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After our review of the Chenming File Server case, which was a basic barebones case with few frills, we thought we would cover something at the other end of the extreme: one of the more loaded cases that you can buy today. We're talking about the Thermaltake Xaser II line of cases.

The Xaser II cases represent the most ambitious pre-modded cases from a name that's well known in overclocking and enthusiast circles. These cases are highly branded, come with a plethora of value added features, and carry price tags that would scare off lesser computer geeks. Today we're looking at the Xaser II 6000A, which is the highest end 6000 case featuring a large, pre-modded window on the side panel. The Xaser II 6000 series are all aluminum cases. Each case in the series differs only in the side panel included. The 6000 includes a full aluminum side panel, the 6000B has pre-modded a small window on the side panel, and the 6000A, reviewed here, has a large window on the side panel.

Xaser II: Features of Note

Before talking about the basic specifications of the 6000A case, let's take a look at those extra niceties that ThermalTake has added to make this case a worthwhile purchase. As you may know, ThermalTake bases their Xaser II cases on the Chenming File Server case that we reviewed recently, and the case has a number of common features that I will cover later.

Thermaltake has loaded the Xaser II with 5 80mm, ball-bearing fans rated at 32CFM and with a 2200RPM speed. There are 2 intake fans in the front of the case, 2 exhaust fans at the rear, and one more fan on the window panel. Thermaltake dubs these "silent" fans, at 21dB, but the combined noise from the fans is not too quiet. The on the case itself fans are mounted onto fan cages that clip into the fan cages, the latter of which are snapped onto the chassis without need of screws. Aside from the fan on the side panel, none of the fans are screwed into place so removing a fan and moving it from one location to another is a tooless job.

Also included is a special front panel bay device that integrates 2 USB and 1 Firewire (IEEE1394) plugs with an LCD to display readings from the included thermistor. You will also be able to control the fan speed of the system through the front bay device. You probably have noticed that the case has an inordinate number of wires. One of the two thick black wires leads to an external USB plug at the rear of the case that is designed to plug into your motherboard's rear I/O ports. The other is the Firewire header wire that plugs into your motherboard.

The front panel is lockable, and Thermaltake includes 4 pairs of keys. The case comes standalone, or with an add-on Silent PSU. Our configuration came without the PSU.