A Trio of Thermaltake Towers
by Joshua Buss on August 16, 2006 2:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Thermaltake Aguila - External
The Aguila takes a number of steps to really improve Thermaltake's offerings in the desktop case segment, starting first and foremost with a little more straightforward design on the front door.
Both logos - the company's and the case's - are finished nicely and look great against the respective metal mesh and brushed aluminum.
The Aguila is available in both silver and black, with and without a side window. Our silver model came with a side window, and for all practical purposes it's identical to the Eclipse DV's - extra fan ventilation and everything.
Taking design elements mostly from the Armor series, the Aguila front behind the door looks pretty familiar. With a full fledged door, things will truly be protected though, and should one want to remove the door entirely they will only be left with two much smaller flaps, (and even those can be removed as well if desired.) A vertically aligned 5.25" drive can be installed too, just like in the Armor Jr.
More like the Eclipse DV than the Eureka, opening the entire front panel of the Aguila is not only more useful but is even encouraged with true hinges and a lock specifically for this purpose.
This is how one would change the front fan filter and prepare the external bays for a drive. To that note, it should be mentioned that the bay covers for the external drives are all easily removed and reinstalled thanks to the use of real screws instead of snap-off metal pieces.
Instead of having extra ports on the side or front, the Aguila has them on top, just like the Armor. We're not too sure if the sleek pop-up cover was even necessary, but the protection from dust and food crumbs getting into the jacks will be appreciated by many anyway. In another 'nice touch' move, Thermaltake put the identifying symbols for each jack on the underside of the cover.
The Aguila takes a number of steps to really improve Thermaltake's offerings in the desktop case segment, starting first and foremost with a little more straightforward design on the front door.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Both logos - the company's and the case's - are finished nicely and look great against the respective metal mesh and brushed aluminum.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The Aguila is available in both silver and black, with and without a side window. Our silver model came with a side window, and for all practical purposes it's identical to the Eclipse DV's - extra fan ventilation and everything.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Taking design elements mostly from the Armor series, the Aguila front behind the door looks pretty familiar. With a full fledged door, things will truly be protected though, and should one want to remove the door entirely they will only be left with two much smaller flaps, (and even those can be removed as well if desired.) A vertically aligned 5.25" drive can be installed too, just like in the Armor Jr.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
More like the Eclipse DV than the Eureka, opening the entire front panel of the Aguila is not only more useful but is even encouraged with true hinges and a lock specifically for this purpose.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
This is how one would change the front fan filter and prepare the external bays for a drive. To that note, it should be mentioned that the bay covers for the external drives are all easily removed and reinstalled thanks to the use of real screws instead of snap-off metal pieces.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Instead of having extra ports on the side or front, the Aguila has them on top, just like the Armor. We're not too sure if the sleek pop-up cover was even necessary, but the protection from dust and food crumbs getting into the jacks will be appreciated by many anyway. In another 'nice touch' move, Thermaltake put the identifying symbols for each jack on the underside of the cover.
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cbuchach - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
I have been looking to upgrade my case for some time now with my planned new build and really think the Aguila may fit the bill. Unfortunately the windowless version that I would be interested seems to be very hard to come by in the US at this time. We'll see.imaheadcase - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Yah been hard to find windowless one in the states, I found one but they inflated the price to like $300. lame.Budman - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
One word. YUCKKalessian - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
I don't understand why you would say that. The Eureka is very plain... what kind of cases do you like?I think a black Aguila would look great.
imaheadcase - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
The agila is the only decent case, the others look like rejects from Voltron casting.Frumious1 - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
There's a law on AnandTech case reviews: no matter what they might review, a bunch of people have to show up and grouse about how the cases look like crap, or they're nice looking but too expensive, or some other opinion followed by the statement that "no one would ever buy these...." Luckily, AnandTech seems to do a reasonable job of just presenting the facts on the cases and letting people decide for themselves whether or not they like how the case looks and would be interested in purchasing one.Too bad the Eureka is loud and cools the HDD/mosfets so poorly. Of course, I prefer a bit smaller cases anyway, and the Aguila looks pretty decent.
Frumious1 - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Oh yeah - I still don't trust the big orange TT fans. Things spin pretty fast and make a decent racket in my experience. Maybe some of them are better now, but the older 120mm dayglo orange things were pretty mediocre. I'm actually surprised any of these cases can manage to come in under 40 dB! Guy I know bought an Armor last year; freakin' turbine that thing is! Doesn't need to blow dry his hair if he angles the fans properly....tk109 - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
I agree. They are ugly as butt.I saw the first one and I thought that maybe the rest will be better. But nope. One of them isn't too bad but I'd still not want to own it even if it was given to me. Like most of the case trends in recent years I think you have to be one of those super nerds to like em or something. They try way to hard on cases. Clean, straight, and simple is the way to go.
GoatMonkey - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Get yourself an iMac and be done with it then.
KorruptioN - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - link
Or a Lian-Li.