Thermaltake Tsunami and fan controllers

[CptStern]

I've been looking for a case + fan controller combo that will work together well. I like the Thermaltake Tsunami case but I'm still undecided as to what case I'll eventually buy. I'm leaning towards a high quality case without spending an arm and a leg (re: no lian li cases). I've narrowed it down to either the Tsunami, the Cooler Master WaveMaster, or the Antec p160 (not too excited about the p180) I'm worried that the door wont be able to close if I install a fan controller on the cases with a front door. Anyone use a fan controller with the Tsunami or the Wavemaster?

here's the Tsunami

here's the wave master:

here's the antec p160

what I want out a case:

quality
quiet
great cooling
solid construction


this is the fan controller I'm looking at:

cooler master aerogate 2

 

[coLE']

hehe - the case ownz i got 1 last year had for like 4 months and its silent.

2x 12cm fans and 1x8 cm on side

nice choice

 

[coLE']

(Tsunami btw)

 

[CptStern]

hehe - the case ownz i got 1 last year had for like 4 months and its silent.

2x 12cm fans and 1x8 cm on side

nice choice

anything you dont like about? ..how is it size wise? is there plenty of room to work with? does it have a removable mobo tray? what about hd cage?

 

[joule]

I have a Thermaltake Tsunami case. I'll answer your questions and tell you what I think about it when I get home from work tonight. (9PM EST)

 

[Ren.182]

I have the wave master... and to be honest its not the best at cooling...

 

[CptStern]

I have the wave master... and to be honest its not the best at cooling...

why's that? it seems to me that it's basically the same as the Tsunami? would you purchase it again? ..the only thing off putting about the wave master that I can think of is the dull finish on the front panel/door ..kinda looks like scuffed plastic ..but I do like cooler master products



thanks Joule



so .....anyone have a fan controller?

 

[rosseh]

I have an antec P180 and it's brilliant, and no silly boy racer side window!

It also boasts a very clever and unique air flow management system.

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=81800#

Brilliant case, had it a while and no problems, very quite considering I run 5 12cm fans in it, a 110mm CPU fan and a PCI exhaust.

(btw I know it's a bit OTT on fans, but a £3 fan is a lot cheaper than watercooling for now).

 

[CptStern]

not all psu's will reach bercause of where the psu cage is placed and there's not a heck of a lot of room plus there's cable routing issues ..this is from reviews I've read, I guess you'd know better than I do


also is the door close flush with the bays when the door is closed?

I'd like a fan controller so this may be of a concern

 

[Ren.182]

Well it has 2 80mm fans at the front (Behind the lights) and 1 80mm on the back. But the case is pretty long and 80mm's at the front aren't powerful enough in my opinion, and aren't pulling enough air into the case. Plus it tries to suck in air from any available place at the front of the case... like the spare CD drive ports etc... You can tell because dust collects there.

It's a decent case and the front finish isn't so bad really. The case is really light too. Just down to preference i guess.

 

[rosseh]

Door closes fine yeah, there's a gap in the doors sides, with vents right the way down. Hard to explain, but there's a gap there so that the fans at the front can pull in cool air even with the door closed. I might have a photo somewhere though that shows this.

http://www.rossmalpass.com/PC/wideangle_fan_small.jpg
http://www.rossmalpass.com/PC/open_front_small.jpg

The grill type things on the left hand side, fold round with the door, making a cm or so(bit more perhaps) gap between any drive bays and the door. (My room was a tip then)
As you can probably guess, the fifth 12cm fan, I made housing for myself .

If you have a PSU with decent length cables, then wiring is fine. You can make use of the chambers and tuck away excess wires quite easily.

 

[joule]

Ah, the Thermal Tsunami. I bought the one pictured here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133132

It has its benefits and its major flaws, but is still a very good case. Very, very quiet, with one 80mm and two 120mm fans all going allowing great ventilation. It's a very sleek and sexy case and shows off its mirror-shine finish very well. I honestly love the use and ease of the thumbscrews on the case, they're a blessing. Has feet on the bottom that extend outwards for better stability. Double-lock on front panel is a good idea, but I rarely use them. Easily accessible drive bays make it easy to hide cabling behind. The easily removable HD cage is a plus. Comes with a cloth specifically for polishing the case. Dust screen in front, audio/USB hook-ups on top are more accessable than on the bottom front of a case. 5.25 inch drive bays slide into place (no more need for screws!). There is room for 5 HDs. Slots for PCI/PCI-E have a plastic snap-in (so no screws necessary!).


The not-so-good aspects of the sleek, sophisticated case...
I've installed the fan controller into the front of the case which occupies one of the drive bays. Problem is, with this installed you can't close the door panel all the way to flush with the case itself. A big annoyance, but I deal with it and just close it as far as possible. Both dials control the two 120mm fans on the front and back and a watt meter displays how many watts are being used. I don't really see the point there, I'd much rather have it display my case temperature instead. The plugs for the built-in USB and Firewire ports are not integrated into a single plug, so have the tweezers ready (and your reading glasses if you're of a certain age). It also feels small when installing components.

Oh, it does not have a removable motherboard tray.

What's lacking in convenience, it makes up for in looks. Still the best case I've had thus far.

 

[CptStern]

thanks guys very helpful, the sort of info I cant find in reviews. Joule a few things..

what brand of fan controller do you have? is it just that the knobs protrude too far (I'm assuming the one on the far left) for the door to close? What's the construction like? is it solid throughout?

 

[joule]

The fan controller I have is the one that came with my PSU, Thermaltake PurePower 500W pictured here. The fan controller is pictured here. And yes, it's the knobs that protrude out too far. I could fix this by pushing the whole thing deeper inside the drive slot but that would only make it look worse and more difficult to control. I don't know what you mean by "the one on the far left".

Uh...The construction? Well, it's an aluminum case with a removable window side panel, although it does feel rather flimsy. It does have a lockable safety side-panel feature and alarm. Overall, this case is solid. The layout is well thought-out; I especially appreciate the attention in design of the drive bays.

 

[CptStern]

The fan controller I have is the one that came with my PSU, Thermaltake PurePower 500W pictured here. The fan controller is pictured here. And yes, it's the knobs that protrude out too far. I could fix this by pushing the whole thing deeper inside the drive slot but that would only make it look worse and more difficult to control. I don't know what you mean by "the one on the far left".

Uh...The construction? Well, it's an aluminum case with a removable window side panel, although it does feel rather flimsy. It does have a lockable safety side-panel feature and alarm. Overall, this case is solid. The layout is well thought-out; I especially appreciate the attention in design of the drive bays.

what I meant about the far left is that I thought your fan controller was more like this ..in which case even if you didnt have the knobs on the left side like in this fan controller

do you think this fan controller will solve the problem of the door closing? and as to how well the case is contructed, I'm asking cuz aluminum cases tend to be thin and can actually be quite noisey if you have loud components (my 7800gt is loud, in sli it will be really loud)

 

[CptStern]

The fan controller I have is the one that came with my PSU, Thermaltake PurePower 500W pictured here. The fan controller is pictured here. And yes, it's the knobs that protrude out too far. I could fix this by pushing the whole thing deeper inside the drive slot but that would only make it look worse and more difficult to control. I don't know what you mean by "the one on the far left".

Uh...The construction? Well, it's an aluminum case with a removable window side panel, although it does feel rather flimsy. It does have a lockable safety side-panel feature and alarm. Overall, this case is solid. The layout is well thought-out; I especially appreciate the attention in design of the drive bays.

what I meant about the far left is that I thought your fan controller was more like this ..in which case even if you didnt have the knobs on the left side like in this fan controller the door still wouldnt close

do you think this fan controller will solve the problem of the door closing? and as to how well the case is contructed, I'm asking cuz aluminum cases tend to be thin and can actually be quite noisey if you have loud components (my 7800gt is loud, in sli it will be really loud)

 

[coLE']

anything you dont like about? ..how is it size wise? is there plenty of room to work with? does it have a removable mobo tray? what about hd cage?

HD cage accessible from both front and back - the Mobo screws are easily acessible also.

The only problem i had was getting my fat ass PSU - MOBO 24 pin to fit had to ben t round some stuff but other than that nice

 

[joule]

do you think this fan controller will solve the problem of the door closing? and as to how well the case is contructed, I'm asking cuz aluminum cases tend to be thin and can actually be quite noisey if you have loud components (my 7800gt is loud, in sli it will be really loud)

I think that fan controller will solve the problem with the door not closing. The knobs don't seem to be protruding out that much. Hmm... I may consider getting that. Good choice.

And I don't believe that noise will be that much of an issue. I'm running two 7800GT's and it's not that loud at all. Only when you turn the fan speeds up to max it gets loud. It remains quiet for the most part.

 

[CptStern]

ya I think the fan controller will help with noise levels ..but my current case is crappy and has none of the quiet features I want out of a case. I'm starting to weed out all other cases and will probably eventually get a Tsunami

oh and the fan controller is a Cooler Master Aerogate 2 ..might have a hard time finding it cuz it's an older model ..the newer model: the cooldrive 4 is twice as expensive but adds hd cooling with a built in fan. I really like the Thermaltake Hardcano 13 but it's almost $100 and I dont need most of the features ..but it sure does look nice

 

[joule]

Yeah. I know what you mean. I've just put some thought into getting a new fan controller without all those unnecessary features. Haven't decided which yet.

I remember having to choose between the Tsunami and the Soprano. Have you seen the Soprano by Thermaltake? It's really nice looking.

Edit: oooo! The Cooler Master CoolDrive 4 looks really nice. And it's black which'll match everything and not expensive at all.

 

[CptStern]

but hard to find it's $89 here in comparison the aerogate 2 is $39

ya I looked at the soprano but like the tsunami better ..the front bezel is a little too shiny imho and the tsunami just looks like it's higher quality




most useless pc product ever

 

[Alig]

If the Thermaltake Tsunami is anything like the Thermaltake Xaser, then the door should shut alright, there's about 1 inch of room from what i can tell on my case with the fan controller that came with the case (http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Chassis/fulltower/xaser3/1000d.asp) so i don't see why any other wouldn't. Oh and i'm sure it will be quiet, i've got in total 7 case fans, a 92mm fan on cpu, 2 on my PSU, one of mobo, one on graphics card and my girlfriend can quite easily get to sleep with it on and she is a REALLY light sleeper

 

[joule]

most useless pc product ever

rofl