RCL_LTD
Rated PG
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 Posted: Wed, 07 May 2008 21:50:11 Post Subject: |
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Thermaltake Lanbox VF1000BNS (EAN4712487780080)
It is my firm belief that hard drives are the hardest working component in today’s PC’s and therefore should be kept cool at all times. A simple modification to this case would make me (and a few other gamers) happy. First the curvature of the front bezel makes the end of any 3.5” device (i.e. card reader) stick out changing, lengthening or converting the to smaller slots provides greater comparability with multifunction I/O panels the other option is a new bezel design that allows the front folding door for CDROMS, the ability to add a 5.25” device (i.e. A2349, A2259 ect.) as this may compromise the structural integrity of the bezel the best option would be to remove the lower 7” opening as the case doesn’t support the touch screen anyways. With a slight modification to the mountings that hold the bezel panel on it would be able to support a few different fan options. 1 centered 90/92mm fan or 2x80mm fans side by side (I measured the spacing between the power/reset and the front usb/1394 slots is exactly enough to fit 2x80mm fans). this idea was “borrowed” from the XION and seems to work quite well, that is if its not patented. The HDD cage could also be relocated and a fan cage could be attached to provide cool air right to left (or left to right) from outside, over the drives and out the other side. A “fan cage” could wrap around the fan (what ever size) and be screwed to the case (using a under mount design reminiscent of the "CORE-FAN" support on the sunbeam cases ). As the top of the case has a mesh design it provides an excellent option for airflow. And a fan up to 80mm could be places beside the power supply to blow cool air (or exhaust warm air) over the expansion slots, north bridge, south bridge ect. The only other thing that might be an option is moving the power and reset buttons from the right side, to the left side, removing the USB option all together and providing a 3rd 5.25” slot for an entire host of things (Media Dashboard). This case is very well built and I love the brushed front bezel and modular design. The removable tab for liquid cooling and the thumb screws that hold everything together are an inspired idea, and as always very well packaged. The only sign of “flimsiness” is when both the power supply and mother board tray are removed, and how often does that happen? Stock heat sinks seem to have no clearance issues to spite the fact the power supply sits directly above the CPU socket. Nor do any of the video cards I frequently use. With a few simple cable management items (split wire loom) cables are plenty long enough to be routed around the HDD cage and out of the way improving both looks and airflow. And although it seems that I am complaining I still have to rate this case a good 8 out of 10 as all my “adjustments” are not fully functional as much as aesthetic.
Keep up the good work
~Matthew~
P.S. does this work with Hard Drive Blue LED cooler A2427 or A2375? |
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