Page 4: Exterior Continued
Exterior Continued
The understated yet functional, look of the case continues to the sides of the case. While the right side of the case has a standard drab black panel, the left side has a small vent and porthole-style window. The window is in the perfect location to get a good view of the processor, as well as any fancy CPU coolers installed that you would want to show off. While some may be disappointed at having a small case window rather than a full-sized one, the size and location of the window allow for the placement of a passive vent in the side of the case. The vent is smartly placed roughly in the spot where a video card would be on the motherboard. It allows some extra intake into the case to cool the the GPU. The vent cannot have a fan mounted to it, however.
While not as impressive as the attention to detail paid to the front, the rear of the case continues to impress. The first thing you note is how the rear is painted in the same matte black finish as the rest of the case rather than being unpainted. This is far from the norm even on cases of higher prices, so seeing Thermaltake keep such consistency is a real treat. Also noteworthy is the bottom-mounted power supply, which is another popular feature of high end cases as it allows easier installation and wire management. In this particular case, it also allows the hot air from the PSU to rise directly to the exhaust fan.
Thermaltake also gets a big plus for not including a metal I/O shield that you would have to take out if your motherboard is arranged differently. The expansion blanks are also interesting in that they are designed as far back as possible, meaning to install a PCI/PCIe expansion you screw it in on the outside of the case rather than on the inside as is normal. This is undoubtedly to maximize the space inside the case for everything else.
One final note regards what seems to be an inconsistency with the specs from the Thermaltake website. Thermaltake states that the V3 Black Edition does not support liquid cooling, but the holes below the rear exhaust fan that suggest a liquid cooling system actually could be installed.
The understated yet functional, look of the case continues to the sides of the case. While the right side of the case has a standard drab black panel, the left side has a small vent and porthole-style window. The window is in the perfect location to get a good view of the processor, as well as any fancy CPU coolers installed that you would want to show off. While some may be disappointed at having a small case window rather than a full-sized one, the size and location of the window allow for the placement of a passive vent in the side of the case. The vent is smartly placed roughly in the spot where a video card would be on the motherboard. It allows some extra intake into the case to cool the the GPU. The vent cannot have a fan mounted to it, however.
While not as impressive as the attention to detail paid to the front, the rear of the case continues to impress. The first thing you note is how the rear is painted in the same matte black finish as the rest of the case rather than being unpainted. This is far from the norm even on cases of higher prices, so seeing Thermaltake keep such consistency is a real treat. Also noteworthy is the bottom-mounted power supply, which is another popular feature of high end cases as it allows easier installation and wire management. In this particular case, it also allows the hot air from the PSU to rise directly to the exhaust fan.
Thermaltake also gets a big plus for not including a metal I/O shield that you would have to take out if your motherboard is arranged differently. The expansion blanks are also interesting in that they are designed as far back as possible, meaning to install a PCI/PCIe expansion you screw it in on the outside of the case rather than on the inside as is normal. This is undoubtedly to maximize the space inside the case for everything else.
One final note regards what seems to be an inconsistency with the specs from the Thermaltake website. Thermaltake states that the V3 Black Edition does not support liquid cooling, but the holes below the rear exhaust fan that suggest a liquid cooling system actually could be installed.