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Wire Management:

With the first look inside the Chaser MK-I, we were happy to see Thermaltake doing their job by adding ample wire management solutions to route all of our wires. With the five pre-cut holes covered by rubber grommets, the Chaser MK-I should give a nice clean installation.

Once we got everything installed, we easily hid unused wires, which gave us a clutter-free environment. As we have pointed out in the past, clean installations lead to better air flow, which correlates into lower (better) temperatures on all of your hardware.

Installation:

Test System:

• Abit IP35 Pro
• WD 500GB
• WD Scorpio 320GB
• Zumax 750w PSU
• Nvidia 590
• ASUS CD ROM

Since the good people at Thermaltake were nice enough to install the motherboard spacers before sending the case, all you will need to do is line up your motherboard holes with the spacers and use screws to secure it in place.

Thermaltake seems to be on a roll with this case, using thumbscrews instead of normal screws or cheap plastic locking mechanisms; greatness! The thumbscrews are easy to work with, and will keep your PCI cards locked into position.

Installing your hard drives on the Chaser MK-I’s HDD sliders, is very simple. For the 2.5″, just line up the holes on the bottom and then use four screws to secure into position. For the 3.5″ drives, you will need to use the black pieces on the side of the slider to insert into the the hard drive’s screw holes to lock your drive into place.

Installing optical drives is very easy, with the one-tab installation Thermaltake provides. To slide in the drive, just push down the tab, as you see above. Once this is done, slide in the drive and pop the tab back to its default position to secure into place.

Using the HDD docking station is quick and easy. Line up your drive’s connections with the docking station connections, and push down until you feel it connect. Hint: The drive documentation will be facing you, as in our pictures.

Dust Filtration:

Yes, yes, yes! Finally, a company has listened to our complaints of side intake fans not being covered with filters. This is like finding the majestic unicorn! [Editor's Note: We have made the decision to give this reviewer decaf from now on.] Kudos to Thermaltake for providing the side 200mm fan with a filter to help keep tons of dust from entering the case.

The bottom of the Chaser MK-I is covered with a nice synthetic mesh filter to help keep your PSU mostly clean from dust if you orientate your fan on the bottom to bring in fresh air.

The front bay covers have a mesh filter lining to help keep dust out, as well. They are easily cleanable, if they ever do get dirty from prolonged use of the case.

The top of the Chaser MK-I provides a square mesh filter, which was interesting to see, as it is the first we have seen this in a case. It should help keep dust from coming in the top and dirtying up your case, but only time will tell. Of course, with the fans blowing upward to exhaust hot air from the case, this shouldn’t be too big an issue unless you have a ton of furry pets, or leave the system off for long periods so dust could settle and accumulate.

The front intake is covered in a great mesh cover that will help keep out dust from entering. The cover pops off for easy cleaning whenever it does get covered in dust.

Next: Air Flow, LED Lighting, and Conclusion

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