INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   PC cases and more specifically towers may not have changed radically in terms of design over the years (there have been a few exceptions however) but manufacturers keep finding new ways to make them more appealing to consumers (especially gamers) and RGB LED fans with RGB LED strips and tempered glass panels are the latest trend to hit the market. As a matter of fact you will have a really hard time finding a new PC tower that doesn't feature at least one tempered glass panel and to be honest I’ve always looked forward to a time where panels made out of plexi would be replaced with something better so that in my book is not a bad thing. Thermaltake recently released one of the best full towers to ever reach our lab the View 91 TG RGB and before we even had the chance to put it back in its box we received the brand new Level 20 GT RGB Plus Full tower which is what today's review is all about.

   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!

   As the name clearly states the brand new Level 20 GT RGB Plus Full Tower is the successor to the award winning Level 10 GT which i reviewed many years ago (2011 if i recall correctly) and although it's not quite as large as the View 91 TG RGB it's actually equally as impressive. Thermaltake also released their newest flagship model called the Level 20 which again as the name clearly states is the successor to their flagship Level 10 model which ended up on my desk after i reviewed it back in 2010 (still is in my opinion one of the most impressive and unique looking towers to date). Coming back to the Level 20 GT RGB Plus it's a large 20.1Kg heavy full tower that features support for up to E-ATX sized mainboards, total of four 5mm thick tempered glass panels (front/top/left/right), swing door design, lockable side doors, air-filters (front/top/bottom), removable fan/radiator mount bracket, 3 Riing PLUS RGB fans (2x200mm/1000RPM/117.96CFM/1.68mmH2O/29.2dBA - 1x140mm/1400RPM/63.19CFM/1.53mm-H2O/27.2dBA), rotational PCI-E bracket system (vertical and horizontal GPU placement), two removable drive cages, vertical drive mounts and even a USB 3.1 type-C connector. Interior space is of course nowhere near that of the View 91 TG RGB but it's still quite ample with enough room for up to eleven 2.5" and/or seven 3.5" drive and one 2.5” drive, nine 120mm fans (7x140mm/4x200mm) and/or 3 radiators (240/280/400/420mm), 200mm tall CPU coolers, 310mm long graphics cards (410mm without the HDD cage) and 220mm long power supply units. What do you all think, interesting enough?

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Level 20 GT RGB Plus arrived inside a black box that has a large picture of it at the front right beneath the company logo and next to its RGB features.

 

 

Typically on the left side of the box we find the specifications table while on the right there's a product description in 12 languages.

 

 

Another product picture is located at the rear of the box this time however showcasing the swing door design of the Level 20 GT RGB Plus.

 

 

Although the case arrived wrapped inside a thick plastic bag and between two foam spacers they weren't very sturdy so pay extra attention when taking the case out of the box (this happens quite a lot with very heavy cases).

 

 

Inside a cardboard box placed right next to the case you will find two extra sets of fan mounting brackets, system speaker, 4 extra PSU rubber feet, 12 long fan mounting screws, 10 cable ties (this may vary from case to case), Riing PLUS RGB fan hub with Molex power and USB cables, double sided tape (for the hub), bag with screws and spacers, key chain, two keys (for the side panels) and the user manual.

 

 

THE LEVEL 20 GT RGB PLUS EXTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standing 580mm tall, 592mm long and 294mm wide the 20.1Kg heavy Level 20 GT RGB Plus Full tower is a rather compact model.

 

 

Almost the entire left side is taken by a 5mm thick tempered glass panel mounted on two hinges and secured by a lock (faster and safer compared to regular thumbscrews).

 

 

The fascia is also basically a 5mm tempered glass panel which is placed in front of an air filter (you will need to remove the panel to clean the filter) and two 200mm Riing RGB Plus fans.

 

 

The I/O is located just over the fascia on both sides of the case and includes one USB 3.1 type-C port, two USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, power on/off button with LED, HDD activity LED, reset button and the usual microphone and headphones 3.5mm ports.

 

 

At the top Thermaltake has also placed a tempered glass side panel which once again is over an air-filter (same deal as the fascia) and over the removable fan/radiator mount bracket (here you can put either 3x120/140mm fans or 2x200mm fans and/or one 240/280/360mm radiator).

 

 

The right side has the 4th 5mm tempered glass panel which is also mounted on two hinges and secured by a lock.

 

 

Moving at the rear of the tower we find a 140mm Riing RGB Plus fan (can be replaced by a 120mm one need be), 8 PCI expansion slots (you can rotate the bracket system by removing the 5 screws holding it in place) and the PSU area.

 

 

At the base of the Level 20 GT RGB Plus we find 4 tall feet, long removable air-filter and a small hatch similar to the one we saw in our review of the View 71 TG (you can access the drain valve of the front mounted radiator from here).

 

 

THE LEVEL 20 GT RGB PLUS INTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Level 20 GT RGB Plus may not be the most spacious full tower we've ever seen but you shouldn't have a problem mounting pretty much anything you'd ever want inside.

 

 

Worth pointing out is that both the left and right side panels are also held in place via magnets as seen above (so don't pull them just from the keys).

 

 

Both drive cages can hold up to two 3.5/2.5" drives each and can either be removed or placed further up the rail.

 

 

If you decide to remove both cages you can mount an 240/280/360/420mm radiator here (still although it may look nice if you use RGB fans we do recommend mounting one either at the front or top of the case for optimal performance).

 

 

Behind the two 200mm Riing RGB Plus fans placed at the front you can mount an 40mm thick and 240/280/360/420mm long radiator.

 

 

The PSU area cover has a clear plexi section and a 2.5" drive tray at the top (here you can also see the vertical PCI-E bracket which can be used with two cards).

 

 

Thermaltake has placed three rubber grommets on the mainboard tray (one is in the PSU area) along with a very large opening beneath the CPU area.

 

 

If you plan on fitting the Level 20 GT RGB Plus with a custom water cooling kit there's also a tube reservoir bracket at the base.

 

 

Both the 2.5" drive tray and the tube reservoir bracket are made out of aluminum.

 

 

The drive cage trays on the other hand may be quite sturdy but they are made out of plastic.

 

 

Taking a look on the other side of the mainboard tray we find three vertical drive trays made out of aluminum (each can hold either 2x2.5" or a single 3.5" drive).

 

 

There's a total of 35mm of space between the mainboard tray and the right tempered glass panel for cable routing.

 

 

To install a PSU you will need to first remove the cover which is held in place via three screws placed on the other side of the tray as seen above and a single one at the rear of the case (PSU area).

 

 

With the cover out of the way you can now start building your system.

 

 

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.

Our regular ATX sized mainboard leaves plenty of room inside the Level 20 GT RGB Plus as you can see from the above picture (still it’s almost as large as an E-ATX model so there’s almost no room left at the lower end).

 

 

Thanks to the offsets at the top you can mount even 60mm thick 240/280/360mm radiators (as long as your memory modules are not as tall as the T10 ones we are using here).

 

 

As mentioned already in this review you can mount up to 40mm thick 240/280/360/420mm radiators at the front without removing the drive cages.

 

 

Of course with enough room for up to 200mm tall CPU air coolers you can fit any model in the Level 20 GT RGB Plus.

 

 

Mounting a large graphics card like our GTX 590 (286mm long) still leaves plenty of room until the drive cages (or the radiator, whichever you decide to place there).

 

 

Whichever PSU you decide to mount in the Level 20 GT RGB Plus there should be plenty of space for a bottom fan (120/140mm) and/or the tube reservoir bracket (that is without removing the drive cages).

 

 

Unlike other towers the PSU cover in the Level 20 GT RGB Plus doesn’t separate the interior into two sections (thus partially keeping heat from the PSU away from the rest of the case - dual chamber design) so its sole purpose is to cover all the power cables.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   In our book a full tower must have four things going for it size, quality, features and looks (not necessarily in that order). Now the Level 20 GT RGB Plus with its four 5mm tempered glass panels, aluminum trays and SECC steel frame certainly has the quality part all covered and there’s no denying that thanks to the three Riing RGB Plus fans (combined of course with the tempered glass panels) it also looks quite stunning. It also easily checks the features box since it comes ready with two swing door design lockable tempered glass panels, 3 pre-installed Riing RGB Plus fans, air-filters (top/bottom/front – however only one is easy to remove), removable fan/radiator mount bracket, rotational PCI-E bracket system, two removable drive cages, vertical drive mounts and even a USB 3.1 type-C connector. How about interior space? Well you have enough room for up to eleven 2.5" and/or seven 3.5" and one 2.5” drive, nine fans and/or 3 radiators, 200mm tall CPU coolers, 310mm long graphics cards (410mm without the HDD cage) and 220mm long power supply units but with enough room for just E-ATX sized mainboards it just doesn’t feel large enough. Granted most people will not have a problem with this especially since there are roughly any XL-ATX mainboards available in the market right now but still we feel that such a feature should be included (of course you can always go with the View 91 TG RGB if you want something larger).

   With a current price tag set at USD289.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 306.90Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) the Level 20 GT RGB Plus may not be exactly what we’d call affordable but it costs significantly less compared to the larger View 91 TG RGB. Thermaltake also released the regular Level 20 Full Tower which just like in the past is a basically a larger more feature-rich version of the Level 20 GT (just like the Level 10 GT was a smaller and more cost-effective version of the Level 10) so if you’re looking for something even better you might want to check that out as well (we will also try to get it here for a review soon). With that out of the way we all feel that the Level 20 GT RGB Plus is among the best full towers to ever reach our lab, sure it may not be as spacious or feature-rich as the View 91 TG RGB but it doesn’t land far off and so it’s definitely worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Superior Build Quality (Four 5mm Tempered Glass Panels/Two Feature Hinges And Locks)
- Spacious Interior (410mm GPUs/200mm CPU Coolers/220mm PSU’s)
- Room For Up To 9 Fans
- Room For Up To 3 Radiators (Effectively)
- Room For Up To 11 2.5" And/or 7 3.5" And 1 2.5” Drives
- Rotational PCI-E Bracket System
- Removable Drive Cages
- 3 Vertical 2.5/3.5” Drive Trays
- 3 Pre-Installed Riing PLUS RGB Fans (Software Controlled)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Interior Space (EATX Compatible)
- Front / Top Air Filters (Hard To Remove)