Thermaltake Element S review
Verdict:
The Element S is spacious and looks good, but flimsy construction and some unusual cable routing requirements failed to impress us.
Review Date: 14 Mar 2010
Price when reviewed: £77
Buy it now for: £75
(see more store prices)
Supplier: http://www.micomonline.co.uk
Our Rating
Thermaltake's Element S looks rather snazzy, with a matt-finished metal and plastic shell and a bright red edge around the door on its front fascia. Behind the door, nine drive bay blanking plates include sound insulation and dust filters. The power and reset buttons, along with the usual USB, eSATA and audio ports, are on a panel at the top of the case.
Both the rear and sides of the case were prone to flexing. The matt black interior edges weren't quite as well finished as those of Antec's similarly priced Nine Hundred Two, but none were sharp enough to do us any damage.
The power supply has to be mounted in a separate bay below the motherboard. The top of the bay, which also bears mounting points for two 2.5in laptop drives, has to be removed before you can insert your PSU. Unfortunately, the PSU enclosure requires careful routing of the cables, which means that not all of them will necessarily be able to reach across the length of your case.
The case's main bay is generously proportioned bay and leaves plenty of room for even large components. The rear blanking plates can't be re-attached once removed, so there's nothing to protect your system from dust if you remove components later. There are plenty of fans and mounting points, including 230mm fans in the top and side panels, but we'd have liked to see more dust filters.
Although it's a bit noisy, the case looks good and has decent airflow. However, we weren't impressed by the Element S's cable-shortening PSU mounting and somewhat flimsy construction, especially as Fractal Design's Define R2 costs just £5 more.
Author: Kat Orphanides
Best Prices
Best Prices
|
£75 | |
|
£90 | |
| Prices, delivery and availability at 2 retailers | ||
Find a review
advertisement
- Best Buy
- Gigabyte MIB T5140
- Best Budget Buy
- Akasa Zen AK-ZEN-01 BK
- Ultimate
- Fractal Design Define R2
Fractal Design Define R2
Category: CasesRating:
Price: £85
Moneual MonCaso 972
Category: CasesRating:
Price: £329
Thermaltake WingRS 301
Category: CasesRating:
Price: £35
Silverstone Grandia GD03
Category: CasesRating:
Price: £144
Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced
Category: CasesRating:
Price: £90
Software Store
advertisement
Compare 30+ mobile broadband deals



Printed from www.expertreviews.co.uk
Social Bookmark this article: What is this?