Ongoing Thermaltake Tenor (1 Viewer)

[Trig]

Today I finally took the plunge after many weeks of procatinating and finally bought the Thermaltake Tenor HTPC case.

http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/tenor/silver/silver.htm

After a good couple of hours transplanting my hardware into the beasty I thought it might be a good idea to give you all a heads up on what I learnt and my opinions off this case.

First off here's what I currently have in my HTPC.

• ASUS P4P800 Deluxe Motherboard
  Intel P4 2.4 GHz
  nVidia Fx5900 XT
  Haupaugge PVR350
  Nexus PHT 3600 silent P4 heat sink and fan
  Sony DWQ28ASV 16X16X8 Dual Layer DVD Burner
  15Gb Quantum Fireball PATA HD (This is my system drive)
  80Gb Maxtor SATA HD (This is my recording drive)
  2x 200GB Maxtor PATA HD (Movies, Videos, Music, Pics etc store)
  512MB RAM

My first impressions of the case when the guy behind the counter handed it over to me was jeez thats big.... and heavy. The truth is this case is a pretty big desktop PC case (430mm wide x 460mm deep x 170mm high). Now as far as I'm concerend that's not a problem it will fit under my TV no probs and thats all that matters, buts it's definatley an issue so make sure it will fit before buying. Now a benefit of having a big case is that its a dream to work with.... initially. My Asus Mobo went in no probs and connecting up all the USB cables, LEDS, switches and the like was a doddle and plugging in my graphics card and PVR also went in a dream as I had loads of room to manouvre. Another bonus of this case is, if like me you have a load of hard drives then you can squeez them all in. But this is where the fun and games start. I had wired up the mobo, plugged in all the cards, put the hard drives in the two removeable caddies and then got stuck. The trouble is with the memory and graphics card in place you can't get one of the hard drive caddies in, so out come the RAM and the graphics card. In goes the hard drive caddie in goes the RAM and the graphics card. Nuts the hard drives sit right over the IDE1 and IDE2 connectors so I can't wire the hard drives up. Out comes the RAM and the graphics card and the hard drive caddie. Connect up the Hard drives put back the caddie and the RAM and the graphics card...nuts the SATA cable is fouled by the graphics card, out comes the..... you get the picture. The point is plan out how everything is going to go. This case will fit a hell of a lot of stuff but its a squeez.

One final thing, the case comes with three case fans. And on the whole they are pretty quite, My graphics card is the loudest thing in the case, but with CPU fan, graphics card fan, three case fans and two PSU fans the system certainly isn't quite and a fair amount of that noise does come from the case fans.

On the whole the Tenor for about 50 quid is a good option, it can fit a lot of drives, for a desktop, is pretty well speced and looks pretty neat too. Just remember its pretty darn big so make sure it's gonna fit before yoou get one.

 

[user_99]

Another bonus of this case is, if like me you have a load of hard drives then you can squeez them all in. But this is where the fun and games start. I had wired up the mobo, plugged in all the cards, put the hard drives in the two removeable caddies and then got stuck. The trouble is with the memory and graphics card in place you can't get one of the hard drive caddies in, so out come the RAM and the graphics card. In goes the hard drive caddie in goes the RAM and the graphics card. Nuts the hard drives sit right over the IDE1 and IDE2 connectors so I can't wire the hard drives up. Out comes the RAM and the graphics card and the hard drive caddie. Connect up the Hard drives put back the caddie and the RAM and the graphics card...nuts the SATA cable is fouled by the graphics card, out comes the..... you get the picture. The point is plan out how everything is going to go. This case will fit a hell of a lot of stuff but its a squeez.

Yep, I've the same in black and it looks really nice. That problem with HD is also confirmed, but I could solve it because I only use 2 HD drives, so it's not a great problem here for me.

One final thing, the case comes with three case fans. And on the whole they are pretty quite, My graphics card is the loudest thing in the case, but with CPU fan, graphics card fan, three case fans and two PSU fans the system certainly isn't quite and a fair amount of that noise does come from the case fans.

I use only one of the three case fans and with the cpu fan it's also ok.

BTW, there is also a nice similar thread about that topic: Themaltake Tenor vs Silverston LaScala LC11SM - Opinions

 

[gxtracker]

I purchased the Tenor as well a few weeks back, and have been using it nicely ever since.

You're right about making sure it fits first before you purchase it, because it is one of the biggest HTPC cases i've measured. Thankfully I still have an old 36inch CRT television, so the wall unit that the TV is actually in is pretty deep. deep enough that I can put the HTPC in the rack below it with the glass closed and still have enough ventalation room and room for cables in the back.

I never had a problem with the hard drive caddie, although im not sure which one you're talking about. If you're talking about the 3 1/2 slide caddie where the external 3 1/2 drives go then i can definatly see where you had problems. Instead I used the bottom support brace to hold the hard drives. it has a place to hold 2 drives that are right in front of the intake fan of the case, and since its at the bottom of the motherboard it doesnt interfere with any IDE or SATA connectors for me.

 

[user_99]

If you're talking about the 3 1/2 slide caddie where the external 3 1/2 drives go then i can definatly see where you had problems.

Ype, that's the place.

 

[andinaegnaeg]

I have also ordered the Tenor case. I'm still waiting on it but I already have some plans.

One plan is to remove all of the three case fans. The fron stays without fan but the rear is gonna get on 80mm Noiseblocker S1 @5V which can be mounted with an 60mm-80mm adapter on the outside. The second 60mm hole is gonna be closed with ducktape.
I hope I will get the case cool enough but it should work because the 80mm Noiseblocker sucks as much air as the two 60mm would do. Do front fan isn't needed anyway.

Also I want to get a Aerocool HT-101 CPU Cooler which is very quiet and could even run without a fan mounted at the cooler (passiv).

I have to give that a try. Has someone else experiences to make the Tenor rteally quiet???

user_99: which fan do you use and how does it work?

 

[cleao]

Take a look at one of the best cases for HTPC:
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-lc18.htm

:wink:

 

[andinaegnaeg]

I know the silverstone is very nice case but it has also a slightly different price! :wink:

 

[Trig]

I've been using the case for a few days and I have to say, for the price, the Tenor is ideal. I'm chuffed to bits withit. With regards to case fans I've found that the two rear fans are pretty quite, it's just the front fan, for me any way, which is a bit on the noisy side.

 

[user_99]

@user_99: which fan do you use and how does it work?

The one in the front and this one is not so noisy as the cpu fan

 

[andinaegnaeg]

You only use the front fan? Does the fan then suck the air out or blow it in? Normally it blows in and the 2 rears blow out.
I'm gonna get it today!

btw: I don't like that the front fan isn't really mounted but is screwed on the top and touches the case on the bottom and stucks between the case and a kind of edge on the case bottom. So the fan vibrates and the case makes the fan even louder. At the rear one ( I'm gonna throw both 60mm's out and replace them with one 80mm on the outside) I will use some rubber sticks instead of screws to avoid vibration.

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