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Old 04-08-2013
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kikicoco1334 kikicoco1334 is offline
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Default New Soprano VO9000

Recently I've picked up a new Thermaltake Soprano case to replace my giant Xaser VI. I've been very pleased with its slick look and overall performance. Since there aren’t many reviews out there for this case, I’d figure what the hell.



Capability:
 Brushed aluminum front
 1x 200mm front Blue LED intake fan (800 RPM)
 1x 120mm rear exhaust fan (1000 RPM)
 Easy removable front and bottom dust filters
 Supporting up to standard ATX motherboards
 TWO USB 3.0 and TWO USB 2.0 ports on front I/O panel
 (4) 5.25" and (1) 3.5" exposed drive bays
 (5) 3.5" internal drive bays (with four removable trays)
 Hot swappable hard drive dock (2.5" & 3.5")
 Support for preassembled liquid cooling systems




The ONE feature that caught my eyes in the first place was the easy access hot swappable hard drive docking station. Instead of transferring data though USB, this docking station provided the ability to hot swap the drive and transferring data as fast as the internal SATA port that is capable.



Like most PC builders out there, I upgrade and swap components in and out of my main computer all the time. Instead of risking of dropping the good'o standard round 6mm screws in to your power supply or losing it during the installation, Thermaltake decided to use the larger thumb screws on the expansion slot holders, made holding down large video card while the case is standing up much easier.



Unit comes with pre-installed fully washable fan grills, both of them are fairly easy to remove and be cleaned.



All I/O cables are clearly marked and have plenty length to reach it’s header in any motherboard.

Noise reduction prepped on both sides



Test setup:
Test Rig
Case Soprano VO9000
CPU Intel Xeon W5647 @ 4.2GHz
Motherboard P6X58D Premium
RAM Kingston KHX1600C9D3T1BK3/12GB
CPU Cooler Thermaltake WATER2.0 Pro
Internal storage (7) Seagate 2TB ST2000DM001
GPU ATi HD6970 Reference
PSU Antec High Current Pro 850W (HCP-850)
Mouse TteSPORTS Level 10 M
Keyboard TteSPORTSMeka G-Unit mechanical gaming keyboard

Temperatures:
CPU measured with RealTemp. GPU temperature measured with MSI Afterburner. Motherboard temperature measured with Ai Suite. Tested at room temperature 26°C (70F)


Pros:
Extremely roomy for a mid tower
Easy accuses hard drive duck
Phenomenal cable management
Removable fan filters included for both front and bottom
Excellent built quality
Very elegant and stylish look

Cons:
Not 100% tool-less drive bays
One of the internal 3.5” bay is hard to access
Front door can block out part of the airflow when it's shut

Final thoughts:
On an average of every two years, I switch to a new case, and this is my first non-full-sized tower since 2005. It is very impressive how much room Thermaltake left us in his mid-tower. With the large video card, Thermaltake’s all-in-one water cooler, and the ridiculous amount of hard drives, I was expecting a very crowed interior with cables sticking out of everywhere, but with the cable management was provided; I was able to hide almost all extra cables on the back of the case. Thermaltake have done a fantastic job making the computer relatively silent.


My Review Page

Where to buy:
Amazon
Micro Center
Newegg
Tiger Direct
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Last edited by kikicoco1334; 04-09-2013 at 07:28 PM.
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