Over the last few years Thermaltake has transformed themselves from what I once considered to be a midline OEM supplier of heatsink/fan combos, into one the of most inventive companies on the market. I've truly enjoyed my recent experiences with Thermaltake products, where I'd once felt their products had great potential yet fell short in performance. This was based primarily on my experience with their original Volcano 7 which became an example in design futility (at least early on). The unit had serious potential as it was well built and one of the first ever HSFs to incorperate a thiermistor which dictated fan RPM based on temp. Problem was poor thermistor placement constantly slowed fan RPMs to a minimum unless case temps were exceedingly high. The end result; just about everyone who purchased the original Volcano 7 experienced high CPU temps because the fan wasn't producing adequate CFM, of which it had plenty to offer. Thermaltake eventually rectified the issue in later revisions of their Volcano series.

My first experience with Thermaltakes cases was their SHARK tower case which was one of the better cases I've tested. When I first saw their Kandalf which closely resembles their Armor (both in form and function) the case looked to be a potential winner. As soon as the box arrived, which was large enough to move into, I knew I was in for an experience. In the photo below you can see how it dwarfs the TTGI tower in the back ground.



Thermaltake packages their cases very well and it arrived in perfect condition. In the photo above the included BTX kit was also shipped making the case future proof. Its reassuring when the box eschews fancy graphics for a simple digitized photo on the front and the entire reverse side is devoted to features. Thumbnails below detail box graphics and included hardware. The aluminum "arm" in the right thumbnail photo is used to secure the PSU. This is the first case where I've seen the PSU mounted on its side, a space saving idea which I'm surprised hasn't been used more often? Kandalf is constructed primarily of 1.0mm aluminum.





I was very happy to find a case in which I had ample room to work. Trying to reach into smaller cases can be very frustrating, especially if you intend to house a water-cooling system. In their concern for safety and thinking of the many Enthusiast's whom will be tinkering with a unit such as this, Thermaltake has beveled all edges.



There are two (front/rear) HDD racks each can accomodate up to three HDD's. The upper rear HDD rack rests along the PSU and has a 90mm exhuast fan just behind it., it's easily removed via a clamp and hand fastener. The front HDD rack also doubles as the 120mm front intake fan's mount and this HDD rack can be re-positioned anywhere along the front of the case where there are bays. This allows you to experiment with the front intake fan's location and overall case air-flow. Note the clear retention mechanisms along the height of front rack. this Tooless design securely locks in any DVD/CD drives or other devices into the front bays.





At the rear of the case we can see the rear HDD racks 90mm exhaust fan and another (primary) 120mm exhaust fan just below. There is also a top mounted 90mm exhaust fan giving Kandalf three exhuast fans in total.





The front of the case is utilitarian art-novae constructed with aluminum plates almost a 1/4" thick. These are quite similar to the panels on their SHARK case. These hefty aluminum plates comprising the case "doors" seem to be an icon for Tt's top of the line aluminum tower cases. They definitely give the impression the case is constructed of high quality aluminum, which it is.







Swinging open the heavy "doors" exposes a stack design reminiscent of Server style cases. Kandalf accommodates as many as 9 x 5-1/4" bays the top (10th) bay housing Power/Reset switches and Power/HDD LED indicators as well as a floppy. On the very bottom hides a slide out storage drawer for CD/DVDs, tools, etc or can be used as your Fluffy's food dish (Thermaltake probably never thought of that innovation). Unfortunately what originally drew my attention to this case was the "illusion" up to three 120mm front intake fans can be stacked as intake fans. Once the case arrived I realized the image at Thermaltake's site was simply showing how a SINGLE 120mm intake fan can be positioned anywhere along the face of the front of the case. As your about to see on page-2 each bay cover doubles as an intake grill and each has a foam micro-filter behind it.



Depressing a small spring-loaded cover on the top of the case exposes 2 x USB, 1 x 1394, Audio and Mic connections. This is the only instance where a material other then aluminum is used (plastic). Just behind the pop-up access cover Thermaltake has mounted a internal 90mm exhaust fan.





Onto the case mechanics, specifics and thermodynamics--->

Features:

Thermaltake really put some effort into this case and it is by far, one of most well thought-out designs I've ever tested. the uit is versatile accomodating a wide variety of motherboards ((ATX, Micro, BTX (w/kit)) and with H20-cooling in mind. Thermaltake has intended the Kandalf to be future-proofed offering a BTX upgrade kit although I belive most consumers are still somewhat confused at to what exactly a BTX environment should look like (including myself).

Thermaltake Kandalf VA9000SWA1
Case Type	Aluminum Super Tower
Side Panel	Transparent Side Panel
Net Weight	10.1Kg
Dimensions	530x220x560mm (HxWxD)
Material	Chassis - 1.0mm Aluminum Front Bezel - 4.0mm
Cooling System	Front Intake - 120x120x25mm 1300RPM 17dBA Rear Exhaust - 120x120x25mm 17dBA HDD Rear Exhaust - 90x90x25mm 19dBA Top Exhaust - 90x90x25mm 19dBA
Expansion Slots	7
Drive Bays	Front Accessible - 10 x 5.25", 2 x 3.5" Internal - 6 x 3.5"
Motherboards	Micro ATX, ATX, Extended ATX, BTX

Kandalf's front bays double as grills with micro-foam filters (perhaps metting hepa standards) behind each. The bay covers easily release with a screwdriver, revealing 5.25" bay-drive hardware. Below I've installed TTGI's Fan Master 610 with its mirrored front plate. One of three 3.5" bay trays can be seen extruding out from 6th bay down.





From this reverse angle you can see the bay-covers with their black foam filters and just make out the front intake 120m fan blades (orange). The thumbnails provide a few more reverse angle views of the front intake fan which is mounted to the DD-rack, although there is lso a rear HDD rack also with a 90mm cooling fan, mounting the 1200mm front intake fan onto the HDD rack ensures thos critcal drives are kept cool. (Below)





Located toward the front on the floor of the case was a mysterious, somewhat nefarious looking "black box" which bemused me? The blackbox with it's three position toggle switch simply controls the front panel lighting effects. The switch powers a Thermaltake logo on the case front panel. The logo may be left illuminated, or provide a flashing effect in which Ther-mal-take is illuminated by syllable.



As I was about to dismiss any notion the switch had some nefarious underlying purpose, I recalled early pyschology classes covering subliminal advertising. The Ther-mal-take name repeatedly flashes in the "victim's" (I mean owner's) minds-eye as they continue to buy Thermaltake products to the point they've cashed in their children's College funds. All kidding aside it's a bit much as the cost could have been spent on temp panel.
below we see the uit flashing (please don't stare too long)...



As mentioned earlier the HDD rack can accommodate up to three 3.5" devices. In the first photo we see the front intake fan with the foam filter backed sectional grills removed (3 BAYS mask the fan), in the next photo the rack with the primary intake fan mounted to it is partially slid out.




Installing components began with PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 850SSI. Kandalf has provided ample room for those of us constantly installing and removing components to keep pace with the perpetual metamorphosis of the PC-hardware. I would normally use a blanket term "evolution," however; that term denotes growth, advancement and I'm sorry to say this is not always the case with many purported "advances." I'm beginning to realize how DDR2 and BTX were forced upon us by a company whom now epitomize devolution in CPU technology and are more concerned with profit.(more on that in a later article).

Installing PCPower&Cooling’s 850SSI (which epitomizes evolution in PSU technology) required the removal of Kandalf's 90mm top exhaust fan. The quick release mounting bracket made removing the fan very easy (bracket holes are visible in the photo).



Initially I'd installed a water-cooling system into the case, however; the size of the radiator precluded internal placement. This forced me to remove the side-panel which would make it impossible to test Kandalf's thermal properties. Any case designer worth their weight in silica will consider very carefully fan placement, as this will affect case airflow dynamics, ergo thermodynamics. Creating a vacuum is difficult when silence is a primary concern. Manufacturers have to consider ergonomics and sacrifices are made in the name of performance to meet noise requirements. My initial dissapointment was laid to rest somewhat as I relalized three exhaust fans vs one intake fan creates a vacuum. Below we see the test system installed and running.

Case Aerodynamics/Thermodynamics

One of the benefits to Kandalf is its transformability into the Armor VA8000 simply by removing a few screws, and disconnecting the front panel's lighting effect. In the photo below I've removed the front panel.



Thermaltake's Armor which has the same basic structure as Kandalf, is now used by Alphacool in their water-cooled case series Ready2Go TTArmor UNI seen below.



Of course this case will also accommodate Thermaltake's Big Water 12cm water-cooling system perfectly. Kandalf is the most versatile case I've come across for its mechanical/internal features, the external versatility of the case adds to its ergonomic appeal.

Test System
CPU	Pentium 630 (3.0GHz) Retail
Mainboard	Asus P5AD2E-P (BIOS 1005)
Memory	Transcend 2 x 1024MB DDR533
Graphics	Sapphire ATI X800 XT
Power Supply	PCPower&Cooling TurboCool 850SSI
Cooling	Stock
Operating System	Windows XP SP2

I've chose to install an Intel stock HSF cooler as a control (baseline comparison). When we measure case temps this will provide us with a clearer indication of how the case would aid in cooling using "stock" components.



Testing involved recording case temperature using TTGI's Fan Master 610 using one of the unit's 4-external thermistors. I affixed the thermistor so that it extended freely at the rear of the case just opposite the CPU HSF and near the rear exhaust. The TTGI was also used to monitor room temps, denoted as Case Temp in our graph.



Temperature monitoring involved four stages (actually eight as I also tested temps with a smaller PSU leaving the 90mm top exhaust fan in, this dropped ALL temps included by 3C). Recording temps with the system running at Default speeds 3.0GHz and overclocked to 3.9GHz. Each instance was then recorded running IDLE and LOAD. To produce the latter (LOAD) I used the utility S&M. I've found this program to raise temps higher then any other program to date. The following article compares S&M to other stress testing utilities such as Prime95, BurnK6, BurnK7, CPUBurn-in v.1.01 and UT2003. Using Asus Ai BOOSTER V.2.00.42 utility CPU and System temps were monitored during all stages. In every case the temp displayed as System (monitoring the motherboard thermistor) matched the TTGI Fan Master 610 external thermistor temp. In our final graph the value "Case Temp" is synonymous with System temp as seen in the thumbnails below.

3.0GHz @ IDLE /// 3.0GHz @ LOAD | 3.9GHz @ IDLE /// 3.9GHz @ LOAD




Arguably the first priority of a PC-case is do aid in dissipating heat from the components it houses. Aluminum is the ideal material based on it's thermal conductivity, light weight and relatively inexpensive cost. f course Aerodynamics/ventillation when done correctly negate the material used. A lucite case with effective vetilation will keep components cooler then a solid silver case without effective ventillation. Kandalf soars in ergonomics, versatility, ease of installation, with the single exception beign the lighting effects and eye in the front. in so far as thermodynaics Kandalf is (in this writer's opinion) one of the most effective units on the market. Temps seen below are indicative of performance with the 90mm top-exhaust fan removed. I did have Thermaltake’s Pure Silent Power 680 installed originally which dropped temps over-all by 3C due to the added benefits of the top exhaust fan.




Conclusion:

Price at time of writing: Kandalf can be purchased in the USA for approximately $220 (Newegg). Based on the criticisms above I would recommend the Armor as an alternative for just $149 (Newegg).


The Thermaltake Kandalf is without question an archetypical design and one of the best case I've tested or owned to date. Kandalf is the quintessential merger of the highest quality materials, solid engineering, noiseless operation and versatility. My criticisms are few,

CONs
-Tool-free PCI slot retention bracket may make installation easy, however; getting cards out can be quit a struggle
-The round "eye" of Mordor or whatever it is in the front of the case has absolutely no purpose, yet begs for it. If there were ever a place to put a temp display this were it. It's prescence is a constant reminder.
-A rack or mounting hardware for an additional front 120mm intake fan isn't provided, a fact made more frustrating by Kandalf’s (and Armors) webpage which in an attempt to show multiple front fan positions, gives the impression 3-fans can be stacked.
-Price which wouldn't be an issue if the criticisms above were resolved. , however; they are not and
If Thermaltake were to make the changes I recommend above, eliminating the flashing logo and placing pertinent info in the "eye" of Kandalf, and providingng at least another HDD/Fan rack or just the hardware to mount a second fan in the front, I honestly would say this case is perfect!

PROs
-90% Aluminum design, well crated, sturdy.
-Versatile, accomodating HDD mounting in front and rear with both locations providing adjacent dedicated cooling.
-Tooless desing makes for quick nd easy installation of components into drive-bays
-Well ventolated (although additinal front intake fans would be nice)

As an avid H20 devotee (Kandalf is an ideal case for the watercooling enthusiast) I'm giving Kandalf a water purity level of Ph6 just about pure in its design execution, performance and value. I would like to thank Thermaltake for providing their product for scrutiny.

Addendum/Edit: I retested the case by mounting (ad hoc) a second 120mm front intake fan and temps did not change? I reinstalled the 90mm top exhaust fan (removed to house the PCPoer 850 SSI) and found a 2-4C improvement as this drew warm air out which had become "tapped" in the upper regions of the case.

Questions/Comments: forum thread