Thermaltake DH 104
Testing
Published: 27th November 2008 | Source: Thermaltake | Price: TBC |
Testing
If you are purchasing a case like the DH 104, you are obviously not getting it for its cooling capacity. Cooling is still important, but we wanted to focus more on its functions as a HTPC, as these are far more important in a living room PC.
After the initial boot, you can extend your desktop onto the LCD. Once you have got the screen working, you can press on with installing the supplied software. After installation has completed sucessfully you will need to calibrate the screen by pressing a series of crosses.
Once you have set this up, you are confronted with 'Front view'. This displays latest news, CPU usage, the time and various other pieces of information, some more useful that others.
Going into the menu lets you select another task. You can also change settings for the screen, as well as change what the front view displays. If you leave it in the menu for around 30 seconds without touching anything, the screen will default back to front view.
Performing a task, such as opening an image, playing music or watching a video follows pretty much the same process. You first select the task, such as 'Music'. You are then presented with your library. Unfortunately, we couldn't get ours to sync with our iTunes library properly. However, once we'd got a song or two loaded, you are presented with the 'now playing' screen.
Once we'd had a play with the screen, we set about a 20-minute torture test. This involved 4 instances of Prime95 as well as artifact scanning with ATI Tool. During the testing, the case remained pleasantly quiet, with the loudest part being the hard disks. Although Raptors are loud, we were surprised we could still hear them with the anti-vibration stoppers installed. Temperatures were then taken with Everest Ultimate Edition after the 20 minutes:
Looking at the graph above, it would seem the air within the DH 104 got to around 60°C. Either that or all the components selected had incredibly close load temperatures. Despite the high temperatures however, the case kept the system perfectly stable, and we were not subject to throttling or any BSODs.
Most Recent Comments
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Originally Posted by name='ionicle'
very nice looking case i must say
but £300 ...phew...bit much aint it 200 would be a better price point for it especially in this credit crunch, people want cheep and cheerful |
Great review, I love these cases - always scared at the price >.<
A possible switch-out of the lcd for maybe a hdd bay or these days.. optional iPod dock ?, perhaps 5.25 opening.. basically LCD or utility opening for added extras u can purchase to suite ur needs. Or ofc blank blate (same color [see below], with Thermaltake watermarked on it - not too heavy to be tacky tho)
Under £200, the unit should sell well, with an obvious after purchase of LCD or any of the above options, would be good business.
The look is very nice imo. It's a shame the flap for the usb/ports looks off-colored to the rest of the unit, it could be the lighting or photography that may make it look worse than it actually is. If that was a spot-on match, I`d class it as slick. For this reason, I'd be more inclined to hunt for a black model.
Nice.Quote
A possible switch-out of the lcd for maybe a hdd bay or these days.. optional iPod dock ?, perhaps 5.25 opening.. basically LCD or utility opening for added extras u can purchase to suite ur needs. Or ofc blank blate (same color [see below], with Thermaltake watermarked on it - not too heavy to be tacky tho)
Under £200, the unit should sell well, with an obvious after purchase of LCD or any of the above options, would be good business.
The look is very nice imo. It's a shame the flap for the usb/ports looks off-colored to the rest of the unit, it could be the lighting or photography that may make it look worse than it actually is. If that was a spot-on match, I`d class it as slick. For this reason, I'd be more inclined to hunt for a black model.
Nice.Quote
Cheers for the feedback!
I agree on the removal of LCD and possibility of other accesoiries, that would certainly be useful..
The USB ports were a slight darker tinge, but it looks great for real, pictures cant do it justice!Quote
I agree on the removal of LCD and possibility of other accesoiries, that would certainly be useful..
The USB ports were a slight darker tinge, but it looks great for real, pictures cant do it justice!Quote
anyone aware of other reviews for this case? I miss info on screen resolution. Could it handle 1080p in clone with a HDTV. What cable connection is used for the LCD, VGA?Quote
CSS Valid
but £300 ...phew...bit much aint it
200 would be a better price point for it
especially in this credit crunch, people want cheep and cheerfulQuote