Thermaltake Spedo Advance Package Case Review

Installation cont.


Looks like Thermaltake made the incorrect assumption that all motherboards accept two-pin power LED connections. In our experience, the majority of boards require three-pin connectors. Why they didn’t just break them off into two separate positive and negative single-pin plugs is beyond us. There will undoubtedly be quite a few people calling tech-support on this one.


Installing the motherboard in the Spedo was a very painless experience. Because there is so much space within the enclosure, we faced no clearance issues of any kind. The innovative cable routing features found at the rear of the motherboard tray also help to keep clutter out of the main chamber. We routed the 4-pin CPU power connector up the back of the motherboard tray, behind the CRM shields and direct to the top-left corner of the board.


Installing the video cards was very easy. Thermaltake’s tool-less expansion slot clips were easy to secure, and held the cards firmly in place. Its too bad we had to fumble about trying to wiggle those annoying punch-out slot covers out.

Although we pictured the fan included in the accessory bundle mounted at the rear of the motherboard earlier – as we will be running a test or two with it installed in this position – it is absolutely essential that the movable “fan bar” be placed in front of the PCI-Express slots when used in conjunction with the ATC chambers. We’ll show you why this is so essential in the “Cooling Performance” section.

Installing the fan on the “fan bar” is quite simple. Two self-tapping fan screws hold it in place. The latch can then be moved into two positions to allow the fan to be angled or moved up and down the height of the case. We placed it in a position to direct airflow directly across both HD 3850s.


Once we got the fan installed, we began reinstalling the ATC plastic dividers. They went in without too much difficulty, but the “#3” divider right above the PSU cover leaves very little clearance at the bottom of the motherboard. We had some difficulties with the header cables being pushed upward, but this is an overall minor issue that didn’t impact the case’s functionality.


With all of the ATC dividers installed, the case looks very different. We only hope that all of that flimsy, unsightly plastic makes a measurable improvement in component temperatures.


The final step was to connect up all of the fans and tidy up the cabling. It should be mentioned that every single fan in the Spedo is a 4-pin molex model. This has some pros and cons; however just about every single budget board on the model today has a minimum of two case fan connectors on it. The real disadvantage to molex connection fans is that they can’t be easily used in conjunction with a fan controller, and they can’t be plugged directly into the motherboard for RPM monitoring. On the flip side, these 4-pin molex fans can be chained together and plugged into a single PSU lead, making them a safe bet for just about any system configuration.

It would have been nice to see at least one or two of Thermaltake’s fans connect using 3-pin fan connectors and some 3-pin to 4-pin adapters thrown in with the accessories. Thankfully, all of the Thermaltake fans are sleeved to aid in the cable management.


Acoustic and Running Impressions

When we first fired up the Spedo, we were very surprised by the level of noise. We wish we could say we were surprised because it was so quiet, but quite the opposite was true. Given that all of the fans in the system are rated below 15-17dBA range, we expected a much quieter system. This just goes to show how meaningless these dBA ratings have become over the years. The slow spinning 230mm fans were actually some of the loudest in the system, with the side panel fan being the worst by far. We’re guessing that the way it is mounted so close to the acrylic window makes the situation worse. We can only describe the side panel fan as having a “GPU squirrel cage fan” type of noise. Overall we were disappointed in the acoustics department. Those looking for a quiet case will not be pleased with the Spedo.


The single red LED fan in the front of the Spedo is not overly bright, and adds a bit of character to the case. Not everyone is a big fan – no pun intended – of LED fans, but the Spedo is not overly flashy. None of the other fans in the case are LED models.