With the V51,Thermaltake shows that they are still here and this is something the competition will know.
review by
melek-taus
Review: Thermaltake Core V51
======================================================
Introduction:
Thermaltake a company that has been building computer cases for several years now. Lately however the Thermaltake cases are not the most popular, because of this we rarely see these cases in builds, mods and during LAN parties.
Thermaltake is now trying to come back in the mod/ water-cool scene with what they call the Core Series. These are 4 cases called the V1, V31, V51 and V71. The V1 is a mini case, V31 is a small mid tower, the V41 is a mid tower, the V51 is a larger mid tower and the V71 is a full tower case. These cases have a modular design and where designed with water cooling and case modding as one of main features.
Personally, I think the Core V51 is the most interesting of the Core Series, so recently I received a rather large and heavy package.
With this review I will try to look at the Core V51 as objective as possible and review it using lots of pictures.
======================================================
Specifications:
Below you will find the specifications of the case as they are found on the Thermaltake website.
Thermaltake Core V51 product page
With a size of 540 x 236 x 560 mm the V51 is a large mid tower case, this of course has a lot of benefits when building the computer.
The case is made of a metal named SPCC combined with some plastic parts. The side panel has a very good looking large window made from Plexiglas. The used material feels very sturdy and heavy, it is obvious that these are high quality materials.
Within the case it is possible to place 5 x 3.5?? HDD?s of 5 x 2.5?? HDD's/ SSD's and 2 x 5.25?? ODD's. The modular function of this case is that all these bays can be removed.
The HDD's and ODD?s can be placed in the bays without the use of any tools.
There are a low of option to place fans in this case. By default the case comes with 3 x 120 mm fans, 2 on the front and 1 at the back.
It is possible to place 3 x 120 mm at the front, 2 x 120 mm on the bottom, 1 x 120 mm at the back and 4 x 120 mm at the top of the case. As this case makes use of mounting rails it is possible to place 140 mm or 200 m fans instead of 120 mm fans.
When using 140 mm fans it is possible to place 2 x 140 mm at the front, 1 x 140 mm at the back and 3 x 140 mm on the top of the casing.
If you choose to use 200 mm fans you can place 1 x 200 mm at the front and 2 x 200 mm at the top.
Clearly there are more than enough places to connect a fan and it is possible to place a total of 10 x 120 mm fans, but of course it is also possible to combine different sizes of fans.
Water cooling is one of the design features of this case and you can clearly see that in the many possibilities of placing a radiator.
At the front we can place radiators from 120 mm, 140 mm, 240 mm, 280 mm, 360 mm to 420 mm, and at the back it is possible to place a 120 mm radiator.
The bottom of the case can be used to place a 120 mm or 240 mm radiator and at the top it is possible to place radiators from 120 mm, 140 mm, 240 mm, 280 mm, 360 mm to 420 mm.
In this case there is more than enough room for a fairly extensive water cooling loop.
When using an air cooler notice that you can only use a CPU cooler up to 18.5 cm.
With the HDD bay present there is space for a graphics card up to 31 cm and without HDD bay a graphics card of up to 48 cm can be placed. It is clearly possible to place very long and large graphics cards.
The accessories that come with this case are a user guide, a bag with screws, fixings and a kind of metal plate. Later in the review more about the metal plate which can be used for placing a 3rd 120 or 140 mm fan on the front.
======================================================
Packing:
The case comes in a brown cardboard box with on each side information and pictures of the content.
Once out of the package the case is wrapped in a plastic bag with two large pieces of Styrofoam for protection. The first thing we see when taking the case out of the box is the front with the Thermaltake logo.
======================================================
Exterior:
This is an all-black rectangular case with curves on the bottom and top of the front panel. The case has a fairly large window which comes with protective film on both sides to prevent damage. The case stands relatively high on its feet, meaning the bottom of the case does not come in direct contact with the floor.
The front panel is completely covered with a perforation and has a hexagonal motif behind it. The hexagonal motif and the 5.25" bays make sure that fresh air can enter the case from the front.
The front panel contains 2 x 3.5 "bays, used for example, a fan controller and DVD burner. The front panel connections can be found above the 5.25" bays. There are 2 USB 3.0 ports, a MIC, audio jack, a reset and power button and also a HDD indicator light.
I do not think it is necessary to have more connections. The USB ports in the front would only be used for a USB stick, mobile phone and external HDD but none of these would be constantly connected.
As seen the front has a very nice looking Chrome Thermaltake logo. The Chrome logo does look very good on the black case and gives it that little extra.
The right side of the case has a dented section to provide more room at the back of the mainboard tray. This is of course meant for cable management, the dented part provides about a centimeter of extra room.
The top is covered by some kind of roster made from a flexible piece of gauze which is held in its place by magnets. This will, of course make sure that not dust will come in the case from the top. As the roster contains a small perforation you will not directly see the fans through it and as a result it looks very good.
As you can see the top roster can be easily be take off.
The roster is as said held by magnets, as you can see the bottom of the roster contains a magnetic strip.
Under the roster we see the many possibilities for connecting fans and radiators. The holes in which you can connect a fan have a dent, this so the screw will not get in the way of the roster. The rest of the holes on the top, of course, make sure that enough air can be blown out of the case.
The back is pretty standard, there are 3 holes with grommets for external water cooling systems and 8 connectors for PCI/PCIe cards. In total it would be possible to place 4 graphics cards if a correct mainboard is used.
The case feet ensure that the case stands about 4.5 cm off the floor, leaving enough room beneath the case for the bottom fans to blow fresh air inside. Because of the high feet you can easily lift the case, for example if you often go to LAN parties.
The bottom also contains two large dust filters so no dust can come in.
With a small handle both dust filters can be taken out and can be pushed back again.
The entire bottom has some kind of perforation which also makes sure that enough fresh air can be blown/ pulled inside.
The feet of the case have a non-slip rubber layer making sure the case is held in its place and so that the surface is not damaged.
The front panel can be taken of quite easily without any violence.
The inside of the front panel contains a dust filter just like the bottom so that no dust can get inside the case.
The dust filter is held by small tab, this filter can of course be removed so even case modders can change this or place something else.
After removing the front panel we see that the connectors and the removable 5.25" bays are fitted using screws.
By default the case comes with 2 x 120 mm fans which clearly can be exchanged by 2 x 140 mm or even a 200 mm fan.
======================================================
Interior:
Both side panels can be removed using thumb screws.
The side panels do not make use of a sliding system, the side panels can be opened like a door. This system works a lot better, one of the reasons is that cable management sometimes causes problems when closing a side panel using a slide system, closing the side panel as a door is not influenced by cable management and it is much easier.
On the inside of the left side panel we see that the used piece of plexi is rather thing. This of course ensures that the side panel is very firm. The used material for the side panel itself is not very flexible and also very firm meaning it this must be made of good quality components.
The inside also has a lot of room and is completely black, just like the rest of the case. Looking inside you immediately see the closed 3.5? and 5.25? bays. All cables are also black so they don?t stand out.
The spot for the power supply has some kind of bracket which can be moved using thumb screws, this makes it possible to place longer power supplies. The power supply is not placed on the bottom of the casing but rests on that bracket and a holder at the end, this makes sure the power supply has about 1 cm room beneath it for better cooling.
The mainboard tray has several holes for cable management which are also equipped with rubber grommets. There is also a nice big hole in the tray which in case a heavy/ big cooler must be placed a back plate at the other side of the mainboard.
As seen on the measuring tape, it is indeed possible to use graphics cards up to 31 cm. There is also a bit of room so the card does not directly come in contact with the HDD bays.
Between the mainboard tray and the side of the case the measuring tape shows about 19.5 cm, deduct about 50-80 mm for a motherboard with CPU on spacers and then we indeed have about 18.5 cm room for a CPU cooler. There clearly enough room to place a fairly large CPU cooler.
The 3.5? bays have some sort of slide out tray with closed brackets. These brackets can slide out of the tray by the push of a button. This is a very simple, effective yet beautiful-looking design.
ODD?s can be locked in the 5.25 '' bay by pushing the button. To release press the other side of the button.
.
The 3.5? bays can be taken out by unscrewing the thumb screws inside the case.
After removing the thumb screws you can take out the 3.5? bays. This is a very easy but good working system. Please note that if you remove the thumb screws hold on to the bay when you?re removing the last screws. If you do not do this the bay will come off and fall down.
In total there are 2 x 3.5? bays. In one bay you can place 3 HDDs or SSDs and in the other bay there is room for 2 HDDs or SSDs. The bays are very nicely designed and as an additional feature the inserted HDDs or SSDs are hidden and not visible.
Even the 5.25 '' bays can be removed by unscrewing the screws.
Make sure that you hold the bay when removing the last screws or else the bay will fall down.
When all bays are removed when can see that there is a lot of space inside the case. This will, of course, simplify the installation of the motherboard and providing more options for placing a custom water loop.
I would even see modders change the while interior using plexi or such just to make their own decor as they can with this case..
Without the 3.5? bays there is 50 cm of room in the case. It is then possible to place a graphics card up to 48 cm.
The back of the mainboard tray contains as seen enough space for cable management and there are plenty of places to tie cables.
Only where the side panel falls in the case at the bottom and top there is less room for cable management. However still my finger can fit easily between the panels, a 24 pin ATX cable would not be a problem.
Note that the dent in the side panel will of course make sure there is more than enough room, making it totally no problem is to use sleeved extension cables. This was no problem but the extra space of the side panel always helps.
Here we see the big hole in the mainboard tray, above it is another hole for the 8 pin CPU cable and any other cable you want to put through here.
It is also possible to place two HDDs or SSDs against the outside wall/ other side of the 3.5? bays. This way you do not need to use any bay and you can keep whole interior empty for an extensive water cooling system or just to keep it empty.
On two spots you can find plastic holders which can be used to hold the HDD or SSD bracket. I don't use these because I think the closed 3.5? bays look very neat.
======================================================
Installation:
The installation of the components is as easy as it looks on the pictures, because of the available room even people with large hands have no problems installing the components. My tip for building, clear the whole interior by removing the bays. Of course this is not necessary as the interior has a lot of room but this will make it a lot easier.
As with most cases the power supply has to be placed on the bottom of the case. The power supply does not come in direct contact with the bottom of the case as it sits on some kind of adjustable bracket. As it is adjustable it is possible to use longer power supplies.
I always place power supplies with the fan facing down so it can suck in fresh cold air from under the case.
Placing the motherboard is in some cases can be rather difficult due to the minimum space. I had no problems with this as every corner has more than enough room for your fingers while holding a screw.
Without the bays is there is really more than enough room to install everything very easily.
As seen on the picture below the hole is big enough for the bracket of a CPU cooler.
Above the mainboard there is enough room for a radiator with fans. You can also see the hole for the 8 pin CPU cable and it is clearly big enough to route other cables through.
Here you can see two 120 mm fans at the top of the case. Clearly there is still enough room for two extra. Maybe I will replace the fans with 140 mm ones, I think that will look a lot nicer
Since there is a window in the case is I do not want black fans in plain view and I'll use LED fans instead. The black fan at the back will be used at the front of the case above the two others.
This is where the metal plate which came in the bag with accessories can be used.
As can be seen there is no place for a 3rd fan as there are no place to attach it.
When I was unpacking everything I could not find what the metal plate was used for, I read through the entire manual but couldn't find anything referring to the metal plate. I just neglected it and went on installing all of the hardware until finally I had an extra fan and saw that there is no attachment for it on the front panel, but the manual listed that 3 fans can be placed.
This is where the metal plate comes in. The metal plate can be attached on the spot of a 5.25" bay making it possible to place the 3rd fan but at the cost of a 5.25" bay.
On this picture the metal plate is fitted upside down, I found this out during the installation of the ODD. Make sure that if you place the metal plate that there is no space between the front and metal plate.
Placing HDDs in the sliding brackets is done without the use of any screws. On the side of the bracket a small plastic holder can be found with which you can secure the HDD in the bracket.
The bracket slides all the way into the bay and then you hear a click and it?s locked . A very simple and good looking system.
To install an SSD on the bracket you have to use screws . Fortunately, there are holes for this in the bracket and screws are included in the bag off accessories.
I use the 3.5? bay version with 3 HDD slots, if you are going to use two HDDs or SSDS, you can use the other 3.5?bay . The bay can of course be placed in any of the existing mounting points , making it possible to create a floating effect.
By default you only have room for 5 HDDs or SSDS as there aren?t more brackets or bays present. A smart builder would be able to solve this by placing the HDDs on the floor of the case mounting them on the rails of the fans. For example, you would also be able to only place the HDDs on the floor to keep the interior empty.
Between the 3.5? bay and front panel there is more than enough room for a thick radiator, this is where I placed the inverter for my lighting set.
I placed one of my light bars on the bottom of the case, as you can see there is enough room between the power supply and the side of the case. In my previous case I could hardly fit the light bar as there was no room between the case and power supply to fit the light.
At the top, there is also more than enough room for a light bar, it would not get in the way of a radiator or big fans.
The ODD is placed in the case like on any other case, pushed inside from the front. Because the ODD is not secured using screws or some kind of bracket you can place the ODD as far in the case as you want. This comes in handy when wanting to place a stealth front by using the 5.25 "faceplate as you would have to push the ODD a bit further to make room for the stealth cover.
The ODD is not locked by screws but by pressing a button. When you press the little button you can feel a bit of force as this is being put on the ODD to hold it in place.
The screws for fans on the bottom of the case have to be screwed in from the outside. You can attach the fan as seen in any of the available holes, all these holes make sure you are not limited in how and where to place the fan.
These holes can as stated before be used to place HDDs or SSDs.
I'm not very good in hiding/ routing the cables at the back of the mainboard tray, however because of the dent in the side panel and its overall space there are plenty of options for cable management.
As you can see I make use of sleeved extension cables and as there is so much room behind the mainboard tray there are no problems in using these cables.
The 24 pin ATX cable can be easily be placed in the room at the bottom and there are more than enough places to tie cables.
After everything is connected correctly we can close the door of the case.
As you can see the power button has a blue light which fits perfectly with my blue lighting. However the HDD indication LED sadly flashes in red, I will change this LED one day but for now it does not bother me.
My previous case had a cover to hide the PSU, HDD and ODD bays, but inside this case it really looks awesome. No need to change anything, I will not place a cover to hide any components as I think this really looks very good. The HDD and ODD bays look perfect, even the PSU with cables look great in this case. I might take off the stickers of the PSU to make it fully black.
Below you will find several pictures of the interior without the side panel. I am using Avexir Core Series memory modules with blue pulsating lights, on some pictures the lighting of the memory might look strange but it is very tricky to get both with lights burning on a picture.
The window is as stated very large, making all components visible, Choose wisely what components you will use and want to see.
The bezel of the windows hides the spot where I placed the lighting, it seems there was no need to sleeve these cables.
======================================================
Preformance:
I do not make use of professional equipment to measure temperatures and sounds.
By testing the temperature and sound I can only provide an indication of its performance and I will also test the case against my Ronin case.
You can see these tests as a comparison between the Core V51 and Ronin.
I wrote down the CPU and GPU temperatures using MSI Command Center, Club3D RoyalFLUSH, FurMark and SpeedFan and then took the average of this.
Both cases have been tested using the same hardware under almost the same circumstances. The hardware use are an MSI B85-G43 mainboard, I5 4570 CPU with Cooler Master Seidon 120V cooler and a Club3D R9 280 royalKing graphics card.
Idle of course means that the computer is not doing anything and load has been tested after I played Battlefield 4 for a few hours and ran FurMark, PCMark and 3DMark a couple of times in a row.
At all times I am using a silent fan profile, the Thermaltake fans run at 600 RPM and my other system fans run at 1000 RPM.
As we can see below, in idle mode there is a 8 degree difference in CPU temperature between the Ronin and Core V51 cases. Under load we see quite the difference between the temperatures, because the Core V51 has a lot more room the GPU can be cooled a lot better than in the Ronin case. In both cases the measured temperatures are not that high but it is clear that the Core V51 has better airflow which provides better cooling for the internal components.
It is obvious that the Core V51 makes sure that the internal components are cooled very good, this is also a very important feature for casemodding, overclocking and watercooling.
The produced sound has been tested using my Sony Xperia SP with an App called Noise Meter. During all tests I measured the sound 3 times for 5 minutes long and took the average of this.
A mobile phone with a free App can of course not be considered ad professional testing equipment. First of all I tested the sound in my living room, I ensured that there was no sound so we would have a starting point. The 20 dB in the living room is noiseless.
In idle mode I have nothing running in the background, the measurements have been done right next to the side panel.
As you can see there is very little difference in idle mode between the Ronin and Core V51, both are very quiet, but the Core V51 makes less noise than the Ronin.
The same applies in load, the Core V51 is quieter than the Ronin and with an average sound production of 28 dB under load I must say the Core V51 does its job very well.
As stated I did not use any professional test equipment, the measured dB can differ from reality, but because I measured a noiseless room we have some sort of starting point for sound production.
Of course you can hear the fans in the case, this is however not disturbing and there is no weird noise or vibration noticeable.
======================================================
Conclusion:
With this case Thermaltake clearly made a statement as they made a jack of all trades. Not only does the case look great, it is made of quality material, there is plenty of room for cooling, but it also priced rather low for such a case.
With an average price of 95,- you get a very good looking case with more than enough options, everything about this case has been thought through and I could not find anything which could have been done better and I could not find any problems. In all the years that I have been building computers I never come across a case on with I have worked with this much pleasure. I always found something which could have been done better or something I did not like, but with this case I have not been able to find a any flaw except that it?s very large for a mid tower.
Thermaltake?s main design features for this case are casemodding and watercooling, and I expect that we will see this case in enough upcoming builds.
With the V51,Thermaltake shows that they are still here and this is something the competition will know.
Pros | Cons |
---|
Lot's of space, and I mean a lot, good cooling, decent price, tool free, big window, lots of possibilities, dust filters, | Very large for a mid tower |
Ratings