Thermaltake Armor Series

[starmanwarz]

I am building a new gaming pc soon(Q6600/E6850,8800 GTS/2900XT)and after some search I found the Thermaltake Armor Series.There are 3 options:1st.with a side fan 2nd.without a side fan and 3rd.with a watercooling kit.Are these cases any good?Which one should I go for?Note that I know knothing about watercooling,so if I decide to go for the Armor LCS,will it be easy for me to install it?And what about its performance?There are also the Kandalf series,but they look the same in terms of performance with the Armor series.Any feedback/other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[maverick7]

The thermaltake armor is absolutely amazing. I suggest the one with the side fan in it..
The case is wonderfully built, very solid, extremely nice looking and well worth it in my opinion.

you could also go with a antec 900 which is much cheaper but is a lot smaller and isnt as nice. But it is cheaper and cools well.

 

[chuckshissle]

Yes, Armor/Kandalf are one of the best case you can out there. Very expensive but well worth it especially if you're into modding and putting lots of hardware inside it. Or you can get a $50 case and use the extra money for the 8800GTX. The Q6600 will be a great choice for your system. Don't spend much on ram, just get 2x1Gb DDR2 533. Like I said spend the most money on the graphics card and you'll get the best gaming improvement.

 

[smokedyou911]

Chuck... that is bad advice, he can buy ddr2 800 with 4-4-4-12 timings for not much more, and run that in 1:1 ratio with his cpu.

 

[starmanwarz]

Ram will probably be a pair of crucial ballistix 800 4 4 4 12.

 

[chuckshissle]

If you don't overclock then don't spend much on ram. And smockedyou911 the 1:1 ratio is overrated and shows no stability and performance gain. It's ideal but not important at all. Running Q6600 at 1:1 ration will require DDR2 533 not 800.

What resolution will you be playing Starmanwarz? The rams will you can get 800mhz anyways, rams are cheap these days.

 

[starmanwarz]

1280x1024.Any other thoughts on these cases?

 

[Arctucas]

Well, actually six types; the Armor is available in aluminum or steel construction, so three options for each equals six.

 

[chuckshissle]

If you buy the Armor with the 250mm side panel fan. Be careful since them high performance cpu heatsink fans may not fit at all. The 250mm reduces the headroom for the cpu cooler by over an inch.

The Thermalright Ultra-120 and Ultra-120 Extreme will not fit with the Armor/Kandalf with the 250mm side panel fan.

If you can afford it then go for it, I have the Kandalf (similar to Armor) and I love it. At $200 though you can easily spend that extra cash to other components like the graphics card where it matters the most.

But then again you at 1280x1024 rez you can get the 8800GTS 320Mb to run games, but with the 8800GTX it will be better with games like Crysis.

The case is excellent for builders and modders and also with water cooling. I have one myself, check my vid.