Thermaltake Armor+ MX Mid Tower Case Review

Installation cont.

When we had attached the two clips into place we reinserted the hard drive caddy (with the hard now firmly attached) and routed both a SATA data cable and SATA power cable to the back of the case. This was extremely easy since Thermaltake has provided just enough of a gap between the back and side of the case. Of course you have to remove the other side panel but this is to be expected with perpendicularly mounted drives. We are pleased to report that unlike some other cheaper cases (like the CM 690) the drives sit far enough forward that even older PATA hard drives should easily fit. Don’t take this as a guarantee as we didn’t have any PATA drives lying around but there appears to be no physical reason why they shouldn't work.


As the case has very little to do with installing the memory unto the motherboard lets just say this was also uneventful and move unto the optical disc drive installation. Since we wanted to see how hard it is to remove those metal cut outs from the front of the case we decided to install the Samsung DVD burner lower in the case than normal. To accomplish this we first had to remove the plastic front panel, like some other cases we have encountered in the past the top panel actually overhangs the front panel, making an otherwise straightforward removal more interesting. In this instance you have to pop the front of the case free and then angle the bottom out enough so the top half can slide free from underneath the top.


Thermaltake has pre-stressed these cut outs to the point where popping the bottom one out was as easy as can be. We then simply reinstalled the front of the case by doing everything in reverse. When this was done we simply opened the leaver on the proper meshed blanking panel.

The removal procedure for one of these panels is very similar to the hard drive caddies removal, in which you push the sides (left to right) of the panels and the mesh center swings out (just like the arm of the HDD caddy does) so that you can yank it out. On the upside this makes for easy and quick removal of said panel for dust cleaning but it also makes for very flexible (in a bad way) panels. If you happen to remove the wrong one, getting these wee little flexible beasties can be problematic if you do not line them up perfectly.


Once the panel is removed, all one has to do is slide in the optical drive about 2-3 inches before it is fully seated and the friction will increase dramatically, requiring a good shove to full seat it. When you hear the click of the locking pins slamming home you know it is installed properly. As with most other tool-less designs you do have the option of screwing in a screw on the other side if you feel it is not secure enough.


When this is done you simply have to route another SATA data cable to the optical drive aong with an SATA power cable. When this is finished, you can then install your CPU, apply some TIM and then install the CPU cooling solution. After this you can install your motherboard and then the last step before you can use your system is to plug in all 3 fans. Since all three use 4 pin Molex adapters your options are limited. Then one simply reinstalls the side panels, plugs in the PSU and starts up their system.


As you can see the combination of blue LEDS from the huge 23c, side fan with the blue and red LEDs of the Thermaltake DuOrb make for a very beautiful and striking combination!