Thermaltake Element G – a great case for gamers!

Cases and Cooling

The PC case has evolved over the years from from its original passively-cooled closed white or beige box. All of the hardware has become hotter and hotter over the years as evidenced by the growing capacity of power supply units – especially for gamers. As PC cooling has developed over the years, so have cases to meet their growing cooling needs.

The hardware outputs all of its heat into the case and there must be a good way to transfer and remove this heat or else the inside case temperature rises. In turn, a hot case increases the temperature of the hardware inside, leading to their possibly shortened lifespan or instability if overclocked.

Cooling thus becomes critical to an overclocker. If we lower the case temperature, we lower the hardware temperature and generally we can overclock better with cooler components. The latest PC cases come equipped with fans that intake and exhaust a large volume of air, thereby lowering the temperature of the hardware inside. Many modern cases come standard with an intake fan and an exhaust fan. Even more extreme cases such as Thermaltake’s Element G will have these fans as well as adding fans to the top, bottom and sides.

The Thermaltake Element G big top 200 mm fan exhausts hot air from your case which otherwise tends to pool at the top of a case. This top fan can move a lot of air.  It will blow a sheet of 8-1/2″x11.5″ paper right off the top of the case.

The Thermaltake Element G comes with four fans included – one 120 mm exhaust fan at the back of the case; the others are 3 large 200-230 mm fans in the side case, on top, and in the front. You can easily add more (optional) fans for extreme airflow and cooling – 2 small 60 mm fans at the rear and two 120 mm fans in the front to replace the single 200 mm fan.

You might notice that the top section has no dust filters.  Smart.  There is no need as the fans are exhaust.  The second thing that a PC builder will appreciate – besides the Thermaltake Element G’s reasonable price and good looks – is its attention to detail. The very worst thing for a builder to encounter is sharp edges inside a case and there were none that we found in building this one. The other thing that is important to consider when building a PC is to never grab the cheapest budget case that you can find. Technically, you don’t even need a case; you can set everything up on a workbench.

It is important to consider that a well-designed case properly holds the components in exact relationship to each other; there is no mismatch or straining anything anywhere to add or remove hardware. And we give high marks to the Thermaltake Element G for being a solidly constructed and sturdy case.  It feels solid and it is quite heavy at nearly 17 and one-half pounds.

In addition – if designed properly – a good case will help to keep cooler air circulating around your expensive components and help to prolong their life by keeping them as cool as possible. Heat is an enemy of your hardware and Thermaltake understands this. All of this became critical to our projects where we must overclock our budget CPUs to perhaps attain the performance of those many times their price.

Thermaltake Element G continues their tradition of quality enthusiast cases. We have been using our Element G for almost two months – switching hardware in and out many times – and we like it.   Now that it has been properly introduced, let’s explore the Element G and unpack it.