Peeling back the skin
One solitary standoff for the motherboard is pre-fitted - all the others come in the accessories box.
Normally this isn't a problem but, with our DX sample, the holes for the other standoffs hadn't been properly prepared.
It wasn't possible to get the standoffs started by hand. Each one had to be held in place then forcibly screwed down.
Such was the effort involved that we ended up resorting to an electric screwdriver!
Not a sign of good quality control and something that might give the self-doubting novice big worries.
In the image above you can see the cradle that's used to hold the rear fan. Look down and to the right and you'll spot the plate that supports the power supply inside the chassis.
Unfortunately, our chosen PSU, the rightfully-popular Corsair HX620, was such a tight fit that we struggled to get it into position. Two things were largely to blame – the location of the PSU support plate and the curved shape on the end of the top cross-brace for the chassis.
And this, we seem to remember, isn't the first time there's been such an issue with a Thermaltake chassis.
Making things even more of a struggle, the underside of the fittings for the external ports on the top of the chassis also got in the way.
In the end we did manage to squeeze the Corsair into place but others with less experience might easily be tempted to give up.
Down the bottom, at the back, are the expansion slots. These use a click-to-place mounting system. Generally, this is welcome but not if, like us, you're trying to fit a graphics card that takes up two slots.
Thermaltake's implementation has individual supports between each slot and that caused us to struggle. Annoying to say the least.
Further down, there's a case-intrusion switch that will be welcomed by those with security concerns about their PCs.