INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Each time a PC case makes its way to our lab (more than just once a week) I’m always very curious to see if that particular model packs something new compared to what we've seen up to that moment. As you know that's not the case with most of them since we see the same features and specifications over and over again but exceptions exist everywhere and so from time to time some do pack new and unique characteristics. Take tempered glass for example which was something new and exciting when introduced in the market in 2015 and still is although many PC cases feature it now. Still the majority of PC cases that feature tempered glass only have their right side panel made by it and honestly it was always expected from manufacturers to expand that on both sides and why not even at the front and top as well. The first attempt by Thermaltake to tick the boxes of most of the things we've been expecting is the View 31 TG mid tower which is here with us today (once again we're among the first people to get their hands on it).

   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!

   The Thermaltake View 31 TG mid tower features 4mm thick tempered glass side panels (yes both of them) and is currently available in two versions, the TG which we have here and comes with two blue 140mm RIING LED fans preinstalled (front/rear) and the TG RGB which comes with three RGB 140mm RIING LED fans (front/rear) preinstalled. Everything else pretty much remains the same in both models so the View 31 TG has enough room for mini-ITX/micro-ATX/ATX mainboards and can be equipped with up to nine fans (9x120mm/8x140mm) and/or two 240/280/360mm radiators (excluding the two single fan ones), three 2.5/3.5" drives (three more at the rear with extra trays), 180mm tall CPU coolers, 278mm long graphics cards (420mm without the drive cage) and 180mm long power supply units (220mm without a bottom fan). The View 31 TG also comes ready with 2 air-filters (top/bottom) and also features a dual-slot vertical support bracket allowing you to have a much better look at your graphics card through the tempered glass panel.

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The View 31 TG is packed inside a plain cardboard box that has a product drawing at the front right next to the company logo and its two main features.

 

 

As always the specifications table is printed on the left side and on the right we see some of the features listed in 12 languages.

 

 

An exposed view of the View 31 TG is printed at the rear of the box.

 

 

Typically the View 31 TG is wrapped inside a thick plastic bag and place between two thick foam spacers.

 

 

The bundle includes 5 cable ties, mainboard speaker, two fan extension cables, HDD anti-vibration pads, plastic bag with screws, warranty information paper and the User's guide.

 

 

THE VIEW 31 TG EXTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to the two tempered glass side panels and the front acrylic fascia the View 31 TG looks quite unique.

 

 

The side panels are not 100% made out of 4mm thick tempered glass since they have metal parts on both ends but still they look great.

 

 

As you can see the acrylic fascia is partially see-through and of course lacks any 5.25" drive bays.

 

 

The left side panel is almost identical to the right one but obviously you can't see as many things through it.

 

 

The I/O is located at the top of the fascia and includes the headphones and microphone ports, reset button, HDD activity LED, power button with LED, two USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports.

 

 

There are quite a few options as to what you can place at the front so you can either add a second 140mm fan over the single 140mm Riing fan, replace it with three 120mm ones or a single 200mm one and/or mount a 240/280/360mm radiator.

 

 

A magnetic air-filter is placed at the top of the tower where you can mount either three 120/140mm fans, two 200mm fans and/or a single 240/280/360mm radiator.

 

 

Moving at the rear we see 8 horizontal PCI expansion slots, two vertical PCI expansion slots, a 140mm exhaust fan and the PSU area.

 

 

I was glad to see that Thermaltake has used a single air-filter at the base of the chassis (covers the entire area) which can be pulled both from the rear and the front.

 

 

THE VIEW 31 TG INTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The View 31 TG may not be a very large mid tower but thanks to the lack of any 5.25" bays and room for only three 2.5/3.5" drives it has plenty of interior space.

 

 

Here we see the 240/280/360mm radiator area which you can only use with think radiators if you leave the drive cage as is.

 

 

The drive cage is fully removable and can accommodate up to three 2.5/3.5" drives.

 

 

Once again we find the same plastic drive trays as with most Thermaltake cases lately and we have no complaints.

 

 

The drive tray is held in place with two screws placed on the other side of the mainboard tray.

 

 

There are many holes for cable management on the mainboard tray but only 5 are rubber coated.

 

 

All 10 PCI expansion slots are secured in place with regular thumbscrews.

 

 

The dual-slot vertical graphics card mount is a good touch but you will need to purchase a separate riser cable to use it.

 

 

You can mount two 120/140mm fans at the base of the chassis right next to the PSU are (you will need to remove the drive cage for the 2nd one).

 

 

Taking a look at the rear only reveals the three vertical tray mounts which (can be used with extra trays or the ones in the drive cage).

 

 

Here you can see the top of the chassis from the interior.

 

 

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.

You should be able to mount an E-ATX sized mainboard inside the View 31 TG as you can see from the above picture (that is if you don’t care about the two cable management holes on the right).

 

 

Thanks to its many top radiator mounts you can use a thick 360mm model (we used a 56mm one) without worrying about clearance issues with the mainboard or the RAM modules (of course that depends a lot on your mainboard but we had no problems with ours even with fans).

 

 

Of course you can also mount the largest coolers around so whichever solution you choose the View 31 TG has enough room for it.

 

 

You may have a clearance of up to 278mm with the drive cage and 420mm without it but chances are you will choose the vertical mount like we did (looks nice right?).

 

 

By using a regular sized PSU like the Thermaltake Grand Gold 850W you can still mount a 120/140mm fan next to it.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The View 31 TG was a pleasant surprise by Thermaltake especially since I had no idea it was even available when they send it over (would had preferred the RGB version but it wasn’t available). The addition of a left side panel made out of tempered glass may not seem important considering there’s not much to see on the other side of the mainboard tray (aside cables and drives if you use the trays on the vertical mounts) but this opens other possibilities including better lighting effects for people who may also decide to use LED strips. We also liked the vertical dual-slot mount for graphics cards (aside the fact that you can mount graphics cards up to 420mm in length) but it does come with two tiny drawbacks. The first is that a three slot mount could be a better (that of course could make the case thicker) choice since most high-end graphics cards feature very large coolers (still if you decide to water cool your card that shouldn’t be a problem) and the second is the extra cost of the riser cable. Now I’m certain that these two tiny issues will not be enough to sway people from picking the View 31 TG but I’m also certain some may not like them. The View 31 TG has room for just three drives but I’m certain that people who will need more will probably find/purchase extra trays to boost that number to six with the help of the rear vertical mounts. The most impressive feature of the View 31 TG is its available interior space for fans and radiators and since you can either mount up to 9 fans or three 240/280/360mm radiators I’m sure it will cover all your water cooling needs (however for anything more the much larger Core X71 and TheTower 900 models are obviously far more suitable).

   Since the View 31 TG mid tower was released a short while ago it’s still not widely available so we were only able to locate it inside the EU for a price tag of 116.90Euros (Amazon.de). If we take into account the two tempered glass side panels this price tag actually puts the View 31 TG at the bottom of cases with tempered glass side panels and that’s a very good thing. Unfortunately although the case itself has a good number of interesting features and a quite spacious interior right now availability is its main drawback even though it does get our Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Build Quality - Design (Tempered Glass Panels With Front Acrylic Fascia)
- Spacious Interior (420mm Long Graphics Cards / 180mm Tall CPU Coolers / 220mm Long PSUs)
- Vertical Graphics Card Mount
- Room For Up To 9 Fans And/or Three 240/280/360mm Radiators
- Bottom/Top Air Filters
- Two Preinstalled 140mm Riing Fans
- Price (For Some)

 

CONS

- Current Availability
- Riser Cable Is Extra
- Only Room For 3 Drives (Right From The Box)