Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Cube Case with Fan

Decided to be edgy and have something different. Going to itx mother board B450i allowed me to go small. its worked really well. well made, easy removable panels for access. For something thats only 12x12x12 (30cmx30cmx30cm) so small footprint it works well. 6 years old now and still looks good.

It's not been mentioned elsewhere that I can see, but this case is an almost perfect fit for an Ikea Kallax unit.Downside is that you need to take the feet off, and put it upside down (or on any other side than the bottom - just move the solid panel to the new bottom - otherwise the PSU opening doesn't get any airflow) - you have around 1cm clearance which is enough for air to move (given that it can also go directly through from front to back etc) - a bonus is that the logo on the front is actually magnetic so you can turn it to the right side up 😅Length is almost perfect, and you can pull it slightly forward to get access to the ports and buttons if needed.If I was being sensible I would actually get slightly shorter feet (they're only a couple of mm too tall) or even attach something like a rail for easier sliding (future 3d print job?), and put something on each side to keep it central (but it's easy enough to see etc.Works perfectly for a home rack-style server, and as the front panel is completely removable for painting you can make it fit whatever style you have (plus the large fan and airflow mean you can keep it nice and quiet, even if it's doing a lot of work).

Like everyone, I have a tendency to only review when something is bad. Sometimes when I start playing with a new purchase, and it immediately impresses me then I'll write up a few paragraphs, five starring it. However I've owned this for 5 months now, and I'm aware that below I sound like a teenager gushing about their first love....but that's genuinely how impressed I was with this product.I have to say I REALLY like this case. It's about a quarter of what I'd usually pay for a PC case, and I bought it for a build for a family member but ended up going with a different case in the end, but rather than send this case back I decided to keep it and bodge together a build out of bits I had lying around, just because it was such a pleasing thing to look at. Obviously the visuals depend on you not having a problem with the 'box' shape as opposed to the traditional 'long and thin' tower shape. Whilst this might be a design choice, it's also practically very useful, as this case is absolutely as compact as it's possible to be, but interior design touches mean that it has better thermals than cases costs £100+First thing's first - it FEELS expensive. You know that heavy, satisfying feeling you get from a premium case? The higher quality of the mesh....you can't quite put your finger on it but you know you got something for your extra money? This case oozes that - and it wasn't premium money.The ability to mount the motherboard either vertically or horizontally is excellently implemented and simple to achieve. It is actually possible to try out numerous configurations internally, and the separation of the PSU and HDDs from the motherboard helps with both cable routing and heat build up.Similarly, the large 200mm fan at the front is silent, but provides a substantial amount of airflow. The mesh front is high quality, and allows all the air flow you could ever need. Another nice touch is how the dust filter is behind the front fascia, so that although dust is filtered the front never looks dirty. This is a 'feature' you don't get on £150 cases from Antec and Corsair, where dust builds up quickly on filter surfaces.Cooling really is this case's strong point. The mesh front allows for a huge amount of air to enter the case, the 140mm exhaust fan and relatively compact dimensions mean that air has no chance to 'circulate' and is instead cleanly blown 'through' the case. I have run this with both a Corsair Hydro H80, and currently a Noctua NH-D15, and both fit without an issue (although the H80 with a large Noctua PP fan was 'pushing it'). Given that, I would be confident in saying that WHATEVER your cooling solution, it will work with this case.The perspex side is another great touch, and if you have spent time making your build look nice (which the interior of this case makes it trivially easy to do) then it's easy to show it off via this perspex panel. The inside looks like s***? No problem, all of the panels are inter-changable! Simply replace the visible surfaces with the mesh panels!There are two buttons on the side, standard power and reset which feel pleasingly high quality, and not at all flimsy like you often get on cheaper cases. I have no inclination they'll ever break. The blue power LED is bright and works perfectly.Honestly, I could go on all day about this, I am worried about sounding like a Thermaltake shill, but really, I have ZERO criticism. If I had paid triple the price, I would still be happy - how about that. The ONLY downside is that it wont accept a full size ATX board, and so I was not able to transplant the internals from my current 'main' rig into this - it's otherwise the PERFECT PC case.

This is a great case not just because it is a great price but because the case is ideal for a quiet, roomy well thought out space. I have fitted in the case a Z170I PRO GAMING Mini ITX board, Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3000C15 Vengeance LPX 16 GB although High profile would have fitted with my cooler I was happy to get low profile this time and an SSD ADATA SP550 M.2 2280 240GB plus two hard drives from a dead shuttle. The PSU I bought new was a EVGA 600 W 80+ non Modular, it cost £40 and is more than adequate, super quiet and the unused leads curled into small rings at the base. Intel Core I5-6600K Processor, the GPU is an old AMD MSI OC 7870 which will be replaced as soon as the new Nvidia 1060/70 drops to a reasonable price, I really enjoyed installing the board,its lovely quality, really well made and thought out and the case is ideal for it. Everything worked spot on from turning it on. The temps are running at 20c approx idle 40c under load no OC but I know there is plenty of scope to OC if I chose too. I'ts all cooled with a Cooler Master Seidon 120V ver.2 Liquid CPU Cooler RL-S12V-24PK-R2. I've used this cooler on a 1155 system and not too impressed with it but it's on a par with a good air system but with this chip it's great and ideal in a small case. I have also installed 2 Coolink SWIF2 80L Case fans 80 mm, they are super quiet and pull out warm air from the back of the case. I really love the 200mm fan that comes installed at the front its massive and does a great job of cooling everything down very quietly. I have one tiny niggle with it which is the reset button is in an awkward place and you have to be careful when using the USB ports that you don't reset your computer, I have done it once already it's easy to do. I am used to installing systems in towers with full-size motherboards but this was just as easy and the cooling and ventilation make this a great gaming case. Update: I have installed a Gigabyte 670 windforce 3 fan GPU since (GV-N670OC-2GD) and now it has an MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 Gaming Twin Frozr installed which is a lovely fit, the 670 was a very long card whereas the MSI is a tall card but both fitted and both ran at reasonable temps. What I have found is that the top perspex doesn't offer any ventilation so I have used a side panel from the right-hand side which is vented on the top and placed the perspex panel on the right this is where the Hard drives are so cooling is not as big an issue. This is a great solution for the whole system as the GPU cools better and as heat rises it will have a positive effect on all the components mobo, memory and CPU. This is my wife's machine so I'm limited to what she will let me change; if it was me I would drill plenty of ventilation holes in the clear perspex and use it on top as it doesn't really do anything for the aesthetics having it on the side. I am also going to see if my Gigabyte 1080GTX will fit sometime soon in the case so that when I upgrade my GPU She can have the 1080 as she has had my previous replaced cards. Although tbh I don't think that will be for another 2 years at least. However, it is a little longer than the 670 so I'm not confident it will fit, but it will be fun trying.