Thermaltake Spedo
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The Spedo case also comes with rubber grommet holes for water cooling tubes so the case is set up and ready to install just about any water cooling system you could want as well. The extra width of the case with a good inch of room between the plate your motherboard installs on and the right side panel allows for an excellent cable management system for case and computer cabling.
I also enjoy the fact that you can set up cables with plenty of places to cable tie them down both on the back side of the motherboard on the right panel side of the case but also inside the main area. When you have all your components installed using the extra room and handy places to tie things down means a very neat and organized cable and wiring inside for a well ventilated system.
The Spedo case is a dream for installing a computer with plenty of room inside for a regular ATX motherboard but does have a few small things that do not work as well as I would have hoped. The case is a bit noisy depending on how many fans you have in it due to the numerous panel openings.
The left side panel has a handle that does not work very well and can be a bit of a struggle to open and snap closed when getting inside your computer. I usually use a single thumbscrew to secure the side panel on that side as I am continuously going inside my computer and having a simple handle to open and secure the panel would be nice.
This side panel handle uses a pivoting handle and four plastic angled prongs to lever aside a spring loaded bar to open or secure the panel. The angled prongs do not smoothly slide the bar so it does not work as well as the company had hoped, I have noticed other reviewers mention this and wanted to as well.
Other than the side handle and the somewhat noisy open venting the Spedo case works very well and installing my system was a breeze. The hardest part was figuring out what to put where for all the fans and drives but it went much faster without having to use a screwdriver for the PCI cards and drives.
Even the drives in the drive holders do not use screws, just push button tabs to secure the drives on the plastic trays so it went very fast to install them. Installing the drives is as easy as placing them in the trays on the foam rubber pads and mounting pins, pushing the tabs closed and sliding the trays into the bay slots and pushing the mechanism in to lock the tray in place.
Installing the motherboard went quite well and having the fan blowing air against the motherboard means better cooling if you want it. The case area where the motherboard goes gives plenty of room to maneuver the motherboard while installing so you don’t bump the sides with components like a CPU heat sink and fan.
I had no problem installing even large video cards on the motherboard and the ends of the cards do not reach the drive bay cages so you have plenty of space for your system. The entire area inside gives you plenty of working room to connect power cables and other wiring and even installing the CPU fan and heat sink is easy inside the case.
The PCI cards also have a tool less design with a simple snap tab that secures the PCI cards in place instead of using a screw. I have two cases that were getting a bit used in the same slots where my video cards go and both cases have worn out the holes for the regular screws that usually go in the case so I had gone to a bigger sheet metal screw on them.
It is nice not to have to worry about stripping out the screw holes on a case that will be used constantly and also not have to worry about wear and tear on any other parts of the Spedo case. The case is sturdy and has nice rubber feet that hold the case up off the table or desk for added air flow under the case as well.
Having the front panel connections on the top is no big deal for me as I have one computer case on the desk and this one on a short stand that puts the connections at a nice height for use when I need them. The Spedo case comes with plenty of features from people who have actually worked with their computers and have a background in enthusiast computer case design by the looks of the features.
Not only a tool less design but plenty of the features just scream computer user instead of just someone out to sell a fancy looking computer case. The Spedo case is one that will be used in my work for a long time and has a lot of handy features for both the computer user who wants extreme cooling and handy access.
I highly recommend the Spedo case for anyone wanting the extra room and plenty of air flow that all the access vents give as well as the additional motherboard fan. The Thermaltake Spedo case is a great full tower case and costs about $200 for the standard edition.