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Thermaltake V9 Black Edition


Date
: 02/2/09 – 03:50:00 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Thermaltake

We are visited here at Overclockers Online again today by Thermaltake and really need no further introduction.

I recently had the opportunity to review their latest full tower case, the Spedo Advance Package, and today I get to take one of their mid tower cases for a spin, the V9 Black. The V9 series is aimed at gamers specifically and the Black Edition brings a few extra features to the party.

Page 2 : Package and Accessories

Not surprisingly the V9 Black comes packaged with a black background. Being marketed as a gaming case, it seems almost a standard to have a CGI female character adorning the box much like most video cards. The front outlines the most important feature of the V9 Black, the twin 230mm fans that cool the case. The back of the box gives a good rundown of the features and highlights for the V9 Black.

The sides show the specifications for the case along with a small blurb directing you to the Thermaltake website for further details.

Once you open up the box up, the V9 Black is wrapped in a plastic bag and sandwiched between two Styrofoam blocks. Pretty standard packaging that should protect it fairly well though could be easily foiled by a determined delivery driver.

Included with the case are an instruction manual, warranty statement, 'Key 3' statement, small bag of screws, two zip ties and a power supply brace.

Page 3 : Specifications and Features

I grabbed the specifications and features straight from Thermaltake's website here.

Specifications:

Features:

*Side and Top 23cm silent fan Built-in
*Front 12cm Red LED fan for optimized air flow
*Black powder coating for stylish inward appearance
*Metal grilled front panel and stylish black interior
*Bottom-placed PSU design for better and easier installation
*MB tray fan hole pre-drilled for better MB ventilation

While the V9 is constructed of .8mm SECC steel, it weighs in at a scant 13lbs so no worries of pulling your back when moving it. The black powder coating is a nice touch and is where this V9 gets the 'Black' name.

Page 4 : Exterior

As you can see the V9 Black has 4 5.25′ and 2 3.5′ drive bays. Power and reset buttons are situated on the top edge with the microphone jack, headphone jack and 2 USB ports situated halfway back facing forward. Behind these ports is the vent for the top mounted 230mm fan that we will see later.

The left side panel is dominated by the opening with another 230mm fan. The right side has two vented areas, one to allow for venting near the hard drives and the other for the motherboard.

The back side reveals a 120mm exhaust fan, 2 precut holes for watercooling and a bottom mounted PSU. Black thumbscrews secure the side panels on. The I/O panel is the punch out variety, which most of us toss anyways since they never fit our motherboards.

The front panel pulls off and is largely mesh from top to bottom and is constructed of plastic. There is a 120mm fan on the bottom that serves to intake cool air.

The front fan rests inside a small bracket that is removed with a thumbscrew. There is a filter that is removed easily for washing.

Page 5 : Interior

After removing the side panel, the 230mm fan mounted on the side should readily feed cool air to the video card and motherboard components. The fan cable is braided in black, a nice touch to keep with the theme.

The first thing that strikes me is the black powder coating, which looks far better than the standard gray you typically see in most cases. The 5.25′, hard drive and PCI expansion slots are all tool free. The hard drive bays are facing sideways, which makes it easier to install and hide cables than the usual front to back location. On the motherboard tray there are 6 raised dimples that act as motherboard standoffs with other holes to accommodate additional screw and standoffs.

The tool free devices for the 5.25′ and hard drive bays are the same and feature four holes for adjustment. The PCI expansion slots also feature a tool free design. The plastic anchors flip up and slide back for installation. They don't feel especially durable and I wonder how they would hold up to repeated use. Thermaltake also uses the disposable PCI slot covers here as they did in the Spedo Advance Package.

Here you can see the 230mm fan situated in the top of the case. Featuring 13 fan blades, it should move a decent amount of air without generating too much noise.

On the back side of the motherboard tray there isn't any room to hide cables. There is a space to mount a 70mm fan for additional motherboard cooling. While there isn't room for cable routing behind the tray, there is room to route or hide cables in the hard drive bay area.

Front panel connectors include your standard USB, front panel audio (HD Audio and AC'97) hard drive LED, power LED along with power and reset switch.

Now that we are through looking at it, let's throw some gear in the V9.

Page 6 : Installation

As usual I won't bore you with step by step installation instructions as most know this, but I do want to hit on a few issues I encountered.

The first came with the front panel and trying to remove the bay covers. All but the top one removed easily. The top took some pressure and I felt like something was going to break because of how close the tab is to the post as you can see in this picture.

The tool free system for the PCI slots really did not work well at all. When closed the card still easily moves back and forth and I just didn't feel comfortable with that much movement. I recommend removing it and going with the old screw for a more secure method. On the flip side, the tool free mechanisms for the hard drive and 5.25′ bays held those devices very securely, probably more secure than any tool free system I have used to date.

In all installation was a breeze and didn't feel cramped at all. It's time to fire things up and see how it handles some heat.

Page 7 : Testing

The following system was installed and used to gather temperatures:

CPU: Intel E8400 @ 3.6 Ghz
MB: Gigabyte P35-DS3R
RAM: G.Skill 2x2GB PC2 6400 PI Black
Video: Biostar 9600GT
PSU: Ultra X3 1000W
HD: WD 250GB SATA
DVD-Rom: Lite-On 18x DVD Burner – SATA
OS: Microsoft Windows XP w SP2

Ambient Temperature: 24-25C

Cases:

Thermaltake V9 Black

CoolerMaster HAF932
Thermaltake Spedo Advance Package
Antec Skeleton

To achieve idle temperatures, I allowed the system to sit with no processes running for three hours and recorded the temperatures using Everest Ultimate. I also decided to give the ATC 3 a test and ran tests with them installed and again without them to see what effect they have on temperatures.

If there is one thing about mid towers is that they have a distinct advantage of having less space to move air through. As you can see here in the idle temps, the V9 Black comes out on top in all areas.

We have seen idle temps, now let's turn on some heat and see where things fall.

Under load you can see that the field levels out a bit. Still pretty good when comparing to the more expensive full towers the V9 Black is up against here.

Page 8 : Conclusion

I'll admit I'm a junky for full tower cases as I love all the room they have to offer. With that being said I was quite pleased overall with the mid tower V9 Black Edition. I never felt cramped or had to contort my hands while assembling the PC. The twin 230mm fans do a great job of keeping things cool and the front 120mm also sports a red LED. The black powder coating really sets off the interior and makes for a very attractive package.

I really only had one complaint and that was with the PCI tool free system. The plastic tabs did not secure the device at all and left a lot of movement and let me to remove it all together and use a screw to secure it. Even with this one complaint, the V9 Black Edition is a great case and won't do you wrong.

Advantages

• Good airflow

• Black powder coating inside
• Two 230mm fans
• Quiet

Disadvantages

• Tool free PCI not very secure

Overclockers Online would like to thank Thermaltake for supplying the V9 Black Edition for review.