take the case OUT of the box, not during shipping. Good packaging job overall.. tight and secure. The case... weighs over 20Kg, so it was fun getting it out of the box easily. The easiest way way to lay the box down on it's side and pull on the styrofoam pieces to haul it out. After that, you can remove one piece of the foam, stand the case up and remove the other. This cheesecloth like material well wraps around the case, so I had to lift up each end to get it free. I apologize for the less than ideal images. I am in a small room, and this is a huge case, so you will see my bedroom randomly. That said, here is the case! It's hard to see from this photo, but compared to the NZXT Apollo in the background, there is no comparison. The Armor could eat both the Apollo and Lexa for dinner. As a whole, the case is very stylish. The front has two small doors on hinges that open up to install a new CD-Rom, media panel or whatever have you. The left door lets you in on a little secret... the name of the case. The hinges on these doors... show the quality that has gone into the case. These are not cheap, and you will never see them come loose, at least hopefully. Very strong looking design. The entire front is full of drive bays, although 2 - 5 are the only ones useable by drives. The bottom six have the radiator directly behind them, so air is sucked through here to keep it cool. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Closer Look] Good air circulation is something Tt believes in well, and that's evidenced by the top of the case. Here we have an open air honeycomb design, to let fresh air seep in, or depending on your fan setup, it could be a release for warm air. Also here are a few USB ports, firewire port and audio ports. The top drive bay is where the power and reset buttons are located. Also here are the HDD and Power LEDs. As it should be, one side is completely clean of anything. Looking through the back, you can see styrofoam a plenty. Two keys also adorn this side, which must be cut off. The key is to lock the side panel on, though it's up to you whether or not you actually need to lock it. The back as a whole... is like most other cases. You can see the top 80mm fan and middle 120mm fan also, both being for exhaust. The four circles below the top fan can be popped out if you want to go with an external radiator.. the tubes can go in this way. When you first unpackage the tower, the entire window side will be coated with a film of plastic that is easy to remove, and leaves absolutely no residue. The door has two latches used to remove it from the case, and also the keyhole. It's becoming increasingly clear that Tt wants you to receive the case in great condition, because they fill any available space with styrofoam. In behind these pieces are two small boxes, with all of the water cooling related contents. The first thing I pondered after removing the inside contents was "Holy holes", because this case is chock full of them. Beside the usual motherboard holes, there are many more scattered about. In general, it allows you to customize the inside of your case to your liking, with the ability to screw in a piece of hardware near anywhere. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Closer Look Cont.] Let's take a stroll through the case to see what it offers. First we have some slot openings... nothing new here. However, Tt makes it incredibly easy to remove and add a new card. Simply flip the green tab and remove the card, or push it down to secure it. On the other side though, in order to remove the actual metal blocker, you will need to grab a flathead screwdriver and pull the bottom piece in order to remove it. This is to assure that the metal blockers will not "fall" out when moving the case I suppose. Up top we have the large blue LED 120 fan, and also the motherboard guard. If you, like me, always remove this, it's a simple two screws away. Most cases allow you to simply pop it out, but not here. You would hurt yourself, as it's nearly impossible without unscrewing it first. The slots for the CD-Roms are of interest, because this is by far the easiest method I have seen. Simply grab a hold of both tabs to lift the piece of plastic up, insert your device, and secure the plastic piece again. Simple, and secure. The bottom six slots allow for 6 hard drives, which would be slid into the chrome bracket. This is used somewhat as a dampening device, as the drives would not be touching your case directly. It's hard to capture on camera, but behind this chrome plate is the radiator... long enough to handle dual 120mm fans. The outtake and intakes are at the very bottom. The case gets more interesting near where you would normally place your power supply. Instead of installing your PSU horizontally, you install it vertically, and to the left side. To the right of it is where you can install up to three hard drives. Behind these hard drives is the 80mm exhaust fan that we seen earlier. If you run incredibly hot drives, such as the 750GB Seagates, you may be able to turn this fan around in order to cool them quicker. Depending on your airflow setup, that may defeat the purpose. However, by default it will be used as an exhaust. Here, in all of it's glory, are the water cooling related contents. We have the pump and tank, two bottles of coolant, the block, tubes and all of the required screws. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Installation] If you have never put together a water cooling rig before, don't worry. The included manual is well detailed, so you should have no problems at all. You can see a sample below. All of the pages are as detailed, so it's really hard to go wrong. Before installing the motherboard, you need to install this see-thru plastic film to specific areas of the motherboard to prevent the board from touching any of the metal. I had only needed to use this single piece, but if you have a different style motherboard, it may vary. After installing the 9 or so motherboard mounts, you can throw your motherboard in. You will note that everything is well installed in the below photo, but I foolishly did not install the waterblock first. It may vary depending on what CPU you are using, but the 775 method requires you install a bracket on the backside of your motherboard prior to installing the board into the case. Don't make the same foolish mistake like I did. This is by far the first time I've done this, so apparently I never learn my lesson. Next up was the hard drive... again not the next step. It was quite easy to install though... just slide it in and screw into place. Could not be easier. Before installing the hard drive here though, that cage can be removed, and -needs- to be in order to fit the PSU in properly. So first remove this, install the power supply and re-insert it. As you may have noticed in an earlier photo, there is an additional 80mm fan included with the case. This is where it can be mounted... the direct top of the case. It will exhaust the warm air to the outside, or vice versa depending on your fan arrangement. Time for the water cooling installation! First up are all of the included accessories, screws, brackets, et cetera. My installation is with a 775 system as mentioned, so it will be different than if you are installing to a 939/940 or AM2. First thing I had to do was remove the motherboard and clean up the CPU, and install the first bracket to the back of the motherboard. The back bracket is comprised of three different parts... one silver thick mount, followed by a black thin mount, similarly shaped. Finally, there is a thick similar shaped foam mount that has a sticky side for you to affix everything properly. Finally, you can line up the screw holes, secure it, and move on. Here you can see the long screws that were fed through. So far so good! The next step is to apply a washer to each one of the screws, followed by a few stand offs. Behold... the...

Thermaltake Armor LCS VE2000BWS

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Rob Williams