Thermaltake Tai-Chi

1/10 Nothing but a bunch of trouble in a box.

Ruffyworld - 02/24/09

I have a Thermaltake Tai Chi Liquid cooling case. I got the Thermaltake AquaBay M1, four of the Aqua RX Series R1 Ram jackets and the Thermaltake Flow TX sensor to boot. I got all Thermaltake hoses and connectors and used only Thermaltake?s liquid as well. I purchased a P500 to replace the stock pump that came with my Thermaltake Tai Chi case. The original pump stopped working after a week and Thermaltake told me I had to ship it to them at my expense for testing before they would replace it, just to make sure it wasn?t my fault. So, I just bought the P500 instead Thermaltake?s best pump. It worked great; I had a 100% Thermaltake system including the radiator, reservoir, CPU Block, ram coolers, hoses and liquid. After about a month, white crystals that look a lot like sea salt or kosher salt started going through my system. Then the P500 pump failed and I called Thermaltake. They said they had no idea what caused the crystals or why the pump failed but I should send it back for them to test before they would allow me an exchange. So, I bought another P500 pump. Then about a week later the CPU block cracked at a screw in the clear cover and started leaking. Again Thermaltake said I had to send it back and they would examine it to decide if it was my fault or not. So, I bought Thermaltake?s top of the line CPU block W1. I flushed my system and about a month later the crystals where back and clogging my radiator. The crystals completely stop all flow so I have no cooling at all! I have had to flush my system several times. Flushing involves taking the computer (which weighs about 80lbs) to the sink. Taking apart the hoses and draining the liquid, careful not to get any on the electronics. Then take the water block off and the ram jackets off because now I have to rig up this contraption to get hot water to run through the system. Water so hot it would ruin my CPU or Ram. Then drain the water, dry the system, put it back together and refill it and move it back to its place. The whole process takes over an hour. I have had to flush my Thermaltake system monthly. Thermaltake says they have no idea what the problem was and have never had this complaint before but if I send my computer to them they will flush it and keep it for a month or so to reproduce the issue, then decide if it is my fault or not. Just out of curiosity two days later I had a friend of mine call Thermaltake and complain about the crystals also. He got the same tech who also claimed this was the first time he had ever heard of the crystal problem. Ok, so I was stupid to continue and purchase Thermaltake product, no matter how optimistic I was. But know YOU know the issues. Are you going to go through the same thing after spending almost a grand?