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Thermaltake Shark Aluminium Gaming Case Review - Hardware

Thermaltake has gained their popularity over the years with their high quality and distictive cooling devices. They've also introduced some very attractive accessories and lately, some very solid and reliable power supplies and cases. Today we'll be looking at one of their latest gaming cases, the Thermaltake Shark all aluminum case. Built for gamers who need their components running cool, this unique case looks very promising. It is a full tower able to house most water cooling systems, a number of drives, and offers plenty of breathing space. Let's take a closer look!

The Thermaltake Shark ships in an attractive retail packaging, displaying it's many features and details. The case is well protected in a plastic bag (to prevent any scratches) and sit's between 2 pieces of styrofoam. As expected, we received the case undamaged and in excellent condition eventhough it shipped accross the country to get here.

Features and Specifications

- Removable motherboard tray
- Dual 12 cm fans in front & rear
- Fit's Tt liquid cooling system (performance radiator with 12 cm fan) or any other specific brands v - See - through side panel with EMI shield
- Security lock in front bezel and side panel
- Retractable foot stand
- Ultra light: 6.8 kg (14 lbs)

Inspecting the case closely, I immediately noticed the high build quality of this product. The paint has a black matte finish and is resistant to light scratches.

Starting with the front, the door is made entirely of aluminum and is responsible for most of the case's weight. It's fins and shape give this case it's "shark" appearance - kind of! At 14lbs, this case is not heavy at all - yet it feels very robust. The door feels solid (unlike most other aluminum cases in this price range) and stays shut magnetically. A locking mechanism is also included to prevent anyone else from accessing your external drives, power / reset buttons, etc... You can lock / unlock the door with any of the two included keys. Also provided are all the necessary screws and stand-offs. Two thumb screws are also part of the package, these are meant for the left side panel.

After opening the door, you will notice five external 5.25" bays and two external 3.5" drive bays for your floppy drive or anything else you might want to install. Behind the drive bay covers, we find the drive rails necessary for mounting CD-Rom and floppy drives. Nice placement with easy access.

The vents at the bottom hide the included 120 mm fan and allow for a fair amount of cool air intake - but with the front door closed, the amount of air entering the case is reduced considerably.

The 120mm front intake fan includes a detachable air filter to help prevent dust accumulation. The only downside to this is that you must remove to front panel completely to access the filter (continued next page)