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Mid-Tower Mega Roundup

 by Joshua Buss on September 8, 2005 12:05 AM EST
48 Comments | Add A Comment
48 Comments
ThermalRock Eclipse (cont'd)

To secure 5¼”-sized drives, rails are once again used, but this time, they are simply kept in the accessories box when they are not in use.


Click to enlarge.

It's also nice that a couple of spares of the giant thumbscrews are included, and plenty of the hard drive thumbscrews as well.

Moving on, the rear of the Eclipse is relatively standard, but a couple of items are still worth mentioning.


Click to enlarge.

First, notice the support for the PSU, as this along with the crossbar will make this a fine case for LAN-ing or just normal transport. Also, you can just barely see one of the tool-less expansion card clips, but this is one area where the Eclipse could use a little work, so we're going to elaborate on them.

They are designed to simply flip out to allow for cards to be placed into position, but even when fully open, they're not quite far enough away to make inserting a new card completely easy.

When they are locked in place, they still do not hold a card as firmly as a normal screw would, but if one really wanted the extra security, a screw could still be used as well.

Once our test bed was installed, we took a couple more pictures of the various parts that light up, including the front insignia and power/HDD lights.

Since the blue is always on as long as the system is turned on, the red led that activates when there is HDD activity actually turns the embossed drive icon a purplish hue, which is a pretty neat effect. The even more significant light is a couple of blue LEDs, which light up the ring of plastic surrounding the CD storage.


ThermalRock Eclipse (cont’d) Antec P-180
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  • xsilver - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    just because you like the "stealth" look it doesnt mean everybody else does
    why is there a market for car neons?
    why is there a market for phone covers and ringtones?

    but good god, that thermalrock case needs to DIAF! :P

  • smn198 - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    quote:
    why is there a market for car neons?
    quote:
    why is there a market for phone covers and ringtones?
    http://www.chavscum.co.uk">Chavs

  • imaheadcase - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    Well its evident there is a market, but your comparing apples to oranges. Its computer part not something everyone builds themselves. If you have people buying power ranger cases that built computers, then they need a new hobbie..

  • xsilver - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    who says you have to build a system yourself?
    dont your local pc store (not best buy etc) stock their cases from somewhere?
    if some 10 year old (or some tryhard that doesnt know how to build his own) wants a pc, what case is he going to choose, crappy bling neons or real aluminium?

    dont get me wrong -- I prefer stealth too - but I do realize that there is a market for crappy neons :P

  • raildogg - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    ThermalRock Eclipse looks sweet, although I'd still get a P-180.

    why would you pay that much for the V1000? rather get a cheaper case like a P-180

    oh and primo posto! :)

  • OvErHeAtInG - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    I was going to to correct you with "primer poste" until I realized you typed the Italian... a race fan should know... *hits himself...*

  • ksherman - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    I personally dont think any case should be worth so much... unless it was the MOST amazing theng ever to hit the world... which I dont think the V1000 lives up to. I personally dont like the look of the Eclipse... to flashy, and it actually looks kind of cheap. But it might look different in person. I am a big fan of the Sonata 1 so, I would guess the #2 would be better, but it doesnt seem to include a PSU from what I have seen...

  • Furen - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    The Sonata 2 does include a PS: a SmartPower 2.0 450w. The problem with it is the fact that it's quite a bit louder than the original TruePower and the TruePower2 of the newer Sonatas.
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