Themaltake Case - fitting hard drives query

Hi Guys

I just bought a new Thermaltake case - an Aguilla.

It looks very impressivie and I was pleased with the quality of the case.

However, I am now building my PC and cannot believe the hard drive cage set up.

It is on the side, ie when you install a drive into the cage the drive goes sideways across the case (in every other computer I have seen the inside of the drives always go in frontways so the cables poke out the back of the cage.

But on my Aguilla the cables have to be fitted to the side so that when I refit the side case it touches the cables.

Is this is a poor design or are all cases going this way, or have I misunderstood the way the cage goes in. (The manual is very brief and the pictures do not show cleary the way to install dirves.

Also I have just noticed that fitting the mother board support screws is very hard, on most boards I have been able to screw them in with my fingers and then tighten them with pliers. On this case I have to use pliers all the way ! it is very tedious and time consuming.

Any comments ?

Regards

Digby
NZ

My thoughts are: Can you turn the HDDs 180 degrees? And if the support screws aren't easily screwed in. I say wrong screws or wrong posts.
Good luck & keep us updated.

Is it possible to give a link to the case? I might have an idea of what you mean by the HD bays.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by digmen1

It is on the side, ie when you install a drive into the cage the drive goes sideways across the case (in every other computer I have seen the inside of the drives always go in frontways so the cables poke out the back of the cage.

But on my Aguilla the cables have to be fitted to the side so that when I refit the side case it touches the cables.

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Many new case designs feature the "cross-carcass" HDD cages.

Power/data cables with 90° fittings on the drive ends will solve your interference issues.

Link

As far as I can see, the cross case mounting is intended for the WD Raptor-X drive, just to show off its workings.

Normal hdd mountings appear to be in the removeable cage behind the front fan.

Hi Guys

Thanks for the input

I have now assembled my PC.

The removeable hard drive cage does indeed result in the drives sitting across the case rather than lengthwise as is traditional. This results in the connecting wires touching the side panel. Whilst the cables do fit in, I am not that keen on the way the cables have to bend where they sit by the side panel.

Clocker says you can buy 90 degree plug cables. That sounds good, but I had not heard of them and Thermaltake did not say in their manual that I should buy a set. And if they made the HDD cage in the normal orientation one would not need them.

And I must report that I was very disappointed in the mounting screws for the ATX motherboard. I needed to insert 8 of them and I found that inserting each one was technical feat ! I had to use a pair of pliers to get them started and had to use pliers all the way.

On other cases I was able to insert the plugs with my fingers and then tighten them up with pliers.

I was not able to insert one plug meaning that my motherboard is now suppoorted only by 7 plugs rather than the 8 it should have. Also the panel into which the plugs are inserted is very flimsy and it moves easily with a bit of pressure.

Whilst I am impressed with most of the Themaltake Aguilla's design and manufacturing and finish. It has quite a few good points eg the cable lengths supplied are very generous, they provide enough screws to assemble 3 or 4 computers ! the case and doors are nicely designed.

But these two points put me off it.

PS I have since found several sites that review cases in great detail and I wish I had studied a few of these, but then I suppose I would never make up my mind on buying a case as there are so many !

Regards

Digby

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lynx

Link

As far as I can see, the cross case mounting is intended for the WD Raptor-X drive, just to show off its workings.

Normal hdd mountings appear to be in the removeable cage behind the front fan.

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They are not normal due to the fact that the drives sit across the case rather than lengthwise.

Regards

Digby

You didn't mention if the drive could be turn 180 degrees as zapjb mentioned. It could solve the touching wires.

Btw, those "8 plugs" are called standoffs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

You didn't mention if the drive could be turn 180 degrees as zapjb mentioned. It could solve the touching wires.

Btw, those "8 plugs" are called standoffs.

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I did look at that, but there is a big sheet of metal at the other side with a hole in it, but there is not enough room to connect the cables.

Thanks for the correct name - standoffs !

Regards

Digby

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

You didn't mention if the drive could be turn 180 degrees as zapjb mentioned.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by digmen1

I did look at that, but there is a big sheet of metal at the other side with a hole in it, but there is not enough room to connect the cables.

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I just scanned a couple of reviews and they both showed the HDD(s) mounted with the cables in back, toward the motherboard tray.
Neither mentioned any clearance issues with the wiring in this config.

I think you might be missing something here...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by clocker

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Virtualbody1234

You didn't mention if the drive could be turn 180 degrees as zapjb mentioned.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by digmen1

I did look at that, but there is a big sheet of metal at the other side with a hole in it, but there is not enough room to connect the cables.

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I just scanned a couple of reviews and they both showed the HDD(s) mounted with the cables in back, toward the motherboard tray.
Neither mentioned any clearance issues with the wiring in this config.

I think you might be missing something here...

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I initially thought that the drives were fitted front to back as in conventional systems, but having looked at the link I posted again, it is certainly clear that the drives are intended to be fitted with the cables towards the left (looking from the front).

If you look at the small images labelled "Front intake fan cools hard drives" and "Removable HDD cage for easy installation" you can see the front of the case next to the cage. Most reviews where I've seen wiring have used this setup.

I looked for reviews that show the drive fitted the other way round. I haven't seen a review of that type that actually showed any cabling to the drives. Add to that the fact that drive mounting holes are not positioned symmetrically and you soon realise that the drives simply could not be securely mounted that way. The only conclusion is that those reviews are more than a little suspect.

I haven't seen any moans about the wiring, but there have been plenty about this cage in general. Perhaps they got so fed up trying to fit the drives that most just put them in long enough to take a photo and never tried fitting the side of the case.

Here's an excellent example of a drive properly mounted. It is clear that it could not be fitted the other way round - the holes would not line up with the grommets.
http://images.tweaktown.com/imageban...ddmounted1.jpg

Hi Lynx

Thanks for all the interest in my post.

Yes I am sure that I have installed the hard drive the only way it can be installed. As you say I could not turn it round as the screw holes in the cage would not fit the drive.

I have looked at a couple of the reviews and they were very detailed, with five or six pages lots of text and lots of pics and they were criticial of several aspects of the case.

But they obviously did not continue with a complete installation or they would have picked up my complaints. (as you say, they probably thought stuff this !) and just took some pics.

I sincerely hope that other case manufacturers do not go down this route of drive cage design there is no advantage to the user.

Also I found it very hard to fit the motherboard due to the fact that the ports cover plate would not fit into the large rectangular hole. Until I saw that there was a small plate 1cm by 2cm which was secured by a screw. When I removed this the motherboard went in nicely. I then put the plate back. This was not mentioned in the case manual.

I have got the PC up and running all OK. But I would like to record my worry about the hard drive cables being bent (might look at getting some 90deg cables) (once again the manual should have recommended this and its an unwanted extra expense for no real gain). Also the motherboard mounting plate is very flimsy and mounting the stand-off plugs was a big mission.

Kind Regards

Digby

Is it just the power leads you've got problems with, or the data leads too?

Looking at the pics of the various PSUs available with that case, I'm guessing you got one with the TruePower PSU rather than the PurePower offering.

The PurePower already has 90 degree SATA power connectors. In fact, the SATA power connectors on the TruePower PSU are the first I've seen that are straight on, I've assumed they were all 90 degree ones until now. I bet the TruePower PSU was an afterthought that they haven't tested properly.

I can't understand why they didn't go for tool-free mountings in the drive cage, since they went for that option for the 5½" bay. If they'd done that there wouldn't have been any need to remove the cage except to fit an extra fan, and since the cage sits directly behind the front fan I can't see anyone fitting one. Without an option for a fan the cage could have been moved deeper into the case, giving more room for the cables. :rolleyes:

Hi Lynx,

I'm not sure what power supply it is. It came with the case its at Thermaltake 430w power supply. The box does not mention any specifis model.

Yes the Sata power connector (single) from the PSU is straight on. They did supply a normal pin connector to SATA adaptor cable which I will need as I will be fitting a second Sata drive (as they are so good)

I agree with you about the non-tool free mounting of the hard drives to the cage. Indeed not only does it inhibit the possibility of mounting the drives further into the cage, but the design of the cage sides makes it very hard to fit the screws into the drives. Indeed one reviewer did mention this.

But one other "feature" I have just discovered is the non-tool free expansion card system. The case has the usual plastic clips which hold the slot covers or the expansion cards in place, but you need a screwdriver to remove or re-fit the plastic cover ! This seems to me to be not only silly in making a non-tool feature into a tool-required feature, but that it is very hard to refit the plastic clips due to the design of them. You virtually need three hands ! one to hold the slot cover down, one to hold the clip steady and the screw in place and one to turn the screwdriver. It took me quite a few attempts (of dropping the screw) to successfully refit the clips. These days with users fitting and re-fitting cards quite often, this will be a real pain.

Once again thanks for your interest Lynx.

Do many cases have these design problems ? You would think that once the case industry came up with a good design feature they would stick to it so that cases would gradually improve not go backwards as I feel this case does.

regards

Digby
NZ