Installation:

Optical installed

HDD rubber mounts

HDD in lower cage

HDD in upper cage

    For installing water cooling components, I first like to have all my computer hardware installed first and all the wires and cables tucked away and secured. Included in the accessory box is some clear Mylar backing. This must be installed with the ATX motherboard to avoid shorting out the motherboard against the case. (See the manual for proper location.) With all of that completed, I then set out to find the best location for the pump and tank combo unit. In this case literally the bottom is the best location, since the case floor has mounting holes throughout and the pump is secured to the case floor with four screws.

Water block installed

PSU installed

    For the water block, several different clips are included for Intel and AMD CPU's. Just follow the manual's instructions for your CPU. After the correct clips are in place, just temporarily mount the water block to the motherboard and do the same for the pump. Now is the time to get the measurements for the hoses. A total of four pieces will be needed. When cutting the lengths for the hoses, do not create any sharp angles; instead, create gentle curves.

Locking Nut

Barb

Hose installed

Nut secured

    When all the hose pieces have been cut, remove the radiator, pump and water block from the case. Remove the thumb nuts and slide them onto the hoses. Then slide the hoses onto the barbs and hand tighten the thumb nuts to secure the hoses to the components. While the Lcs is still out of the case, fill the system with the coolant. The best way to do this is have the coolant tank higher than the water block and radiator. Once the system is filled, it's time to check for leaks.

Side view

Looking down

Up and running

UV lighting

    Leak testing is simple and should be done with the cooling components outside of the case. Do this by finding a 12volt power source, like from another computer system, or by using a PSU tester to power up the PSU. Once you have the 12volt power established and connected to the pump, let this run for at least one hour or more. This is to ensure that no leaks develop at the connections, as well as to remove air bubbles that form on the inside of the tubing.

Side view

UV lighting

Close up view

    Once this leak test has been performed and no leaks occurred, it's time to reinstall the Lcs gear back into the case. Do this gently, and try not to kink the tubing when doing so. Mount the radiator first, then move on to the pump, and last, but not least, the water block. Once everything has been secured and you're positive there are no leaks, it's time to button everything up and do some testing.

Front fans no covers

Covers in place

3/4 shot

Testing:

    Test System:

• AMD Athlon 64 3500 AM2 CPU  

• ASRock ALiveNF6

• 2x1GB PC6400

• Kingwin Absolute Power ABT-600CW Power Supply

   For testing BurnInTest Ver4.0 was used, running a total of three tests in a sequence of ON for one hour 100% CPU load, then OFF for 30 minutes to cool.
 

Conclusion:
 

    The Thermaltake Armor LCS is a nice, lightweight aluminum case with some very unique features. The three-window design really breaks up the the side panel and makes viewing the internals of the case that much more interesting. Not to mention that the raised letters also add a nice touch. The bezel pieces that fold open remind me of the Predator when it opens its mouth. This bezel design keeps the entire front of the case free of restrictions so the maximum amount of air can pass through the bay openings.

    A little about the actual pump/reservoir combination: this setup keeps extra hoses out of the case. The P500 pump looks like a mini turbine pump, and even has a hum like one. The noise coming from the pump is not loud at all; rather, it is very tolerable, with most of the noise coming from vibrations being transferred to the case floor. Perhaps taking four of those rubber bushings in the hard drive cage and placing them between the pump and case will reduce this vibration transfer. The noise coming from the three 120mm and two 80mm fans was also surprisingly low. 

    Wow... that's a lot mentioned about the Thermaltake Armor LCS so far, and everything is positive. The only real gripe I have about the entire setup is the stiff hoses. Now, the stiffer hose will give you the option of a tighter radius before the hose will kink, but I feel it's just too stiff and was somewhat difficult to work with. Other than the hose, the rest of the gear was easy to set up and work with, like the hose fastening system. Simply slide the locking nut over the hose, then the hose over the barb and tighten down firmly. This design will keep things from leaking all over the place. Just remember to have a clean cut on the hose so it can be seated properly over the barb.

    For the hard drive location, I chose the upper cage for this. My reason behind this decision was to keep the air flowing freely through the radiator fins and into the bottom of the case. Plus, with an 80mm fan pulling air from the case over the hard drives and out the back of the case, I felt this was an ideal situation for my setup.

    Once everything was running and the air was bled from the system, and of course no leaks found, I set out to my testing and was rather pleased with the results. The air being drawn in from the front is done so by two 120mm fans that sit just in front of the 120X240mm radiator. This large radiator and fan combination effectively cools the water below ambient air temperatures, which is what we want and the Thermaltake Armor LCS achieved. Just keep in mind that your temp results will vary depending on the room temperature and the components installed.

    I would like to thank the folks over at Thermaltake for sending out this unit for VH to review.