jmke

On paper the Thermaltake Spedo should be one of the best cases we’ve looked at this year, combining a whole range of desirable features like an excellent cable routing system, easy access drive bays in a highly configurable setup and an innovative compartment system with one of the most capable cooling setups we’ve see here in the bit-tech labs.

Sadly what’s written on the spec sheet hasn’t been translated into the finished product and while the core steel chassis is well built and very solid, not to mention nicely finished and painted inside and out, the plastic components of the Spedo are a colossal let down with the build quality of a twenty year old Rover and in the case of the ATC plastic panelling, the usefulness of a chocolate heatsink.

We’ve spent the last few days with the Spedo, photographing and building our test system into the case, and the list of parts which have broken through general use is embarrassing. The case door handle (multiple times), two of the ATC thermal chamber panels, the drive bay catches (multiple times) and the case trim have all broken, snapped or simply come off in our hands and are prime examples of the poor quality plastic Thermaltake has chosen to adorn the case with. We hate to think how the Spedo would cope with extended use and multiple installs if this is the level of disintegration we’ve encountered in just a few days.

What’s worse is that the Spedo is by no means a budget chassis, currently retailing for over £125! That’s a good £10 more than the comparable Cooler Master HAF932, a case which produces similar cooling and features with much lower noise levels and far, far superior build quality. We might have forgiven the build quality flaws if the case was priced £20 or £30 lower than the competition, but at this price point our criticism is most certainly deserved - you don't expect to pay over £100 for a case that starts to fall to bits before your system is even built.

Underneath all the plastic rubbish and noisy fans though, there is a sound core chassis here. The thermal performance figures are very impressive and the interior is roomy with a couple of very nice little touches especially in regards to the case’s cable management system. Sadly these aren’t enough to compensate for the negatives and despite its solid thermal performance, there are plenty of cheaper and better built alternatives out there that we’d opt for instead of the Spedo.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...altake-spedo/1

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