Installation:

With any case built with this kind of attention to detail, installations can simply be a breeze. The designers were at least astute enough to include plenty of everything you need to mount hoards of hardware in the SwordM. There's enough included components for a couple installations. The extra screws fit nicely in the bottom drawer at the bottom of the bezel.

A Lot of Screws

Love The Tray

The manual is pretty forth right about simplifying the installation process, including which motherboard standoffs to use as well as the front top and bottom case fins. It kind of gives the case a skate board or surf board kind of look. The nice thing is, you don't have to install them if you don't want to.

Wheels Installed

Fins Installed

If you look closely, you can see that the motherboard tray has more screw holes than a country out house. Thermaltake accounted for today's current possible motherboards and mounting configurations. On the motherboard tray, you can find a "Remark" or key for Micro-ATX, ATX, SSI, and BTX platforms.

Remark Key - Lower Left

Motherboard Installed

The hard drive bay slides out after removing four thumb screws from each side. Your drives fit really well inside with no movement. The bay could have used some rubber grommets to silence any possible vibrations. Perhaps this will be a future consideration in such a special chassis.

Slides Out

Got Storage?

Simple

Finished

The Power Supply can be installed one of two ways. If your PSU is small enough, you can simply open the top chassis door and slide the PSU in to place. Or, you can pull off the back PSU mounting plate and pre-attach it to the PSU. Then you can slide it back in to place. The end result is the PSU slightly hanging out the back of the case by about 2 inches, so you'll want to use a decent looking black or polished PSU. Otherwise, you won't see it with the back door closed.

PSU Installed

Lot's of Space

After the system was basically ready, I couldn't help but wish I had just a couple more LED fans to replace the rear ones for a nicer effect. The front one is at least on par with helping show off such a case. The side vent is meant for dual radiators by default, but a 240mm fan (if you can find them) would do quite well. Otherwise, you can opt to fit four 120mm fans yourself, or not. There's a lot more you can do to really trick the case if you like.

Need A 240mm Fan

One could really do a lot with the SwordM. Would I advise making any physical changes? Well it really depends on your personal tastes. It's really tough to say what you could do to improve aside from a really sweet paint job. One thing is for certain, the SwordM will make one heck of a statement!

Conclusion:

The case isn't just a gimmick, because it actually does have plenty of useable features. There is the potential for excellent cooling all around given the number of fans included and the fans that can be added. The open rear chassis almost appeared a bit odd since I'm so use to a closed chassis. However, this means there is more than enough room for warm air to escape and it's completely concealed by the really cool looking rear door.

The extended chassis gives you better access due to the extra room. And given that there aren't any actual side panels, but doors, really helps getting inside to work. The hydraulic arms are a slick touch and pretty much guarantee that the case will be the unique one no matter where you take it.

One thing that users might really benefit from is a 240mm side fan for the main door. And to really give the users more room for storage drives, it would also be nice if the chassis included a second removable drive bay. It would be nice if they were at least an option considering the several hundred dollar price tag, but we wouldn't be surprised if Thermaltake took that extra step themselves.

There are a couple things to consider when looking at the SwordM. It's purpose and objective is to provide a very modified, unique design to enthusiasts who really want to show off their system. It's not intended to compete with your every day computer case whether it also be a modified case or not. Rather than showing off your system in just any case, the Thermaltake SwordM makes an extreme presentation all in its own league.

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