continuationThermaltake Element V
The only true full-tower in today’s roundup, Thermaltake’s Element V should be able to support the greatest variety of performance-oriented hardware.
Unfortunately, much of its extra height is wasted space between the power supply and motherboard. The Element V doesn’t natively support an internal radiator, and the motherboard is located too close to the top panel to allow easy modification for radiator installation.
However, two knock-outs within that otherwise-unused space support the included grommets for external radiator installation. At least part of the left-over space could be useful for anyone placing a double-slot graphics card in a motherboard’s bottom slot, but again, it appears wasteful for Thermaltake not to make this an eight-slot case when so much unused space exists.
The Element V’s top panel supports up to two 200mm fans, though only one is included.
This is one of the first enthusiast-oriented cases we’ve seen without an old FireWire interface, though so few users now require the connection that some motherboard manufacturers are also dropping it. The Element V retains headset jacks, eSATA connectivity, and four USB ports. It has also added power, reset, and fan controls to the top panel.
Element V Elements
Several large holes allow easy ingress and egress for hiding power cables behind the motherboard tray, while the largest of these holes permits access to CPU-cooler support plates without removing the motherboard. A variety of threaded standoff holes are also available to rigidly support motherboards up to the Extended ATX form factor.
A total of 11 5.25” external bays are reduced to five through the placement of three triple-drive racks and triple-bay cover panels. Anyone who really wants an extra three (or six) external bays could remove these parts without modifying the case.
Thermaltake’s hard drive cages are designed for optimal airflow, rather than the greatest number of drives, supporting only three 3.5” drives in three 5.25” bays. Anyone who wants to add even more drives can find four-drive horizontal backplanes that fit within the same three-bay space, but smooth-sided five-drive vertical backplanes won’t fit due to tabs that separate each of the case’s half-height bays.
Our biggest concern for long-term use is Thermaltake’s unique side fan, which is wired directly to a set of spring-loaded contacts. Replacements are only available from Thermaltake, which is why we wish there had been a three-pin connector between the contact pad and fan cable.
Building With The Element V
The Element V’s installation kit is far more basic than many of its competitors, since most of the case’s adapters and fans are pre-installed. Thermaltake adds a 3.5” external bay adapter and cover panel, a PC speaker, and two plastic grommets for use in place of the knock-outs with external liquid-cooling hoses.
The Element V is cavernous, swallowing up full-sized PC components with ease. Because standard-screw mounts are used throughout the case, the only other noticeable exception from normal PC builds is that the front-panel cables are too long. Specifically, running the front-panel cables around the bottom of the motherboard to its farthest corner still results in eight inches of slack that need to be tucked away behind the tray or drive cages. However, we’ll try not to criticize that feature too much, as it's better to have too much cable than not enough.
Lighting modes for the three LED-equipped fans include blue, green, and red as well as two alternating-color patterns. A sixth LED mode disables lighting entirely.
One more thing we should mention is that the side-fan contacts on our particular sample were slightly misaligned, so that we had to bump the bottom corner of the side panel rather hard to turn the fan on. Moving the case caused the panel to shift, and we had to bump the panel once again for the fan to work. This is especially troublesome, since the connectors are not adjustable.
source:tomshardware continued
