Good, inexpensive water cooling case

[10e]

While many of us love modding, and all of us (should!!!) love water cooling, sometimes adding $125.00, $150.00 or more for a good quality water cooling case can be a bit of a tough pill to swallow.

While I'm a huge fan of the latest offerings from Caselabs (X2,X2m yum yum), the new limited run EK Vulture, Parvum cases, and some of the more dedicated water-cooling centric products, I also get a big kick out of finding inexpensive cases that offer a lot of bang-for-the-buck and generous features for water cooling.

Hardware Canucks recently posted a Youtube video for the latest Silverstone Mid/full tower ATX case, the KL05. The KL05 is a shared design that seemed really familiar. I had seen the identical mobo tray in another case: The Thermaltake Core V31.

This case has all the same features as the KL05 with a different look similar to the Core V1, V21, V51 and V71, but is closer to a mid-tower ATX chassis size at 506mm deep, 470mm tall, and 208mm wide. This is approximately the same (or less) displacement as popular cases like the Fractal Design Define R5 and NZXT H440, but at a noticeably lower cost. At one point NCIX had this case at around the $65.00 mark and I believe DirectCanada sells it for around $75.00.

It has a lot of thoughtful features like:

1) Twin SSD trays behind the motherboard tray with 4 possible mounting options (two behind the front optical cages and two behind the mobo tray)
2) Decent cable management room with a "bumped" right side panel to allow for thicker cables
3) Full size, NOT tinted side window
4) Up to 8 fan slots with the front and top allowing for 140mm fans
5) Fully filtered bottom, front and top intakes
6) Removable front 3x3.5" disk cage that can also be relocated up or down for bottom mounted 240mm radiators
7) Fully removable optical "trays"

It also has the optical trays off-set down about 60mm so a 35mm top mounted 360mm radiator plus single set of fans would still allow for a front dual-bay reservoir without clearance issues, and the top 120mm fan mounts are off-set to allow for components on the motherboard tray to be up to "I/O shield" height and have a thick radiator plus fans, or a push-pull configuration.

But the real kicker to me is that, as a case that is nearly an inch narrower, 2.5" shorter, and 1.75" shallower than a Phanteks Enthoo Pro, it can house dual 360mm radiators. And it can do it much more easily than a case that is directly advertised as having this feature: The NZXT H440.

I bought this case a while back for around $85.00 with taxes and recently was surprised that I could fit an Alphacool UT60 up top in PUSH-PULL with a 30-35mm 360mm radiator in front. Because the Alphacool, and the thin/slim Darkside radiators have "tapered" end tanks, they can be pushed all the way to the back of the case to get a 35mm XSPC EX360 or Swiftech MCR320-XP in the front, as long as no high profile RAM is used (like Dominator Platinums).

It also has the top screwed in so it can be removed to make integration really easy, where you can screw a 360mm radiator to the top while it is off the case, making assembly easy-peasy.

So yeah, color me surprised. Now it's not as rigid or sturdy as some of the more recent cases from NZXT like the H440 or S340, or the Enthoo Pro/Luxe, but the metal is folded to afford better rigidity and it doesn't feel overly flimsy, though it is quite light.

Here's a cell phone pic of it with dual 360mm radiators installed, with an Alphacool ST30 up top and a Swiftech MCR320-XP in front. I removed the ST30 and stuck a UT60 (60mm thick) Alphacool up top wth the same fitment possibilities.



So if you're looking for a fairly compact water cooling friendly case that has enough room for dual 360mm radiators, and doesn't have some of the build process problems like the H440 has due to the 3.5" disk bay side plate, the Thermaltake Core v31 is a great case.

[Neo182]

Interesting. Thanks for this. I've been looking for a case that fits at least one 360mm on the cheap.

[Bartacus]

Nice write up 10e!! Great points made too. Thermaltake has a rather unfortunate reputation (especially in the UK or on O3CD), so a lot of people don't take them into account.

[bungwirez]

you know I've really been waiting for the mention of Thermaltake...
they seem to have gone full tilt with their Pacific line this year.
I've always had a soft spot myself, having owned the TT Speedo chassis.
TT seems to have really done a great job with listening to the market
I just wonder if they haven't overextended themselves?

huh, who knew... Newegg seems to stock it all.

[DazMode]

Sometimes you want top of the line, but other time you need/can case like this, fractal and similar v

[Akira749]

you know I've really been waiting for the mention of Thermaltake...
they seem to have gone full tilt with their Pacific line this year.
I've always had a soft spot myself, having owned the TT Speedo chassis.
TT seems to have really done a great job with listening to the market
I just wonder if they haven't overextended themselves?

huh, who knew... Newegg seems to stock it all.

Beware of the Pacific Line radiators....aluminum core!

[bungwirez]

Beware of the Pacific Line radiators....aluminum core!

hell no... figures.

[Prolab]

Interesting, good to know there are other choices as well.

I've always had a thing for the Thermaltake SwordM years ago. A super tower than can fit WC system (TT back in the day). And it look sleek as well.

http://www.thermaltake.com/products-...?id=C_00000134

[bungwirez]

oh ya, that was a monster chassis!

[10e]

I remember that Sword M chassis. What a piece of craftsmanship. I think these days only InWin is matching that craftsmanship with their new S-Frame that is also hand built. The Cooler Master Cosmos II does as well, but I don't like that case at all. Way too big and not enough stock WC for the massive size.

I've generally had good luck with Thermaltake, but I have never bought their water cooling gear. I think the only WC piece I'd consider is their reservoir/pump combo with the Swiftech MCP50 pump, which seems to be a nice PWM pump similar in size to DDC with a wider range of PWM control. But I don't need one as I have the Dazmode March Break "special" DDC PWM pump and tube reservoir, which came with everything I need including pump brackets, etc... Very nice for the price, Daz.

As for the case, the Versa H35 is the same case with a different front fascia, and so far I haven't had any severe quality concerns with it. You don't have to worry about the top getting scratched by radiator mounting screws because the plastic filter covers it and hides any blemishes quite effectively.

It is definitely not as robust in terms of how thick the metal is compared to the Fractal Design R5, which is actually built like a tank and has extremely thick metal for a consumer $120.00 case. The Define R5 also has an incredibly rigid motherboard tray. But again, the v31 is probably a good few pounds lighter, and is well built enough with a lot of creature comforts, especially for WC. I like being able to fit a thick radiator up top and a thinner 360mm in the front to allow for tube reservoir mounting in the front, and still have good sized video cards there.

Too bad it doesn't come in white, but that could be addressd with some sanding, paint, and primer, and unlike Phanteks and their silly habit of putting tinted wnidows on their white cases, the Window in the Thermaltake is not blurry nor tinted. And it shows off nearly everything!

I have thought of this as being a good home for a white build, and I might actually endeavour to get it powder coated in white and see how that turns out.

Their other Core V21 MATX case really also caters to WC with many spots for 240mm radiators and fully removable panels (required for horizontal mobo mounting IMHO) and all their panels are interchangeable, and the case is completely "rotatable" and stackable with other V21s.

Their V1 Mini ITX case is also good, though in stock format not a good WC case, but with a small snip of the motherboard tray on the right side can easily fit a 180/200mm 45mm thick radiator in the front with a video card up to about 280mm or a bit more. Seabar over at PCCasemodz had a video on Youtube where he was reviewing the case and gave it a positive review (other than the dented front he received, figures).

Nick Blackwell on modders-inc and of Dirty South mods has a nice white painted V1 where he did just this with push-pull on the front 200mm radiator and acrylic tubing and it looks "bloody" good hehe.

[Grinder]

Nice find 10e, lots of features for the price and you can't argue with a large side window as well. DirectCanada still has it for $75 with free shipping.

My last few builds have been Fractal Design, with some modding thrown in. If I do another I might give it a try, as I consider much over $100 to be too pricey for a case. While I'm not an mATX fan, neither am I fond of really large cases like most of the caselabs.

BTW, my last Tt case was the original Armor I had a triple in the front with room for an optical drive at the top. A little tall and narrow, but there were fewer choices in those days.

[10e]

I'll post some photos of this case with my P530s3x components installed. I only changed the reservoir to Daz's Darkside tube reservoir with bundled DDC PWM pump, which I'm really liking too.

Darkside = $$$$$$$$$$pending

But back on topic, the V31 build went flawlessly, and outside of a little extra cable management space, and some extra cable zip tie loops, I have basically zero to complain about with this case. I really, really enjoyed building in it, but I'll fix up the cable management tonight with some extra cable management hardware I have (at least the back of the mobo tray which is what I'm talking about).

[10e]

He's a photo of the Phantom 530 equipment put into the Thermaltake V31.

Some quick changes from the Phantom 530 build, this build gets two 360mm radiators: Swiftech MCR320-XP in the front with triple Gentle Typhoon AP-14 120mm fans, controlled by a triple fan splitter to a 3-pin connector on the motherboard, and an Alphacool UT60 up top with 3 x Corsair SP120 high performance PWM fans. The blue rings on these fans match the motherboard and coolant colours very well.

I also didn't bring over the Darkside bay reservoir, opting instead for the Darkside tube reservoir with DDC PWM pump, controlled by the CPU fan header. I like the fact that the reservoir came with all the brackets and screws and even at 3000 RPM, very little vibration is going anywhere except one pipe to the Swiftech radiator.

I have to say other than a bit snug cable management in the rear, this case has been a joy to integrate into. My only issue with it is the lack of cable ties in important spots behind the motherboard, but I fixed that with some half circle adhesive taped cable retention "loops".

So far temperatures with this configuration have been nice and low. The two R9 290x 8GB Sapphire cards are loading in Crossfire at between 45-49 celsius, even lower if I remove the top, perforated plastic filter, which I don't need as the fans are in push/exhaust out the top. Removing it gives the case a slightly more "industrial" look, while leaving it on makes the top panel look more elegant. With fans at 1100 RPM the system is very quiet, and I'm extremely happy with it overall. Also the SSD and 2TB 2.5" WD WD20NPVX drives are probably 3-5 celsius cooler than they were in the Phantom 530.

At some point I needed to route the PWM header from the pump up to the CPU fan header, and this was impossible to do with my thick fingers and the rad+fans hanging over the motherboard, so I was able to remove the screws holding the top panel, remove most of the screws holding in the top radiator, and pivot the top up from the back and sneak the cable in, then screw everything back in and re-attach all the radiator screws. All without a drop of coolant lost or any leaking at this time or thereafter. Very nice. Any rad+fan combo will hang over the motherboard, but with a 60mm radiator plus 25mm fans, I still had room to leave the water block in the same orientation with top/bottom ports as you can see in the photo below. For a thicker configuration of radiator, or push-pull I would have had to rotate the CPU water block 90 degrees.

It's also nice that this case is light, as the Phantom 530 with thicker gauge metal was probably over 40 lbs with all the water cooling radiators/equipment. Even DS340-E with its 280mm Monsta and XSPC EX120 is probably heavier.

Here's a quick photo with a Darkside single strip in white lighting from the back, just inside the lef side panel:



Because of the gradation of light from back-to-front I named the system "Penumbra-V"

[bungwirez]

hey hey hey! thats gone very well. Congrats Sir.

[10e]

Based on Thermaltake's latest ThermalFAKES and basic rip-off of Caselabs, I've moved the build to a different case. It's sad to see them go down this route and exploit smaller, innovative companies. I was going to change this build a bit by putting dual 240mm rads in place of the front 360mm, with one on the bottom with a shorter PSU, and one in the front for even better, more quiet cooling, but I can't in all good conscience support any company that screws over their competitors so blatantly, and shows so little remorse in doing so.

Sorry TT but this is my form of a boycott.

Funny enough I've been able to swap out the mobo for an EVGA X99 Micro, keep these adapters and stuff it all into a Fractal Arc Mini R2 with front and top UT60 240/360mm rads in push-pull and get the same cooling with lower fan speeds.

I also got some CableMod modflex sleeved wires that will go in place of the current Corsair blue-only sleeved cables.