Verdict: A hulking, aluminium blast from the past.
The Thermaltake Armor+ is definitely a member of the old school of case design - it's essentially a large box with lots of vents and fans. This is a style that's best exemplified by Cooler Master's imposing Stacker 830, and that stands in stark contrast to the sophisticated and compartmentalised design of the SilverStone Temjin TJ09.
The original Thermaltake Armor fared well when we reviewed it in June 2005. The large roof vent and quiet 120mm fans meant that it offered enough cooling potential for even the hottest overclocking rig at the time. This update shares some of these positive points, but the design has been refined for modern PC building.
The menacing curves of aluminium on the front of the case are still a focal point, and the ventilated drive bay fascias remain intact. The roof vent (for a single 120mm or 140mm fan, neither of which are provided) is even more ostentatious than before, though, surrounded by a mass of hollow plastic moulding stretching from one end of the roof to the other. The plastic on the top of the case also acts as a tool kit holder, which partially makes up for its ugliness.
However, it's odd that the plastic spills over the back of the case, yet isn't strong enough to use as a handle. This is hardly surprising, as the case weighs a hefty 10.2kg, which makes us question why Thermaltake has used aluminium at all for the Armor+. After all, using more expensive aluminium rather than steel usually results in a lighter, more transportable case. The USB, FireWire and headset connections have been brought to the front of the case to avoid wires obstructing the roof vent.
The inside of the Armor+ is much more to our liking. The main drive mounts can accommodate seven 5.25in drives and five hard disks. Two more 3.5in bays are located on the floor of the case but, as screw holes for fans are also present, these could be sacrificed in favour of two 120mm fans or a radiator. The use of floor-mounted intake fans is feasible, as the Armor+ has large feet to give the floor of the case 25mm clearance from the surface on which it sits. All of the disk bays and rear expansion slots use plastic screwless mechanisms that held our drives and cards securely in place.
The internal design follows the usual layout, with the PSU mounted at the top. You could use an oversized PSU, such as the Enermax Galaxy series, but PSUs measuring more than 150mm will obscure the roof vent. This is a shame, as there's sufficient room inside for a truly monstrous PC, and plenty of space for an E-ATX motherboard such as the Intel D5400XS, which you need for a Skulltrail system.
Apart from the potential conflict between a long PSU and the roof vent, the Armor+ will keep a Skulltrail PC reasonably cool. The front 140mm intake fan is positioned between the ventilated drive bay fascias and the hard disk caddy, and can be augmented by using the fan mount on the other side of the caddy with a 120mm or 140mm fan, although neither is supplied. There's also a huge, slow-spinning 230mm fan on the side window, which draws in a fair amount of air without being too noisy. There's no dust filter on any of the fans - this is a particular problem with the side intake, as its size means it will suck bits of fluff into the case.
Unfortunately, there isn't a version of the Armor+ that opts for a fanless side window, although there's a black version (VH6000BWS) if you don't like silver. Thermaltake also makes a version with a built-in water-cooling kit (VH6000LBWS) and a new ESA model for Nvidia fanboys (VH6001BWS), although neither of these has been confirmed for sale in the UK yet.
Conclusion
The original Armor case was essentially a big box with a few fancy details, and the Armor+ is merely an evolution of this basic concept. This means that while there's plenty of room inside for a massive PC, the Armor+ hasn't grasped that you might want to water-cool said PC.
There's plenty of space for a large reservoir and pump, but mounting points for only one dual 120mm-fan radiator (which will act as an intake), and two single 120mm radiators (or one if you use a long PSU). Who uses a setup like that? This leaves you with the option of air-cooling your monster PC, but the Armor+ uses the brute-force method of adding big fans, rather than opting for the elegance of the SilverStone Temjin TJ09. The cheap and ugly plastic moulding on top of the case, and the fact that the Armor+ is essentially just a big box, make the £132 price a touch high.
