Hi everyone I have been busy getting together another case review. This time the chassis is the Thermaltake V200 Tempered Glass RGB Case. Thermaltake offer a big variety of PC components and peripherals and have many years experience so let’s see what they have come up with this time…
The Thermaltake V200 TG RGB case is a mid tower offering supporting motherboards up to ATX along with water cooling capabilities.
Thermaltake V200 TG RGB Specifications & Features
| Model | V200 TG RGB |
| P/N | CA-1K8-00M1WN-01 |
| Case Type | Middle tower |
| Dimension (H x W x D) | 446 x 204 x 439 mm (17.6 x 8.3 x 17.3 inch) |
| Net Weight | 7.1 kg / 15.65 lb |
| Side Panel | 4mm Tempered Glass x 1 |
| Color | Exterior & Interior : Black |
| Material | SPCC |
| Cooling System | Rear (exhaust) : 120 x 120 x 25 mm fan (1000rpm, 16dBA) Front (intake) : 120 x 120 x 25 mm RGB fan (1000rpm, 16dBA) x3 |
| Drive Bays -Accessible -Hidden |
3 x 2.5“ 2 x 3.5” |
| Expansion Slots | 7 |
| Motherboards | 6.7” x 6.7” (Mini ITX), 9.6” x 9.6” (Micro ATX), 12” x 9.6” (ATX) |
| I/O Port | USB 3.0 x 1, USB 2.0 x 2, HD Audio x 1, RGB Button x 1 |
| PSU | Standard ATX PSU (optional) |
| Fan Support | Front: 3 x 120mm, 2 x 140mm Top: 2 x 120mm, 2 x 140mm Rear: 1 x 120mm |
| Radiator Support | Front: 1 x 240mm, 1 x 280mm Rear: 1 x 120mm |
| Clearance | CPU cooler height limitation: 160mm VGA length limitation: 380mm PSU length limitation: 170mm |
The specifications can also be found on the product website.
Thermaltake V200 TG RGB Closer Look
The Thermaltake V200 TG RGB chassis arrived, as many do, in a mostly unremarkable box. No flashy photography here just black outline drawings of the chassis and some branding. The sides of the box do feature some detail about the spec.
A little bit of squeaky time with polystyrene later and we have the case unboxed. Both the tempered glass panel and plastic front panel have protective plastic to prevent scratching and marking during transport and build. The case itself feels quite light yet fairly sturdy.
I am particularly impressed with the two protective plastic slide on pieces for the rear corners as they are more exposed. This is a nice touch and should help prevent some of those unfortunate shattered glass moments we see from time to time.
The plastic front panel actually looks really good, it has a dark smoked effect and is very reflective. It is a clean look for the front.
Behind the glossy front panel there are three 120mm RGB Fans included, this will give the case a front view that is getting quite familiar with many designs at the moment.
The top of the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB chassis features from the left, a power button, power and HDD lights, a reset button, the RGB button for switching lighting modes on the fans, two USB 2 ports either side of headphone and mic jacks and a lone USB 3 port to finish. It would have been preferable to have two USB 3 ports as these are much more relevant these days. Behind the control panel there is a Thermaltake logo which is nicely understated and finally towards the rear a magnetic removable metal mesh dust filter.
The rear of the case is pretty standard fare; a bottom mounting PSU area, a 120mm rear fan without RGB. What concerns me here is what appears to be spot welded PCI slot covers, a case in this price range should include a full set of replaceable plates. I am going to have to remove the ones I need before building in the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB as breaking them off can result in scratches or other damage to the motherboard.
As expected the PCI plates were difficult to remove and cannot be reused. This will be scored on. I would advise anyone with this case to remove these before building, as mentioned there is a danger to the motherboard as you wiggle them out to snap the welds.
The main component bay in the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB is very spacious, you could probably even mount an E-ATX board although that would interfere with cable management and 2.5″ HDD bays. The PSU cover has a cutout that will show off the branding of the power supply unit and the 3.5″ HDD bays are also visible from the front. A cutout at the top front of the PSU cover allows for larger radiators to be fitted, if there is no need for hard drives in the bottom you could actually fit a 360mm Radiator over and above the official specs, but it would be a tight squeeze. The front mounting for 2.5″ drives has space for four devices which is quite generous.
Having a look at the bottom of the case it features four very nice HiFi style feet with foam cushioning and a power supply fan dust filter as you will want to face the fan downwards in this chassis due to the included cover.
The backside of the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB case is very open with many points for routing and attaching cables, we shall see how well it does as the gap between the motherboard mounting plate and the outer chassis is quite slim, so no big chunky cables and connectors unless very well tucked away.
Zooming in we get a good look at the included fan and RGB controller. The three front fans fit with some non standard six wire plugs, I have seen these before but if you buy RGB fans you usually get separate power and RGB connectors, so changing fans on this case has its considerations. There is an RGB input from the motherboard supporting various control systems such as Aura Sync and Mystic Light and you can attach more RGB devices to the plug at the top continuing control. The rear fan is connected to FAN 4 which is a standard 3 pin affair with no PWM.
Before getting cracking on the build here is a shot of the accessories included, while there isn’t any fluff included such as stickers etc, the manual is welcome as it saves going online for any mounting questions. The included bag of screws and accessories is a little meager and if you have more than one HDD you will be off finding more screws pretty quickly.
The Build
Thermaltake have done very well here, this is my big Cheiftec Navitas 1250W PSU, it slides in nice and easy, it will be possible to power some hefty configurations in this chassis. I am a big fan of this mounting style too being able to slide out to work on the modular cables is great.
Popping in my B350 M-Atx board you can see just how much room is available for building which is quite impressive considering the size of the case. Working on the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB the metal feels quite thin and very flexible, take care not to put excessive weight on any area during the build.
Mounting 2.5″ drives in the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB is fairly straightforward and keeps them out of the way of other major components, however should a radiator for water cooling be installed the drive would be partially covered making maintenance and swapping a little trickier. One final thing to note is with the backplate metal going under the connector area for the drive any angled connectors won’t work in fact the slimmest power connectors are recommended as on a chunky cable it could create pressure on the connector.
Here we have the test build installed ready for cable tidying and power on. GPU length support is very good in fact I don’t think a card exists that it wouldn’t take. Being able to route cables behind the motherboard is easy, whilst there are no rubber grommets to feed through there are no sharp edges either.
Cable tidying has a few challenges but that is down to the gap available before the side panel, I have to move the chunkier cables around and tie them down to get the panel on. This side is however not visible when assembled so you can get away with not having perfect cable channels.
Here we have the final build powered on. It is a pleasant case to look at even with all the reflections given off by the tinted panels. I do have a concern over air intake at the front with only a small gap at the bottom and vents down the offside front edge, it is quite restricted. If the front panel was a door this could easily be alleviated.
Thermaltake V200 TG RGB Review: The Verdict
So I have had the opportunity to build into the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB case and for the most part it was a painless experience with some great little touches. There are however some concerns.
What’s hot:
- Spacious component compartment.
- Tempered glass with corner protectors.
- Excellent power supply mounting space.
What’s not:
- PCI / PCIe backplates spot welded on.
- Airflow can be an issue.
- Price too high.
At the time of writing with Black Friday in full swing, the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB version retails for approximately £57. Considering the thin metal construction and those welded PCI Backplates, this feels much more like a £25-£30 case. In fact there are some lesser priced units that would beat the performance of the V200 including the Cooler Master Masterbox Lite 5, Corsair Carbide SPEC-05 and Fractal Design Focus G. In fact some of Thermaltake’s own offerings at lower price points would make better choices.
As a budget case the Thermaltake V200 TG RGB would be great, with the RGB controller adding some value. There are some nice touches like the protective plastic edging on the glass and the excellent power supply bay but not enough to make a recommendation for this case at this price point. Thermaltake do create some fantastic cases but this one needs re-evaluating.
Thanks to Thermaltake for sending a sample of the V200 TG RGB case in for review, the chassis is currently available from Scan for £69.98 however if you’re quick then you can grab one during the Black Friday sale and get a free 550w 80+ certified PSU for free.
