Thermaltake Tenor HTPC

Examination:

As always, Thermaltake has crafted another very impressive front bezel for this case. The whole front bezel is made of very thick, high quality aluminum. The bezel has been kept rather simple and has a very nice curvy style to it. It reminded us of the Wavemaster or Soprano cases layed on its side. On the right side, the whole panel releases and flips down to reveal three external 5.25” drive bays and two 3.5” drive bays. When close the lower portion of the panel features a flip open section in which a VFD kit can be installed. On the lower left side of the panel are the power and reset buttons along with two LEDs that indicate on/off and HDD activity. On the left side of this bezel are five front ports: two USB, one IEEE1394 Firewire, one audio output, and one microphone input. These are very convenient for any PC, but especially important for HTPC’s as users do not want to be climbing behind their cases to attach devices.

The rest of the case is constructed out of 1.0mm SECC Steel. Thermaltake most likely chose steel over aluminum for this case because it is designed for HTPC’s which must be almost silent. Steel absorbs noise and vibrations much better than aluminum and so noise levels can be kept to a minimum.

On the backside of this case, are two slow 60mm fans. One of the advantages of this case is that it takes a standard ATX PSU. That’s right, no need to buy a microATX PSU to run your HTPC. The rest is pretty standard.