Thermaltake View 31 RGB Edition Case Review

Introduction

When releasing a new gaming case into the market that will appeal to the aesthetic conscious PC builder, there are a number of pre-requisites that must be evident in the features list. Tempered glass and RGB is no longer enough to satisfy even your average buyer these days… we expect high levels of build quality, cutting edge design and plenty of expansion opportunities.

Enter the View 31 RGB Edition from Thermaltake… a case that wades into the battle with dual tempered glass side panels, triple RGB fans, and a wide array of options for water cooling.

Specifications

Closer Look – Exterior

First impressions of the View 31 are pretty favourable. The tempered glass side panel works really well with the sleek, smoked front panel, with its rounded off corner. It’s a shame that the front panel cover is only acrylic, as I’m sure that this will be prone to micro scratches, whereas the glass panel won’t be. At first glance, this seems to be a missed opportunity.

Spinning the View 31 around to take a look at the rear side panel, and we are greeted with our second slab of tempered glass. This has the same opacity as the front side panel, so your cable management will need to be top notch!

Up top we have a fairly well-equipped front IO panel, consisting of headphone & mic jacks, reset & power buttons, HDD indicator, and 4 USB ports (2 of which being the 3.0 variety). Sat behind the front IO, the whole remainder of the roof is dominated by a huge magnetic dust filter.

Speaking of large dust filters, the underside is also dominated by the same, with a removable filter filling the entire depth of the case.

Closer Look – Interior

Popping off the front panel, we are greeted with two of the pre-installed 140mm RGB fans, with space for a third also (or 360mm radiator if required).

The main chamber of the View 31 is pretty cavernous, and is built with flexibility in mind. Towards the front we have a 3 caddy drive cage, that can accommodate a mixture of 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives. The whole cage can also be completely removed if the user requires.

The motherboard tray features a number of cable management access points, each with it’s own rubber grommet, as well as numerous mounting points should a custom water cooling loop need to be installed.

Exhausting the hot air out of the rear of the case is achieved by the inclusion of a further 140mm Riing 14 fan, again with RGB lighting as per the 2 front intake fans.

Perhaps the most interesting inclusion however, is the pre-installed vertical GPU bracket. This is quite unusual, as most companies who provide this offer it as an optional extra, which you would have to pay for. This is a nice touch, although a riser cable isn’t included, and therefore further cost is required, unless you already have one in hand.

Before we take a look at our final build, a quick peek around the rear of the motherboard tray. To be honest, nothing of huge interest here other than a few cable tie down points , but apart from that there are no other features. One thing to note however, is that the gap between the motherboard tray and the edge of the chassis is wider than most I have encountered, so putting the glass panel back on at the end should cause much trouble even if you stash a lot of the excess cables behind here.

Closer Look – The Build

• CPU – Intel Core i7 6700k
• Motherboard –Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha
• Cooler – ID Cooling Auraflow 240
• GPU – ZOTAC GTX 1060 6GB AMP! Edition
• RAM – Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32GB DDR4 2666MHz
• SSD – Crucial BX300 240GB
• PSU – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1200w

Conclusion

Performance

I have to say that building in the View 31 was pretty hassle free. There are no sharp edges to be found, and all the cable access points seemed to be in just the right place.

Having dual tempered glass panels, there was sufficient noise dampening to ensure that the final build was also pretty quiet when in operation also.

The one down side is the lack of a PSU shroud. With so many cases on the market these days that have one, you really notice the difference when it’s not there. The PSU is completely exposed, and no matter how well you manage the excess power cables, it still just doesn’t look as tidy as being able to hide them away in an enclosed basement.

The extra depth of case, means that mounting a radiator in the roof is extremely straight forward, and with a huge number of mounting positions, I don’t think anyone would struggle with clearance issues.

Design

I really like the design, and the dual tempered glass panels mean that you are free from the annoying micro scratches that plagued many acrylic panels. However, with the front panel still being made of plastic, this could all go to waste if they mark up over time. I would have preferred if this had been also glass personally.

Obviously, another stand out feature is that 3 RGB fans come included as standard, along with the controller unit. The smoked finish of the front panel takes the edge off the bright led’s on the fans, which results in a much more subtle effect, rather than being too in your face.

Value

At the time of the review, the Thermaltake View 31 can be found for £120 in the UK and this puts it in quite a competitive price range currently. Whilst the View 31 doesn’t perhaps excel in any one area, the fact that you get so much included as standard (such as vertical GPU bracket, 3 LED fans as well as the controller) makes it a fantastic all-rounder.

Final Thoughts

The View 31 RGB Edition is a really good case. If Thermaltake could have just included a glass front panel, and a PSU shroud, we could have been looking one of the great cases of the year.

Even so, without this it still more than deserves our Play3r Gold award in my opinion.

Buy from Scan Computers: £119.99

Huge thanks to Thermaltake for send the View 31 RGB Edition in for review.