That said, do not expect a boring case, as Thermaltake do not really do subtle, which is evident when looking at their Level 10, Spedo, Xpressar, Armor and Xaser VI cases for example. Still, when compared to that line-up the Element V does look rather bland, and we suspect Thermaltake is going after those less interested in a case that looks like a product you would find in the batmobile.

There are a number of elegant full tower chassis on the market and many of them can be had for $200 US or less. The Lian-Lian PC-A70F for example sells for $200 US, while the Cooler Master ATCS 840 can be had for $180 US. The Silverstone Kublai and Zalman GS1000 Plus can be had for $170 US. There are few quality full tower chassis that are cheaper than $170 US, though the Gigabyte Sumo is quite good value at $150 US.

The Thermaltake Element V steps in at $155 US, making it one of the cheaper full tower chassis out there. At this price you can assume that the case is constructed entirely from steel without a hint of aluminium, and you would be right. Furthermore, you can assume that the front bezel is made of plastic in traditional Thermaltake fashion.

Still it’s not all cheap, as the specifications list a total of five case fans, one of them is even a 230mm fan. There is also an easy to access externally mounted fan speed controller and inside room to stick your not so affordable SSD (Solid-State Disk). Although the feature list is far from extensive, it does seem to have the essentials covered, so let’s move on to check out the Element V in more detail...

As mentioned earlier, the Element V is one of Thermaltake’s more subtle designs, and as you can see, from the front everything looks to be under control. The bezel is made up by a series of grills, from the top down we have five 5.25” external drive bays and below them are two larger square grills that hide a pair of 120mm fans.

Running alongside the series of grills, the case flares out a little bit in an attempt to give the Element V a bit of character and it works quite well. There is also a little extra ventilation here, which will help to provide the 120mm fans with more air. It is worth mentioning that the grills that cover the front bezel all feature dust covers to help keep the inside of the Element V and all your hardware clean.

At the top of the Element V things get a little more interesting, as this is where we find the I/O panel. Thermaltake has gone with quite a large I/O panel layout, which includes four USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, headphone/mic jacks along with the standard reset and power buttons. There is also a unique volume control like knob, which is used to adjust fan speed and lighting.

Behind the I/O panel are two large honeycomb grills which are designed to house a pair of 200mm (165mm blade length) fans or dual 120mm fans. These top mounted grills act as exhaust ventilation, though it should be noted that only one of them comes loaded with a fan.

The left side door features a tiny window, which is probably better described as a port hole, as it measures just 20cm long by 6.5cm tall and gives you a glimpse at the CPU cooler. Directly below it is a huge 230mm fan (195mm blade length) which again uses a large honeycomb grill.

The case door also features two small clips which are used to release it. This means there is no need to use the thumbscrews if you don’t want to, making it a quick and easy way to access the internal hardware.

The opposite side door is completely featureless, with the exception of two small screw holes which are also featured on the left side door. The user’s manual states that these holes are designed to mount a, get this, “water bottle cage” to the side of the case! The Element V is part of the Thermaltake eSports line up and as such they feel it is important to keep your fluids up while gaming.

This is an interesting design aspect and although I have never found myself sweating while online gaming, and find that placing a water bottle on my desk is pretty convenient, Thermaltake feel that I might want to hook it to the side of my case. Having quickly thought about that, I think keeping water-bottles away from my computer is probably a better idea.

In any case, there is little need to get excited over this innovative feature, as Thermaltake look to have already scrapped it. There is no information about it on their website and my case did not come with the bottle cage. It is also not listed as being part of the package in the user’s manual, despite there being a section on how to install it.

Moving on to the rear of the case, we have the standard I/O panel and room for a 120mm fan, along with seven ventilated expansion brackets. Towards the bottom there are two circular ports for water-cooling tubes, which allow users to externally mount a radiator. Then at the very bottom of the case we have the standard power supply bracket.

Starting with the motherboard tray, which supports Micro ATX, ATX and Extended ATX boards. There is a small amount of cable management, along with a rectangular hole in the motherboard tray, which is located behind where the CPU would be positioned on the motherboard, measuring 11cm by 14cm.

This hole is designed to give users access to the rear of the CPU socket, allowing for the installation or removal of heatsinks that would normally require the entire motherboard to be removed first. This is a simple yet essential design feature that is becoming part of all quality computer cases.

Using an intelligent tool-less design, the 5.25” drive bays offer an ultra quick and reliable way to install and remove devices. Unlike many other tool-less designs that are clumsy and impractical, this design actually works very well.

The 3.5” hard drives do not feature a tool-less or hot-swappable design. Still there are two removable hard drive cages, each supporting three drives. These cages can be removed through the front of the case, and provide an easy way to install/remove drives.

The Element V offers a decent number of expansion slots for a full tower ATX case though we have reviewed models, such as the Thermaltake Armor+, which have been able to fit much more. Still, in total the case can support six 3.5” drives, five 5.25” devices, and seven PCI expansion slots, which is the same as the much bigger Corsair Obsidian 800D that we recently looked at.

There is also room in the bottom for a 2.5” hard drive, which can be screwed directly into the floor of the case. This is designed for those that have new SSDs, though it would also be possible to install a traditional 2.5” laptop hard drive here as well if need be.

Also in the bottom of the case is the power supply mount, which can be adjusted to suit various size units. There are nine settings in total that can offset the power supply by as much as 9cm from the standard 15cm setting. There is also a large honeycomb grill in the bottom of the case that allows the power supply to draw in cool air externally.

In terms of cooling the Element V is quite well equipped, featuring five fans in total, which includes three 120mm fans, one 200mm fan and one 230mm fan. It is worth noting that while the 120mm fans have a 110mm blade diameter, the 200mm fan only has a 165mm blade diameter, and the 230mm fan a 195mm blade diameter. Although these measurements are a bit misleading, they are industry standard measurements.

There are two front mounted 120mm fans on the removable hard drive cages that draw cool air into the Element V. The other 120mm fan is mounted on the rear panel and acts as an exhaust fan, removing warm air. The 200mm fan is mounted in the roof of the case and also acts as an exhaust fan. The fifth and final fan measures 230mm and is mounted in the case door. This fan draws in cool air, which is pushed over the CPU and graphics card.

The rear 120mm fan and one of the 3.5” HDD cage mounted 120mm fans works at a fixed 1400 RPM, generating a whisper quiet 17dBA, and are unaffected by the fan speed controller. The LED fans, which includes one 120mm fan (1000-1400 RPM), one 200mm (600-800 RPM) fan, and one 230mm (600-800 RPM) fan, can all be speed adjusted via a single fan controller.

Given that the Element V is a full tower chassis, there is loads of space and as such we ran into no compatibility issues when installing hardware. Even when installing huge 30cm graphics cards, such as the Radeon HD 5970, there is still room to spare; we measured 4cm to work with behind the graphics card. Furthermore, because the hard drives can be installed via the front loading hard drive cage, there is never any need to remove the graphics card.

Installing the CPU cooler is just as easy thanks to the rear motherboard access, which means any and all cooling solutions can be installed/removed without first having to remove the motherboard. Although the hole in the motherboard tray does not look that big, we found it was correctly positioned to allow access to a number of AMD and Intel motherboards.

The power supply slotted into position very easily and we found that the Element V had no issue fitting our 750 and 1500 watt test units. For this case we do recommend a modular power supply, as there is really nowhere to tuck away excess cables, especially if you are using the bottom 3.5” drive cage and the 2.5” drive mount.

In fact, the Element V is quite average in terms of cable management and we found it quite difficult to pull off a neat installation when compared to other full tower chassis reviewed recently. The motherboard tray has no cable management holes in the lower section, while on the rear side of the tray there is only about 1 – 1.5cm worth of room to hide cables.

Overall the Element V is a nice case to work with despite being a little light on cable management. That said, with some basic modifications this can be corrected, to make the Element V a little bit neater inside. The easy to access removable hard drive cages are a nice touch, as is the mount in the bottom of the case for an SSD, even if you have to flip the case over to install a drive there. The cooling side of things appears to be well covered and there is even room to expand.

In terms of cooling, the Element V easily matches the competition, with five large fans in total. The Element V is also quiet an attractive case, though this is of course a matter of personal opinion. That said, we believe most will find the Element V to be just as aesthetically pleasing as we did. Though for an “eSports” type case if you will, the Cooler Master HAF 932 is hard to go by at just $140, and honestly we prefer the look of that product.

Although the Element V has quite a large number of fans, it makes very little noise when operational, even when the fans are set to full speed via the controller. Despite the low operating volume, the Element V still manages to move a significant amount of air, and this is of course the benefit of including such massive 200mm and 230mm fans.

Cooling is an important aspect of any case and it is something that we felt the ultra expensive Corsair Obsidian 800D pulled up short with. Still the Element V is not perfect and we felt that more attention should have been directed towards cable management, which is something the Obsidian 800D did exceptionally well. After all, drilling a few more holes in the bottom of the motherboard tray would not have been overly difficult or added any additional cost to the design.

The Element V is a little on the portly side, weighing 14.13kg, though this is certainly not outrageous for a steel full tower case. Furthermore, it does not rule the Element V out for gamers on the go, as it can still be quite easily moved around. Still, when fully loaded, this case will be tipping the scales at around 20kg, so that is worth keeping in mind if you are planning on moving it regularly.

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Reviewed By Steven Walton