The Thermaltake Element-T is the second of the new Element series to come to us here at TBCS. A lower-cost option than the Element-G reviewed by Datech here, the T is a Mid-tower case which, according to Thermaltake, has been created for "eSports", and has a number of features not seen on most cases. Enough talk, let's put this thing through it's paces and see how it measures up. More...
Introduction
I've personally never bought a Thermaltake case for myself. I don't have any problems with them per-se, it's just one of those things. I do own a Thermaltake DH101 media centre case which I like, a lot. It was a gift from a customer who, as it happens, I'd built four systems for, three of which were in Thermaltake cases, namely a pair of DH101's and an Armor so I'm no stranger to the products. This is the first time I've had a mid-tower from Thermaltake in my workshop, and I have high hopes for it as a result of positive experiences with the DH101s and the Armor, which are good, solid, functional and stylish cases which do exactly what they say they'll do. The Element-T is the least expensive Thermaltake chassis I've ever had my hands on so it'll be interesting to know what you do (and don't) get with the smaller price-tag.
Packaging
Thermaltake Element-T Packaging
As you can see from the photographs above, the T comes in an attractive glossy box full of the usual information and dramatic views of the case, inside which is a good thick pair of styrofoam/polystyrene end-caps to help protect it during transit, along with a heavy plastic bag to keep out dust and help prevent scratches. Nothing unusual or special here, but it's well packaged and protected, which is the whole point.
Features / Specifications
The formal specifications of the T are as follows:
Thermaltake Element-T Formal Specifications
Again, there's nothing particularly unusual here, although it may interest you to know the case is a good bit deeper than some other popular Mid-tower cases. My main rig lives in an Antec 900 and my wife has her PC in a Coolermaster Mystique 632, and externally, the height and width of the three cases are within 12mm of one another, but the Thermaltake Element T is 58mm deeper, front-to-back than the Antec, and 80mm deeper than the Coolermaster. This extra depth should bode well for longer video cards and motherboard/drive clearances. The Element T has the least number of 5 1/4" drive bays of the three cases, but the most 3 1/2" bays. This is a reasonable trade-off as improvements in the versatility of modern optical drives means few people need more than one or two while the rapidly lowering cost of hard drives and the increased storage requirements of modern multimedia may well result in extra hard drives being used.
2.5" Drive mounting, ideal for modern SSD drives
The T is the only case of the three to have a native 2.5" bay thereby offering SSD support as standard without any additional purchases of bay converters.
Overview
Once unpackaged, we can see the case is predominately steel in construction with a plastic front bezel. The additional depth of the case becomes quickly apparent if you're used to dealing with other mid-towers on a daily basis.
Front View of the Element-T
The front of the case presents us with the external drive bays, and a large honeycombed front bezel. The whole bezel is lined with dust filters and it comes away from the case easily by simply pulling from the bottom. There are no screws to remove or clips to release to get the bezel off, but it is still held in securely with spring mounted retaining clips.
Front/Side view of the Element-T
The side of the case presents us with a large open mesh area. Hidden within the mesh are mountings for either a 120mm or 230mm case fan. This fan, if fitted, would usually be used as an intake to blow air directly onto the motherboard in general, and the video cards and CPU specficially. There is no dust filter on this mesh which allows you to see into the case, but which may also allow dust in, potentially partially negating the effect of the filters in the front bezel.
Rear view of the Element-T
The rear view shows the bottom-mounted PSU mounting, a full 7 PCI expansion slots, supporting full-ATX motherboards, and the usual I/O shield which is easily removable should your motherboard have a non-standard layout on the rear I/O, which the majority of modern boards do have. There is also a 120mm exhaust fan which is fitted as standard and space for watercooling tubing is provided if needed to the side of the PSU. These are not fully punched out as standard so will need to be removed if you plan to use them.
Screw kit provided with the case
Thermaltake provides a healthy screw kit with the case, notably enough thumbscrews to secure all of your drives and PCIe/PCI/AGP cards to the chassis. There are also screws for the SSD bay, spare standoffs in case the punched ones in the case aren't sufficient and a very handy centrepin standoff - this small item should be installed somewhere near the centre of when your motherboard will be, and it will then hold the board in place against the spring of the I/O panel while you secure the board properly. Like ASUS's q-connect system for connecting USB and front panel connectors, this is a very simple, and very effective feature. There are also enough extra-long screws to fit two additional fans to the case behind the front bezel, and should you choose to utilise the watercooling punchouts, there are a couple of plastic liners for the holes to protect against sharp edges.
Internal view of the Element-T
The internals provide a range of the tried-and-tested features found in most modern cases, providing unhindered access to the motherboard and drive areas. There are a couple of special features hidden away in there though....
Cutout behind usual CPU location
First on the list is this cutout. This provides easy access to the rear of the motherboard directly behind the spot where the CPU is usually located. This means fitting aftermarket CPU coolers which require a custom backing plate no longer means removing the motherboard. As a lot of custom system builders don't even consider the stock HSF an option, this is definitely something which adds some value to the case.
Adjustable and removable PSU support bracket.
This bracket provides additional support for the PSU in the system. Most cases have all of the weight of the PSU supported by the four screws which mount the unit to the rear of the chassis. It's set, by default, for standard PSU sizes, but it can be adjusted to fit substantially longer PSUs by removing and refitting it with two standard screws. High powered, longer units tend to be heavier and the additional length increases the stress on the rear of the chassis so this is potentially a very useful feature.
While there are more than enough thumbscrews to lock down all of the drives you're likely to need in most systems, Thermaltake has also provided a tool-less option for a single 5.25" and a single 3.5" drive. They're easily removable if you don't like to use them and do not block the standard mounting holes.
There are a couple of adjacent loops in the rear and side panels of the case, which will allow you to secure the case with a small padlock, a large honeycombed vent in the base providing a source of cool air directly into the PSU thanks to the feet installed which hold the case clear of the surface beneath, a guide stamped into the metal to help you in placing the optional standoffs provided, and another view at the aforementioned watercooling hole punchouts.
Mouse/Keyboard cable security loop.
Also provided is a way to secure your keyboard and mouse to the case. A simple thumbscrew inside the case holds this small metal loop in place. The loop is more than big enough for a couple of cables, but not big enough to let a USB or PS2 plug slip through. Utterly useless in a nice safe secure home environment, but very useful if you take your PC to LAN parties. No-one cares if they lose a $3 mouse, but with peripherals available which are approaching three figures in cost, this could prove very valuable indeed.
Top and rear mounted fans supplied as standard.
The case comes with two fans as standard from the factory. The top-mounted fan is a red led lit unit, while the rear exhaust is a more conventional fan without any frills. There is also space for up to three additional fans, one in the side panel, and two behind the front bezel. You have a choice between 120mm and 230mm in the side panel, and a pair of 120mm or 140mm or alternatively a single 200mm fan in the front.
Backlit view of the front panel.
The front panel, although dust filtered, is very open to airflow and the filters are supported by a large honeycomb.
Mesh opening in the roof of the case.
The top of the case also includes a high airflow mesh which allows the light from the fan to shine through as well as offering very little resistance to airflow. This mesh is not dust filtered, but as this fan is set up as an exhaust, the lack of the filters shouldn't be an issue.
Installation/Testing
To test the case from a system building point of view, I put together a basic system with a single optical drive, two hard disks, a full-ATX motherboard and an ATI X1950XT AGP video card. The power supply I was using has a 3.5" bay based power usage display which took up the only external 3.5" bay, so no card reader or floppy in this test rig.
The build process didn't throw up any real problems worth mentioning, which in itself is a compliment because that means it is an easy case to build a system in. The only "problem" I had was fitting the power supply, but it's a problem which is easily rectified or avoided altogether. I tried to fit the PSU with the little support shelf installed and could not get it to fit. The simple solution is to remove the shelf, fit the PSU, and then finally re-fit the shelf (which is easy to do - the PSU doesn't get in the way after it has been fitted.
The build did make me aware of a couple of additional positive points in the case. The first relates to the front panel controls and ports.
Front panel controls and ports with front cover removed.
The power and reset buttons, which have the power and HD activity LED's built in, and the audio and USB ports are actually fitted to the chassis, not the front panel. This means there are no awkward wires to be wary of when removing or refitting the front panel cover.
Plenty of space between the hard disks and Video card.
The additional length mentioned near the beginning of this review also shines through here. The AGP X1950XT is a pretty large video card, although I'm sure there are bigger cards out there, but when installed directly in line with one of the hard disks, there was still plenty of space between the two components for cables or, well, anything else you need the space for.
The case has a couple of features which seem to aim it squarely at LAN-party use. The ability to restrict access to internals by locking the side panel with a padlock and the little loop for securing your mouse and keyboard cables to prevent the opportunist from "acquiring" them, but the PCI slot blanks are only held in by friction.
PCI expansion slot cover.
This seems a little out of place with the earlier features and I'd have liked to have seen screw-holes in them to lock them in more effectively. I'd be a little concerned about one of the blanks coming loose in transit, going un-noticed, and causing potential havoc inside the case when you hit the power button.
Lots of room between the hard disks for airflow.
One final point worth mentioning is the spacing of the hard disks when mounted in the internal 3.5" bays. Some cases allow a little space between drives if they're mounted in directly adjacent bays. Some offer almost none. This is often not that much of an issue as very few people fill every bay, so it's relatively simple to install a drive, skip a bay, then install the next one. I recently read a article which claimed that some new studies suggest that lower temperatures don't really make a difference in the life or performance of hard disks, contrary to years of "established fact" which encouraged us all to make sure there was plenty of cooling and airflow over the drives. Irrespective, it's nice to see that there is plenty of room between the drives, even when you install them in every bay.
Even if the spacing doesn't make much difference to the hard disks themselves, it offers better overall airflow for those components in the case which really will benefit from the cooling.
Conclusion
Personal styling tastes aside, there really isn't anything to dislike about this case. It's large, easy to use, well built and ticks pretty much every box. Of course there are some things which are done better on high-end luxury or performance cases. Extra fans would be nice, more air filters might be an advantage, a painted or powdercoated interior usually looks nice and sleeving on the front panel cables would be a bonus, but this is NOT a top-of-the-line luxury high-performance case. At it's price point, it's borderline outstanding. I would have liked to see a second external 3.5" bay, which really wouldn't have made a lot of difference to the build cost, and soft rubber or silicone feet in place of the hard plastic ones fitted would absorb vibration and reduce noise, as well as help protect the surface the system stands on if you aren't a "case-under-the-desk" type of person.
I can't remember the last time I bought a case which didn't have a 3-figure price tag, in fact the last case I bought was a Lian-Li 343B which came in around £250 ($450US ish) but I definitely would seriously consider this case if I was building a PC on a low-to-mid-range budget. A couple of minor niggles prevent me from screaming "Hell yeah! Buy one now, actually buy TWO!" but more importantly, there is not a single thing that would make me say "Don't buy this because....."
Pro'sLots of space inside (TT claims support for Video cards up to 11.5" long).
Good strong construction.
Security features (Peripheral cable clamp and side panel locking loops).
Support for extra-long PSU's.
Cable-free removable front panel.
Native SSD support without the need for any conversion brackets. Con'sHard plastic feet which may transmit vibrations or scratch surfaces.
Interior not painted.
PSU air intake not dust filtered.
Only one external 3.5" drive bay.
PCI blanking plates not held in with screws. Rating
I'm pleased to give this case from Thermaltake our highest rating of 5/5. There are a couple of very minor niggles with the case, but they're easily ignored when you take the price into account. The value-for-money offered by the Element-T is excellent, and the niggles are so minor, they don't justify taking away a point from the score, although I do feel the omission of a dust filter on the PSU air intake is something Thermaltake should reconsider.
At the time of writing, the Thermaltake Element-T is available here at Newegg for less than $72 with another $15 rebate available offering change out of $62.
On behalf of both myself and thebestcasescenario.com, I'd like to say thankyou to Thermaltake USA for putting us in touch with Thermaltake UK, and thankyou to Thermaltake UK for providing this case for review.
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