What about the Thermaltake Tsunami case?

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:59 pm

Looks a bit like the Coolermaster Wavemaster but it has 2 x 120mm fans, rubber grommets on the HDD mounts and better front airflow than the Sonata. Suppose its a bit similar to the Antec BQE but with the added feature of alu and lockability.

Found a review here:-
http://www.techniz.co.uk/modules.php?na ... tent&id=66

Anyone got one?

cct · Post by **cct** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:25 pm

Here are two other reviews on this case:

http://www.thecrucible.ca/reviews/tsunami/

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/ ... t_Tsunami/

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:13 pm

I just received mine yesterday (black w/window; was the first one available at Xoxide.com).

Expect a review soon.

-Ed

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:27 pm

Hello:

It is virtually the same as a Compucase -- you will have to cut out the fan grills in order to achieve good air flow with low noise...

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:30 pm

NeilBlanchard wrote:...you will have to cut out the fan grills in order to achieve good air flow with low noise...

Um, that's pretty much any case in existence (I haven't yet seen a case without any grilles at all over the intakes and exhausts; if there us such a case, just let me know); if there's a grille, cut it; when you're using extremely low speed fans, even the 70% flow through honeycomb grilles are going to noticeably affect performance.

-Ed

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 5:26 am

Already a thread about it here.

I spat out my 2¢ worth in the earlier thread, and looking at the pics in the first review linked above (specifically this one) reinforces my opinion of the front ventilation. It's even worse than the Sonata. Break out those Dremels kids!

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:34 am

Well, it would be quite nice if the chassis were made of steel (or decently thick aluminium), but apparently it's 0.8mm aluminium....ugh...I bet the panels would resonate if a fly landed on it and farted...

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 9:00 am

Hello:

Edward Ng wrote:
NeilBlanchard wrote:...you will have to cut out the fan grills in order to achieve good air flow with low noise...
Um, that's pretty much any case in existence (I haven't yet seen a case without any grilles at all over the intakes and exhausts; if there us such a case, just let me know); if there's a grille, cut it; when you're using extremely low speed fans, even the 70% flow through honeycomb grilles are going to noticeably affect performance.

Well, relatively speaking, the Compucase-type grills are in the 50% open range, and they are pretty constrictive and noisy. Personally, I have found that grills in the Evercase 4252 and the BQE are fine, and work quite well enough in their stock form. Sure, you could drop the noise a *smidge* and improve air flow just a bit by cutting them out, but this is more than most of us need to worry about.

The list of cases with 120mm fans that do not *require* any mods is a short one.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 3:10 pm

The list of cases that use 120mm fans that look good, style-wise, to me, is probably even shorter.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:40 pm

I've decided to just skip on the full review, as the case is simply an aluminum version of said Compucase but with nicer looking/less free flowing front bezel and top mounted ports. Since I will be denying you guys the full review, please just feel free to post up any questions you have about the case and I'll just try to answer them to the best extent I can, and enjoy this here picture I took.

-Ed

Nowhere_man · Post by **Nowhere_man** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:54 pm

An interesting contrast in textures.

Is the front door entirely aluminum or a plastic/aluminum combo like the Xaser 2000A was?

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:59 pm

Doors aluminum, bezel plastic.

Nowhere_man · Post by **Nowhere_man** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:08 pm

Thanks Ed, thats what I was thinking from the pic.

Nice detailed shot BTW.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:21 pm

Oh, you're welcome; I was trying my best to get the reflection goin' on, but it just wouldn't have it. If anybody wants pics of other parts, list them out and I'll go shoot 'em later.

Nowhere_man · Post by **Nowhere_man** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:29 pm

What camera are you using Ed?

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 3:40 pm

Canon PowerShot S50...

I <3 Canon!

Before this, I (foolishly) used two Kodaks; started with a DC265 and then moved on to a DX4900, before realizing that I was not going to get anywhere fast in terms of learning how to shoot proper photos if I didn't get myself a proper camera offering at least some control over more important things like ISO speed, F-stop and even simple stuff like flash. Honestly, when you take the opportunity to really learn how to squeeze out the most from something like an S50, you can finally step onto the path towards learning proper photography skills.

In the future, when I feel I'm ready for an even higher class camera, maybe a, "digital," SLR, I'm sticking with Canon. I'm already looking forward to such features as higher ISO rates (which will help with my unsteady hands), but close to $1K is not something I'm willing to spend at the present time, being that I'm not a real professional photographer by trade.

-Ed

Nowhere_man · Post by **Nowhere_man** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 4:13 pm

I have a Pentax K1000, remember them? Totally manual, gr8t film camera for anything not requiring a film burning autowinder.

I received a Kodak CX4300 as a gift the other day. Haven't had time to play with it yet but I can see it's limitations in reguards to a quality 35mm SLR.

My basic need for a digital camera is for "snap shot" type pics not serious photography. In that respect I suppose it'll work OK. I'll keep the serious stuff on film.

As a web reviewer though, detail is important, as you have illustrated.

Some of those digital SLR's are deffinately sweet.

A mini tripod will help steady things.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 4:50 pm

I have a full size tripod, but a mini would help; I'll probably include one with my next NewEgg order...

I do, however, take a lot of shots on the move (not computer related, but I take many photos in restaurants and other hospitality establishments for my non-SPCR real life duties), and having to whip out my tripod and then whipping it back down (in?) to move to the next spot is really quite a pain, so anything to improve my freehand shooting would be great. ISO400 gets excessively noisy to me, with my S50, but I've seen that the higher end models supporting ISO1600 can do up to 800 without making as much noise as the S50 at 400. I suppose it's just plain near impossible to shoot high-ISO, extremely short exposure shots, without use of the flash (I don't like flash because the angle of the lighting is too obviously flash and very unnatural in the resulting image; this is particularly bad for shots of food, which are better off on the, "warm," side, with softer light coming from almost a rear angle).

-Ed

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 5:54 pm

Ed, you need a monopod. A good one is amazingly useful. There's also all kinds of little tricks you can do using tension on the strap and weird positions (

)to keep steady.

Aso, while the PowerShot S50 is undoubtedly a good camera, you'll be steadier with something bigger in your hands. My G2 is perfectly OK handheld for non-critical shots down to ~1/60s. I do better with my old Olympus OM2 35mm SLR, which is twice as heavy (maybe) tho not much bigger.

I lust after the new Nikon elcheapo (still a grand) semi-pro SLR but I don't really need it. Just the usual consumerlust of modern society...

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 5:59 pm

Part of the problem with the lower resolution (i.e. more affordable) digital SLRs is that I often make very large format items like posters for local restaurants and the higher resolution is critical for me; going from 4MP to 5MP alone has opened up several large format venues that weren't an option to me in the past. I probably should try geririgging (sic!~@#) some sort of great mass to dampen the camera...

What is this...monopod? I need to check this out...

-Ed

EDIT: Okay, gotta' get me a nice monopod to mess with; that thing looks handy dandy as heck!!!

Nowhere_man · Post by **Nowhere_man** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 5:18 am

MikeC is right on the money with that advice

Have fun.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 8:17 pm

Alright, allow me to make some points in regards to the Tsunami (going back on topic...).

I'm personally replacing a Super LAN Boy with this case, so I decided to utilize Ralf's handy list from his review of the Super LAN Boy and just modified it to compare it against Super LAN Boy:

PROS
* I/O panel with audio, on top of the case with a cover to hide them when not in use
* Extremely Light weight
* Side intake perfect for ducting cold air directly to the CPU
* 120mm fans
* Relatively decent 70% flow hex case exhaust that most people won't bother to cut out
* Grommet mounted HDDs and fans, with no trays that can rattle, and the bay is removeable
* PSU not included; no waste of money on something you probably won't use, anyway (a Tt PSU! Hah...)
* Removable right side door to ease cable organisation
* No open air intake allowing noise to escape
* No poorly-styled front fan cover/bezel (subjective, of course)
* Includes intake fan filter
* Includes toolless optical drive rails

CONS
* Aluminum panels may resonate (no worse than Super LAN Boy, however!)
* No included case carrier
* No included minitoolbox (I'm gonna' miss that thing...

)
* Power button hidden behind door can get sort of annoying
* No built-in holder for the spare drive rails like other Chieftec-clones and past Tt cases

I will post more of my feelings later, once the transfer of components is complete; I'm still waiting for my X800XT PE to finally ship!!!

The darn card's been paid for for over a month now!!!

-Ed

orionlion82 · Post by **orionlion82** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 11:34 pm

ahem, ahem, "tooless drive rails" trust me, i im one of the few around here that have a TT - a xaser3, and every time i open that case up i manage to break some little plastic nubbin off of something, recently, ive been having issues that require as many as 3 excursions a day inside...
anything thats plastic, inside or outside a thermaltake is on borrowed time, allso note that if enough drive rails break, you have to MAKE a new bracket or two, and its starting to look a bit, well, soviet, in there.

(no offence to anyone from around those parts, i actually admire what many call "the russian method" of repair in any manner possible... im relying on it heavily these days)

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 3:11 pm

That's quite unfortunate; my Xaser II's drive rails used screws...

Guess that means I best avoid fudging my optical drives excessively.

Nowhere_man · Post by **Nowhere_man** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:00 pm

Since we're wandering to Tt cases in general, I have an Xaser III 2000A with the plastic HD mounting rails and haven't had any problem with them breaking off the "nubs" yet. I don't like the L to R harddrive mounting at all and it's not exactly easy to remove, soooo many rivets...and the fan mounts are integrated into it

OK back on topic, nice to see the HD bay is removable.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:03 pm

The interior is identical to the D8000 (which is steel); the D8000 being that case that's available from MNPCTech.

-Ed

geneH · Post by **geneH** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 2:14 pm

Having just taken delivery of a black TT Tsunami case, I would like to
pass on an observation not to be found in all the glowing reviews published too date.

One of the main reasons for my selecting this case was the 120mm
front intake and rear exhaust fans that it featured.
However, the stamped rear grill is severely restrictive and needs to be cut out to get decent airflow.
That's the cooling good news.

Now for the bad:

While the front grill is punched from a honeycomb die and is much
less restrictive than the rear, the slots in the door which provide the
intake air to the fan filter mounted in the inside door, consist of
eight 50x3 mm slits, providing a total area of 1200 sq. mm.
as opposed to the max. 11300 sq. mm area of a 120mm fan opening.
Let's be generous and say the front grill is 80% open. You then have
1200 sq. mm of slots feeding a 9048 sq. mm fan opening --a whopping 13%!

But wait there's more!

There is a 15x 120 mm. slot cut into the bottom lip on the inside door
which houses the filter -- another 1500 sq. mm source of intake air.
The only problem is that this source is *behind* the filter and feeds
directly to the fan sans filtration. Ingenious design!
So we end up with a total of 3000 sq. mm of area (60% unfiltered)
feeding 9000 sq. mm
The total available air supply is then only 33% of the fan opening it feeds.
The way the doors work, the only way I can see to increase the
inlet area is to cut a big bloody hole in the front door, thus destroying
the aesthetics of the case. Alternatively, one could leave the front as is,
to cool the hard drives and cut a hole in the case bottom for serious air intake.

I plan to bite the bullet and RMA this sucker before my 15 days are up
if I can't unload it locally.

Hey Neal, I can make you a great deal on a great looking case replete
with two 12 cm fans...

Caveat Emptor.
Gene H

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 2:22 pm

This (the thick metal door with very little flow) is something that can be both good, and bad...

It is bad for the reasons you have already pointed out, but keep in mind that because of the side intake over the CPU, the primary purposes of the front intake has become more about cooling the hard drive than cooling the entire system; with a little duct action, that side intake will be more than sufficient to keep your CPU cool. For your graphics, either go with something cooler running, or consider a VGA Silencer.

The amount of air you need to keep your hard drive cool will, of course, vary depending on what drive you choose to use. This is a case-by-case study.

The good part of the design in the front of this case, now that I've experimented with it a whole bunch, is that the thick metal door blocks out much more drive noise than most conventional plastic front bezels and doors. MUCH more! If you are using a noisy optical drive and/or a noisy hard drive, the thick metal door will definitely cut down on the amout of noise that comes out the front of the system more than most other systems in general.

geneH, because you have one of these as well, will you confirm what I'm saying here?

Surely, there are two sides of the story for the thick metal door.

-Ed

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 5:07 pm

Edward Ng wrote:but keep in mind that because of the side intake over the CPU, the primary purposes of the front intake has become more about cooling the hard drive than cooling the entire system; with a little duct action, that side intake will be more than sufficient to keep your CPU cool. For your graphics, either go with something cooler running, or consider a VGA Silencer.

The side duct may well be sufficient to keep the CPU cool (other than the fact that it adds extra unbaffled fan noise right at the side of the case, potentially offsetting the quieting effect of the aluminum door) but it, 1)forces the cool intake air to short circuit the HDDs and PCI/AGP cards, and 2) it preheats the air that's being drawn into the case by the CPU fan. That forces you to rely on the craptacular front airflow to cool the drives, NB and PCI/AGP cards. Seems like a pretty mediocre design at best.

geneH · Post by **geneH** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 5:58 pm

Hi Ed,

I basically agree with what you are saying about the door thickness/noise
reduction issue; but at the same time ! am looking for more than the
equivalent of a 60 mm. fan hole to introduce cooling air when the
exhaust is 120 mm. I also agree that the best way to air cool the
cpu heatsink is via a side ducted fan. Unfortunately since I ordered
the non window version of the Tsunami there is no provision for a
side mounted fan (or any other). Even if there were, we still have to
introduce enough air to cool the Southbridge, ram and video chip.
That looks to me like I have to cut yet another hole to introduce enough
air to cool the whole enchilada.

So, if I have to start modifying and cutting holes, ! would prefer to
operate a different case such as the Silverstone TJ05 which is much bigger, sturdier and with an even heavier metal front door than the
Tsunami. From the photos I can find plus a German review, the TJ-05 is
equally deprived of front door air supply area. But because of it's size
(650 mm depth) and sturdiness (.8mm steel instead of .8mm alum.)
I would prefer to work with it. The SS also has more room for water cooling gear, down the road.

On the other hand, the Tsunami is probably better set up inside
with removable drive bays etc. than SS. But I also suspect
the rather thin and flexworthy .8mm aluminum sides are more
likely to "go vibratory" as the truckers would say, than steel.

Since I am just an old coot who designs and builds houses for a living with
no time for or interest in gaming, I don't need a light show, but
a solid reliable workstation to to run CAD , rendering and surveying/civil engineering software with a minumum of hassle.

I think the Tsunami is a great case and even better looking in the flesh tthat in the pictures, but I think I will go another route.

Sincere thanks for all your contributions to the forum.

Gene H

What about the Thermaltake Tsunami case?

What about the Thermaltake Tsunami case?

It's a Compucase...

Re: It's a Compucase...

Re: It's a Compucase...

Tsunami Air Supply --Downside