Thermaltake Element G – a great case for gamers!

The Thermaltake Element G (VL10001W2Z) is an interesting case in their professional series that appears to be built for gamers – it is apparently what the “G” stands for. It is as though it has a dual-personality:  mild-mannered, professional and quite conservative appearing by day, Element G transforms into a variable LED light show at the touch of a button.  It has all of the features of high-end cases, including dust filters, and the interior is nicely painted black. It has superb airflow partly thanks to 3 huge 200-230 mm fans and a fourth 120 mm fan.

This Thermaltake Element G case is an oversized mid-tower that will fit the largest graphics cards to 10.5 inches. Although it comes with four fans, the Element G gives the consumer many options to customize it for themselves.  It is not considered budget at $149.99 and it does not compete with any case that this editor has reviewed, so far.   If you consider buying a budget case by adding four fans at $20 each and customizing it yourself, you will pay about the same price and will not have the variable LED lights nor the superb airflow promised by the Element G’s rather large and stylish LED-equipped fans.

We have been living with this case for over six weeks and we want to share our experiences building a system inside the Element G with you.  Naturally, we really wanted to put this Element G case and our hardware through its paces with HD 5870 CrossFire and FurMark’s most intense stability test to stress the Thermaltake Element G’s ability to cool.  Well,  CrossFired HD 5870s turned out to be relatively cool so we also used our hot-running GTX 480 plus GTX 280 (as a PhysX card) which is an excellent test of any case’s ability to cool the hardware inside – a test that has made other cases cry.  Of course, we will report our results as we attempted to turn our Element G into a toaster oven.

The aim of Thermaltake is to give their Element G value and functionality to their consumers with an oversized “everything included” mid tower. It has has a classic look and a large mesh side panel with a 230 mm side case fan that shows off its all-black interior. It has larger dimensions than most mid tower cases including the Gladiator 600 and Elite 430.  It is a handsome all-purpose case that would fit nicely in a conservative office – or at a LAN party with its light show.  Here is the Thermaltake Element G as imaged professionally.

From the above image from Thermaltake’s site, we see that the Element G case is handsome indeed. Yet even a professionally captured picture does it little justice compared to “in person” and our own images will simply attempt to capture the excitement and experiences that we had when building a new PC with a quality case. We notice the three three-color LEDs are part of the included 200/230 mm fans.  The 200 mm intake fan in the front is right behind the exterior’s black metal mesh and it is also protected by a finer plastic mesh that also acts as a secondary dust filter.   The side panel’s 230 mm fan is positioned behind the black metal mesh which traps dust but it does not have an additional secondary plastic dust filter as the front fan sports.

It adds a nice touch to be able to shut these three Touchcolor fan’s LEDs off or switch easily from mode to mode.  The knob also acts a adjustment for these three large fan’s RPMs – from 600 to 800 RPMs which also increases their noise slightly as they reach their maximum performance mode; something you are not likely to hear over any but the quietest video cards.   The Element G looks really nice especially at night where the following image is captured in low light conditions as part of our forthcoming thermal test.

Of course, still pictures can do the Element G no justice as the lights change and have distinctly variable patterns.  Here is a very short video of the Element G’s variable LED light show that will give you a brief taste of what it can do.

Why Thermaltake?

Thermaltake considers themselves to be a relatively “new” company that formed in 1999 – twenty one years ago – and they have been at the forefront of creating new and exciting products since the time where most computer users were provided with little to no choices for components that may seem irrelevant, but in reality are crucial to the performance of a PC.  Their Element G case is part of their philosophy of what they call Key 3 Spirit Initiative of Case, Cooler and Power Supply which is based on quality, performance and reliability.

Key 3 Spirit initiative is based on the strength and know-how that Thermaltake has mastered through innovation and continuous research & development that encompasses crucial components of a personal computer responsible for thermal management.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the following image conveys Thermaltake’s dedication to their customers.

Now that we know about Thermaltake’s philosophy, let’s see how it is expressed in their Element G case.