Our recent marathon of Thermaltake case reviews forges ahead with a look at the mid tower Armor A90.  “Created for Combat” is the motto Thermaltake has applied to this chassis, no doubt in reference to it’s rugged design and emphasis on gaming.

First up is a quick company profile of Thermaltake.  Once upon a time Thermaltake was known only for their cooling products, but in recent years they have expanded their product offerings to encompass a wide range of enthusiast products.  Headquartered in Taiwan, Thermaltake has a strong global presence in all major market areas. Here is a snippet taken from their web site:

“Since the beginning of Thermaltake in 1999, it has been at the forefront of creating new and exciting products at a time where most computer users were provided little to no choices for components that may seem irrelevant, but in reality crucial to the performance of a PC.

Thermaltake Server Series solutions, with years of thermal experience and industry leadership, sets its goal on reforming total thermal management in server segment by formulating the perfect mixture of versatility, efficiency and thermal management with each respective server product category: Rackmount Chassis, Server Fixed & Redundant Power Supply and Server CPU Cooling Management Solutions.

With its comprehensive line of products available, it enables Thermaltake’s core customers to enjoy a one-stop-shop experience, reduce product design-in evaluation period and most important of all, flawless integration process. Each of Thermaltake’s strengths enables its customer to focus on their core business while taking advantage of the skills and efficiency of a single thermal management solution partner.”

Follow along as we explore the Thermaltake Armor A90 Mid Tower Case!

The list of features and specifications are quite impressive for a case in this price range, first the feature list.

• Black bulletproof  armor design with metal mesh elements.
• Top and front blue LED-fan enhancing combat ambiance
• Massive protective front door for drive access
• Bottom based PSU for optimized cooling
• Big triangular side panel window & 120mm side panel VGA cooling opening
• LC ready! 2 x liquid cooling punch out holes

And the specifications.

Next lets have a look at the packaging and box design.  The front of the box is in the typical Thermaltake black theme with a picture of the case along with some battle type artwork.  The back of the box is loaded with product information such as the feature set, an air flow diagram, and internal and external structure information.  The carton sides have another picture of the case on one side, and a multi-language explanation that a computer chassis is enclosed in the box with the web address of Thermaltake.

Upon opening the box you are presented with the standard styrofoam blocks which hold the case securely inside the carton.  There is a plastic bag on top which has the users manual and warranty information pamphlet enclosed.  Removing the case from the box reveals a nicely wrapped product using a plastic bag.  All in all the case is tucked in the carton very well and should arrive to the consumer in excellent shape.

Continuing on we will have a look at the exterior of the Armor A90 case.  Beginning with a view of the front you can see the rugged styling.  There are two front panel USB ports along with the microphone and headphone jacks.  Just below that is the hard drive LED, power LED and reset buttons.  The power button is the very large triangle area just below and to the left of the reset button.  The Armor A90 features a swing out front door which conceals the three 5.25 bays as well as the single 3.5 bay.  The door feels very solid while opening and closing it, and is held shut with magnets.  Behind the front panel is a blue LED 120mm fan and an option to add another 120mm fan should the user desire. The overall feel of the case is very strong, this is not a flimsy chassis by any account.

The left side of the case continues the rugged design and has a triangular shaped window embedded into the side panel.  Most of the newer Thermaltake cases have implemented this smaller window design, this seems to be a trademark design for Thermaltake these days.  There is also a large mesh area  in the left side panel which can accept an optional 120mm fan if desired.  The right side of the case has a similar design as the left side less the window and mesh.

The top of the case features another large mesh area with an included 200 x 200mm blue LED fan.  Also on the forward section of the top panel is another two USB ports along with a eSATA port.  The bottom of the case has four plastic feet and a mesh filter for the power supply fan.  We have done several Thermaltake case reviews lately and every case we have seen so far uses hard plastic feet, we much prefer at least a rubber insert if not a completely rubber footing.  The hard plastic feet will scratch a surface and not help at all with any vibration concerns.  The mesh filter for the power supply can be easily removed by simply sliding it out which makes cleaning an easy chore.

Concluding the exterior tour of the Armor A90 is a look at the rear of the case.  At the top right are two punch out holes for a water cooling system tubes to pass through, another 120mm exhaust fan, the I/O shield area, and 7 PCI expansion slots.  Also at the back of the case is another large mesh area for air flow, and the bottom mount power supply opening.  Additionally there is a mouse and keyboard cable hold down bracket which is secured with a thumb screw from the inside of the case.  Lastly, there are two more punch out holes just to the right of the PSU opening.

Next we removed the side panels from the Armor A90 to see what the inside of the chassis has to offer.  Immediately noticeable is that the interior is painted black, a very nice touch indeed.  You also notice the large hole in the motherboard tray which allows access to a CPU cooler mounting apparatus without having to remove the motherboard from the case.  There is a plethora of wiring for the front panel connections as well as the top panel’s USB and eSATA connections.  Tied to the inside of the case was a bag full of hardware for mounting components, plenty of brass motherboard mounts and screws are included.  With the right side panel removed you can get a look at the wire management options.  As is the norm with most Thermaltake mid tower cases, the wire management options are limited, but they do provide a large “pocket” area behind the 3.5 drive bay to tuck your extra wiring into.  Unfortunately there is not a lot of room between the backside of the motherboard tray and the side panel, making routing wires there near impossible.  Fortunately the “pocket” area is very large and is probably adequate for most system configurations.

Diving a bit deeper and having a look at the three included fans, it is apparent that air flow through this case should be more than adequate for even the most demanding of system configurations.  As mentioned earlier, an additional 120mm fan can be installed in the left side panel and front of the case if needed.  The front panel has an easily removable dust filter that covers the 120mm fan openings, as well as filters for each of the 5.25 drive bays.

Exploring the mounting system for 5.25 and 3.5 drive bays shows that a tool-less design was implemented for securing the hardware.  On the left side of the the drive bays there are locking mechanisms that you simply slide forward and lift upward.  Once the drive is slid in to place, lower the sliding lock and the two pins incorporated into it will engage your drives mounting holes.  The right side of the drive bays do not have these locking mechanisms but use a tension bar to hold the drive securely.  You do have the option of using screws to further secure the drives to the right side of the bays if needed.  There are three 5.25 drive bay openings, and up to seven 3.5 drives can be installed.  At the very bottom of the 3.5 drive bay is four mounting legs which can be used to install a 2.5 SSD drive.

Now that we have taken a close up look at the Thermaltake Armor A90, lets have a go at installing a system to it.  We decided to build up a system fully loaded with two hard drives, a card reader, and two HD3870′s in crossfire.  This should give us a good idea of the room available for cable management and how much effort it takes to cram all those components in to the Armor A90.

We started off by installing the DVD Rom drive, we opted to secure it with screws on the right side and used the tool-less design on the left side.  We did the same for the two 3.5 hard drives.

Mounting the motherboard with the memory and CPU cooler installed was a painless task, everything dropped right in and lined up perfectly.  Once that was done we installed the power supply and the two video cards.  After that it was just a matter of plugging everything in.  We packed a lot of items into this case and it was pretty easy to do so.  There was plenty of room to work and we sure packed that “pocket” behind the 3.5 drive bay full of wires!  Keep in mind the design of the Gigabyte H55 board we used did not have the greatest layout, especially the SATA port location.  All and all, not to bad for a mid tower case packed with components.

And finally a few shots of the build with the lights!

Thermaltake lists this case at a price point of $99.99 USD, but shopping around it can be had for around $89.00 USD.  For that price you will be hard pressed to find a mid tower case as large and packed with as many features as the Armor A90.  The rugged styling might not be for everyone, but we found it to be quite appealing.  The black painted insides are a nice touch and keep the theme of the case in tact throughout.  Plenty of cooling fans are provided which diminishes the need to purchase additional ones, the stock cooling is more than ample for most system builds.

If your looking for a mid tower case with great looks, lots of features, excellent stock cooling, and a price that won’t put holes in your wallet, then you need to keep the Thermaltake Armor A90 on your short list.

Pros

• Superb stock cooling
• Great looks
• Little larger than the standard mid tower case
• USB ports on both the front and top of the case
• Feels strong, sturdy, and well built
• Ample fan filtering system

Cons

• Plastic feet, not rubber
• Lack of cable management holes in motherboard tray

Keeping in mind the low price point this case falls in to and the amount of features you get, it is easy to give the Thermaltake Armor A90 mid tower case a solid 9/10 and the accompanying gold award.