Legit Case Reviews

Thermaltake Armor A90 Black Mid Tower PC Case Review

Manufacturer: Thermaltake
Product: VL90001W2Z
Date: Wed, Jun 09, 2010 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Austin Hamann -
Share:

External Impressions: Closer Look

The Front Door Hinges of The Thermaltake Armor A90

The front door is mounted with metal brackets and uses washers as well for smooth operation. Note the door closes on its own due to how it is mounted. So, if you want it open you have to hold it open, but you never have to worry about closing it. Just know that from wide open (max. is about 100° from closed) it closes a bit hard (in a 'slams shut' kind of way).

Thermaltake Armor A90 Front Panel Ports

In this closer shot of the front panel connections you can actually see the dust filters in the 5.25" drive bay covers.

Thermaltake Armor A90 Additional Top USB and eSATA Ports

Money shot on the top connectors -- dust could be a problem inside the ports, but that's not exactly a hard thing to fix. I doubt these will get used much, if at all, anyway so I'm not particularly concerned.

Thermaltake Armor A90 Front Panel Spacing

Looking up into the front panel you can see the case fan has plenty of room to breathe, and there is nothing constricting its flow inside the case either, so it will stay as quiet as possible.

Thermaltake Armor A90 External Water Cooling Hose Punchout

The Armor A90 has two pairs of punchouts for water cooling tubes next to the PSU at the bottom of the chassis and above the rear exhaust fan. Thermaltake uses large black painted thumbscrews which are very easy to turn, but are slightly shorter than the unpainted version found with the Element T as those featured a space between the grip and the threads.

Thermaltake Armor A90 USB Cord Lock

Thermaltake also uses a USB lock under the same design as the Element T (painted this time, of course).

Thermaltake Armor A90 Plastic Riser

This gives you a better idea of how high the plastic risers are. These set the case plenty high off the ground even with high pile carpeting.

Thermaltake Armor A90 Removable Feet

The four feet in the plastic risers are removable to use just the feet (if you have the case on an object where the front panel can hang over the edge). Just push the locking pin out. This is significantly better than some other cases which just use glue or double sided tape which can really get messy (i.e., NZXT Hades which I recently removed the feet, cleaned up and super glued back on with great results).

Next Page - Internal Impressions


Review Index
Page 1 - Thermaltake Armor A90 Gaming Mid Tower
Page 2 - External Impressions
Page 3 - External Impressions: Closer Look
Page 4 - Internal Impressions
Page 5 - Installing Parts Into the Armor A90
Page 6 - Installing Parts, Continued
Page 7 - Final Thoughts & Conclusions