Worst case EVER: Thermaltake Soprano

[jonnyGURU]

Here it is: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Chassis/midtower/soprano/soprano_index.asp

Here's why it SUCKS!...

This weekend I built a machine for a friend. He got the Soprano case because of the way it looked. No other reason. It "looked" hot.

So I bench build the PC, install XP, etc. and have it ready to drop into the case.

While XP is installing, I prep the case.

The steel is thin and flimsy. The gloss paint scratches easily. At least the door and bezel feel fairly solid.

I rail up the three 5.25" bay devices (one Chill-TEC controller, one DVD-RW and one Blu-Ray drive) and notice that the bezels do not all line up. There's no way to adjust this.

I then notice that the included 120MM fans come with four pin Molex power connectors instead of three pin fans. I think I'd rather they didn't come with any fans. And why orange fans? I know orange is the "team color" but orange doesn't go with many color schemes. Sure, I could swap out the fans, but because we knew that the case came with a pair of fans, nobody ordered extra fans.

I then install the motherboard and find that the case comes one stand off short of a complete set. I do like the "pin" type stand off in the middle that holds the board in place for you. That's a nice touch.

I then install the video cards; a pair of ATI 1950XTX's. The "screwless slots" actually PREVENT the insertion of the video cards because the cards take up two slots! I had to unscrew four screws and remove the plastic hold down bracket so I could install the video cards.

The USB and Audio connectors are one piece headers. YAY! The Firewire is not. BOO!! And the cables coming down from the ports on top of the case aren't long enough to actually hide them.

Now.. the Soprano doesn't come with a PSU. I was willing to give up my Corsair HX620W to the guy because it has the red label on it and looked good with the ATI cards. So I go to install the PSU and find.... IT DOESN'T GO IN! That's right... between the support bar and the top of the case, there isn't enough room to install the PSU!! Someone suggested pulling everything out of the 5.25" bays and putting the PSU in from the front, but that didn't allow for enough room either. So I had to pull the motherboard BACK OUT of the case so I could install the power supply!

Ok.. So you can say, "why didn't I install the PSU first?" Well, I bench build my stuff first so I don't have to pull everything out if I have to do some troubleshooting because it doesn't post, etc. That and I wasn't sure what PSU I was going to use. I was actually waiting for some stuff to come in via UPS (UPS never came.) So the decision to use the Corsair was last minute. But besides all of this, let's say the PSU was DOA or died months from now. How happy am I going to be when I find out that I have to pull the motherboard in order to get the PSU out?!?!

Sorry Thermaltake, but on a scale from one to 10, this case gets a 1. And the only reason it didn't get a zero or less is because of the bezel and the finish. It ranks high in the looks dept, but make the case tall enough to put a PSU in from the side, make USB/Firewire cables longer and make the connectors one piece, give me 3-pin fans or no fans at all. While we're at it, can we make the key for the bezel and the key for the side panel THE SAME so I don't have TWO sets of keys for the case? That's just silly using two different types of keys on the case. Is there a GOOD REASON for this?

[MrWicked1968]

Coolermaster FTW. I've always found TT's to be shameless, boy racer copies of somebody else's work. Except for the Mozart, which I sort of like, but would never pay that much for.

[Spectre]

Yeah I am a big fan of coolermaster cases even the ones without removeable motherboard trays like the Cavalier and the Centurion 5.

What can brown do for you? How about show up :lol:

[EsaT]

The steel is thin and flimsy. The gloss paint scratches easily.Hey, good first impression is important and they were just truthful in it.

then install the video cards; a pair of ATI 1950XTX's. The "screwless slots" actually PREVENT the insertion of the video cards because the cards take up two slots!That's like all these easy-to-use helpers made by Microsoft.
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
-Albert Einstein

And from available images I would say those cards were very tight fit and made sure that there aren't much possible places for HD.


Also grill/hole plate in front of back exhaust fan is way too restrictive.

[jonnyGURU]

Oh yeah.. Thanks for reminding me....

There was only one HDD bay available that wasn't obstructed by video cards or CPU cooler. :D

Another point against it.

[kwak]

to be fair, i think that pretty much any sub-$80 case will suffer from most of these issues. I know that, except for the easy-to-scratch-paint and the screwless thing(i never understood why anybody would want that anyway, arent they smart enough to use a screwdriver?), my case suffers from them too, even the usb connectors are not 1-block.

damn, i need money for a new case, but the one i want is sooo expensive.

[Bbq]

There are plenty of good cases for cheap. Like the Coolermaster Cavalier. It's a good solid structure, it won't collapse under it's own weight, the toolless pci works, the toolless hard drive and optical drives work well, there's plenty of room to install components howevery ou want, and it's got decent cooling. All this for $40. A DAMN good deal, if I say so myself.

[galapogos]

I actually don't really like the Centurion 5. I just helped my friend build one, and here are a few things I don't like about it:
- The front bezel is a pain to take out. There's apparently no lever/catch/hook that holds the front lever in place. I think the 8-10 pins are the only things that hold it in place, and you have to squeeze each of them and pry the bezel out by brute force to get it out. There were no instructions on how to remove it either, so I broke half a pin on the 1st try.

- The metal plates that cover the 5.25" drive bays don't have any gap between them so it's also hard to remove them. Also because there's no gap, if you choose to remove only 1 per drive, prepare for the top or bottom of your ODD to scratch because it's scraping on the metal plates.

- The sides of the front bezel's 5.25" drive bay holes aren't flat and it's hence a pain to attach the front bezel back once the ODDs are installed.

- The lever that holds the I/O card plates at the back in place don't play nice with dual-slot cards either. I couldn't get it to lock with my friend's X1950Pro installed.

- The front case fan's 3pin fan connector wasn't long enough to reach the mobo's header. They did provide 3pin-4pin molex splitters though but then I'd be forgoing fan speed monitoring and taking up another molex connector.

[templar_m1a1]

I actually used Centurion 5 for a new computer build to replace my sisters Celeron III (1.1GHz that I used in a build 4 years ago:lol:) in a no name atx case that came with 350 watt PSU (I got 520 watt Corsair for a new setup :D probably an over kill), at least Centurion 5 is a lot sturdier that what she used to have.

It it is not to bad for an entry type, but it requires some work, which is ok with me. The thing I hated with passion was hard drive bays (Used 2 old IDE type in a with a PATA arrangement) and a vented side panel, when it is off, wobbles worse then a "STOP" sing in a high wind. All in all it is ok with Abit KN9 NF4, X2-3800 65w, 7600gt, 2 optical drives, 1Gb DDR2-800, 2 IDE HD (160Gb Seagate, 40Gb 4 or 5 years old)

Should of spend a bit more on Antec SOLO case which is basically a P150, just looks a bit different

[Spectre]

I actually don't really like the Centurion 5. I just helped my friend build one, and here are a few things I don't like about it:
- The front bezel is a pain to take out. There's apparently no lever/catch/hook that holds the front lever in place. I think the 8-10 pins are the only things that hold it in place, and you have to squeeze each of them and pry the bezel out by brute force to get it out. There were no instructions on how to remove it either, so I broke half a pin on the 1st try.

- The metal plates that cover the 5.25" drive bays don't have any gap between them so it's also hard to remove them. Also because there's no gap, if you choose to remove only 1 per drive, prepare for the top or bottom of your ODD to scratch because it's scraping on the metal plates.

- The sides of the front bezel's 5.25" drive bay holes aren't flat and it's hence a pain to attach the front bezel back once the ODDs are installed.

- The lever that holds the I/O card plates at the back in place don't play nice with dual-slot cards either. I couldn't get it to lock with my friend's X1950Pro installed.

- The front case fan's 3pin fan connector wasn't long enough to reach the mobo's header. They did provide 3pin-4pin molex splitters though but then I'd be forgoing fan speed monitoring and taking up another molex connector.

I haven't ever had any of those problems and all the problem attachemtns you had have gone on very easy for me.

My only complaint about the Cneturion/Cavaliers is the non removeable motherboard tray. But for the price you can get them for......I am not complaining.

[ianm2]

well my case that got about 90 glowing user recommendations for it ended up with the stock psu leads it came with not even long enuff for the drive bays, how stupid is that?

and you have to remove the optical drives if you are refitting a new psu, dunno if that's normal, bit of a pain tho', its only my 2nd case build.

Is there such a thing as the perfect case? I am currently of the impression there is a lot of bull spoken about cases.

coolermasters have had lots of good reports...

I may have a pop at this one, it looks like there is acres of space...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Coolermaster-Full-Tower-ATX-Case-Dell-PSU-FLoppyDrive_W0QQitemZ180066908252QQihZ008QQcategor yZ51061QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[CAD4466HK]

I may have a pop at this one, it looks like there is acres of space...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Coolermaster-Full-Tower-ATX-Case-Dell-PSU-FLoppyDrive_W0QQitemZ180066908252QQihZ008QQcategor yZ51061QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


That's so 1998:p :lol:

[galapogos]

That's a rebadged inwin isn't it? I had the mini tower version of that, the A200. Anyway, it's pretty shallow, and probably won't fit say an 8800GTX :)

[EsaT]

I may have a pop at this one, it looks like there is acres of space...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Coolermaster-Full-Tower-ATX-Case-Dell-PSU-FLoppyDrive_W0QQitemZ180066908252QQihZ008QQcategor yZ51061QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Looks little like old Chieftec towers which can't house any of little longer than normal graphic cards when there's HDs.

New BA/CA-01 models are approriately deeper for fitting long graphic cards.
http://www.pcgamma.com/showthread.php?t=7471
(but reaching upper 5.25" bays requires long data cables, also short 5.25" devices won't work)

CM Stacker is another very spacious case, cables reach better to every 5.25" bay and there's considerably more space than in copy (http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2006/11/21/Antec_Nine_Hundred/4.html) made by Antec.
http://hardware.gamershell.com/articles/co...master_stacker/ (http://hardware.gamershell.com/articles/cooler_master_stacker/)
http://www.systemcooling.com/cm_stacker-04.html

[Manny Calavera]

Here it is: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Chassis/midtower/soprano/soprano_index.asp

Here's why it SUCKS!...

This weekend I built a machine for a friend. He got the Soprano case because of the way it looked. No other reason. It "looked" hot.

So I bench build the PC, install XP, etc. and have it ready to drop into the case.

While XP is installing, I prep the case.

The steel is thin and flimsy. The gloss paint scratches easily. At least the door and bezel feel fairly solid.

I rail up the three 5.25" bay devices (one Chill-TEC controller, one DVD-RW and one Blu-Ray drive) and notice that the bezels do not all line up. There's no way to adjust this.

I then notice that the included 120MM fans come with four pin Molex power connectors instead of three pin fans. I think I'd rather they didn't come with any fans. And why orange fans? I know orange is the "team color" but orange doesn't go with many color schemes. Sure, I could swap out the fans, but because we knew that the case came with a pair of fans, nobody ordered extra fans.

I then install the motherboard and find that the case comes one stand off short of a complete set. I do like the "pin" type stand off in the middle that holds the board in place for you. That's a nice touch.

I then install the video cards; a pair of ATI 1950XTX's. The "screwless slots" actually PREVENT the insertion of the video cards because the cards take up two slots! I had to unscrew four screws and remove the plastic hold down bracket so I could install the video cards.

The USB and Audio connectors are one piece headers. YAY! The Firewire is not. BOO!! And the cables coming down from the ports on top of the case aren't long enough to actually hide them.

Now.. the Soprano doesn't come with a PSU. I was willing to give up my Corsair HX620W to the guy because it has the red label on it and looked good with the ATI cards. So I go to install the PSU and find.... IT DOESN'T GO IN! That's right... between the support bar and the top of the case, there isn't enough room to install the PSU!! Someone suggested pulling everything out of the 5.25" bays and putting the PSU in from the front, but that didn't allow for enough room either. So I had to pull the motherboard BACK OUT of the case so I could install the power supply!

Ok.. So you can say, "why didn't I install the PSU first?" Well, I bench build my stuff first so I don't have to pull everything out if I have to do some troubleshooting because it doesn't post, etc. That and I wasn't sure what PSU I was going to use. I was actually waiting for some stuff to come in via UPS (UPS never came.) So the decision to use the Corsair was last minute. But besides all of this, let's say the PSU was DOA or died months from now. How happy am I going to be when I find out that I have to pull the motherboard in order to get the PSU out?!?!

Sorry Thermaltake, but on a scale from one to 10, this case gets a 1. And the only reason it didn't get a zero or less is because of the bezel and the finish. It ranks high in the looks dept, but make the case tall enough to put a PSU in from the side, make USB/Firewire cables longer and make the connectors one piece, give me 3-pin fans or no fans at all. While we're at it, can we make the key for the bezel and the key for the side panel THE SAME so I don't have TWO sets of keys for the case? That's just silly using two different types of keys on the case. Is there a GOOD REASON for this?



At the risk of upsetting the boss,I think it depends on the builder.I own one of the Soprano's,and have built pc's for clients and 1 friend using this case,and It is wonderful for the price.Orange is not for everyone but some love it.My digital camera just died,but when I get another later on in the week,I will post pics of a build I recently did using this case.For the price its a very good case.I am surprised you installed the power supply,after you installed the mobo and optical drives :D Did it not seem obvious from the start the ps should have gone in first ? Always test all parts before you put anything in the case... I always do.The wires are plenty long enough,IMHO.and can be hidden wellif they are routed properly in the first place.You must have been having a bad day.My only complaint with this case, and one that follows your personal taste,is the use of four pin molex on the fans cable ends,it was a bad design decision on the part of Thermaltake.I build between 5 to 15 pc's a day at my day job.I am no power supply expert,I am not a electrical engineer,but I do know how to build pc's quickly,and still hide most of the wires when a client wants to use a windowed case.

I generally dont like using windowed cases on a build as it takes allot of extra time during the day.I would also add,that the paint finish on this case is pretty sturdy.The place I work for likely sells 4 to 6 of these a month stand alone,and as many built up with parts per month.

[jonnyGURU]

At the risk of upsetting the boss,I think it depends on the builder.

Yep... You're going to run that risk with you post o' assumptions..... :D

I am surprised you installed the power supply,after you installed the mobo and optical drives :D

Did I not dedicate an entire paragraph (paragraphs.. those are created when you put carriage returns.. err.. hit the "Enter" key... between ideas/thoughts) to why the PSU did not go in first?

Did it not seem obvious from the start the ps should have gone in first ?

Does it not seem obvious that most cases allow you to slide a PSU in fromn the side? Bad design, period. No excuse. When a PSU goes bad, you're supposed to pull all of your parts? So never mind that I put the PSU in after the motherboard.... are you even going to take that into consideration? It's not even as if there's a removable mobo try that will allow you to slide the mobo out of the way. It's just a bad design, PERIOD.

Always test all parts before you put anything in the case... I always do.

??? What's the point of this statement? Did I not say I was testing everything outside of the case? Oh wait... you mean I should have test fit the PSU inside the case? Oh yeah... my bad for thinking this case would be like 99.9% of the cases on the market and allow me to slide the PSU in from the side.

The wires are plenty long enough,IMHO.and can be hidden wellif they are routed properly in the first place.You must have been having a bad day.

Bull shit. And I know how to route/hide cables so don't give me any of that crap. The cable, even when pulled in a straight line, barely touch the bottom of the case. The cables should be AT LEAST as long as the case is tall. They're not. The USB/Firewire ports are on the top and most motherboards have the headers on the bottom.

It's ok to disagree with me. Hell.. you can flat out tell me I'm wrong if I'm wrong.

Whether or not a case should have orange fans is an opinion that is going to differ from person to person... and yes, it's weird that I didn't put the PSU in the case first. But for you to say that it's "my opinion" the cables aren't long enough because I don't know how to route cables is flat out insulting.

You could give me the benefit of the doubt that maybe I got some odd ball case that had unusually short cables or something, but instead you had to take the "well, I route my cables properly" route, as if you could route cables that are only 20" long in a 19.5" tall case? You expect NOT to piss me off?