Thermaltake advertises the Kandalf as “The Super Tower”, and as you can see from the dimensions of the case, being 20.9” x 8.7” x 22.1” – it is indeed a behemoth. It is milled from 1.0mm Aluminum, and the distinct front bezel is also aluminum. It features 10 individual 5.25” drive bays, two 3.5” drive bays which are accessible from the front, and six 3.5” bays are internal.

One aspect of this chassis is motherboard compatibility. The Thermaltake Kandalf chassis will accept Micro ATX, ATX, Extended ATX, and even BTX motherboards. For BTX compatibility you will need to purchase the optional BTX kit from Thermaltake. Thermaltake included a 120mm front intake fan, a 120mm Blue LED rear exhaust fan, one 90mm rear exhaust fan, and an optional use 90mm top exhaust fan. Not only in size is the Kandalf chassis a behemoth, but in weight. The case does not come with a power supply. It weighs out at a hefty 22.25 pounds.

There are four tiny screws on the inside of each bezel door. If you remove these 4 screws, you can take the aluminum bezel plates completely off. Once they are removed, the case bears a striking resemblance to the Thermaltake Armor Chassis. 8 decorative screws are included in the parts array should you remove the front bezel, and makes it more attractive. By losing the bezel doors, the weight of the case by 4.5 pounds (2.1 kg). Thermaltake has certainly engineered this particular chassis for enthusiast’s needs, as we will see as we get further into the detailing of this case.

Product Packaging:

Thermaltake takes advantage of the product packaging to firmly state the optimized thermal management features of the chassis, how it aids installation of water cooling kits, the ability for consumers to run nearly fan-less if so chosen, the myriad of specialized case features, etc. These will be touched upon further into the review, but for now enjoy how Thermaltake packages and markets this particular Kandalf VA9000SWA chassis.

It’s time to unwrap this chassis and expose it to the world.

After carefully unloading the beast from the cardboard packaging, you can see how carefully that Thermaltake packs their products. The views presented below are front and back views of the chassis encased in Styrofoam protective blocks.

Front case packaging:

Front case packaging

Rear case packaging

Thermaltake puts a protective plastic wrap around the side window panel to prevent damage as seen below:

You certainly receive a wide array of parts with a brief instruction manual, an aluminum bracing unit to help shore up the rear of your power supply installation, a bag of parts with a vast array of screws, motherboard standoffs, etc., water cooling grommets for the rear of the case, a couple of plastic mylar sheets with self sticking adhesive, and the eight decorative front bezel screws mentioned previously. Here are a couple shots of these parts below: