Introduction:

   Thermaltake is no stranger to the enthusiast enclosure market and they're at it again with a slew of recent introductions. One such new introduction is the "Aguila" ATX Mid-Tower Chassis. It comes in both black and silver, and also with or without windows on both models. Today I'll be showing you the Thermaltake Aguila (VD1000BWS) model, which is the black version with the side panel window.

   I'll also be showing you one of Thermaltakes newest high-performance power supplies, the 600w PurePower PSU. It has a black mirror finish and is all setup for your newest hardware including dual PCI-e graphics cards and numerous SATA connections.

   Let's take a look at the Thermaltake VD1000BWS first.

Packaging & Accessories:

   Thermaltake includes a ton of accessories along with the Aguila, including I/O plate, keys for front panel(s), ton of screws, bunch of plastic drive rails, and even a PSU support bar. o_0. Yes, I said a power supply support bar. I'll get to that more in a minute, but it was certainly an unexpected surprise in such a case.

You can check out the full specs here on the Thermaltake site.

   Getting the case out of the box, it's a bit of a looker I must admit. It's setup for dual 120mm fans ( 1 intake, 1 exhaust) and also an 80mm side window fan. Let's take a closer look.

   I'll work the pictures left to right, top to bottom. Starting with the fold-out feet for stability. They're decent, but I personally like beefier looking feet on my cases.

   Next we have the side panel fan grill. Notice there is no fan included here so you'll need to provide that yourself. Staying on the the topic of the side panel, next we have the side panel handles. There are two handle locks you must squeeze to open the side panel. I personally like the antec style, one side panel handle/lock myself. Two handles on the side means you need both hands and sometimes, with a case sitting in an odd position, means you've got to stretch at odd angles to grip them both at the same time. They are decent quality handles and perform their function, I just don't see the need for two handles, especially considering they include two humungous thumbscrews to further attach to the side panel on the rear of the case.

   Moving on I show you the top mounted ports, located (you guessed it) on the top of the case. Some will like this spot, and other will hate it. It really depends on how you plan on situating this case in your bedroom/office. The ports are pretty much located near the center of the top, which can set them pretty far back for some. I personally like them on the front, or upper front/top. Placing them in the middle of the top is not the best placement in my opinion.

   However it is covered with a black plastic push open/close "clicker" which does it's job, but it quite easy to pop open involuntarily with just the slightest bump, which can become an annoyance.

   Next I open the front panel, which is made of aluminum and mesh. It's very nicely done, and looking behind the front panel looks very professional with lots of slots and mesh on the inner panel.

   Opening the inner panel we see the bare chassis itself and the bright orange 120mm fan located in a position to intake cool air from the front of the case and push it over the HDD bays. At first glance, it seems to be ideal, but I'll show you later in the review that it's far from ideal in it's design.

   Lastly in this section, we come to the front panel lock assembly. As I stated earlier, there are keys included to lock/unlock the inner front panel to the chassis frame itself, however there is no way to lock the outer front panel. The outer front panel simply utilizes a magnet to "stick" to the inner panel. I would've liked to see a way to lock both panels to the frame for better security.