Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case

[Pet Parker]

I've come to the conclusion that this Thermaltake case fitted with those
Green/Mauve plastic clips is a poor design in many ways.

PCI Retaining Clip system.
While attempting to resolve a kernel blue screen error, which I have had I
suppose since fitting out the new case, it is clear these do not do the job
they are intended for.

I decided the remove all 4 PCI cards, clean their contact strips and
replace.

Once this was carried out the comp would not boot no matter how many times I
removed and replaced the cards, always messing with those clips.

1. The clearance between the clip mount, that is the area into which the L
shaped PCI plate must fit before being pushed into the slot is of
insufficient width. It is virtually size for size and gives no allowance for
slight misalignment of the board.

2. The clips themselves do not provide the clamping pressure needed to
ensure the L is properly earthed out.

I eventually removed the plastic clip assembly and reverted back to the old
UNC screw system with the effect of an immediate boot into the system.

PSU Fitting and removal
I am unable to remove the PSU without carefully removing other parts first,
the PSU has to be lowered down through via the MoBo which is not a good
feature.

Drive Holder
The quick release drive holder is a pain to operate and remove safely
without very close contact to MoBo parts.

Front Door Filter
The double front door has a lovely filter system.............but looking
closely it has a void 80mm x 20mm below the filter where the air takes the
shortest route.
On opening the second door, for the first time in a few weeks, the filter
was clean and the fan grill was loaded. Poor design.

and those bloody blue lights are my next removal...............

 

[kony]

I've come to the conclusion that this Thermaltake case fitted with those
Green/Mauve plastic clips is a poor design in many ways.

PCI Retaining Clip system.
While attempting to resolve a kernel blue screen error, which I have had I
suppose since fitting out the new case, it is clear these do not do the job
they are intended for.

I decided the remove all 4 PCI cards, clean their contact strips and
replace.

Once this was carried out the comp would not boot no matter how many times I
removed and replaced the cards, always messing with those clips.

1. The clearance between the clip mount, that is the area into which the L
shaped PCI plate must fit before being pushed into the slot is of
insufficient width. It is virtually size for size and gives no allowance for
slight misalignment of the board.

If this is true, why are you fighting with it instead of
realigning the board? Board misalignment itself is often a
bigger problem when present. I've seem some really poor
cases where the geometry was off and things wouldn't fit
well no matter what, but if the board is not precisely
centered it ought to be corrected before anything else (is
done).

2. The clips themselves do not provide the clamping pressure needed to
ensure the L is properly earthed out.

It is not required that the "L" mounting bracket "earth
out" against the case. It only needs to be a secure
fixation of the card in the motherboard, and it's grounding
is provided by the card itself already, not the case
(necessarily). However if that bracket were not grounded,
it would be a fairly minor detail not of consequence to most
people as it would merely mean a little more EMI escape
which is something OEMs have to care more about with
finished systems, than a typical DIYer would.

I eventually removed the plastic clip assembly and reverted back to the old
UNC screw system with the effect of an immediate boot into the system.

PSU Fitting and removal
I am unable to remove the PSU without carefully removing other parts first,
the PSU has to be lowered down through via the MoBo which is not a good
feature.

Agreed, on a case this size or larger that should not be
necessary. On some similar Chen Ming cases the PSU can
slide out the back as they have a detachable rear mounting
plate. IMO, Thermaltake should have either incorporated
this, or should have moved the side-bracing beam down a
little to provide enough clearance. If they moved the brace
down, someone is bought to come along and say it interferes
with installing the heatsink but it would still be
reasonable enough to do it, IMO.

Drive Holder
The quick release drive holder is a pain to operate and remove safely
without very close contact to MoBo parts.

Front Door Filter
The double front door has a lovely filter system.............but looking
closely it has a void 80mm x 20mm below the filter where the air takes the
shortest route.

So take some tape or glue a piece of foam to cover this
void. Sadly, most cases have a minor flaw or two. We could
think such an oversight is ridiculous, but they didn't have
to include any attempt to filter it at all.

On opening the second door, for the first time in a few weeks, the filter
was clean and the fan grill was loaded. Poor design.

and those bloody blue lights are my next removal...............

Hopefully this will be an educational experience to make a
list of the features you consider important and seek good
pictures of a case before your next purchase... since two
cases may look similar enough but still have a few important
details differentiating them. However the more picky you
are the more the field is narrowed onto the point where you
might only find cases that aren't attractive to you from the
front, or that cost a lot more. The Tsunami isn't exactly
cheap though, I do feel they could have spent more time on a
few areas.