Page 2 - Physical Look - Inside
The Armor A90 incorporates what Thermaltake calls "black bulletproof armor design with metal mesh elements" -- a series of modern disorganized-yet-organized arrangement of trapezoidal shapes in three dimensional form. With inspired resemblance of ultra modern architecture designs, the profile view of Thermaltake's Armor A90 is certainly a strong departure from mainstream chassis designs in a very good way: It is not the ugly and overdone junk found in many so-called gaming cases, and highly appealing aesthetically for users who don't want clean but highly conservative looks found on the other end of the spectrum. At least from this angle, the end result is very good. The flat black mid-tower features a non-ventilating mesh door at the top, and a low restriction grille underneath it. Sectioned out is the same area is another non-permeating mesh for aesthetic purposes. The entire front face can be fully detached from the chassis frame for drive installation, with a bug screen is placed between the vertical grille and the front 120mm blue LED intake fan (16dBA @ 1000rpm) to keep house flies out of your system. Seriously though, I would prefer a real dust filter, haha.
Swinging open the left hinged case door are three 5.25" and one externally accessible 3.5" drive bay. Every 5.25" drive bay cover are mesh based, therefore fully ventilated to allow air to pass through for improved ventilation. Unlike most cases in this category, however, Thermaltake added a nice touch in making sure incoming dust is kept at bay -- pun intended -- so the user can spend less time cleaning the interior of their system. Adjacent to the drive bays is the usual array of connectors and case controls; from the top we have a USB port, two 3.5mm audio jacks, another USB port, red hard drive activity LED, blue power indicator LED, and a slim recessed reset button to prevent accidental engagement. Everything I have just listed is labeled accordingly by a teal colored icon, as shown in our photo above.
Of all, I found the power button to be the most interesting in both design and implementation; being a large triangular shaped surface is thematically consistent with the rest of the front face design in addition to being quite a unique thing of its own. The way it is implemented continues the lines of the trapezoidal drive bay door if you take a look at the preceding photograph, but recessed into the surface for a sharp planar break on the Z-axis to further enhance its postmodern 3D form. A side benefit of this design is that, like the reset button, also reduces the likelihood of accidental engagement as aforementioned. All in all, the Thermaltake Armor A90 is undeniably a winner in practicality and style in my books, at least up until this point!
On the other hand, if you do not recall my take of what I believe to be the attributes of an optimal computer case, flip back a page and read it again in the introductory paragraph. While the Thermaltake has done a commendable job in keeping the design consistent across the board (Especially the visually appealing front face), the deal breaker for me personally is the way the crucial left side panel is put into practice. Embossed into the SECC side panel is a series of trapezoidal shapes, and a triangular window near the center. Why they made it as small as shown in the photo above is beyond my understanding -- mainly because it doesn't do a very good job at showing off your internal components, other than a little more than a glimpse at a section of your large tower heatsink. Additionally, I have personal issues against side panel fans. Firstly, the openings are usually ugly; and the ones on the Armor A90's side panel is no exception. Secondly, they allow more dust into the system, which is quite an inconvenience for lazy people like me. Thirdly, it poses no true performance advantage, rather than being merely a band-aid solution for inadequately cooled add-on cards -- I have built and used high performance systems with good aftermarket fans and never had any problems with heat or noise. All you need is a properly designed airflow pattern (Ie. Front to back pressure), and this is normally more than sufficient. Plugging in extra fans will obviously increase airflow, but it distracts regular pressure patterns to provide marginal temperature decreases with significantly more noise.
The top design is as stylish as the front face, upon the user discovering two more available USB ports in addition to one eSATA connector near the front of the chassis. With everything in mind, this all comes to a total of four USB ports! It is also a great thing the Armor A90's mesh panels are non-ventilating surfaces for visual eye candy only, so rest assured that we can expect less dust from potentially entering the case. Meanwhile, the rear grille houses a large 200mm blue LED fan that has a sound pressure level rating of 15dBA at 800rpm for additional cooling. For what it's worth, an upper exhaust fan has a natural advantage since heat rises, but do you know also where dust also settles? Yes... on top of your case. And with openings at this location, dust goes straight into your computer. This is one of the reasons why I am not a huge fan of computer chassis with top mounted cooling fans, especially if the opening is large and designed for low impedance.
For a mid-tower that would run you less than $70 after a $20 rebate at press time, I am pleasantly surprised that Thermaltake did not cut corners to reduce costs here. Thumbscrews are used for both side panels. Even the entire Armor A90's back panel is painted matte black (And so is the interior, which we will cover on the next page). I have seen cases that cost more than twice as much as the Thermaltake Armor A90 with steel panels left in its natural color! There is nothing wrong with the latter in particular, but it is a great thing to see manufacturers perfecting their products even to areas people would not normally look. Even the ventilated plates enclosing the seven expansion card slots are painted black, as shown in our photo above.
Shifting our focus a little bit, we can expectantly spot an included 120mm fan placed adjacent to the motherboard I/O backplate, with two pre-drilled water cooling holes close to its upper perimeter. Two air slots are situated near the top of the case for easy removal of the that panel. A half-inch raised platform from the bottom surface is implemented to accommodate a bottom mounted power supply, and a second set of water cooling holes can be found here. If you ever need to lock your left side panel, there's a place for that too.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
