External Design
The Thermaltake Armor A30 measures 18in long, 11.5in wide, and just 10.5in tall, making it significantly shorter than the popular Lian Li Mini Q PC-V354 and Silverstone SG04 mini tower cases, but it's also considerably wider.
The Armor A30 has been constructed from steel and plastic, which seems to have increased the weight quite a bit. At 14.7 lbs. the Armor A30 is heavier than the Lian Li Mini Q PC-V354 (9.2 lbs) and Silverstone SG04 (10.5 lbs), however the extra weight could be attributed to the modular design, which we will get to when exploring the internal workings of this case.
Describing the Armor A30 accurately isn't easy, but the multiple photos throughout the review should help with that. The façade features a pair of external 5.25" bays and a single 3.5" bay. In the bottom right corner are the power and reset buttons which blend into the design. In the opposite corner is the I/O panel which features a USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and eSATA port and a pair of audio jacks.
The top of the case is just as aggressive looking as the front, despite the fact that there is a lot less happening. The top of the Armor A30 is dominated by a massive fan grill and beneath lies a 230mm exhaust fan.
Around the rear of the Armor A30 you will notice that everything is painted black which looks very nice and gives this case an excellent finish. The power supply bracket is located in the top right corner which means the power supply will sit directly over the motherboard.
Ventilation suffers a little because the rear of the case is so crammed and you may notice there is just a pair of small 60mm black case fans here. They are designed to extract the hot air from inside the case and they are aided by the massive 230mm top mounted fan.
The I/O panel is below the dual 60mm fans and adjacent from that are four ventilated expansion slots. Above the expansion slots is a small ventilated panel with a hole at the top which allows the front panel USB 3.0 port to connect to a USB 3.0 port located on the motherboards I/O panel.
Both the left and right case panels are identical which is unusual. Even rarer, neither panel is removable. Instead, everything comes out the top or rear of the Armor A30. Each panel has a small window along with a ventilated section. On the right side, this vent helps provide the graphics card with cool air.
Finally, at the bottom of the case Thermaltake has added four rubber feet that are offset around 2cm. The height here is not an issue as there are no fans mounted at the bottom of the Armor A30.