Gadgetory

this video is brought to you by NCI XCOM great technology selection and service hello everyone this is Dimitri with her onyx and there comes a time when they get super excited about the potentially awesome chassis you know based on specifications and first impressions to only have my disappointment levels kick in by a pile of small overlooked details that really take away from this very promising and an almost perfect chassis and with that foreshadowing intro out of the way let's take a look at the thermal tech V 51 priced at $120 and this price range is a bit risky considering the new standard fantex set with the m2 Pro at just 89 bucks so first taking the exterior tour I really love what thermal tech has done with a full mesh front panel that has a built in dust filter and both top and bottom rounded edges that add a bit of character the chassis stands on tall and long feet and while thermal day classifies this as a mid tower this is a full tower in our books given the wide and tall form there are two optical base at the front with the i/o panel right above with audio jacks only a pair of USB 3 ports in the market where at least four USB ports is a standard and PR buttons with an illuminated ring around the power button I love the gigantic side panel window that hides nothing and super revealing that can be extremely rewarding to showcase a sexy system and your hard work for cable management and it should also act as an incentive to clean things up only problem here is how easy it is to scratch it now these marks you see here are from me running my nail gently across the corner so you gotta be extra careful to maintain this in pristine condition and this should also be a wake-up call for all case manufacturers not just Thermaltake as this is not the first time we've seen this happen and zxd so coming to the top this is how you handle fan support huge thumbs up for large magnetic dust filters spanning the roof and check this out this massive array of flexible options so we got triple 120s triple 140s and dual 200 mil more fans and they realize the benefits of these mounting strips to eliminate any compatibility issues with top mounted radiators and coming to the back and get a set of water cooler host a PCI slots a little hook to secure your peripherals to the case that's held in with a thumb screw from the inside and the 120mm exhaust fan there are also two bottom dust filters covering the entire floor with the power supply dust water easy removal from the back auto side removal would be more convenient plus the second dust filter is removable from the front auto requiring you to take off the front panel first and again side thus total removal should become the standard and with the front panel removed we can take a look at our intake options so two 120mm fans are included with support for triple 120 s and 140 s as well and I'm so happy to see thermal take you know continue with these mounting strips plus a very open frame design for maximum airflow and to continue with the praise the side panels swivel to open so they are extremely easy to remove no need to align any clips just gently insert in the front and close like a car door this is for both side panels as well and thumb screws stay with the panel and so far the V 51 has many details worked out for airflow dust filtration and accessibility but how are the internals so let's get inside the hard drive cage design is interesting it is elevated and does not make contact with the floor I think this is brilliant to avoid any extra parts like a cage base if you want to reposition any of the two other cages of course they are modular secured with thumb screws at the back and on the side and you can install either of the cages higher for extra clearance at the bottom as the V 51 supports a 240 radiator on the floor furthermore the optical cages are individually removable for example take away the top one for additional clearance for a longer 360 ml radiator or a thicker set up with push-pull while still have one optical Bay in place you could also remove the bottom one install this five the quarter inch fan bracket and you now have clearance for an additional fan at the front allowing compatibility for 360 and even for twenty millimeter radiators now there are a total of five drive caddies with side SSD mount to avoid flexing the plastic these small clips pop out and insert back in once the Eco Drive is in place and I like the system because of these clips though inside SSD mount one must be removed to accommodate for the smaller Drive and this is why I always prefer centered SSD mount and other annoyance here I noticed was with wiring connecting a power SATA is fine is it's a straight power SATA along with a straight SATA data cable but because of the frame and how far back the drive is you can't even fit a 90-degree SATA cable for your drive so how did this pass the design stage only way I found this to work if you attach the cable first and then push the drive caddy in but that doesn't really look healthy for the cable and also if you remove all the drive cages for water cooling not all is lost as we have two extra spots for the drives they simply pop in place we have supported clips but it seems Thermaltake is a little bit challenged in the cable running department is there is very little room for the bottom drive caddy to pass any cables and speaking of cable management it is almost non-existent in the Vee 51 there are only a few cable tie points right beside the main rubber grommets but that's it so there's no way to clean up anything below the motherboard cut out nor at the back where the eight pin CPU cable is traveling so this is totally not acceptable and this alone stains the entire process that up to this point has been fairly seamless it's a good thing though the side panels closed like this to avoid any further difficulties having said that though the internals look absolutely stunning and I made sure to clean things up for that window showcase there is an appropriate cutout for a micro ATX motherboard to pass front IO cables and such an open interior well for sure welcome enthusiast systems as well there is an oversized cut out up top routing fans the 8 pin and other miscellaneous cables that for sure came in handy during our build and so in conclusion it is clear that thermo tech is eager to truly compete within this 100 $20 price bracket and the V 51 is a total winner on many fronts like airflow and water cooling and dust filtration and internal modularity but when the basics are ignored like simple cable type points or restrictive frame for wiring your drives or easily scratch up a window I think it's time to make a priority list and make sure that no details are missed as otherwise the VIP 51 paves the way for thermaltake to release a killer case and they're definitely on the right track and so this concludes this review we hope you enjoyed make sure to subscribe for our top 5 tech of 2014 video coming very soon like this video if you found it helpful as always thank you for watching and we'll see you in the next one