First Look

Here we'll take a look at the Tai-Chi from top to bottom, inside and out. While checking out the case we can look at the features Thermaltake has included with the Tai-Chi.


Starting with the front of the case we can see the elegance of the Tai-Chi, from the waves in the swinging doors to the small strip of mesh to allow the glow of the fan to be seen and fresh air to be drawn in. With the first feature Thermaltake uses the term "Extrusion" which is a Latin word meaning "a form or product produced by this process", taken even further and the word "Extrude" means "to shape (as metal or plastic) by forcing through a die". So the case is not made of flat sheets of aluminum cut to a pattern and formed to make the case. On top the relocate-able front control panel is a feature we'll take a close-up look at a little later.


On the front near the bottom we have the grill for the removable 3 x 3.5 HDD module with 12cm fan. With the grill off you can see the fan and below a 5.25 drive bay accessories box - great place for those unused thumbscrews and for some tools. Now considering Thermaltake states the Tai-Chi features optimized internal space and airflow, why would you place three hard drives in front of the only front case fan? Also why limit me to three drives when there is room for ten? In other words why provide only one 3.5 HDD module? You could just as easy mount your drives elsewhere and also mount the 12cm fan along those ten bays as you see fit, however where the fan goes so does the module.


Here I removed the front face plates and I do mean plates, each is made from aluminum and the grill as well. It would appear without the plates looking from front to back some cable management is in order. In the second picture we can see slots the face plates snap into. Unlike the plastic ones in most cases these would require a little more work if you want to mount anything in them.


The right flank is where the hydraulic door is located as well as the slots for the radiator fan exhaust. The hydraulic door is another Thermaltake feature and is where the bulk of the water cooling system resides.


Both the left and right flank has a door to access the thumbscrews for drive, hardware installation and removal. No caster wheels installed yet, we'll see those in the installation section.