Let’s take a look at the latest mid-tower case from Thermaltake, Armor A90. Although in the same series as Armor+ and Armor+ MX, Armor A90 carries no resemblance with these other two models. Let’s see.
The overall design of Armor A90 is very unique, which will probably please all sort of users. The left-side panel has a mesh with big holes supporting an optional 120 mm fan. This mesh doesn’t come with an air filter, but it should.
click to enlarge
Figure 1: Thermaltake Armor A90 case.
click to enlarge
Figure 2: Thermaltake Armor A90 case.
In Figure 3, you can see the front panel from Armor A90. The two big black parts look like they are meshed, but this doesn’t happen. The bottom part is vented, as you can see, with a 120 mm fan behind it. This fan glows blue when turned on, spinning at 1,000 rpm and producing a 16 dBA noise level. This fan comes with a standard peripheral power connector so you can’t install it on your motherboard to monitor its speed. An air filter is present between this fan and the front panel.
Armor A90 comes with a front door, which uses a magnetic latch. Fortunately all connectors and buttons are not placed behind this door, so you won’t need to open the door every time you want to turn on your computer or keep the door open when you have a USB device installed.
click to enlarge
Figure 3: Front panel.
With the door opened (Figure 4) we can see the three external 5 ¼” bays and one external 3 ½” bay that are present. The 5 ¼” bays use meshed covers with air filters, which doesn’t make much sense since the front panel has a door that you will probably keep closed most of the time.
click to enlarge
Figure 4: Front panel with the door opened.
It is also possible to change the fan configuration from the front panel. You can add a second 120 mm fan or remove the 120 mm fan and install a “200-mm” fan (we put it between quotes because the size is not exactly 200-mm, as we will explain in the next page). You will need to use some plastic spacers to install this bigger fan.
click to enlarge
Figure 5: Fan options on the front panel.
