Clash of the Titans - TT Tai Chi vs. CM Stacker 830
by Joshua Buss on February 23, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
Now that we've compared these heavyweights in gory detail, it's time to decide a winner, right? Well, the tough part is that both cases are simply amazing, yet still have a couple of quirks. For starters, these were two of the easiest units that we've ever worked in, yet each one had small annoyances in this arena. The Tai Chi's automatic door is sweet, but turning four thumbscrews each time you want to open it up is not. Sure, one could leave only one screw in, but that's not really the ideal solution. Then there's the Stacker 830's great motherboard tray that eats itself away in normal usage. Again, a simple solution exists – perhaps one could just sand the sharp edges that sit at the entrance to these rails, but is that a perfect solution either?
Minor annoyances aside, these cases both cool amazingly well, offer loads of expansion, and look good to boot. What then are you gaining by spending the premium for the more expensive Tai Chi? First off, casters. On cases this large, it's amazing how much of a difference this simple addition makes. Also, the configurability of the 830 is awesome, but the myriad of various pieces and thinner aluminum construction left us questioning the unit's sturdiness over extended use. The Tai Chi leaves one feeling confident in taking a computer in it anywhere – it's really built like a tank. This, of course, makes the Tai Chi heavier as well, but who are we kidding - neither of these is remotely near “ultra portable” status.
When it comes right down to it, these are both units that an extreme enthusiast with funds aplenty will want to consider seriously for their next mega-rig. We see there being just a few key factors that will sway a potential buyer in the appropriate direction. In no particular order, here's a list of factors, an opinion of what case does a better job in each category, and the degree to which that case beats the competitor. (In order from most to least severe: Extreme, Substantial, Somewhat, Minor).
The 830's pros are its ease-of-use and configurability options out-of-the-box (to get BTX support with the Tai Chi, one has to buy the appropriate rear plate separately). For roughly $70 or so less (~$250), the Stacker 830 gets a strong nod of approval from us for value, which along with the fantastic performance and great ease-of-use also almost justifies its relatively high price too.
We want to extend our congratulations to both companies for pushing the envelope in case design – desktop computer cases simply don't get much better than this, and if these designs are any indications of things to come in this industry, the case and cooling world is in for a treat.
Now that we've compared these heavyweights in gory detail, it's time to decide a winner, right? Well, the tough part is that both cases are simply amazing, yet still have a couple of quirks. For starters, these were two of the easiest units that we've ever worked in, yet each one had small annoyances in this arena. The Tai Chi's automatic door is sweet, but turning four thumbscrews each time you want to open it up is not. Sure, one could leave only one screw in, but that's not really the ideal solution. Then there's the Stacker 830's great motherboard tray that eats itself away in normal usage. Again, a simple solution exists – perhaps one could just sand the sharp edges that sit at the entrance to these rails, but is that a perfect solution either?
Minor annoyances aside, these cases both cool amazingly well, offer loads of expansion, and look good to boot. What then are you gaining by spending the premium for the more expensive Tai Chi? First off, casters. On cases this large, it's amazing how much of a difference this simple addition makes. Also, the configurability of the 830 is awesome, but the myriad of various pieces and thinner aluminum construction left us questioning the unit's sturdiness over extended use. The Tai Chi leaves one feeling confident in taking a computer in it anywhere – it's really built like a tank. This, of course, makes the Tai Chi heavier as well, but who are we kidding - neither of these is remotely near “ultra portable” status.
When it comes right down to it, these are both units that an extreme enthusiast with funds aplenty will want to consider seriously for their next mega-rig. We see there being just a few key factors that will sway a potential buyer in the appropriate direction. In no particular order, here's a list of factors, an opinion of what case does a better job in each category, and the degree to which that case beats the competitor. (In order from most to least severe: Extreme, Substantial, Somewhat, Minor).
The 830's pros are its ease-of-use and configurability options out-of-the-box (to get BTX support with the Tai Chi, one has to buy the appropriate rear plate separately). For roughly $70 or so less (~$250), the Stacker 830 gets a strong nod of approval from us for value, which along with the fantastic performance and great ease-of-use also almost justifies its relatively high price too.
We want to extend our congratulations to both companies for pushing the envelope in case design – desktop computer cases simply don't get much better than this, and if these designs are any indications of things to come in this industry, the case and cooling world is in for a treat.
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JoshuaBuss - Sunday, February 26, 2006 - link
The stacker 830 would probably be a perfect case for someone like you.. it has the potential for an incredible amount of air flow right at the hard drives and video cardstjr508 - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
This article states the front bay pannes on the CM case are held in loosely. I find that strange being my $50 CM case (awsome case) actually uses screws to hold these in place, making them the most secure that I have ever seen. I wonder why CM felt it important to secure these tightly on their $50 cases but not on their $250 case?chynn - Thursday, March 2, 2006 - link
Wrong! What Anandtech did not do with the RC-830 was to lock the 4to3 drive bays down with the provided screws. The snap locks are there only to position the drive bays, and anything else, that fit into the 5.25in slots.Only the Lian-Li V1000 and V1200 cases, in my experience, have a fool-proof and moron-tolerant hard drive locking mechanism.
JoshuaBuss - Monday, May 15, 2006 - link
I was referring to the pop-out panels that cover unused 5 1/4" drive bays. They're very loose, and there's no screws for holding them in place.BikeDude - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
I have been using the Armor case for almost a year, and the green plastic clips still gives me nightmares.If you get impatient, they'll simply detach and you'll have to nudge them back in again. In practice, I've wasted a lot of time nursing cards underneath the clips, reattaching the clips and finally pray it all fits in the end.
Even a simple old-school phillipshead screw would've saved me _a lot_ of time!
It is disheartening to see that TT not only makes mistakes, but insist on repeating them. :(
Also, the four holes for watercooling, on my Armor case atleast, are positioned too close. Atleast when attaching the Zalman Reserator-1 system. With the reserator you can choose to have a junction there so that you can more easily detach the cooler and move the case... Won't work if you have two Reserators...
Tamale - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
Interesting point about the reserators.. what's the junction exactly?As for the green clips, I tend to agree.. it's a shame they didn't come up with a solution as elegant as the thumbscrews used to hold the 5 1/4" drives.. but for the majority of cards they do work very nicely.
theoak - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
The reviewer calls this a tie.If keeping your components cool is the objective, I feel that the 830 wins by a landslide.
If you look neer the end of the review at the heat comparison chart, the 830 wins or ties all but two (HDD and System Exhaust).
The reviews gives the system exhaust win to the Tai Chi. I have to disagree. The fact that the components are cooler, implies to me that the system exhaust would therefore have to be hotter, because it is cooling the components better.
If you take the sum of the exhaust results you get:
Tai Chi 54.2/60.4
830 53.4/59.6
The combined values I feel demonstrate that the air temperature in the 830 is cooler and hence offers better airflow.
(I do not work for either of these companies nor do I own either of the boxes. My computer is a P3 650 :( )
Tamale - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
You're absolutely right.. the 830 did a slightly better job of cooling than the Tai Chi did in our comparison.. BUT.. it was using FOUR 120mm fans to accomplish this as oppossed to the Tai Chi's two. The fans aren't rated that different in terms of CFM, so adding even a single fan to the side of the Tai Chi would undoubtedly bring its temperatures even closer to the stacker's.chynn - Thursday, March 2, 2006 - link
Anandtech got a "non-stock" RC-830 case. The "stock" RC-830 case I received contained two fans, not four.Besides, stock case fans are usually less than adequate. I would replace them with 120mm Scythe SFF21F fans because the Scythe have: high MTBF (150,000hrs), more volume (63+CFM), and lower noise (fluid bearing 28DBa). If that's too much noise, use a D or E model; less noise but less air too.
And no, I don't work for Scythe ... I'm opinionated is all ... :)
theoak - Friday, February 24, 2006 - link
Ahhh,I was unaware and/or missed that the 830 had more fans. That would tip the scales a little.
For what its worth ... I agree that it is a tie then :)