Thermaltake Tenor VB2000

Thermaltake is known for producing some of the best computer cases, power supplies, and enthusiast accessories available on the market. The Taiwan-based manufacturer is particularly well-known for producing aesthetically conscious computer cases. The Tenor VB2000 series is a prime example of some of their superior design skills.
The Tenor series is a desktop tower available in either a brushed aluminum finish or in black and either one is a truly satisfying sight. The Tenor package also contains some surprising and interesting features:
Model Tenor                VB2000SNS
Case Type                    Desktop
Net Weight                   8.5 kg
Dimension                    170 x 430 x 460 mm (H*W*D)
Cooling System            Front (intake): 80 x 80 x 25 mm silent fan, 2000 rpm, 19dBA

Rear (exhaust): Dual 60 x 60 x 25 mm silent fan, 2500 rpm, 19dBA

Drive Bays                   Total - 8

Front - 3 x 5.25", 2 x 3.5"

                                    Internal - 3 x 3.5"
Material                        Chassis: 1.0 mm SECC
                                    Front bezel: Aluminum made
Expansion slots 7
Motherboards              ATX, Micro ATX
Power Supply Unit       Standard ATX PSII
Front Access                Dual USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 Firewire, Audio and Speaker ports
Container Load            20'-452, 40'-934, 40' HQ - 1062
The Tenor case is truly a fantastic looking case. Its styling cues clearly come from the burgeoning living room multimedia PC as it mimics any number of pieces of stereo equipment. Its design is meant to eliminate any connections to it being a PC and further reinforces its core audience as the multimedia enthusiast market.

The front of the case features a bezel similar to (though rotated 90 degrees) a number of other Thermaltake cases (i.e. Mambo) but its design is a significant step up. The front bezel is produced out of aluminum and features a very innovative dual front door system over the optical and floppy drives. In most cases it would be a single door that would swing open on a simple hinge system, but the Tenor takes it a step farther with an innovative wheel and cog method to allow the door to rotate open at a stately and respectable pace on its own. Once the upper catch is released the drive door will rotate open under its own weight until it reaches a ninety degree angle parallel with the lines of the case and completely stop. It's certainly an eye-catching feature.

What really is impressive about the front bezel is the presence of the secondary door nearer the bottom of the drive door. This door does utilize the simpler hinge method to open and close and is meant to house the Thermaltake VFD Media Kit.
The Thermaltake VFD Media Kit is an optional component but certainly seems like a worthwhile addition to the Tenor case, and is worth picking up. With the lower lid open the VFD is visible and displays a very pleasing graphic equalizer effect. It also provides you with the ability to use a very convenient infrared remote control to manage all of your digital media content. Additionally, when you're done the panel can be closed and the quiet ambiance the case exudes is returned to your environment.
That is probably the greatest aesthetic strength of this particular case: its ability to be both striking and inconspicuous. When powered up two tiny blue LEDs illuminate the front of the unit from inside the curves of the bezel and the flip down drive door opens with quiet grace to allow you to insert your DVD movie or audio CD. It closes just as smoothly, allowing you to leave only the IR sensor and digital equalizer visible.  In an effort to continue this aesthetic simplicity and design the case does not shirk its requirements as a PC enclosure as much as it is a home theater unit. The usual front panel connections exist on this case, including a pair of USB 2.0 ports, an IEEE 1394 port, and headphone and microphone jacks. The connectors are mounted on the left hand side of the bezel and provide easy accessibility from the front. However, access is not as easy as it could be.

The to-the-side placement of the front ports is not necessarily a bad idea, but considering all the time and effort put into the optical drive door and the lower VFD door on the front bezel, the placement of the front ports could have as easily been placed inside the drive door. Since so much thought was put into the development of such a great drive door, it seems like the front ports were added to the case as a late development rather than as a part of the original design.
Additionally, I continue to question the logic and reasoning behind the inclusion of front audio jacks when the attachment of these devices to the motherboard causes the onboard audio ports to be disabled. Considering the marketing of this case as a home theater enclosure, why would any serious audiophile (or anyone who likes to have more than two channels on their audio) ever connect these?

Putting aside these issues with the front panel ports, the case still continues to impress. The bottom of the case features four very stylish and very well done non-slip foot stands plated in gold. The foot stands raise the case a good half inch off the desk (or stereo stand) surface. Considering the number of cases that use the quarter inch thick plastic feet shoved through the bottom of the chassis, the addition of these small pieces increases the aesthetic quality of this case exponentially.

The top panel of the case, however, still seems to be one of the weakest areas of case designers. The top panel includes a square of perforated steel over the area where you would roughly find the majority of PCI expansion cards and a hexagon of perforated steel roughly over the location of the CPU. Considering so many design cues that were borrowed from various pieces of stereo equipment a further "borrowing" could have occurred in the design of the passive ventilation for the case.

Ventilation, however, remains fairly effective for the case. The case comes with three preinstalled fans including an 80 mm front intake fan and dual -- that's right, dual -- rear exhaust fans. The front intake does draw from a slotted opening in the bottom of the front bezel, and the presence of the half inch foot pads improves the effectiveness of this ventilation method, but it does not ease this obvious deficiency found in any number of computer cases. However, the presence of dual rear 60 mm fans does provide a great deal of effective cooling for the system, as well as a slight thrill seeing that double-barreled exhaust system staring at you like loaded weapons. The interior of the case is exceptionally well-designed. It sports two solid swing arms: one attached to the internal drive cage and another located just above and across where the CPU would be positioned.

The swing arm located above the CPU has an opening that lines up with the perforated hexagon on the top of the case to allow the processor fan to draw air directly from the outside of the case to cool it. The swing arm, otherwise, is a solid piece of steel and provides the case with additional reinforcement to support the weight of a monitor, even a CRT monitor, placed on top of it without buckling. This is an excellent design feature that provides both excellent function and form to the case but, at the same time, detracts from the presence of the ventilation hole in the top panel and the hole drilled through this brace.
The swing arm attached to the drive cage, however, is without fault. With the removal of one screw the swing arm will rotate up and out of the chassis, taking the hard drive cage with it. This is a much better method of dealing with properly mounting the hard drive to the chassis than is often found in desktop cases. It gives you the ability to remove the drive cage without having to be careful of dropping the cage as you attempt to carefully line up the grooves of the 3.5 inch drive cage with the hard drive cage. This is a wonderful feature and certainly deserves to be recognized for its integration into this case.
A feature of this case that should be noted for worthwhile examination isn't even in the case itself: it's the manual. The Thermaltake manual included with the Tenor case is well designed with very clear pictures and diagrams. The English in the manual is not necessarily the best, and on occasion the wrong words are used to describe various actions, but overall it is a well done guide to complement a well designed case. The manual is not short, either; it tops out at a decent fifteen pages that describe in detail the various front panel connectors with large diagrams and detailed technical drawings of the connectors.

There are a few drawbacks to this case and the most noticeable of these is the absence of a Thermaltake power supply included with the case. It is not often that a Thermaltake power supply unit is included with any Thermaltake case, but when it is it certainly improves the quality of the case you are purchasing. This drawback is hardly worth noting, but its absence is noticeable.
Additionally, it is worth noting that the manual and Thermaltake's own website advocate caution if you are planning to install an optical drive in the lowest 5.25 inch bay because it may have issues with the motherboard you have installed. This is an important detail to be aware of, but since likely very few people would be installing three 5.25 inch devices that would reach that deep into the case, it is not going to be considered a weakness in the design of the case.


The overall cooling of the system is good but not great. The front intake fan, while drawing cool air in through a better than average opening in the bottom of the bezel, is under-utilized and not capable of drawing a significant amount of air through it. The rear fans do an admirable job of pulling the warm air out of the case, but their presence is also positioned very close to where the CPU fan would be located and in very close proximity to the opening on the top of the case meant to feed cool air to the processor. These top openings also diminish the "wind tunnel" effect that can be generated by a front intake fan and rear exhaust fans. The positioning of the front intake fan right on top of the hard drive cage is great but it could be improved with better front to rear flow without other openings disrupting the movement of the cool air.
Pros:

• Excellent aesthetic design.
• Gold plated foot pads.
• Excellent drive optical drive door.
• Thorough and detailed manual.
• Removable swing arm and cage for 3.5 inch drives.

Cons:

• Front to rear airflow is satisfactory but not exceptional.
• No Thermaltake power supply included.
• Panel perforations do not improve airflow.

Conclusion
The case is certainly worth buying if you're looking for a good and solid home theater PC case. With the number of subtle features this case possesses and slightly stealthy surprises this is certainly a good buy.