Review: Thermaltake View 31 Tempered Glass RGB Edition

by Parm Mann on 21 September 2017, 15:30

Tags: Thermaltake (3540.TWO)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qadlvd

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Conclusion

...there's room for lots of liquid cooling, and the mix of glass panels, RGB illumination and spacious interior is competitive at this price point.

Thermaltake is riding the tempered-glass wave with a wide range of refreshed enclosures covering numerous price points.

Nearer the middle of the company's product stack, the View 31 Tempered Glass RGB Edition, priced at £110, offers a full view of internal hardware courtesy of dual 4mm windows and a trio of customisable 140mm RGB fans.

The chassis doesn't quite convey the luxury feel of premium competitors, and making use of the vertical GPU bracket requires spending extra on an optional PCIe cable, but View 31 still offers plenty of scope for an ultra-high-end build. The bundled trio of 140mm fans offers decent out-the-box performance, there's room for lots of liquid cooling, and the mix of glass panels, RGB illumination and spacious interior is competitive at this price point.

It's a shame USB Type-C hasn't made the cut, and a PSU shroud would help maintain a cleaner build, but anyone planning an elaborate liquid-cooling setup should have the View 31 on their list of budget contenders. The non-RGB variant, at £90, is certainly worth a look.

The Good
  
The Bad
Good performance
Tempered-glass panels and RGB fans
Provisions for lots of liquid cooling
Riser GPU bracket has potential
  
No front-facing USB Type-C
PCIe x16 riser cable is a pricey extra
Would look tidier with a PSU shroud
Only three storage trays



Thermaltake View 31 Tempered Glass RGB Edition

HEXUS.where2buy*

The Thermaltake View 31 Tempered Glass RGB Edition chassis is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.


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Posted by Saracen - Thu 21 Sep 2017 16:07
Personally, I'd prefer a case option that ditched the fancy glass and lighting, gave me plain metal sides and a cost reduction. Or even just gave metal sides and no lighting, at the same cost. As long as my PC cases are spacious enough for their intended use, well designed and built (no sharp edges, properly ventilated, etc) I don't much care ehat it looks like. It's a box to hold a computer, not a work of art.
Posted by Irien - Thu 21 Sep 2017 16:38
The use of a glass panel for the right hand side of the case (with no alternative included?) seems a horrible decision. I know we *should* all strive to cable-tie things beautifully behind the board too, but the reality is that there's often no getting away from some pretty ugly cable runs (see picture in article, which is nice work, but still not what you'd choose to see).

I happen to have the right side off my current case for quick/easy SATA connection, and honestly, I wouldn't *chose* to display that!
Posted by Ttaskmaster - Thu 21 Sep 2017 17:11
Saracen
Personally, I'd prefer a case option that ditched the fancy glass and lighting, gave me plain metal sides and a cost reduction. Or even just gave metal sides and no lighting, at the same cost.
Aren't there a whole bunch of cases that do this already?

I'm not a fan of glass on any case, as accidents do happen and tempered glass doesn't mean unbreakable.
RGB, not bothered, as you can always turn it off and most people seem to replace the El Cheapo included fans with something else anyway.

Very interested to see the GPU bracket. Looks like something I'd have entertained, had I the option.


Really, though, I've seen a number of high end cases lately, including Enthoo ones that are nearly perfect but still kark it by putting in either naff features or naff design.

I'm wondering when someone is simply going to release a nice £300 case that rocks ALL the typical cool features in one box, without compromise, without OTT design attempts or “worlds first” claims of life-changing innovations like rubber grommets and just has all the options for everything the majority of us want from a case.
Yes, it means a set of interchangable brackets, yes it means removable RGB hubs, yes it means most people won't use everything in the box… but everyone will use something and each of the things will get used by some.
Essentially a full-trim model with all the optional extras included…. preferably made by Corsair as the evolution of the 900D!! :D
Posted by me-yeah - Thu 21 Sep 2017 17:13
Irien
I happen to have the right side off my current case for quick/easy SATA connection, and honestly, I wouldn't *chose* to display that!

get a case with some 5.25" bays and get a eSATA panel with USB3.0 and SDCARD reading slots and 10 other cards you have never heard of

£11 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-25-USB-3-0-e-SATA-All-in-1-PC-Media-Front-Panel-Card-Reader-I-O-Ports-U6U4-/282663111792?hash=item41d008cc70:g:biMAAOSwb69Zw4Lo

£13 from china http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-25-Multifunctional-Dashboard-Front-Panel-Memory-Card-Reader-SATA-USB-3-0-HUB-/291891691173?hash=item43f619bea5:g:Uy8AAOSwCGVX6rxV
Posted by Ttaskmaster - Thu 21 Sep 2017 17:19
me-yeah
get a case with some 5.25" bays and get a eSATA panel with USB3.0 and SDCARD reading slots and 10 other cards you have never heard of

Installed a 5.25“ hot-swap bay device for 3.5” HDDs in someone's PC just last night… well, 2am this morning, really. That was more like a “one cup too little” build!!

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