INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   In this year’s somewhat crowded CES we may have witnessed the unveiling of a very large number of new electronic and electrical devices by an equally large number of companies but at the end of the day it didn’t really take long for anyone to realize that this year most manufacturers brought forward mobile accessories such as tablets, smartphones and smart bands rather than new PC hardware and peripherals something that i for once didn't see coming so soon (although i do realize that such products sell like cupcakes lately). Still many manufacturers introduced new PC hardware and peripherals not long ago and amongst those was the latest Core V31 Midi Tower by Thermaltake which ended up on our photo bench a few days ago.

   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!

   Just like with the very good Core V51 and the excellent Core V71 tower before that the new Core V31 is a feature-rich midi tower that sports a similar perforated design which helps increase airflow, can fit graphics cards up to 420mm in length and CPU coolers up to 155mm tall, is completely tool-free, features a modular internal drive cage and has room for up to 8 fans and/or 3 radiators. Of course as the name clearly states the V31 is a cut-down version of the V51/71 models so we don't expect it to rival its larger brothers in features and interior space but at least after reading the specifications list it does seem quite interesting and we're going to take a closer look to see if that's really the case.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The V31 gets shipped inside a plain cardboard box that has a product drawing at the front along with the company logo.

 

 

Just like in the past on the left side of the box we find the specs list while on the other side we find the features list in 12 languages.

 

 

At the rear we see a large drawing of a dismantled Core V31 case.

 

 

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, 2.5" to 3.5" adapter (for the 1.44FDD spot) and a plastic bag with all the necessary screws to mount your components.

 

 

THE CORE V31 EXTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Core V31 measures 470mm in height, 506mm in depth and 208mm in width and just like its brothers it's primarily made out of SPCC (cold rolled steel) and hard plastic.

 

 

Just like with the other two Core towers we've reviewed the entire fascia of the V31 is meshed to allow plenty of air to reach the front fans.

 

 

As you can see the Core V31 also has only two 5.25" ODBs (one doubles as an 1.44FDD bay).

 

 

The 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 usual microphone and headphones 3.5mm ports.

 

 

To increase space beneath the mainboard tray the right side panel of the Core V31 extends outwards (just like with the Core V51).

 

 

Again just like with the V51 model at the top we find a magnetic air filter. Beneath the filter the V31 has room for either an 120/240/360mm radiator (you could also mount 2x120/140mm ones) or 3x120/140mm fans.

 

 

Behind the fascia Thermaltake has preinstalled a single 120mm intake fan which you can replace either with two 120/140mm fans or a 120/240/280/360 radiator.

 

 

As you can see you can remove the 5.25" ODBs entirely need be.

 

 

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

 

 

Although the preinstalled fan is a 120mm model you can replace it with one up to 140mm in size.

 

 

At the base of the Core V31 we find 4 tall round rubber feet and a long removable air-filter.

 

 

THE CORE V31 INTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see the interior features sufficient space and as expected is painted black.

 

 

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

 

 

Unlike the other two models the Core V31 only has one drive cage capable of holding three 2.5/3.5" drives.

 

 

The trays used are quite sturdy so no problems here.

 

 

If you want to mount a radiator at the front you may detach that cage by removing the thumbscrews located at both sides of the tray as seen above.

 

 

A tray for a 2.5" drive is placed behind the drive cage.

 

 

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.

 

 

You can fit 420mm long graphics cards if you remove the drive cage (you can also install a 120/240/280/360 radiator).

 

 

There are 9 holes on the mainboard tray and a large hole beneath the CPU area.

 

 

For the 8 PCI expansion slots Thermaltake use thumbscrews.

 

 

Regular sized PSUs leave enough room for another 120mm fan at the bottom of the case, long PSUs however will not.

 

 

Here we take a look at the top of the case where you can even mount a 360mm radiator.

 

 

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.

Plenty of room left on the mainboard tray after using a standard ATX sized model.

 

 

You may mount the largest CPU cooler currently in the market just make certain that the model is not over 155mm in height.

 

 

Unless you decide to go with a tri or quad GPU configuration you don’t have to remove the drive cage to fit the longest cards possible (420mm).

 

 

If you decide to use a long PSU like we did the single 120mm fan space at the bottom is no longer available.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Since we already took a closer look at the Core V71 and V51 towers we knew that the V31 (and the V41 obviously) wouldn't fall much further in features and interior space and it really didn't. For once the interior is extremely satisfactory for a midi tower not only because of the ability to mount up to 8 fans and/or 3 radiators but also because you can fit graphics cards up to 420mm long and CPU coolers up to 155mm tall. We were a little bit surprised to only find a single drive cage inside the tower but the addition of an extra vertically placed 2.5" tray and the ability to remove the 5.25" ODBs were two nice additions by Thermaltake. The two preinstalled 120mm fans did prove to be a little more noisy compared to the fans used in the Core V51 model but the difference was minimal.

   Although the Core V31 Midi Tower by Thermaltake is still quite new you can easily find it only for USD69.99 inside the USA (Newegg) and for 63.79Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag that really does it justice. Of course if you want more interior space and way more features you will need to look elsewhere (the V51/V71 models is a good start) and spend much more on a PC case. On the other hand however if that's not the case the Core V31 should cover all your needs regardless of whether or not you're a casual user or a gamer. Overall the Core V31 may not break any world records with its design and features but it combines a very good price/performance ratio and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Potential Airflow Levels (8x120/140mm fans)
- Room For Up To 3 Radiators
- Fully Removable Drive Cage
- Space For 420mm Long Graphics Cards And 155mm CPU Coolers
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- Only Four 3.5/2.5" Drive Spots (5 with the 2.5" to 3.5" adapter)