"Thermaltake told us that Nvidia officially recommends the use of Fermi-certified cases when running multiple cards."
"We asked if "Nvidia Edition" cases are going to be available from other vendors and were told that for now, Thermaltake is the only maker."
Notice the distinction between "Nvidia Edition" and "Fermi-certified". All the high-end cases are going to be "Fermi-certified"; Thermaltake have just paid a bit extra for the badge. If memory serves, weren't Coolermaster producing "Nvidia Edition" cases in 2008?
"Fermi-certified" is a point of interest, and I wonder if detractors won't pick up on that. Does Fermi SLI run so hot that it needs a special case?
Just how strongly should we interpret "recommends"? In the sense that you might recommend a good restaurant, or are we looking at a Vista "recommended hardware" situation? If existing mid- and high-end cases aren't certified retrospectively, how much confidence will gamers and enthusiasts be able to place in their rigs?