Thermaltake’s full tower Chaser MK-I takes the heat from QuadFire and Bulldozer

Cases and Cooling

The PC case has evolved over the years from from its original passively-cooled closed white or beige box. All of the hardware has become hotter and hotter over the years as evidenced by the growing capacity of power supply units – especially for gamers.  We had a total of 1625W available for our own testing!  As PC cooling has developed over the years, so have cases to meet the growing cooling needs.

The hardware outputs all of its heat into the case and there must be a good way to transfer and remove this heat or else the inside case temperature rises. In turn, a hot case increases the temperature of the hardware inside, leading to their possibly shortened lifespan or instability if overclocked.  In our own testing, we needed two PSUs for a total of 1625W – more wattage than a typical consumer space heater uses!

Cooling thus becomes critical to an overclocker. If we lower the case temperature, we lower the hardware temperature and generally we can overclock better with cooler components. The latest PC cases come equipped with fans that intake and exhaust large volumes of air, thereby lowering the temperature of the hardware inside. Many modern cases come standard with an intake fan and an exhaust fan. Even more extreme cases such as Thermaltake’s Chaser MK-I will have these fans as well as adding fans or provisions for them to the top, bottom and case sides.

The Thermaltake’s Chaser MK-I big top 200 mm fan exhausts hot air from your case which otherwise tends to pool at the top of a case. This top fan can move a lot of air. There are provisions for another 200 mm fan or you can use the space for a watercooling system’s radiator.  There are plenty of options and we chose to install our FX-8150’s watercooling radiator and fans in the cutout bringing air into the PC to pass through the radiator.

The Chaser MK-I comes with three fans – one 140 mm exhaust fan at the back of the case; the others two are large 200 mm fans on top for exhaust, and in the front as intake. You can easily add more (optional) fans for extreme airflow and cooling – a 200 mm side case ColorShift fan would not only look good for the lightshow, it would be functional for extreme graphics.  The top section has wire dust screens since you have the option to install a watercooling unit or another big fan.

An important thing that a PC builder will appreciate – besides the Chaser MK-I ’s reasonable price, ability to customize it and good looks – is its attention to detail. The very worst thing a builder will encounter is sharp edges inside a case and there were none that we found in building this one. And never – ever – grab the cheapest budget case that you can find.

It is important to consider that a well-designed case properly holds the components in exact relationship to each other; there is no mismatch or straining anything anywhere to add or remove hardware. And we give high marks to the Chaser MK-I for being a solidly constructed and sturdy case. It feels solid and it is quite heavy at about 27 pounds when completely empty.

In addition – if designed properly – a good case will help to keep cooler air circulating around your expensive components which will help to prolong their life by keeping them as cool as possible. Heat is an enemy of your hardware. All of this becomes critical to our project where we must overclock our power-hungry CPU and especially to run with 4 hot GPUs inside 3 video cards which are all starved for air because of their close proximity to each other.

Thermaltake Chaser MK-I continues Thermaltake’s tradition of quality enthusiast cases. We have been using our Chaser MK-I for many months – switching hardware in and out many times – and it is a real pleasure compared with smaller cases. Now that it has been properly introduced, let’s explore the Chaser MK-I and unpack it.