Although there may not be the same amount as rivalry and as much riding on the competition between case manufacturers as that between AMD and Intel and ATI and Nvidia it never the less is what your average user sees 100% of the time of their PC and what they interact with daily. And for an enthusiast, a poor case can be a major pain to work in, overheat easily, and also be loud. A case may not speed up your computer but it definitely isn't something to overlook either. Today we'll be looking at one of the higher-end cases from one of the top-tier names on the market, Thermaltake, as we take a look at their case focused on gamers the V9 Black Edition.

Taking the case out of the box the first thing one notices is that this case is all jet black which is the trend these days in cases. Thermaltake this says this is black powdered coating and the side panels do feel quite smooth. The front is a plastic grill to allow for ventilation and the top is made of plastic.

One one side there is quite a bit of ventilation from a number of holes both on the top right and bottom side. We haven't tested this case for months obviously but hopefully this also doesn't let in much dust, we don't believe so and if so it shouldn't get into the main part of the case with the motherboard blocking it.

230x230x20mm silent fan for VGA cooling which takes up a large portion of this side panel. This provides a substantial amount of airflow.

Here on the front bottom we see the Thermaltake logo proudly displayed on the front of the case.

Front panel connectors include the standard mic and headphone connectors in addition to two USB ports.

Here are the power and re-set buttons on top in chrome finish.

On top is another massive fan this time for the CPU and whole system also a 230x230x20mm fan.

Here are the technical specs from Thermaltake. As you'll see there's a massive amount of 5.25" bays and 3.5" bays and lots of space to work within.

Case Type Mid Tower
Material 0.8 mm SECC
Front Bezel Material
Plastic

Color Black
Side Panel Solid
Motherboard Support 12" x 9.6" (ATX)
9.6" x 9.6" (Micro ATX)
Motherboard Tray N/A
5.25" Drive Bay 4
Ext. 3.5" Drive Bay 2
Int. 3.5" Drive Bay 5
Expansion Slots 7
Front I/O Ports USB 2.0 x 2
HD Audio
Cooling System
- Front (intake) :
120 x 120 x 25 mm Red LED fan, 1300rpm, 17dBA
- Front (optional) :
140 x 140 x 25 mm
- Rear (exhaust) :
120 x 120 x 25 mm TurboFan, 1300rpm, 17dBA
- Top (exhaust) :
230 x 230 x 20 mm Silent fan, 800rpm, 15dBA
- Side (intake) :
230 x 230 x 20 mm silent fan

Liquid Cooling Capable Yes
Liquid Cooling Embedded No
Power Supply Supported Standard ATX PSII
Power Supply Included No
Dimension (H*W*D) 16.97 x 7.52 x 18.5 in
431.0 x 191.0 x 470.0 mm
Net Weight
13.87 lb
6.29 kg
Security Lock No
Application

Here is our system completely assembled. As you can see there is plenty of room to go around here even with many many extra cables from the Antec PSU.

Here we see the power supply fits in at the bottom which is almost standard these days in high-end cases. This can at times make some power supplies difficult to reach all the power cables they need to but with our Antec 850W we had no problem.

And now with the PSU in which was a breeze to install, just four quick screws and you're good to go.

Here we see a few more vents and also another fan on the inside of the case this time, this is a large 125x125x20mm fan to exhaust heat.

Same area with the system installed.

Installing expansion cards is very easy and again tool less. Just pull out the plastic clip and put it back and it fits easily in.

5.25" bays are easy, simply unlock the clip and it comes out of the case, put in the drive and put the clip in aligned with the screws and lock it back. Somewhat similar to Coolermaster's solutions.

The same method is used for the hard drive cage. Unfortunately it isn't removable and also there is only the one lock on one side. We're okay with this for DVD burners but for hard drives we'd like to have locks on both sides to make sure the drive is completely secure.

Conclusion:
Thermaltake have done an excellent job with the V9 Black Edition gaming case. The amount of fans is superb and all provide great cooling with low noise. There's plenty of room to work within the case, lots of expansion ports and it is also quite easy and fast with a mostly tool less design. There's no complaints with the cosmetic or any placement. One thing we're unsure if is just one lock for the hard drives in the cage, again we'd feel more secure with locks on both sides but we had no problems with our install.

Pricing:

The price is also quite nice being sub-$100 at most e-tailers, we couldn't find the Black Edition in our search engine but the Thermaltake V9 sibling came up for $89 which is a great deal.

Score: 96%