Thermaltake Eureka

Little buttons and big logos, but otherwise dreamy!

In the past, Thermaltake’s case designs have generally been as subtle as a sledgehammer to the bridge of the nose. Bawdy, painfully tasteless (kind of like my writing style)… yet they did the job. So it was with a sigh of relief that we slid this ‘whoa momma’ of a tower out of its cardboard sheath, and discovered that at least one of the designers at Thermaltake knows the meaning of the words elegant and simple.

Looking somewhat like a speaker, the external drive bays are tucked away behind a curved metal grill. It’s a very plain, yet aesthetically pleasing, design. However, someone couldn’t resist whacking the Eureka logo in bold white letters at the bottom of the facia – when will these guys learn that we don’t want logos splashed all over the place? Having said that, compared to the likes of the Volcano, it’s definitely a step in the right emblem-free direction. A strange little problem on the front of the case is the reset button – unless you have fingers the size of toothpicks, you’ll find it next to impossible to depress, although we’re sure Logan has a suitably sized limb that would do the job.

This full tower sized behemoth cheerily doubles as a Tardis, with more than enough room on the inside for seven 3.5” drives (two external accessible), five 5.25” drives (all externally accessible) and a handful of Daleks.

Considering it’s whopping dimensions, at 540mm x 205mm x 650mm, the overall weight of 8.9kg is very manageable, a result of it being constructed primarily of 1mm aluminium sheeting. However, a side effect of this relatively thin construction is that the case feels a little flimsy – we can only imagine how it would handle the weight if all of its drive bays were occupied.

As is becoming increasingly common, the internal hard drive cage is mounted sideways, making it simple to swap out a dodgy drive quick smart. Each of the racks in the cage are tool-less and have silicon grommets to help cut down on vibration noise, a very nice touch. Mounted just in front of the drive cage is a low-RPM 120mm fan, which should do a half decent job of keeping the drives cool, although it’s a little crippled by the facia cover. The ease of access also applies to the mobo, with a slidey motherboard tray included for when you really need to get down and dirty with the guts of your PC. The use of thumbscrews means that you can do most of the grunt work inside the case without a screwdriver in sight.

Another 120mm fan is mounted at the rear of the case, helping to keep the air moving, but we’d recommend additional cooling if the case is filled to the brim. A large vent on the left side panel could have benefited with some kind of slim fan attached, as there’s plenty of room to fit one. Those with a thirst for water will appreciate the pre-drilled pipe holes, making the fitting of an external water cooling simple.

Rounding out this rather tasty package is a decent generic 430W PSU – fine for a regular system, but nowhere near meaty enough if you’re going to make use of the case’s server persuasion.

The Eureka shows that finally Thermaltake is starting to get it. It’s not painted in any vomit-inducing colour schemes, has an elegant and efficient design, and its feature set certainly can’t be complained about. And we’re sure a little bit of nail polish remover will get rid of the unsightly Eureka logo.