Love them or hate them, every gamer and PC enthusiast has heard of Thermaltake.

Before Coolermaster cases dominated the South African landscape, Thermaltake was here. Before local gamers knew of cooling brands such as Noctua and Scythe, Thermaltake was here.

If you needed to bling your case out with neon lighting and pointless accessories, Thermaltake was the brand you went to.

With this in mind, we take a look at some of the most gaudy, pointless and over-the-top offerings from the Thermaltake stable, because we can.

Thermaltake Sword M

Would you like a high-end case with built in water-cooling? Of course you would; and you can, thanks to the Sword M from Thermaltake.

There are a few issues with this case however.

Firstly, the thing weighs 27.3kgs without any components in it. Add in a high-end system, and you have a lump of metal that tips the scales at 40kgs. Not to worry though, the case has built-in “reinforcement handles for easy transport.”

Gym fees aren’t included however.

Secondly, the case will set you back over R7,300. Now while some may argue that this is a perfectly reasonable price to pay for a high-end, hand-built, custom system with integrated water cooling – it isn’t.

It isn’t because it can’t handle more than 2 graphics cards; it isn’t because buying a high-end case along with more powerful water cooling will cost far less. Simply put, it’s because it looks like this:

Thermaltake Modx Fan 12

I find the Modx fan curious – it’s a fan capable of displaying text on the fan blades while in operation.

In theory it sounds really cool; in practise, though, it looks quite tacky. The other issue is that you will have to find a way to mount the fan to show off the text properly, otherwise what’s the point? That means using it as an intake fan – which is fine.

But you’d have to use it without a dust filter – which is not fine.

This piece of kit also costs northwards of R500 – which is pricy for a fan. Not that it’s not justified; I’m sure the tech costs a fair amount, but it’s a lot of money for a fan that nearly no one can (or will) use.

Thermaltake O3 Air Cleaner

This product really confuses me, so much so that I want one just to find out what the point is. Apparently the device fits into a 5.25 inch drive bay, and it sanitises the air that flows through it using Ozone to kill germs. Or something like that.

The confusing thing is, if the device pulls air from the room into your case, why sanitise the air?

Dust might land on your components, but it’s not like your graphics card is going to get Ebola. If the fan works in reverse, and sanitises are moving out of your case, there are even more question marks.

Why would you want to sanitise the hair coming out of your PC? Do your hard drives magically produce malaria? And why would you change your entire cooling configuration to accommodate an exhaust fan near the 5.25 inch drive bays (which is not a good place for an exhaust fan)?

Thermaltake Circle Fire media kit

Now this is pure Klass. That’s Klass, with a capital K. This multi-coloured beast sits in a 5.25 inch drive bay, in full view for all to see – and apart from looking like a flamboyant Megatron, it plays music through its built-in speakers.

There are also dancing meters, which “provide exciting dancing motions with different colour options.”

How riveting.

Did you know the device can also change the audio from high to normal, then to low? All this with the press of a button, amazing!

I’m hard on the Circle Fire media kit purely because it’s branded as “professional”, while having a “stylish design”. If they had called it the “Over-the-top-gaudy, extreme attention-whoring media player of doom”, I would personally buy one and show it off for the world to see.

Thermaltake Level 10

So by now you must be thinking, “Derrick really hates Thermaltake.”

B ut it’s not true; every now and then they come along with amazing products, and credit where it’s due – the Level 10 (and Level 10 GT) is amazing. Gaudy, but amazing.

The design pushes the limits, and the price-tag is astronomical – but there is nothing else like it.

Hardware compatibility may suffer, but really now, who else would have the foresight to get one of their cases designed by BMW? The case was a hit, and won various design awards as it pushed the boundaries of the normal rectangular form factor.

Thermaltake has previously experimented with case dimensions with the Mozart TX and Lanboy, but those were nothing on the Level 10 series.

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