Unboxing The Thermaltake Urban T31 Window Case

[MacClipper]

Official Website
Thermaltake - Global - Urban T31 Window - CA-1A5-00M1WN-00

Thermaltake Urban T31 Window - HardwareZone.com.sg
Latest Price From S$119



This affordable new model was introduced in November 2013, very quietly it seems. You will be hard pressed to find too many web reviews of this mid-tower case.

Here's a review done in Spanish with Google Translate

Review Thermaltake Urban T31
Written by GrupoTDH
Monday, January 13, 2014



Packaging

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[MacClipper]

Unboxing

Top
Featuring removable dust mesh, external 2.5"/3.5" storage docking bays

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[MacClipper]

Front
This case has a lovely brushed aluminum finish front plate over what is essentially a steel and plastic case, features rather reminiscent of a popular series from another big manufacturer (no prizes for guessing which).

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[MacClipper]

Sides
Check out the amount of plastic protection film applied to both sides of the window, nice!

Bottom
Featuring slide out dust mesh and rubber padded feet

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Back
Note tubing holes, fenestrated I/O plates

Insides
Featuring grommeted cable holes & sleeved/flat cables

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[MacClipper]

Mostly Tool Free Storage

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[MacClipper]

Bundled Fans
Featuring the back fan and the difficult to access front fan, no thanks to the riveted immovable bottom drive cage

Panel Folding & Paint Finishing
Very good job though not perfect, still wow!

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[MacClipper]

Pros
• Elegant monolithic facade & curved contours make for a great looking case
• Lot of case for the asking price
• Supports graphics cards up to 290mm
• Fantastic paint job
• Lots of storage bays
• External 2.5"/3.5" storage docking bays
• Sturdy drive trays
• Spacious, water friendly with tubing holes
• Bundled rubber grommets
• Bundled removable dust mesh filters
• Large viewing window

Can be improved
• Open side panel catches
• Less than perfect fit of parts (comparing to the best standards)
• Poor access to front fan with clunky front mesh mechanism
• CPU HSF max. height 155mm



Overall, a surprisingly well priced spacious mid-tower with lots of potential and which looks very attractive. It has a few minor quirks which Thermaltake designers can improve upon as well as needing a lot more marketing to raise its profile among web reviewers.

Thanks for reading, I hope this sharing has been useful to you.

 

[garfield82]

though i nvr buy any of them, I admired them from a distance as they really got some sleekness design there.

 

[chickenchopfriedrice]

i like the sleek look

 

[Shutterbox]

something i don't understand about casing design

Why would they make a casing, with a window for users to peep into their beautifully done up internals (so that means keeping the casing at desktop level) and yet want to put the USB ports so tall up in a high casing?

Can't they just align them along the side, n put in flaps if needed?

 

[wtfh4x]

A possible reason for them not to put it on the side is that it does restrict the side you can put the case on, eg if they put it on the right then if you put the casing on the left of you to plug in USB or headphone is troublesome. Cannot put right in the middle also ma cos then the aesthetic of the aluminum is ruined.

 

[MacClipper]

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Why would they make a casing, with a window for users to peep into their beautifully done up internals (so that means keeping the casing at desktop level) and yet want to put the USB ports so tall up in a high casing?

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imo, for most users I am quite sure that this rather tall & large case is likely to end up being placed on the floor by your side rather take up precious table top space with the ever small but possible risk of being knocked over from table height.

Well, unless there is an unwritten rule that floor standing units must never come with windowed side panels...

 

[thegamer1907]

How is the airflow? The previous S series of urban casings have really bad airflow causing high temps so I'm pretty interested to see how this fares

 

[MacClipper]

How is the airflow? The previous S series of urban casings have really bad airflow causing high temps so I'm pretty interested to see how this fares

Great query!

Looking at the stock fan config and the proposed wind path shown in TT website, what do you guys think?

imo, it's sub-optimal at best cos the fresh air intake is so far away from the hotspots around the CPU and GPU.

One big plus in its defence is that this is a spacious casing with lots of fan mountings so the potential is there to improve on the cooling by redirecting the wind path. I would prefer to add intake fans at the top (which is meshed) to bring fresh cool air straight to the CPU and GPU zones ie. a top to down wind path vs the stock front to back direction. That also means flipping the bottom fan to be an exhaust instead.

 

[Shutterbox]

Well, unless there is an unwritten rule that floor standing units must never come with windowed side panels...

no rule la

also no rule that says one should bend down to peep through the window under the table ma

 

[MacClipper]

Actually, there is another rule though... give the people what they want! And if they don't want what you give them, then give them another one!

You were talking about USB port placement... I push push and move them down a little bit and all the way to the front just for you.

btw, this is T31's other bro viz. Urban S31.

 

[xRenol]

I quite like the idea of Easy Hot Swap.

 

[Jian19]

Looks great for the price !

 

[morgankell]

nice review and casing looks good. reminds me of a sleeker/ more exp ver of my midgard ii. heatsink height a bit low -> 155 mm only? hows the rad support?