Got the Thermaltake Aguila!

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mrk

mrk

mrk

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My "take" on this case...

I've been after a new case for a while now as my current case has had a broken side panel for almost a yer and was showing its age on the inside!

I wanted something like a Lian Li PC7B but I wanted something that looked cool too - Thermaltake seemed to have some nice cases and I;ve built my mates pc from a TT Soprano before which had many positive sides to it.

I decided to pick up the Aguila from seeing it in a popular store today for £72 - not cheap monies for a cae but I wasn't going to buy another cheap case this time round and the Aguila fit the bill nicely for my needs!

Lets begin...


The box it came with reminded me of TV boxes, it was huge, I was quite lucky to just about able to fit it in my Civic 3 door to drive it home!
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First impressions face to face with the case is good feelings allr ound, the front fascia is very nice feeling, heavy duty yet light - the cold when you touch the alluminium bezel is exciting and the brushed matt finished feels nice. I like the air filters fitted to every drivebay vent too.

Now moving onto installing the hdds...
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You have to remove the drive tray to fit the hdds, they sit on rubber washers to eliminate vibrations and noise - this really does work, I can hardly hear my hdds now during boot or seeking compared to my old cases direct screw to the chasis.


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Thermaltake did a nice job labelling each of the holes for mounting yout mATX/BTX/ATX/etc mobo - Other cases I have built systems in had no such thing so you had to keep on checking that the right holes were being used.


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My Hiper Type-M 530watt had no trouble fitting in.


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Neither did the mobo!


The whole process of getting everything just how I like took me 4 hours, I made sure wiring was tidy and everything was AOK before powering up.
 
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A shot of the rear view.


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You really do have to feel the finish to see how good it is!

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The door opens twice, once to get to the power/dvd drives and twice to get to the fan/air filters

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The TT badge is there to stay, not going to work loose anytime soon.


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I'm used to only 80mm case fans so seeing 2 of those 120mm silent fans cooling the innards was quite a sight.

[
 
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TT also did a good job properly labelling and moulding the USB2 headers compared to other makers - easily matched them to my Abit KW7. I didn't bother using the Firewire/Soundcard headers though as I have standalone outputs for those on the pci slots and don't need/use them on top

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There's also TT naming on the window itself.

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I had some spare cable tidy left over and luckily it was just the right size to fit between the mobo edge and the drive bay cage.

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Likewise the 7800gs (slightly longer than my 6800GT) was also a nice fit with enough room to plug in the power connector.



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This is going to be a user preference thing but I like the LED, it keeps my room at night ambient with a blue glow but some people may not like this. The red glow you can see is from my camera flashes battery charger, not the case ;o


Quite a nice case, it will stand out in any room and it does look more than just a standard PC hiding in the corner or under a desk. People will notice it!
 
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Going to be getting the type-r 580watt psu this week as the current 530watt one only has one 120mm fan and the heat it lets out is very warm inside the case resulting in a few degrees warmer to all components, I need the extra fan of the type-r to take away that heat!
 
Relly? I think you know what I meant..unless you didn't in which case...


I Working full time and being a freelance photographer I tend to be out more than in...
 
no_1_dave said:
I wish my akasa eclipse had sideways loaded hard drives :mad:
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Agreed,

I was so tempted by this case, it was either this or the Akasa. I went for the Akasa down to its high opinions on here.

Very nice case, lovely photos.
 
Thanks guys :D


Just installed
pc_akasa120mm.jpg

and man what a difference! they push ~44cfm and now my temps are even lower than before! (before / after) - I was also able to ditch the stock cpu fan that ran at 2400rpm with a 1800rpm akasa silent one I had 2 spare of.

The noise is very low too, a tiny bit more prominent than the thermaltake 120mm fans but less obtrusive, more of an ambient hum than a gush of "fshoooooooooosh" if that makes sense.

FirebarUK said:
A photographer without a Mac?! shame on you :D
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Hey hey! if the macbooks didn't run so hot and burn little kids I would have one! maybe one day soon ¬_¬ but for now my 2gb ram'd pc and 7800 gfx card keeps me occupoed in games when I'm not taking photos :p
 
hey mrk do you reckon i could fit a Akasa AK FC-03 Fan Controller Pro, in there?? im concerned that the front panel wouldnt be able to shut with the properly due to the knobs on the control.
 
ok m8 cheers, btw just had a look at your website. youve got some talent champ. i go to uni in portsmouth so i can appreciate so of ** snaps more thn others
 
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