Thermaltake H700 TG Overview | PCMag

At 19.5 inches tall and 20.8 kilos, Thermaltake’s classically hefty H700 TG midtower PC case begins off with a mid-market worth proposal. Toss in a full aspect panel made out of tempered glass, make room for the very greatest motherboards, and add a sexy ARGB stripe down its entrance, and Thermaltake may give a couple of opponents the sweats with this chassis’ present $110 asking worth. It’s going to be a winner primarily for PC builders who’re smitten with the stoic entrance panel and general look, and who aren’t fazed by its merely common, at finest, thermal and acoustic efficiency.

The Design: Large Boards, RGB Stripes

Many of the H700 TG’s further top is devoted to house above the motherboard, or what’s sometimes used as high radiator house. You will see 2.3 inches of clean metal sheet above the I/O defend gap on again emphasizing that. Different rear-facing options embrace lift-off hinge pins for each aspect panels, and a dual-pattern (120mm/140mm) fan mount with slots that permit 1.1 inches of adjustment for the rear exhaust fan’s top. Additionally again right here is an open-slot card bracket that permits as much as seven growth playing cards or a vertical mounting bracket to be put in, a dual-pattern power-supply bay that permits energy provides to be flipped, and a tab for the underside panel’s slide-out mud filter.

(Credit score: Kyle Cobian)

The highest panel additionally has dual-pattern (120mm/140mm) mounts for followers (three positions), with a recess that homes a mud filter. The world is barely lengthy sufficient to suit two of the bigger 140mm followers, however it should match three 120mm followers. It’s additionally rated to suit so-called “360mm” radiators, however we’ll focus on {that a} bit additional in our set up notes.

(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)

A closeup of the entrance proper nook, the place the ports are housed, reveals the primary of a number of small concessions that Thermaltake took to maintain the H700 TG’s worth down: The case has no Sort-C port, and solely a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 port. The opposite two Sort-A ports are USB 2.0…

(Credit score: Kyle Cobian)

Surprisingly, although, the case does embrace an ARGB controller with a mode selector (marked “R” within the picture above), together with an influence button with a emblem that lights up when the facility is on. Additionally current are a reset button and separate headphone/microphone jacks.

The mud filter that slides out from the again of the H700 TG’s backside panel covers two backside 120mm fan mounts along with the facility provide inlet. We had been shocked to see that Thermaltake doesn’t even doc these mounts, however they’re an choice to be used with energy provides as much as round 170mm.

(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)

Contained in the case is sufficient house for a full-spec (13-inch-deep) EATX motherboard or as much as seven drive trays, although solely two of this sort of drive tray are included; you possibly can see them put in under. Detachable plastic plugs fill the holes for SATA energy and information cables, and a single 120mm fan occupies the entrance panel’s triple-position 120mm/140mm mount.

(Credit score: Kyle Cobian)

In a pleasant contact, contemplating the scale and weight of recent high-end video playing cards, an adjustable single-card assist bracket is mounted behind a 60mm hole within the shroud that’s designed to supply front-panel radiator house. The lower-front standoff gap for 13-inch-deep motherboards can be seen right here.

Two 2.5-inch drive trays are situated on the again of the H700 TG’s motherboard tray, and a single-tray drive cage is mounted beneath it, within the energy provide tunnel. We measured roughly 285mm of house between the facility provide mount and the drive cage, although Thermaltake says that solely 180mm or smaller items are appropriate.

(Credit score: Kyle Cobian)

The decrease drive cage has screw holes on high to suit a single 2.5-inch or a single 3.5-inch drive, and the tray within it could possibly additionally match both of these drive sizes. A very powerful distinction is that the cage spreads aside to launch aspect pins from a 3.5-inch drive, making these installations tool-free.

To take off the case’s entrance face, you might be pleasantly shocked. A spring-contact-type connection between the metal shell and the plastic face panel is without doubt one of the H700 TG’s extra surprising options, because it provides price to a unit that lacks sure different aggressive options (see our USB feedback above).

(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)

Likewise, the colour strip on entrance is a hanging inclusion. A white reflector that widens and softens the front-panel ARGB strip’s look is perforated to attenuate its impression on airflow; the black inserts on the sides of the face plate serve the identical perform. These kind of perforated panels are sometimes used to filter mud, however the ones in this case aren’t designed for simple removing. Cash saved right here may shortly flip into cash misplaced on canned-air canisters, except you possibly can run a vacuum over these filters.

Constructing Contained in the Thermaltake H700 TG

The H700 TG construct package features a pair of plugs for the SATA cable ports situated behind the factory-installed pair of drive trays, an old-school PC speaker for beep codes, a pack of screws with a few further standoffs to permit for EATX motherboard assist, a motherboard spacer, 4 extra drive screws and grommets, a cleansing material for the glass aspect panel, and a number of other cable ties. The H700 TG’s motherboard tray is perforated for less than two out of the three further standoffs wanted for 13-inch motherboards, and the spacer addresses the lacking one within the center, do you have to determine to put in a maximum-size motherboard.

(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)

The entrance panel cables embrace leads for the reset button, the facility button, the facility LED, front-panel audio, USB 2.0, and USB 3.2 Gen 1.

And so, onward to constructing. Our check {hardware} contains Corsair’s H100i RGB Professional XT CPU cooler and FSP’s Dagger Professional 850W; these two gadgets serve our efficiency wants properly whereas additionally becoming a lot of the instances we check. Here is the remainder of the check configuration…

Our AIO liquid cooler raised a particular concern. Mounting our AIO liquid CPU cooler to the highest panel of a examined chassis usually leads to cooler voltage-regulator temperatures. However doing that on the H700 TG revealed a small downside: Our followers hit the motherboard’s I/O cowl earlier than we may slide the cooler all the best way again. This left an approximate half-inch (13mm) hole between the tip of our radiator and the again of the case.

(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)

Radiators have finish caps, and since a kind of finish caps must be lengthy sufficient for tube fittings, about 394mm is the most typical precise size we’ve seen for a so-called “360mm” radiator. We solely measured 405mm of radiator house within the H700 TG, and deducting 13mm from that would go away 2mm too little house to suit such a radiator. In some instances, builders is perhaps compelled to mount their large radiators to the entrance panel as a substitute. Be warned if you’re contemplating an enormous 360mm-class mannequin right here.

As we pictured in a photograph earlier on, the highest panel’s fan/radiator mount is recessed by round 5mm, which is round 3mm greater than it must be to accommodate its stick-on mud filter flush with the case high. Had this recess been 2mm shallower (or our radiator 2mm thinner), our cooling fan wouldn’t have collided with our motherboard’s I/O cowl, and we might have been in a position to slide our top-panel radiator all the best way to the again of the case.

(Credit score: Thomas Soderstrom)

After all, if you happen to’re spending the max on a roaring-hot efficiency CPU, an enormous motherboard, and a top-flight cooler, you will probably have the funds to buy a higher-end case. However placing apart the query of assist for mounting the most important radiators to its high panel, the H700 TG provides a far cleaner look to our elements than we’d have anticipated at this worth level.

Testing the Thermaltake H700 TG: Two Followers That Speak Too A lot

As a result of larger temperatures and noise ranges imply decrease efficiency, the bottom numbers in our charts win. That the H700 TG ties for fourth out of six contenders in our CPU cooling check isn’t a deal breaker, when the outcomes are shut and the dropping case has so many extra fan mounts {that a} fussy purchaser may simply fill extra of them with followers. Nevertheless it’s undoubtedly not going to finish up on the plus aspect of this mannequin’s Professionals and Cons listing. Competing instances right here embrace the NZXT H7 Move, the Fractal Design Pop XL Silent, and the Cooler Grasp HAF 500.

Followers are often cheaper when bundled with a case, and we consider that patrons within the over-$100 market would probably spend a couple of {dollars} extra for a case that had extra followers. Such an improve most likely would have helped the H700 TG in our voltage-regulator temperature measurement, the place it drops to fifth place out of six instances.

Leaping as much as third place in our GPU temperature studying secures a spot in efficiency mediocrity for the H700 TG’s single consumption fan, and that is the purpose the place we admit that shifting the fan to the next place on the entrance panel would have probably brought on the voltage regulator to go down barely whereas permitting the GPU temperature to go up.

The glass panel on the left aspect does a greater job of blocking in our element fan noises, in comparison with the sheet of metal on the correct aspect. However we also needs to notice that the perforated RGB reflector on the entrance panel additionally probably lets some noise out. Regardless that it had solely a single consumption and a single exhaust fan of its personal, the H700 TG’s noise stage was second-worst out of our group of six instances.

The Verdict: Seems to be Over Efficiency, Is Our ‘Take

The H700 TG is a properly designed EATX case that’s well-constructed, within the typical-quality metal for its worth class. It’s even geared up with a couple of superior options that would give its opponents some sleepless nights.

Nonetheless, trying on the fundamentals, the case lacks Sort-C USB connectors; its stylishly recessed top-panel radiator mount may place our CPU cooler’s radiator too near our motherboard; and its two included followers didn’t present the cooling we’d count on at this noise stage. Additionally, retaining its front-panel air inlets clear would require canned air or a vacuum.

Motivated, superior PC builders who merely love the H700 TG’s design might be able to make it carry out competitively and scale back the mud challenge by filling its three high and two backside fan mounts with consumption followers and utilizing the entrance and rear as exhausts. However experiments equivalent to these aren’t for customers who search a easy, easy path to completion, they usually’ll additionally tack on the additional price of the extra followers.