Looking at the Thermaltake website, you will find a number of mid-tower chassis. Some are larger than others and of course some cheaper than others. Well, the case we are looking at today falls under the $100 category and is a new release from Thermaltake in its Armor line, the Armor A90. This case is designed with gamers in mind, featuring case aesthetics that actually provide the feel of armor that you would find in your average MMO/RPG. That's not to say this case doesn't go well with your average First Person Shooter, as this case just cool looking, plain and simple. Let's take a quick look at the airflow layout and Thermaltake's product video and get a rundown on the basics of this chassis.

The Thermaltake Armor A90 provides a very standard case fan layout, with a side and front intake and rear and large top exhaust. Also note that the top and front fans are clear with blue LEDs; I am not really a big fan of LEDs in my computers as they are run in my bedroom, and depending on brightness can make it difficult to sleep. We'll get to the LEDs a bit later; first check out this video Thermaltake made about the Armor A90:

That's a pretty brief look at the Armor A90. Let's check out the paper features and specifications and move on to the retail packaging.

• Black “bulletproof” armor design with metal mesh elements
• Top and front blue LED-fan enhancing combat ambience
• Massive protective front door for drive access
• Bottom based PSU for optimized cooling
• Big triangular side panel window & 120mm side panel VGA cooling vent
• LC ready! 2 x liquid cooling punch out holes

Specifications

• Color: Black Interior; Black Exterior
• Material: SECC with Plastic Front Bezel
• Dimension: 502mm (H) x 210mm(W) x 515mm (L) / 19.8" (H) x 8.3" (W) x 20.3" (L)
• Weight: 8.2 Kg / 18.1 lbs
• Side Panel: Transparent Window
• Motherboard Support: Standard ATX / Micro ATX
• 5.25" Drive Bay: 3
• Ext. 3.5" Drive Bay: 1
• Int. 3.5" Drive Bay: 6 with Additional 2.5" SSD bay
• Expansion Slots: 7
• Cooling:
  • Front (Intake): 120x25mm Blue LED 1000rpm 16dBA; 120x25mm(optional); or 200x20mm(optional)
  • Rear (Exhaust): 120x25mm Turbo 1000rpm 16dBA
  • Top (Exhaust): 200x20mm Blue LED 800rpm 15dBA
  • Side (Intake): 120mm (optional)

The front of the retail box for the Thermaltake Armor A90 features a large product picture along with an image of some sort of clown. Now, I have previously seen this image before in an advertisement for a game, I simply cannot for the life of me remember what it is. If anyone has any idea what it is from please feel free to comment in the forums as I am very curious at this point. Aside from that, you see the standard Thermaltake and Armor A90 logos one would expect, along with the case's "Created for Combat" slogan.

The back side of the retail box has several pictures, the feature list and specifications found on the website's product page. There's not much to note here aside from it arriving safely.

The case came packed front side up with the usual two dense pieces of Styrofoam on the top and bottom of the case and the manual and warranty information were outside the case. The rest of the hardware was in baggies (four baggies inside one larger one) tied to the outer hard drive rail as you will see later.

With the bundle all laid out, you see two hose protectors for water cooling passthroughs (via punchouts) with eight super long fine screws for fastening front case fans (four extra, as one fan is already in place), but are also great for fastening extra fans to a radiator. The black plastic pieces in the top right are actually spacers for a front 200mm fan installment. Thankfully the manual shows you just how to use them as I did not have a clue on my own. In general the manual that ships with this case is better than any case I've used in the past, as most show just the basic system installation and you're left clueless with all the odds and ends that come in a given bundle.