Thermaltake Kandalf... opinions?

I own this case and I have to say that it is bar far the best case I have ever owned or seen at lan parties. I go to lan parties frequently and get compliments all the time on how nice the case looks inside and out. I've had the case for over a year now and I'm thankful I got this beautiful chassis. It is incredibly durable and I don't plan on ever getting a new case until motherboards change form factor.

There is only one case that I love more than my Kandalf and that is the Silverstone tj09. I like this case more only because its all metal....and no plastic and it has a fan specifically for the gfx card, but thats not to say that the Kandaf lacks ventilation, in fact the ventilation properties are second to none.

The Kandalf offers supreme ventilation that one could only experience in order to understand it. The design a next to flawless...the only complaints that I have personally are that I dont like the cheap chinsy plastic thing on the top (I like the fan, but In my mod i wound up removing it), I dont like the ac 97 audio ports on top, and I dont like the screwless pci cheap plastic thingy. The screwless Optical drive racks are really nice and come in very handy, they are durable and absorb quite a bit of the noise optical drives create.

I modded my case (in the signature) to fix these issues, but other than that there is absolutely no complaints beyond my personal preference. This case is the kind of ase that I wish everyone had the money to buy, because I feel that everyone deserves a case as nice as the Kandalf.

Best of Luck
~3lfk1ng

yep, i got one of these beasts; i won't go thru every obvious feature tho ie side panel etc

good:
roomy
very good airflow and ventilation
air filters work but dont impact fans too much
very high build quality
buuilt like a tank
physuically impressive
has enopugh expansion for the next 5 years or so
front door healps cover a lot of the noise, especially if you have 3 hdds and 2 dvd burners whizzing along  

bad:
heavy (go for the aluminium version, its lighter)
fans r moderatrely loud, not quiet but not a turbo jet engine
pci tool less is junk
expensive - but worth it

Yeah, get the aluminum version (Silver) it weighs a lot less than the steel version....and deals with heat better because of the heat dissapation propeties.

aluminium or steel wont make any difference for the temp inside the case unless u hav some wacky cooling setup with heatpipes welded to the sides

cant memba the link, but one of the sites did testing with abt 5 cases, they tried the steel and aluminium versions of them, and the difference was negligible - abt 0.4C

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the aluminium version is slightly more expensive, abt 25-40AUD more here down under, and its also softer which is good for modding

as an afternote,

1)dont get the optional 430W psu deal - ye, its a bargain for 35 bux extra AUD, but google some of the reviews and you'll find that its real output is abt 250W, with unstable voltage rails

2)front doors have enough clearance unlike some other cases - mine fits an xfi platinum drive bay with abt 1 cm to spare; unless you buy some of TT's rediculously blinged up bays, it should be fine

Simple, sleek, modest, and spacious. Nothing gimmicky, and its of quality build. Its the shiznit.  

Heard only good results about it. Go for it.

Every degree count's, my friend....in overclocking and system performance .1degree can make all the difference. Now .4degrees is pretty darn good, I don't what the test results said.

If I could something to my processor in order to lower the temps to the slightest amount...I would do it.

Like I said earlier.....every degree counts

It's funny you mention this case. I was looking at it yesterday. Plenty of expension slot plus top mounted USB, Firewire and headphone output. Hard to beat!

To me it's pretty much the same as the Armor case but with closing door up front. It wouldn't force me to upgrade my DVDRW to a black model since it would be hidden behind that door, except for a few second when swapping disk. But for the 20 or so extra dollars it would cost me, I'll stick to the Armor case to keep access to my fan controler box at all time.

Both case are great by the way, especially the ones with 25cm side fan. Low rpm/noise and an extra 67.5 CFM of extra cooling power right onto your CPU and VPU :twisted: Add a Big Typhoon cpu cooler to the mix and you can easily beat even watercooled system for same noise output!!!

I'll send you picture of it next february when I'm upgrading :twisted: .

Every degree count's, my friend....in overclocking and system performance .1degree can make all the difference. Now .4degrees is pretty darn good, I don't what the test results said.

If I could something to my processor in order to lower the temps to the slightest amount...I would do it.

Like I said earlier.....every degree counts

sorry, should hav been more specific

the air temp isnide the case was .4C cooler, not the cpu temps
case shouldn't affect cpu temps anyway, unless you have airflow issues

Have one.
Big
Lots of room for fat old fingers to install teeny tiny stuff.
Big
good - room for everything including newly installed 8800X2 + a 6pak
Big
heavy - Oldguy not move so good no more after lugging bast*&^# across the $%#&*@# house. (on the other hand, maybe it was the 6pak)
Big
I like it enough to use it in very expensive computer armoir and was willing to "modify" back panel to get the thing to fit. Tightwad Oldguy willing to do that - must be good.
Big
May want to consider a few bucks toward a silencing kit for hard drives, fan mounts, psu etc.
Did I mention Big?
ok so buy it anyways

Did you consider "rubber" padding that are availablel to put between your fan and the case to absorb vibration?

For everybody elses here, does it really work as "advertise"? :wink:

I wanted to get some of them (sound reducing padding for fan) for my upcoming TT Armor case with 25cm side fan for my next computer in february. That fan is said to be quiet, but I didn't thing the other 120 and 90 mm ones would be loud.

If it doesn't make such a difference I might think about it twice before getting this case. The reason I'm not keeping my present case is because it's too loud and has more "Dremmel scar" on it than anything elses in my house. I "custom cut" 3 extra fan enclosure for 2*80mm fan and 1*92mm one. Since the fans on this Armor case are not of the same size, I don't want to purchase padding for 80mm fan that I'll have to throw away only to try the efficiency of that solution. At least my system runs cool :wink: .

Seriously, will adding padding betwen fan and the case will reduce the noise output?

Thanks for your input.

My son bought the Kandalf (aluminum) right after it came out last year. He has been very happy with the case. I recently bought both the Armor, and Armor Jr. (black steel) for myself. They are identical inside to the Kandalf. I regret not spending the extra for the aluminum case.

I also installed a TT Bigwater 735 system in the full size Armor case and would recommend that if your considering the Kandalf it would be a big bonus to buy the Kandalf LCS system. You get a better water cooling system than I have, integrated into the case, for less than half the cost of buying the water system separately. Don't be afraid of water cooling, the TT system is very easy to install. Just be careful to NOT over tighten the nuts on the water blocks. You don't need to bottom out the nut!!!

These cases are top quality with some nice extra features that only become obvious when you start to put your system together. There are some sharp edges around the 5.25" drive bays.

Good luck..........

Each silencing mod is incremental. Silencing pads for fans, silicon gel washers for drives, gasket for power supply, silicon fan mounting screws. At the end of the day, your goal is to eliminate the vibration transference between devices and the case. Those vibrations account for a significant portion of the high and low pitched noises. Hopefully what is remaining are the sounds actually generated by video card coolers, fan motors and associated air cavitation, all of which can be minimized by buying quiet stuff like the "silencer" series psu from PC power & cooling, better after market cpu & vga coolers and fans that move a lot of air at low rpm e.g. some of the arctic 120's (one of the better places to look for what you might like is silentpcreview.com and Xoxide.com carries a fairly extensive inventory.

Some believe that the way to go is to essentially seal the case except for the designed vents, which is possible and really works until the lack of ancillary airflow and venting causes major league heat problems in high performance situations. Even the minor gaps in cases provide some air and places for heat to escape. Always a tradeoff between comfortable levels of noise and performance. But big performance stressors/noise producers like high end games are offset by tuning the volume up a tad on your surround sound headphones/speakers.

[quote="NightlySputnik"]Did you consider "rubber" padding that are availablel to put between your fan and the case to absorb vibration?

For everybody elses here, does it really work as "advertise"? :wink:

I installed silicone gaskets for all my fans and PSU on my latest build, and yes I think they make a difference. We're not talking about spending a lot of money for silence. I also installed padding kits in the two Armor case's I just bought and that has helped too. On my Armor Jr. (no window) I used the padding to cover both side panels and the complete bottom of the case. It made a big difference in sound and cooling, in my opinion. I did the same for the full size Armor case but didn't pad the side w/window. If I turn down the volume (speed) on my radiator fan (external) my full size Armor case is almost completely silent. I'm also using a heat pipe video card and haven't experienced any heat problems at all, CPU temp runs 28C idle to 34C load and motherboard temp runs 29C constant. I am using water cooling on the CPU.

Good luck,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Thanks pcguru2 and oldhand for your input.

I think that my fan controller box with sound dampener padding will surely make this box quieter than the "modified generic" case I use now. That's what I'll try. At 3-4$ a pad, it won't be too expensive anyway to get a slim reduction of noise at worst.