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LGR - Thermaltake CircleFire 5.25" Kit from 2004

This is a "professional multimedia kit?" Mmkay. Regardless of what the boastful marketing copy says, I think not, haha.

No, this is a cheaply-made 5.25" drive bay device that plugs into a PC's sound card output. It packs some interesting features: stereo VU meters, LED peak indicators, and even an integrated chrome speaker!

But does any of it work? Well. It's a chintzy Thermaltake case mod from 2004 that's decorated like a Guy Fieri shirt, so the deck truly was stacked against it from the beginning.

LGR - Thermaltake CircleFire 5.25" Kit from 2004

Comments

They were trying to warn us -- "Muti" media

AlexPeaks

And yet, I bet there's a pallette of these new old-stock buried somewhere in Computer Reset

Evan B

Might be an interesting project to try getting this to work as a pc speaker. I think I have seen some special cables to connect the mainboard pc speaker output to microphone input of a soundcard. Maybe with one of those that could work.

Yes. I tried all the available volume options at my disposal. Also tried my laptop and cell phone out of curiosity. Doesn't make much difference unfortunately, there's just a tiny segment of volume that it likes without distorting or sounding too quiet.

LGR

Did you try adjusting the volume out control on the Sound Blaster itself? That might work better than adjusting the volume in the OS or player app.

Truth.

LGR

"Pineapple" by Yomoti

LGR

"The problem is that everything sucks." I wish that didn't seem to apply to more than just silly mid-aughts PC add-ons!

Dave Hunt

What song did you use in the end credits for this video? It's awesome!

Riley W. Andersen

True that! I'd always take headphones instead of speakers to LAN parties, what an annoyance. Makes me wonder if there are any custom cases with decent integrated speakers.

LGR

Heh, I was looking through the selection on Wish recently. Almost got a thing or two, but found out it can actually be even cheaper to go straight to the source: alibaba. Chinese electronics are just fascinating.

LGR

Thank you!

LGR

Likewise, I was all about extraneous drive bay addons! I mean, I still am, but for differing reasons :P

LGR

It sure was a weird time in retrospect. I loved all this goofy crap.

LGR

True that! Though I suppose one could just bolt it onto the side somewhere, like a set of gauges on a hot rod.

LGR

Makes you wonder if Thermaltake *IS* the knock off brand.

LGR

There's still time ;)

LGR

Glad you're enjoying, Gary!

LGR

All under the glow of cold cathode fluorescent tube lighting.

LGR

It certainly could. I ended up finding dozens of similar devices I didn't know existed while researching this one.

LGR

Now this is a parody just ripe for the picking.

LGR

Same reason the NewQ Gold wasn't Oddware :)

LGR

I would have loved this crap when it came out, I must admit. Glad I could not afford it, haha.

Why is this not oddware?

Man as useless as it is, I love these gizmos anyway,...I bought a all digital front panel fan controller thingy like that on Wish, it just looks cool, not retro or anything, but it's something to fill the empty bay space, just a challenge to see how it works...thanks for the great video !

John Piscopo

Great vid!

Robert Haydon

Oooh, with a letter attached instructing to record the reaction of him opening it for the first time, trying to refrain from vomiting. LOL

Glad that i never got into case-murdering. o.o For giggles, you could send this abnomination to Techmoan, tough. xD

BastetFurry

Man, I know useless PC accessories were basically the norm back then, but at least they didn't try to pass themselves off as useful and didn't cost ridiculous prices. Oh, wait, no, they did. They all did. We were a gullible crowd.

Pablo Rodriguez

Too bad it wouldn't fit in the Hot Wheels PC. Seems like it would be a perfect combo, both with the flames and the low build quality.

Steve Lovelace

This looks so cheap, it makes me think you got a knock off one or something.

Eric Siegel

I haven't used traditional home-made towers since probably the year 2000.... I have tended to go with more purpose-built systems with no spare drive bays. That being said, back when I DID have traditional towers, something like this would have been very nice (assuming it sounded worth a crap.) Mainly, because I have always found the need for "computer speakers" to be a nuisance due to the wasted space on my desk and extra tangle of wires. And it is still to this day sort of hard to find a monitor with decent sounding built-in speakers. So yeah, if I had seen a product like this back then I would have probably bought it, but I'm glad I didn't buy the circlefire because it sounds terrible! Thanks for sharing!

The 8-Bit Guy

I love all the different content on this channel. You are muti talented.

Gary Leigh

I had a very puzzling moment when I thought the email notification out of the corner of my eye said a circlefire 5.25" KILT. I was picturing something a bit more floppy disk and flowing. Good real video though!

That's pretty bitchin' - I have the fan/temp one they show right above it in the picture - I wish I knew it was supposed to be a set because I would have totally bought this in 2004.

Chris Munch

Looks like rubbish really πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜

Ahhh, cringy early 2000's tech. This is what we cut our teeth on. Reminds me of LAN parties, the smell of B.O., Saturn cars, Bawls energy drinks, translucent cases... the list goes on and on.

Man that new stuff pack came with some weird gizmos.

JennaKay

For the people who can't watch, he said it's a remarkable device that's a wonderful addition to any gaming rig, past and present.

avfusion

Looks like last week you made a video about something that was garbage and we knew that part before the video started. And this week you found some hardware you could use a machine dedicated to Sims 4, and Sim City (2013)... Garbage hardware to work with garbage software, to get the "more authentic experience" :)

Gergely Varju

I love things like this, I always use to drool over crazy meters and dials on the front of pc cases. I’d love to see more of these useless drive bay add-ons, they are always a trip. That could be a whole series of its own.

Zachary Outen

Coming up on Drivers, Displays and Drives!

Joon Choi


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