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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

As a smaller division of ThermalTake, ThermalRock's aluminum Eclipse pays many design traits to other ThermalTake cases. Breaking off from tradition though, the front of this one is primarily taken over by a CD holder, which includes a blank red CD-R. No, it is not an actual drive or reader of any sort, unfortunately; it simply holds a CD for storage and looks.


Click to enlarge.

To get at the real drives, the front of the Eclipse opens up with a dual-hinge design and reveals four 5¼” and two 3½” bays.


Click to enlarge.

Notice how the Eclipse uses several different finishes to give it a unique look that's classy, yet will still appeal to most gamers out there. The revealed front for instance is a sparkle black not unlike a lot of guitar or even automotive finishes.


Click to enlarge.

Power and reset buttons are hidden to clean up the look of the case when closed, and towards the bottom, the vents for the intake fan can be clearly seen. Getting back to the front before opening the doors, we can take a look at the intake vents there as well along with a couple of other items.

Besides the plastic-embossed "ECLIPSE" insignia, there are also strips that will light up showing that the case has power and there is hard drive activity above the vents as well. Turning the case to the side slightly gives us a better look at the port cluster, which may or may not be the best placement for one's particular setup.

We really wish that manufacturers would space the ports out a bit more on the clusters like this, since more and more devices are coming out that have little to no cable at all, making plugging in more than one peripheral difficult or even impossible. Moving on, there is also the option of locking the entire front bezel here on the side. When unlocked, the bezel can be swung open to allow unrestricted access to the removable dust filter.

Turning the case 180 degrees, we can see how the Eclipse looks from the rear, and are happily surprised to find massive thumbscrews in typical ThermalTake/ThermalRock fashion.


Click to enlarge.

We can also tell from this one picture that there are two included fans with the Eclipse, both of which are 120mm in size.

Antec Sonata II (cont’d) ThermalRock Eclipse (cont’d)
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  • Abecedaria - Sunday, September 11, 2005 - link

    What was the criteria for choosing these cases? Most of them look nasty-plasticy and even the Antec P-180, although it looks good, has a veery plasticy feel.

    Where was Silverstone in your review? They have some of the best cases available:
    http://www.silverstonetek.com/product-case.htm">http://www.silverstonetek.com/product-case.htm
    and from their new subsidiary:
    http://www.tuniq.com.tw/Chassis/chassis.htm">http://www.tuniq.com.tw/Chassis/chassis.htm

    These things rock.

    abc

  • unclebud - Monday, September 12, 2005 - link

    please consider reviewing the performance 640 next time?
    it currently includes a smartpower v2 400w, for $129
    thanks in advance

  • Rudee - Saturday, September 10, 2005 - link

    There is an error in the article. The Sonata II does indeed have a removable air filter in the front of the case, thus should not be given a score of "0" for this catagory.

  • Tamale - Saturday, September 10, 2005 - link

    The filter is removable from the bottom of the case only.. while this certainly is 'removable', it is nowhere near as accessible as the other cases which I gave this point to. I struggled with the idea of giving the case .5 for this category, but it wouldn't have made a difference in the end, and I really don't feel that most users would go through the trouble of tipping the case over just to clean the filter, so no points were awarded.

    Thanks for pointing out the detail though.

  • Rudee - Saturday, September 10, 2005 - link

    The Sonata II case is great. I was able to overclock a AMD 64 3700 to 2700mhz using the stock AMD heatsink and fan with one Panaflo 92mm fan in the duct over the CPU. Temps are great and I ended up returning my Zalman 7700 as I didn't need it.

  • dgkulzer - Friday, September 9, 2005 - link

    After 1 month of use I am very happy with my P180. Assembly does take a bit longer than a standard case if you are trying to hide your cables but that isnt much of an issue to me. I put a Phantom 500 PSU in it and because its longer than most other PSU's I had to replace the lower fan with a thinner model (Nexus 120). I have 4 hard drives in the lower chamber and the Nexus at 5 volts keeps them very cool - I havent had the Phantom fan kick on yet either.

    This is one case that looks better in person than it does in pictures, the pictures make it look like a little fridge or something but it looks pretty sweet on your desk :)

  • mschira - Friday, September 9, 2005 - link

    I guess the two compartment design is great for watercooling. You could put the pump reservoir etc in the lower compartment. If something leaks, the electronic is save.
    I think that's great thing...
    M.
    P.S. onla trouble is where to put the power suply...

  • Griswold - Friday, September 9, 2005 - link

    Kids, having a flashy computer under your desk doesnt make the chicks like you more. Say no to stupid side windows!

  • Tamale - Friday, September 9, 2005 - link

    you seem to forget that most kids who think it would look cool to have the window in the first place probably don't care about girls anyway ;)

    p.s. - most people (girls included) seem to think my all-acrylic case is pretty cool

  • Griswold - Sunday, September 11, 2005 - link

    quote:
    p.s. - most people (girls included) seem to think my all-acrylic case is pretty cool


    Besides the total lack of EM shielding (which is enough reason to not do what you did, not only because it's not allowed in many countries (I know, I know, US is different, there, the cops wont stop you if your car has only 3 wheels..)), a full acrylic case is a nice show thingie. I just find side windows embarrassing, especially when the rest of the case looks like Optimus Prime's chest armor.
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