INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   mATX and mITX systems may be quite popular nowadays especially amongst people who are looking to build an small and silent HTPC system but most of the people i know who build new systems or upgrade old ones still strongly believe that midi and full towers are the way to go. Personally many of you know that i always prefer our systems to be housed inside the largest PC cases possible since i enjoy swapping hardware components with ease. However lately we've seen quite a few midi towers that have very little to be jealous from full towers not only in terms of interior space but features as well. Today with us we have one such midi tower and more specifically the brand new Core V51 by Thermaltake.

   The beginning of every myth and legend is about dreams and desire: the challenging, creative and combative features of Thermaltake Group create an exciting and fascinating user experience to share with everyone, while allowing users to enter a selfless state in terms of function and potential. Thermaltake Group's 3 main brands: Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS and LUXA2 have been merchandising throughout the world, and have successfully established 6 business footholds in areas such as Europe, America, Oceania, Japan and China, with 95 regional distributors and over 4000 premium retailers. All product planning is orientated by observation of global PC peripheral market and understanding of consumer demands. Thermaltake creates direct contact opportunities with resellers and consumers by participating major global ICT exhibitions and trade shows every year, and develop innovative marketing strategies for the promotions of new products. Meanwhile, Thermaltake incorporates the composite marketing system by making branch offices and regional distributors both the distribution channel and technical support or service center to provide instant support; by maintaining close contact with end users, we manage to strengthen corporate competitiveness and create the momentum for the growth of accomplishments. With its outstanding wisdom and strength Thermaltake Group is recruiting creative talents to build a cultural brand for the enjoyment of entertainment, e-Sports, technology and lifestyle!

  Some people may think that the Core V51 is a cut down version of the very successful Core V71 model but that's not really the case since both offer many features, nearly identical interior space and similar build quality. So the Core V51 is compatible with mATX/mITX/ATX/EATX mainboards, comes with two 120mm fans installed at the front and one 120mm fan installed at the rear, has room for a total of nine 120mm fans, has room for up to 4 radiators (front/top/rear/bottom), can accommodate up to two 5.25" and five 3.5"/2.5" drives and has enough space for graphics cards up to 480mm long (310mm with the HDD cage) and 185mm tall CPU coolers. So as you can see the Core V51 is not really that much different compared to its brother the Core V71 but a closer look is in order to see just what it can offer you.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A large drawing of the Core V51 is placed at the front of the plain cardboard box.

 

 

The specifications list is placed on the left side of the box and the main features are listed on the right side in 12 languages (both right beneath two product drawing).

 

 

At the rear we see a large drawing of the Core V51 dismantled.

 

 

The tower is wrapped inside a plastic bag and placed between two thick Styrofoam spacers.

 

 

A small bag inside the tower contains the user manual, warranty information paper, mainboard speaker, 5 metal cable ties, bracket for 360/420mm radiator mounting at the front of the case and a plastic bag with all the necessary screws to mount your components.

 

 

THE CORE V51 EXTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Core V51 measures 540mm in height, 560mm in depth and 236mm in width and is primarily made out of SPCC (cold rolled steel) and hard plastic.

 

 

Roughly 90% of the left side panel is actually a clear Plexiglas window.

 

 

The entire fascia is meshed to allow plenty of air to reach the front fans.

 

 

As you can see the Core V51 only has two 5.25" ODBs but so do most midi towers out there.

 

 

The front I/O includes the power on/off and reset buttons (the on/off button is also the power LED), HDD activity LED, two USB 3.0 ports and the typical microphone and headphones 3.5mm ports.

 

 

To increase space beneath the mainboard tray for cable management the right side panel of the Core V51 extends outwards.

 

 

At the top you can either install a 120/140/240/280/360/420mm radiator (you could also mount 2x120/140mm ones) or 3x120/140mm, 2x200m fans.

 

 

Now the good thing with the Core V51 as opposed with the Core V71 is that there's a magnetic air filter at the top which is very easy to remove and clean (on the other hand if you place something on it you risk moving it around).

 

 

Going back to the fascia if you remove it you will see that it has an air filter attached on its interior.

 

 

Behind the fascia Thermaltake has preinstalled two 120mm intake fans (you can install a 3rd one right above).

 

 

At the rear of the case we find three rubber grommets, a 120mm exhaust fan, 8 PCI expansion slots and the PSU area.

 

 

Of course Thermaltake has made it possible for you to install a 140mm fan if you want at the rear.

 

 

Thanks to 4 tall feet the Core V51 stands quite a bit of the ground so the two removable air filters are a nice touch.

 

 

THE CORE V51 INTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see the interior offers plenty of space and is of course painted black.

 

 

Both of the 5.25" ODBs feature easy lock tool-free mechanisms.

 

 

There are two drive cages beneath the ODBs which can hold a total of five 3.5/2.5" drives (2/3).

 

 

The trays used may not be perfect but they are very sturdy.

 

 

You can detach both cages by removing the thumbscrews located at both sides of the tray as seen above.

 

 

At the rear we also see that there's not much space left between the mainboard tray and the end of the tower so the side panel extending outwards is very useful.

 

 

Once both cages are detached you can choose either to mount them both or just one of them inside the case (or none).

 

 

According to Thermaltake you can fit a 420mm long radiator at the front and since the 280mm one we used leaves plenty of room they are correct.

 

 

There are 5 rubber grommets on the mainboard tray and a large hole for swapping backplates beneath the CPU area.

 

 

The rear 120mm fan is the same model as the two at the front.

 

 

For the 8 PCI expansion slots Thermaltake used thumbscrews which happen to be my favorite way of securing cards as well.

 

 

If you decide to mount a regular PSU at the bottom of the Core V51 then you will have room for two more 120mm fans. However using a long PSU model will take one of those spots.

 

 

At the top you can also mount an 420mm radiator and so we used our 360mm radiator (XSPC RXV3) to check that (this also fits at the front but at that time we didn't take pictures of it).

 

 

BUILDING THE SYSTEM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always the purpose of this section is not to build a functional system but rather to showcase what you can expect from the case at hand in terms of interior space.

Obviously a tower capable of holding up to EATX sized mainboards has plenty of room left when you place a regular ATX mainboard inside.

 

 

You could mount the largest CPU cooler currently in the market and you would have zero problems with it.

 

 

With the top drive cage installed you are able to install cards up to 310mm in length. Should you decide to use only one of these cages however that number skyrockets to 480mm.

 

 

If you decide to use a long PSU like we did you will only have 1 room for a 120mm intake fan at the bottom.

 

 

 

NOISE LEVEL TEST

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After giving it much thought we decided on performing noise tests with each PC Case we receive by placing our ExTech HD600 vertically ontop of each case to measure the noise levels emanating from the pre-installed fans at both 50% and 100% with the help of a fan controller (if the case doesn't have one we use our own).

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   We began this review by saying that the Core V71 and the Core V51 are not very far apart in terms of interior space and features and I’m sure that by now you can all see the reason behind that. However although both cases are similar in more ways than not i have to say that i do prefer the Core V71 for three reasons, larger LED fans (3x200mm), more room for 3.5/2.5" drives (10 in total) and a top I/O. That being said the slightly cheaper Core V51 with its room for up to four 120/140/240/280/320/360/420mm radiators, 9 120/140/200mm fans, five 3.5/2.5" drives, 185mm tall CPU coolers and 310/480mm long graphics cards is a great midi tower no matter how one sees it. Noise levels are also a plus since the three pre-installed 120mm fans of the Core V51 are quite less noisy compared to the 200mm fans used in the Core V71 so that should go a long way for people who want a quieter system.

   The Core V51 may not be exactly as complete as the Core V71 but it offers pretty much the same features, has identical interior space and is less noisy so price is all that's left for us to see if it can match its larger brother. Well with a current price tag of USD109.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 100Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) the Core V51 is roughly 20% cheaper compared to its larger brother the Core V71 so that too is a plus. Of course if you feel like i do then chances are that this 20% will not make enough of a difference to keep you from getting the Core V71 instead. However regardless of which model you choose to get you will be completely satisfied and since the Core V51 has a spacious interior, many features, low noise levels and a very tempting price tag it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Potential Airflow Levels (9x120mm fans)
- Room For Up To 4 Radiators
- Two Fully Removable Drive Cages
- Space For 480mm Long Graphics Cards And 185mm CPU Coolers
- Noise Levels
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- Only Five 3.5/2.5" Drive Trays