Product Listing

Thermaltake SwordM VD5000BNA Casing

By Vincent Chang - 17 Sep 2007

Hubris on Wheels

Hubris on Wheels

Thermaltake's new SwordM chassis is in our opinion, a perfect example of overindulgence. We recognize that Thermaltake probably set out to create a unique, distinctive chassis that could be worthy of its 'limited edition' pedigree. But somewhere during that design process, it went overboard. Some of its features scream of 'fan service'. The hydraulic mechanism in particular wasn't a worthy advantage unless you happen to for a liquid cooling kit mounted at the side panel. Otherwise, we can't really think of an instance when having the side and top swinging open by themselves (and staying there) would represent an improvement in user experience. No doubt, some would be scream 'cool' but honestly, it's not worth the trouble given what we've noted of its usability. And don't get us started on the tool compartment that takes up valuable hard drive space.

Ignoring the impracticality of the hydraulic mechanisms, this is still a chassis that's too high maintenance for our taste. It's large, heavy and takes up too much space. Although case ventilation looks to be its strong point, there are other realistic alternatives.

This is compounded by some rather glaring design flaws that makes us wonder if Thermaltake had taken the time to actually test the usability of this chassis. The rear of the chassis, with its door, is an interesting way of expanding the space such that liquid cooling pipes can be installed easily and no doubt improves case ventilation. However, the drawback is that it forces cable management onto users, negates some of the ventilation advantages with all the cables running through at the rear and it doesn't make things any easier with the rather narrow gap for cables to exit.

The top panel with its twin 120mm cooling fans is another good idea but the implementation is imperfect as our optical drive interfered with the fan, such that we couldn't completely close the top. The removable hard drive cage too, was a bit more troublesome to remove than other chassis and the presence of an attached fan only makes it worse, along with the lack of vibration dampeners and that of its overall creaky build. Then, the orientation of the hard drive cage is also rather old school and doesn't really allow us to remove it as easily as its competitors.

The hydraulics and the many doors also mean that this chassis takes up significantly more space than you would expect. The hydraulic powered side door stays open permanently unless it's screwed in place, so installing any new components can be quite troublesome, especially if you need to wrestle the heavy chassis flat onto the ground, with the doors swinging here and there. The choice of having so many more 5.25-inch drive bays compared to the pitiful three for the internal hard drives is also another strange decision, given the trend nowadays, where one doesn't require that many 5.25-inch devices. No doubt, some of these flaws can be remedied by the smart user but the out of the box experience leaves much to be desired.

So what about the upside of the SwordM? Well, if you can overlook all the flaws, case ventilation should not be an issue, not with the many ventilation holes and support for up to twelve cooling fans if desired. Think of AMD's mega-tasking 4x4 platforms and workstation setups and you'll appreciate the excessive ventilation that this case boasts as taming multiple heat sources like that from the PSU, dual CPUs and dual graphics cards can be handled without a sweat. Not to mention very few chassis can accommodate SSI-class motherboards, which the SwordM can and truly makes it a viable enthusiast home server chassis. The addition of eSATA for the front port is keeping up with the times. Appearance wise, it looks quite decent in silver and black, with carrying handles and wheels to assist in transporting its heavy weight and mass. The build quality is unquestionable while its aluminum construction gives it an expensive and solid feel. Handcrafted does seem an apt descriptor as Thermaltake says.

In the end though, the Thermaltake SwordM is a case of overindulgence. It's like a long, meandering book that needs a better editor, someone who can chop out the unnecessary parts. Considering that this is an limited edition chassis and its 'heavy' aluminum content, a premium price of around US$500 is being quoted for this chassis. That reduces its appeal to the really hardcore enthusiast, for whom the case was targeted for in the first place and probably knows how to work around its shortcomings, cherishes its strong bling appeal and appreciates the top-notch build quality that matches its price tag. For the rest, this is one chassis that has gone overboard in style and forgotten the basics.

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