Thermaltake Armor A30 Case Review: Opening the Puzzle Box
by Dustin Sklavos on September 24, 2012 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Thermaltake
- MicroATX
Conclusion: Build It Once
Reviewing the Thermaltake Armor A30 puts me in an odd position, because as I mentioned in the intro, this is a case that's nightmarish to assemble but very good at its job once it's together. I'm left with very mixed feelings about what Thermaltake has done here, and I think any reader should be, too.
On the positive side, if you want a case that performs well despite its size, the only real competition to the Armor A30 that I've tested so far is the BitFenix Prodigy, and with that case you're definitely stuck using a Mini-ITX board instead of getting a little more oomph out of a Micro-ATX board. In terms of acoustics and thermal performance, Thermaltake's airflow design may seem haphazard in theory but is actually quite effective in practice. If performance is what you're prioritizing, this is a case worth shortlisting.
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Unfortunately, on the flipside, while the cooling only seems haphazard the actual case design absolutely is. I haven't seen an assembly this badly planned in a while, and there's just no reason for it to be this difficult to put together. If you're a "set it and forget it" kind of builder then this may not mean much to you, but if you like to tinker with your system you're going to be in for a very rough ride with the A30. My power screwdriver hasn't been worked this hard on a review in some time now. I've already listed all the ways Thermaltake could've improved this part of the design, but I'm still baffled as to why it's such a disaster in the first place.
It's all going to come down to your needs and your priorities as a builder. Thermaltake posits the Armor A30 as a LAN enclosure (though my chicken wings and I personally think it's a hair too heavy for that), but it's certainly perfectly fine just as a smaller form factor case. These kinds of designs are getting more and more common, and thankfully the A30's fairly quiet nature makes it a perfectly suitable candidate for desktop placement (provided the blue LED fans don't bother you too much). At $119 I think it's a little on the pricey side for what you get, but if it fulfills your needs there's no reason not to pull the trigger.
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Ryomitomo - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
I have recently built an i7-3770K + GTX680 system with the A30 case for my brother-in-law. The case is not easy to build with. Tidying the wires is very hard. The top fan is placed in a weird location, the PSU blocks over half of the fan. The GTX680 power plug jabs against the metal casing for the 5.25" bays, I had to bend the power wires 90 degrees at the plug to fit them under the metal casing.However, after the system was put together carefully, I have to say it is rather quiet unit and the temperature of the CPU and GTX680 is only a few degrees higher than my Thermaltake Armor Revo case build with same CPU and GTX680.
piroroadkill - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
I think there's a reason why the Prodigy has become popular - it looks good as well as being a mini-ITX case you could actually use for a high end machine.Meaker10 - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
All those thumb screws, the drive cage and removable tray are based on the lanparty lite series they did. This is the same but with more fans which is why the basic design feels dated. You get used to it though and you can take it apart fairly quickly.BuffaloChuck - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
Cube cases still are doing this upside down. They need to put the motherboard on top, and power-supply/other drives on the bottom. The MB has 95% of all connections, requirement finger-tip time, and hosts most of the changes. And, if they'd put the HDDs in a two-stack nose-to-nose config under the MB tray, sticking the connections to the outside, they'd have plenty of room for airflow between drives AND space to add more. Cubes always do this design upside down.BuffaloChuck - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
And why can't the reviewers utilitize the space offered? Instead of proving MiniATX boards fit in MicroATX cases, why not fill 'em up and THEN do the tests? The case engineers, after all, put those drive-cages in there for a reason. USE 'EM and do REAL reviews.cjb110 - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
Because then the stats of the 3 bay case wouldn't be comparable with the 2 bay case.I think AnandTech does a good job of mentioning if they feel utilizing the extra features would be significant positive/negative.
From this review its fairly obvious it would cope with the bay's being filled in terms of performance, but it would make the already difficult install even harder.
7amood - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
review http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=317 pleeeeeeeeeease.Grok42 - Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - link
I 2nd the motion. Also, the LIAN LI PC-Q25 and PC-Q16.xcomvic - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
Is that most don't have a handle on the top of it to easily lug it around...It wouldn't have taken an engineer to figure out how to attach one easily to the top of the thing...or the side..or back....wherever. I know there's been some good cases out there WITH handles, those are real LAN cases.Orvtrebor - Monday, September 24, 2012 - link
They should have added a handle again like from their earlier cube designs.Without it whats the point of doing this case? A Silverstone TJ08-E or PS07 will better serve a microatx build, and if your going to run itx there is a wide range of superior/smaller cases.