Internal Design

The first thing that we noticed when we opened up the TJ05 was the swing bar at the bottom. We have seen multiple variations of swing bars, including the one Thermaltake implemented in its VM3000A chassis. SilverStone's swing bar is slightly larger and covers the bottom 1/3 of the chassis. The swing bar has space on it to mount either dual 80mm fans or dual 3-1/2" HDDs, or a combination of the two. This provides for more options when it comes to expandability, but we noticed the lack of strength in the swing bar's top hinge. If not properly handled, it could lead to damaged goods.




Click to enlarge.


The swing bar also has add-on card support devices, like the ones we saw in the VM3000A as well as Thermaltake's Damier V6000A. The TJ05 comes with a small spoon-shaped tool that is used to adjust the add-on card supports.

Upon opening the swing bar, we noticed the bundle of wiring, which all led to the front of the chassis. There was an equal amount of wiring for the LCD temperature display, auxiliary ports, and the power/reset buttons and power/HDD LEDs. Though not as much of a clutter as we saw in the Thermaltake Damier V6000A, the mess could have been reduced by encasing groups of wiring in their own jackets.




Click to enlarge.


At the front of the TJ05 reside the drive bays. There are a total of four 5-1/4" drive bays that utilize the drive rail design for easy installation. We were excited to see the drive rails being used through the drive bays, since many chassis that we have looked at in the past limit their usage to either only the 5-1/4" bays or 3-1/2" bays.




Click to enlarge.


Speaking of 3-1/2" drive bays, Silverstone has implemented a removable HDD carriage like the one in the Super Flower X-Mask, but it faces to the side like Thermaltake has done in their Damier V6000A. The carriage can hold a maximum of 5 HDDs using the plastic drive rails included with the TJ05. It can be removed by taking out the single thumbscrew at the bottom, pushing down on the clamp and pulling the carriage outwards.




Click to enlarge.




Click to enlarge.


The drive rails used to mount the 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" drives in the TJ05 are included in a compartment at the bottom of the chassis as we have seen in many other cases. There are plenty of included drive rails to accompany the maximum number of drives that the TJ05 can hold.




Click to enlarge.


In addition to the drive rails, SilverStone has used sliding clips reminiscent of the sliding clips from Thermaltake's VM3000A Skull, which used similar devices to secure expansion cards in their slots. This is an excellent way to mount expansion cards, but since the adoption of our new test bed's components, namely our ATI 9700 Pro VGA card, tool-less mounting devices will not work with it. The VGA card's DVI daughterboard interferes with the wrap around style, which "hugs" the card in place. Many of you may not have any difficulties with your VGA cards, but if so, the tool-less sliding clips can be removed as a whole by unscrewing the entire module from the backside of the chassis.




Click to enlarge.


External Design (cont.) Case Fans
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  • masher - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    Why does the reviewer call a concave door "convex"?
  • JustAnAverageGuy - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    [i] "The TJ03 Nimiz was a monstrous product that had great features, such as a sliding removable motherboard tray, a seemingly endless potential for expandability,"[/i]

    [i] "The Bad
    - No removable motherboard tray
    "[/i]

    ?
  • Modal - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    Wow, that's a really nice looking case. Great review, and thanks for picking a non-ugly case to review this time. :)

    Almost makes me wish I had waited until now to build my machine... I like that case a lot better than my current one.
  • ciwell - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    Finally a case that does not burn out your retinas by looking at it. Great review.



    P.S. Is there a Thermaltake Tsunami Case Review in our near future? :D
  • Spacecomber - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    I appreciate the inclusion of more pictures showing the case with the components installed. For example, seeing a full size motherboard installed gives me a better feel for the actual dimensions of the case, and I can see how easy it would be to work inside of it. The highlighting of the space between the bottom of the power supply and the motherboard is also important to me, since you sometimes have to worry about CPU heatsinks overhanging the edge of the board, depending on how close to the motherboard edge the socket is placed.

    Thanks for the review.

    Space
  • skunkbuster - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    at least it looks better than the last one that was reviewed here.

  • oupei - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    page 11, chart units should be "decibels"
  • Operandi - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    Agreed with #1...
  • Deinonych - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    Looks like the author edited the sentence, so n/m.
  • Deinonych - Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - link

    #2
    I agree. In context, it seems like the author meant to say "an entirely ALUMINUM chassis would have appealed more..."

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