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Reviews Around The Web
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Choose Web Reviews from this Maker:
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Friday, September 5, 2008
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Thermaltake DuOrb CPU cooler dares to violate the general principles: its ideological prototype was a dual-head DuOrb cooler designed for graphics cards. But why not? Let's examine today's original solution and try to determine how justified this unusual concept of Thermaltake engineers is.
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Monday, September 1, 2008
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Today we are going to examine two High-End coolers from Thermaltake -- BigTyp VP and MaxOrb EX. Both are actually overhauled versions of their famous predecessors (Big Typhoon and MaxOrb), which formed a positive image in our reviews. So it will be very interesting to see how far these new products have gone in the highly competitive layout of forces of High-End coolers, including other Thermaltake products.
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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Today it is much more practical for my checking out watercooling, and our friends at Thermaltake have sent their latest complete watercooling setup, the Bigwater 780e ESA watercooling system. With a 120mm radiator, 530cc reservoir, and 500 L/hr pump, all fitting in three 5 1/4" drive bays, this is Thermaltake's nicest self-contained watercooling system yet. With this being my first attempt at watercooling, it will definitely be interesting. Read on to see whether I succeed, or whether I make one hell of a mess, trashing my motherboard in the process!
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Friday, August 22, 2008
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As video card power demand grows, so do power supply outputs; nowadays it?s not uncommon to see a 1000W+ power supply being offered. But what if you already have a decent power supply but just want to add a bit more power for the video cards? Thermaltake, well-known makers of a wide range of computer products, might have the solution in the Thermaltake Power Express 650W VGA Power Supply. This dedicated power supply brings serious amounts of power to your video cards, but is it worth the effort? Read on to find out more.
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Thursday, August 21, 2008
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Good things come in slightly smaller packages... Smaller than a full tower case, that is! A few weeks ago the Thermaltake Armor+ VH6000BWS full tower chassis was reviewed at Bigbruin.com, and the overall impression was quite positive. This time around we have the mid tower version, the Armor+ MX VH8000BWS, another solid case that houses all of the features of its larger kin, as well as some additional ones.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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Installing the Thermaltake DuOrb heatpipe CPU cooler on a motherboard with an open layout should be very simple thanks to the well thought out mounting hardware that will hold the cooler in place and will keep it from sliding around. As seen in the review, there could be issues installing the DuOrb on some motherboards.
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Monday, August 18, 2008
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Thermaltake may have the largest selection of cases available right now. They have been the type of company to not rest or settle with their current collection of cases in their catalog. This is great for the builder that wants to be able to select from a long list of cases without seeing a repeat of the same case. What I mean is some companies take one case and keep recycling the same design over and over. All this being external. Yes, Thermaltake will make one case and make it in a small and a larger size. Nothing wrong with that.
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Friday, August 15, 2008
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I have already taken a look at the BlacX USB and BlacX SE which is also a USB only desktop drive device. The Thermaltake BlacX units have started a new class in hard drive storage. You can't really call them carriers since you don't take them with you on the go, nor can you call them internal hot swap since they do not sit inside the case. I guess for now, until someone tells me differently we will call them desktop hot swap devices. The first two USB only BlacX units we looked at performed brilliantly for USB. In the back of my mind, though, I knew the transfer performance was being held up by the connection and recommended to everyone to just hang tight and wait until the eSATA version became available. Today we have this version in hand; the BlacX (part number ST0005U) with eSATA support has finally made its way to my door step and even though I have other articles that need to be written up first, I just had to see how this baby performs.
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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Our friends at Thermaltake thought this an excellent idea, and immediately jumped onboard to develop ESA-compatible cases, power supplies, and watercooling systems. I won't go any deeper into ESA at this time, as this case is merely the first installment in a series of ESA reviews, following the Armor+ ESA case will be an ESA-supporting Thermaltake BigWater watercooling system, next a Thermaltake ESA-compatible power supply, and finally a full-blown article on ESA itself. So in this review I will concentrate on the Armor+, and save the ESA-specifics for a later date. Will the case meet the standards t hat we have come to expect from Thermaltake? Read on to find out!
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While unfamiliarity with the Thermaltake name requires residence under a rock in a remote land, this big named company has also been producing water cooling kits and components for several years now and as such is a known name in the business. Today, I have the Thermaltake ProWater 850i, a complete liquid cooling kit for your CPU. While complete kits don't have the best reputation for performance, they do serve as fantastic introductions to the water scene. Their upgradeability makes them a great introductory choice for beginners and they come with thorough manuals to help ease the leap of faith that is liquid cooling.
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Wednesday, August 6, 2008
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Thermaltake has raised the bar with their ESA-qualified Armor BWS6001 case. The case has all of the expansion options you expect from a Full-Tower ATX case and the features that you need as well. Extras like the optional accessories tray and external SATA port on the IO set this case apart from the competition at this price range. Thermaltake has taken their expertise in water cooling and construction and applied it to their case design. If you're looking for a case with the features that most want including a removable motherboard tray this case has it. ESA is an NVIDIA initiative for system builders that want total control of the system. For a price online of $250, this case is well worth the price for the hardware enthusiast wanting the extra room and space a full tower case offers.
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The Thermaltake MaxOrb heatsink is a novel design based around a half-dozen heatpipes and six individual arcs of cooling fins. I have to wonder if its design was born out of a desire not to infringe on existing patents, rather than sheer innovation... but in any event, the approach here guarantees an even fin pitch across the complete cooling surface area. In that respect the MaxOrb breaks new ground, allowing it to stand out from heatsinks of similar shape.
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Monday, August 4, 2008
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Anyone with a compact computer case will tell you that finding a good heatsink can be a daunting task. After tracking down the best heatsinks available for your budget, there's the question of heatsink heights to factor in. This is where the new Thermaltake DuOrb heatsink comes in. This heatsink features twin 80mm fans set side-by-side so cooling surface area isn't sacrificed for keeping the total heatsink height under 90mm. The DuOrb is novel in a couple of other aspects...
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In this review Frostytech will be testing out a curiously shaped heatsink from Thermaltake called the V1 (CL-P0401). The V1 heatsink stands 144mm tall and is entirely made of copper components. What makes this heatsink stand out are the shape of its fins, from one angle it the V1 almost resembles a flame! Thermaltake have assembled the V1 heatsink from two radial copper fin sections which look like they were once intended for a VGA thermal solution. The copper fins are punctuated by four copper heatpipes and arranged so that air is drawn in through one set of fins before being expelled out the other side of the heatsink.
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Well, I'm back yet again. A scant few weeks ago, I took a look at Thermaltake's fairly good ProWater 850i kit, making just one observation - performance could probably see a great improvement if another, larger radiator had been added. While this concept had in fact been done before on their BigWater 745i, it was stunted by mediocre radiators, a weaker pump, and an older waterblock. Considering that two of these three factors were corrected in the 850, logic would dictate that throwing the third improvement in would make this kit really shine. Though it's a shame that I don't have the older kits on hand to give a performance review against, I feel that this pair of reviews should give users a good idea of the performance they stand to gain, provided they have the desire, and the space to plumb a second radiator, as well as a videocard waterblock into the loop. That being said, let's crack open the box and see just what a $70 upgrade entails.
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