CONCLUSION

   When we heard rumors from our people in Thermaltake that they were designing a wall-mountable PC case I was somewhat surprised since to date only Lian-Li had designed and manufactured something similar (O series) and I can’t say that I was impressed with that (I do like large towers after all). Unfortunately although Thermaltake got the size and looks right they also decided to make the Core P5 an open-air chassis which on one hand means increased cooling capabilities (unless you have a tower with 12 fans blowing air inside like we do) but on the other it means having a ton of dust sitting on your components. Well ok I may exaggerate a bit but had Thermaltake used an acrylic panel which would extend all the way to the top, sides and bottom I feel things would be much better (that however should be relatively easy to accomplish for a good Modder). As for the rest of the features well you have room for up to four 2.5/3.5” drives placed in the bundled trays (plus two 2.5” drives in the radiator area if you use a smaller radiator than the max 480mm), room for a 240/280/360/420/480mm radiator (Thermaltake doesn’t list a 240mm radiator but that’s what we used) or a total of 7 fans, reservoir/pump mount and just enough space to install 180mm tall CPU coolers and 320mm long graphics cards (280mm with a reservoir installed). Finally quality levels are very high and although I’d rather Thermaltake used aluminum instead of steel (since the case alone weighs 12.2Kg with a good amount of components it can easily surpass the 20Kg mark) still we like the Core P5 just the way it is.

   Another good thing about the Core P5 by Thermaltake is its price since it currently retails for just USD134.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 129Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). This price tag is roughly 4 times less than what Lian-Li asks for their PC-O7SX ATX compatible wall-mount chassis so needless to say that price alone is a huge incentive for people looking to get something like that. Long story short the Core P5 is not perfect and we feel that Thermaltake should release it again (perhaps a new Core model?) but this time over as a closed-chassis but that aside it’s still a very good open-air mid-tower with plenty of features and great looks which is why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Wall Mount, Vertical & Horizontal Placement
- Open-Air Chassis
- Supports 240/280/360/420/480mm Radiator
- Reservoir/Pump Mounting Spot
- Room For Up To 6 Drives
- Space For 180mm Tall CPU Coolers & 320mm Long Graphics Cards
- Price (Compared To Its Competition)

CONS

- Transparent Acrylic Panel (Tampered Glass Would Look Better)
- Open-Air Chassis (Dust Magnet)
- Wall Mount Brackets Not Included (Sold Separately)