Thermaltake shows element of style

YESTERDAY WE WERE showing off pictures of the Thermaltake Level 10 case, but that is far from the only cool thing the firm has here in Hannover. In fact, there was a ton of new and updated parts on display.

Note the notched blade

The first interesting one is called the ISGC series of fans, supposedly very quiet. If you look closely at it, the fan blades are notched at the tip. This quiets down the air flow so the fan makes less noise. It probably costs a little efficiency, but that is not the point of this product.

Thermaltake Vi-ON

Next up, we have a 3.5-inch external HD case. Nothing spectacular, but a decent design with a bottom mounted fan that ducts up and out. Related to this is the external HD docking station called the BlacX. Although it isn't exactly brand new, Thermaltake put out a dual bay version called the BlacX Duet. You can just hot plug two 3.5-inch SATA HDs, no case needed, and it connects to a PC with either USB or eSATA.

Element S case

A little down market from the Level 10 case is the new Element series of cases. There are three models, the corporate oriented S, a more bling-bling G for gamers, and a yet unseen T for 'special purposes. One nice thing the interior has is 7 3.5-inch HD bays and two 2.5-inch bays for SSDs. Thermaltake has an eye on the near future here. There are multiple colors of trim, if you don't like red, you can also get blue and yellow/green versions. In any case, this portends the future styling direction of Thermaltake chassis.

Toughpower HQ PSU

Judging by the pre-production Toughpower HQ, the future styling direction of Thermaltake PSUs is a little different. This part is far from final, but when TT shows things like this off, they have this habit of showing up on shelves a few months later.

The HQ has a few nice touches, the most obvious is the chrome band around the middle. Additionally, the corners are rounded nicely, and the fan is about the biggest you can cram into a box that size. The last one is not shown in the picture, but it is a little meter on the back that shows PSU efficiency. I am not sure how this works, but I guess we will see at Computex.

The last one is another prototype, the VE10 case. It is very similar to the VE9 currently on sale, but has a squared off top and is a full tower. Once again, this one should be out in a few months. µ