Thermaltake Kandalf

With products such as the Thermaltake Big Typhoon and Thermaltake BigWater, both considerable improvements over their past cooling products, Thermaltake has also become a major player in the enthusiast cooling market. Criticized for excessively designed cases, Thermaltake has made a comeback by releasing more functional cases, such as the Soprano, Tsunami, and Armor lines. While these cases bear resemblances to other cases out, they are significant improvements over the competition. Thermaltake’s aims to offer consumers the best products that consumers demand.

Today, InsaneTek has the honor of reviewing Thermaltake’s latest addition, the Thermaltake Kandalf Series. The Thermaltake Armor Series has already received considerable praise for its amazing features and versatility. The Kandalf series adds some extra features to the already acclaimed Armor series. We will be looking at the black version of this case, which utilizes a steel chassis. Thermaltake also has a silver version of this case that utilizes aluminum for lighter weight.

More information can be found on Thermaltake’s website under the Kandalf’s detailed product page.

Thermaltake Kandalf

The Kandalf Tower was packed in a box providing full details of the case’s features. The case was protected by two large pieces of Styrofoam on the top and bottom of the case. To prevent surface damage, the case was also covered in a protective wrap. Besides the included fans on the case, Thermaltake included all the necessary parts to install hardware. In the brown box, Thermaltake includes 4 protective gaskets for the optional water tubing holes, 8 aesthetic screws if the user decides to remove the front panel, a power supply support bracket, the optional 92mm fan and bracket for the top panel, and enough screws and standoffs for the placement of hardware. Thermaltake also includes a handy cloth to clean off those annoying prints and a very detailed instruction manual. I suggest following the instruction manual, considering the various configurations of this tower.

My initial impression of this case can be described in one word: “sleek”. My initial impression with previous Thermaltake towers is a feeling of “overboard”. However, this case manages to capture my attention by having a nice aluminum front panel and an attractive side panel window. The front panel is constructed of all aluminum and incorporates a Thermaltake sign and circular mirror lit by a blue led. The inside of the front panel is made of silver aluminum for a nice contrast of colors. While this creative front panel seems quite flashy, I assure you that the look is clean-cut and sleek. The case itself is larger than your average mid-tower and a little smaller than a full tower, such as Lian-Li’s PC-7X series. However at 18 kg, this case is very heavy and should not be utilized for a LAN party PC. Thermaltake does offer an all aluminum version 8 kg lighter. The windowed side panel also uses two lockable latches. The combination of the latches and huge thumbscrews make removal of the side door much easier than other cases on the market.

The front panel door can be opened to reveal 11 unique 5.25” bay slots. The door is held together by a magnet, but the door can be loosened easily. Each bay cover has a removable wire mesh grill with filter for optimal thermal airflow. Two of the 11 bay slots contain a handy storage drawer and panel for the power and reset switches. The power panel is capable of holding a 3.5” device, such as a floppy drive. Thermaltake also incorporates another 5.25” bracket that holds a 3.5” device if the end user does not want to use the power panel. Overall, Thermaltake has made the front device panel one of the most customizable panels in the market, and we have not even begun discussing the interior of the front panel.

Thermaltake Kandalf Continued

Looking at the rear of this case, notice the potential for cooling and silence. Thermaltake has implemented a 120mm fan increased airflow with lower noise. The four circular cutouts you see are for water tubing installation with Thermaltake’s BigWater liquid cooling system. The Kandalf series is the first watercooling compliant case. By including holes for water tubing, liquid coolers that utilize external water cooling components no longer need to worry about drilling excess holes. The power supply is also mounted sideways, which allows for an extra 92mm fan above the motherboard area or optional hard drive cage in case of a BTX setup. The power supply is secured by 4 screws and a separate bracket positioned behind the power supply. However, this bracket will only secure standard sized power supplies, not power supplies like the OCZ PowerStream series and Thermaltake’s own 680 watt PurePower. Despite this problem, 4 screws are enough to secure any power supply. Thermaltake has also kept the future in mind with the optional BTX backplate kit. Talk about being future proof.

The top panel of the case is also very unique. It has a large mesh grill to serve as a vent, but also has a bracket for an optional 92mm fan. The top panel also incorporates the case connections for firewire ports, USB ports, and outputs for both a microphone and a set of headphones. This type of configuration was meant for towers that will be placed on the floor, rather than on the desk. The wires are long enough to hide conveniently.

Thermaltake, like on most of their cases, tagged the Kandalf case with various logos. However, they are cleverly placed in areas that compliment the look of the case while not distracting from its “sleek” look.

The interior of the Kandalf case is one of the most intricate and well-planned out cases I have ever seen. As previously mentioned, the front 5.25” bay can be configured in any manner to fit your needs. In addition to the already mentioned drawer and front power panel, the bay devices include a hard drive cage cooled by a 120mm fan. All three hard drives can be cooled at once. If no hard drives are used, the 120mm fan can be used as a simple intake. Another optional hard drive cage sits next to the power supply bracket. This hard drive cage is meant to be used with a BTX configuration, but can be used for additional hard drive storage. The case does not implement a removable motherboard tray, but I doubt it is needed due to the overwhelming size of this case. The end-user should have more than enough room to work in.

The Kandalf case also incorporates tool-less installation in the PCI slots, 5.25” drive bays, and fan placements. The tool-less method for the drive bays is quite impressive and painless. Just use a simple squeeze to loosen the plastic holder, slide in whatever device you need into the bay, and then squeeze it back into place. This method makes for quick and easy installation. The devices in the bays are very stable, as if they were held on by screws. The PCI slot tool-less method is more stable than I had imagined. However, if you have a dual slot video card, the video card will not fit. Thermaltake acknowledged this problem by leaving the screw holes intact and making the tool-less PCI bracket removable. The fans in the case are removed and mounted in a tool-less bracket. Removing each fan requires the simple bending of a plastic lever to release the fan. Overall, besides the installation of the power supply and motherboard, installation is relatively simple.

Thermaltake includes all the air cooling you’ll need. Thermaltake also listened to enthusiasts’ demands by replacing loud 80mm fans with 120mm fans for intake and exhaust. For added airflow, they included optional 92mm fans and ensured all vents utilized honeycomb grills. All fans are powered by 4 pin Molex connectors, although the 120mm fans still have a 3-pin for fan speed monitoring. I would have liked to see fans that incorporate 3-pin connectors, so they can be used with fan controllers, but these fans are quiet nonetheless.

Specifications

Conclusion and Thoughts

Overall, Thermaltake’s Kandalf Case was impressive. The case boasts enough features and interchangeable parts to make it one of the most versatile full tower cases on the market. It supports a number of motherboards because of its large size and is future proof because of its BTX compatibility. With its windowed side panel and innovative and sleek aluminum front, the Kandalf case is elegant and well-designed. However at 18kg, the case is very heavy due to the use of steel. Constantly lifting the case for installation was a chore because of the weight and the front door unlatching. Perhaps if there were more magnets to keep the door together, the door would not unlatch. However, these problems can be remedied easily by removing the front door or purchasing the aluminum version of the Kandalf series. Other than those two small drawbacks, the Kandalf case was a joy to review and I highly recommend it to any user that needs a moderately large tower with good cooling and future compatibility. Therefore, I award the Kandalf case the InsaneTek “Highly Praised” award. I will be using this case for a future InsaneTek “Ultimate Gaming Rig,” so stay tuned.

John’s Additions:

Thermaltake has been making some excellent cases recently and this one tops them all. It’s geared towards the gamers, but is not excessive in looks. Like the Cooler Master Stacker case, the front panel provides users flexibility in drive configuration. The only problem I see with the case would be the weight, as it’s one of the heaviest cases I’ve ever encountered. It might not be ideal for systems on the go, but it’ll give you a good workout. If you check out Thermaltake’s other new case, the Armor, you’ll notice a lot of similarities. In fact, the two cases are absolutely the same. The only difference is the front. It’s amazing what a better looking door can do. If you need a new case, add this to your priority list. The high quality construction is definitely worth your dollars.

We would like to thank Thermaltake for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.