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Thermaltake shoves SATA HDD docks into V9 BlacX Edition PC enclosure
PC chassis enthusiasts (yeah, there is such a thing) will surely know that Thermaltake's V9 Black Edition has been out for a couple of years now, but there's evidently quite a bit of difference in the V9 BlacX Edition. Aside from that awkward letter change, of course. The otherwise ho hum mid-tower enclosure -- complete with a black outer shell, seven PCI expansion slots and a grand total of ten drive bays -- spruces things up by offering a pair of SATA HDD docks right on the front panel. Basically, the company took one of these right here and smashed it into the front of its newest enclosure. With it, you'll able to shove any spare 2.5- or 3.5-inch SATA hard drive right into your system for quick access, all without needing an external peripheral to do it. In fact, we just made a promise to ourselves to never buy another case without this kind of magnificent integration. Check it this August for $99.
Thermaltake's Challenger keyboard fans off our sweaty palms
As crazy as Thermaltake's fan-equipped keyboard is, we're sort of shocked that something like this hasn't made it to market earlier. The gaming keyboard comes with a small 6,000rpm fan that plugs into the top of the panel and blows air across it to keep your tired, perspiring hands cool. We expected it to be a total gimmick, but the fan actually moves a decent amount of air for its size. Beyond the added blades, the keyboard is of the typical "clicky" mechanical variety and has two USB ports along with a mic / headphone jack on its backside. The Challenger Ultimate is the most premium version with 256 backlight cool options, 64KB of memory and 14 macro keys. The mid-range Challenger Pro only has 10 macro keys, while the entry level Challenger has only 6 and 32KB of memory. A marketing rep on hand told us that all three models will retail for under $100, and mentioned the Pro version landing in the $65 range. In other news, Thermaltake also introduced its red-glowing, 4000dpi Black gaming mouse at the show. We know you're probably dying to see what that small fan feels like (trust us: it's exactly what you think), but the best we can give you from here are the shots below. %Gallery-94358%
Wooden Level Eleven PC gets inspiration from Thermaltake Level 10 chassis
Let's face it -- if you had a never-ending stack of cash and a computer room with no particular size constraints, you too would own a Thermaltake Level 10 enclosure. Regrettably, both financial and square footage constraints do indeed play major roles in most of our lives, including one Jeffrey Stephenson. This fine gentleman is quickly becoming the Ben Heck of wood-grained mods, this time cranking out a lovingly crafted iteration of the aforesaid chassis, but with that special wooden flair. The Level Eleven gets its inspiration from the gargantuan Level 10, but rather than taking things even bigger, Jeff decided to scale things down a notch; in fact, he constructed a fully functional PC within the handmade enclosure, all based around a VIA Pico-ITX mainboard and a 1.2GHz VIA Nano CPU. Thanks to the onboard VX855 media processor, this (comparatively) diminutive machine boasts an HDMI output and enough horsepower to pump out 1080p sans lag -- but it doesn't seem as if this bad boy is officially for sale. Not that he'd reject a five-figure offer or anything...
Level 10 gaming chassis gains Asetek liquid cooling solution
We're guessing that most Level 10 owners spend more time dusting off their chassis than actually using it for "computing purposes," but those that have been pinching their pennies in order to snag one now have yet another reason to do so. Asetek, which knows a thing or two about system cooling, has teamed up with iBuyPower in order to deliver the first and only liquid cooling option for what's quite possibly the planet's most astounding PC enclosure. The pain? Not a dime, as the option is now standard equipment on systems that include the case. Huzzah! %Gallery-85267%
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Desktops
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Let's face it, not everyone needs (or wants) to carry their computer around on the daily routine. Sacrificing portability can have its advantages -- and while nettops and all-in-one PCs have become a much more dominant force this year, the traditional, highly upgradeable desktop tower is still the reigning bang-for-the-buck champ. Just make sure your certain special someone has enough desk real estate for whatever potentially-enormous chassis you decide to take home and wrap. %Gallery-80501%
BMW-designed Thermaltake Level 10 scores breathless review
As PC cases go, the Level 10 is easily the most outrageous design to ever get the go-ahead for commercial distribution, and according to PC Perspective the reason for that is clear: the product's workmanship and long-term durability match its most excellent looks. Weighing in at nearly 50 pounds of densely packed aluminum, the Level 10 sports a modular design with room for six hard (or solid state) drives, three optical drives, multiple jumbo-sized GPUs, and even an appropriately huge power supply. Alas, the one shortcoming of all this supersizing (apart from the price) is pretty big in itself -- the case turned out to be so large as to make it impossible to connect some components with their standard cabling. We'll call that a newbie filtration feature and continue to hope someone loves us enough to buy us one.
iBuyPower nabs exclusive rights to sell Thermaltake Level 10 pre-built systems
So, there are two nagging issues surrounding Thermaltake's awe-inspiring Level 10 enclosure. First, it's $850 and nearly impossible to find in stock; second, you best know how to piece together a full-blown rig yourself, 'cause you won't find this beast hanging around at infrequently visited corners of Dell or HP. Somehow or another, however, iBuyPower has managed to swoop in and remedy quandary number two. As of today, it's the exclusive provider of pre-built systems using this case, with base configurations boasting Intel's Core i7-920, a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, a 128GB SSD boot drive, 1TB of storage space and a Blu-ray drive. Feel free to spec this one out 'til your heart's content, but be mindful of that already-lofty $2,499 starting tag. %Gallery-79948%
Thermaltake Level 10 now shipping, ready to rock your socks and wallet off
Thermaltake's Level 10 PC chassis, a 47-pound beautiful behemoth in every way, has completed its almost exactly 9-month march from a March design unveiling to a "now shipping" retail page on Newegg. At $849.99, it ain't cheap, but let's not forget what's really important here: it fits three Blu-ray writers. Happy shopping / minor debt! [Thanks, Keenan]
Thermaltake's brain-melting Level 10 PC chassis gets real, unboxed
Remember that Thermaltake enclosure that blew your mind back in March? Of course -- you're still recovering, after all. Fast forward to today, and that very case -- which had a hint of BMW influence, by the way -- has morphed into reality, and it's far and away one of the most fabulous cases we've ever seen. Amazingly, the finished product looks awfully similar to the concept, with each compartment boasting its own ventilation. There's room for pretty much anything you'd ever want (yes, even room for three Blu-ray writers), and of course, enough LEDs are included to light up the average night club. You should also know that the shipping container weighed 66 pounds and the chassis itself is probably larger than your eight year old, so unless you've got more square footage than you know what to do with, you're probably better off viewing the unboxing shots (there in the via link) from afar.[Via Maximum PC]
BMW designs PC case for Thermaltake
This new case for the fashion-forward PC gamer was dreamt up by the design wizards at BMW's Designworks USA. Instead of throwing all the components in what essentially amounts to one big box (like practically every other case), Thermaltake's Level 10 sees all the machine's components -- mobo, hard drives, optical drives, and so forth -- seated in their own compartments. Constructed mainly from aluminum, this guy will make its official debut at Computex in early June. In the meantime, hit the read link for some more spy photos taken on the floor at CeBIT.[Via Car Scoop]
Micro refrigerated ThermalTake Xpressar case promises to outcool liquid cooling
Still somehow not satisfied by the vast array of PC cooling options at your disposal? Then perhaps ThermalTake's new Xpressar case will suit your excessive ways, with it boasting what the company claims is the first DC inverter type micro refrigeration cooling system to be used in a PC case. That system, which is more or less a reworked air conditioner, promises to keep your components 20°C cooler than your average liquid cooling system, and a full 40°C cooler than a regular air cooling system, although the folks at DarkVision Hardware seem to be a bit skeptical of ThermalTake's testing methods. You also won't be able to use any old motherboard with it, with only a handful from ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI supported, but the case itself seems to be more than accommodating enough for the rest of your components. No word on a price just yet, but you can pretty safely bet you'll be paying a premium to be a part of this particular "world's first" endeavor.[Thanks, Thomas]
Thermaltake's V1 CPU cooler sure is real purty
Usually the terms "enthusiast cooling equipment" and "sexy, sexy" don't go hand in hand, but Thermaltake has here an exception that proves the rule. This here V1 CPU, which retails for $60, can handle a nice assortment of Core 2 and Athlon processors, but we'd rather just set it up on a table somewhere and stare at the pretty lights. That's a red dot design award well earned.[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Thermaltake's DH 102 HTPC chassis rocks 7-inch touchscreen
We know, not everyone sits within touching distance of their HTPC, but tossing a seven-inch touch panel into such a chassis provides excellent bragging rights if nothing else. Thermaltake's DH 102 HTPC enclosure manages to include just that, along with a piano black mirror coating and aluminum front panel, wireless remote, front-mounted jog dial, USB 2.0 / FireWire ports, built-in Media LAB interface, and space for a number of internal hard drives. Unfortunately, pricing details have yet to be released, but if it ends up a bit too pricey for you, there's always the DH 101 that forgoes the snazzy (albeit potentially unnecessary) touchscreen and replaces it with a smaller LCD (or none at all).[Via DarkVision Hardware]
ThermalTake's gawdy iFlash+ PC fan reviewed
So we recently threw together a little rig of our own, and though we made sure to toss in at least four fans for keeping everything nice and cool, we has no idea that for a lot more money we could get ones that pull double duty as obnoxious billboards for flashing the internal temperature. So would we have done things differently had we known about ThermalTake's iFlash+ 120mm model with built-in POV (persistence of vision) display? Of course not, don't be silly. But for those of you who take pride in shlocking up your case mods as much as possible, Dark Vision Hardware reports that the iFlash+ does indeed live up to the hype, basically giving you the performance of ThermalTake's TT-1225A coupled with a bright, readable, and mostly pointless bit of ambient information. Reviewer Thomas gives the lively air mover a nine out of ten rating, harshing on it only for its curious but rather minor omission of a Fahrenheit mode (i.e. all temps are shown in Celsius). Still, you're not spending triple the price of a regular fan because of your need for real-time, completely accurate data anyway, so it's probably best to say that this product will be most pleasing to anyone who would actually consider buying it. If that's you, make sure to check out the vid after the break...
Thermaltake kicks out Quad GPU-ready power supplies
There's just nothing quite like the smell of four graphics cards burning through energy in the morning to get you amped for the day, and Thermaltake is making sure you've got the juice and the connectors to make it happen. While not quite as mighty as Ultra Products' 2,000-watt behemoth, the 1,200- and 1,000-watt Toughpower PSUs support both AMD and Intel rigs and boast a trio of six-pin PCI-E connectors, eight SATA and Molex ports, and both units claim the "world's first" tag by collectively being numero uno to include eight-pin PCI-E connectors. The backwards compatible ports allow gamers to hit up a bit of Quad SLI action on their own, and considering the massive power draw demanded by such cards, it's good to know you've got so much energy on tap for those graphically straining firefights. Although there's no pricing information available just yet, the W0133 / W0132 should be available soon, and if you're already considering throwing down for four high-end GPUs, we highly doubt cashflow is of primary concern.[Via FarEastGizmos]Read - Thermaltake Toughpower W0133Read - Thermaltake Toughpower W0132
