Thermaltake Core V51 Mid-Tower Case Review

By Jason Maxfield

Manufacturer: Thermaltake Co.
Product Name: Thermaltake Core V51 Window Mid-Tower Chassis
Model Number: CA-1C6-00M1WN-00
UPC: 841163058343
Price As Tested: $109.99 (Amazon l Newegg)

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Thermaltake Co.

Thermaltake brings us an update to their Core series of computer cases, with the Thermaltake Core V51 Mid-Tower Chassis. The Core V51 is the newest in the Core Series, launching after the Core V71 and Core V1, respectively. The Thermaltake Core V51 offers a robust chassis design and delivering a host of configurations for fans, water cooling, and a fully modular design with endless configurations.

The Thermaltake Core V51 is an enthusiast case, featuring a wide array of compatibility with all-in-one liquid cooling systems, ranging from 120mm to 420mm radiators, or complete custom loops. Fan compatibility is no slouch either, supporting 120mm, 140mm, and 200mm fans in various configurations. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will be putting the Thermaltake Core V51 to the test.

Model	Core V51
Case Type	Mid Tower
Dimension (H x W x D)	540 x 236 x 560 mm(21.3 x 9.3 x 22 inch)
Side Panel	Transparent Window
Color	Exterior & Interior : Black
Material	SPCC
Cooling System	Front (intake) : 120 x 120 x 25 mm Turbo fan (1000rpm, 16dBA) x 2 Rear (exhaust) : 120 x 120 x 25 mm Turbo fan (1000rpm, 16dBA)
Drive Bays	-Accessible : 2 x 5.25’’ -Hidden : 5 x 3.5’’ or 5 x 2.5’’
Expansion Slots	8
Motherboards	6.7” x 6.7” (Mini ITX), 9.6” x 9.6” (Micro ATX), 12” x 9.6” (ATX), 12” x 13” (Extend ATX)
I/O Ports	USB 3.0 x 2, HD Audio x 1
PSU	Standard PS2 PSU (optional)
LCS Upgradable	Supports 1/2”?3/8”?1/4” water tube
Fan Support	Front: 1 x 120mm or 2 x 120mm or 3 x 120mm 1 x 140mm or 2 x 140mm 1 x 200mm Top: 1 x 120mm or 2 x 120mm or 3 x 120mm 1 x 140mm or 2 x 140mm or 3 x 140mm 1 x 200mm or 2 x 200mm Rear: 1 x 120mm or 1 x 140mm Bottom: 1 x 120mm or 2 x 120mm
Radiator Support	Front: 1 x 120mm or 1 x 240mm or 1 x 360mm 1 x 140mm or 1 x 280mm or 1 x 420mm Top: 1 x 120mm or 1 x 240mm or 1 x 360mm 1 x 140mm or 1 x 280mm or 1 x 420mm Rear: 1 x 120mm Bottom: 1 x 120mm or 1 x 240mm
Clearance	CPU cooler height limitation: 185mm VGA length limitation: 310mm(with HDD rack) 480mm(without HDD rack) PSU length limitation: 220mm (With Bottom Fan)

Product specifications taken from Thermaltake’s website.

The Thermaltake Core V51 comes packaged in a massive cardboard box with your typical 2 pieces of styrofoam caps on each end of the case. Once unpacked, you have to stand back and marvel at the size of the Core V51, which measures out to be 21.3in. high, 9.3in. wide, and 22in. deep. Thermaltake is pushing the realm of full-tower size on the Core V51.

The Thermaltake Core V51 comes with a manual, screws and bolts for mounting hard drives, fans, and your motherboard. Also included is a bracket for front mounted radiators should you wish to use watercooling.

You’ll also notice the huge plexiglass window comes with protective film, outside and in, to help protect it while in transport.

The front of the Thermaltake Core V51 has two 5.25in. drive bays with two USB 3.0 ports, power, LED, reset, mic, and headphone jacks. The two 5.25in. drive bays are covered with a metal mesh grill that is removable once the front panel is taken off. The grill even has foam inserts on the backside to help stave off extra dust from entering the chassis.

The back of the Thermaltake Core V51 has a pre-installed 120mm exhaust fan, with expansion to a 140mm fan if you so desire. Also, there is 8 expansion slots, making this case capable of quad SLI, or Crossfire configurations. The PSU is bottom mount, and has a cut-out in the bottom to allow the fan to draw air from under the chassis.

The bottom of the Thermaltake Core V51 features raised feet with thick foam pads rather than rubber feet commonly found on other cases. You’ll also notice two removable dust filters, one for the PSU, and one for the front, if using optional fans or radiator setups.

At the top of the Thermaltake Core V51 you have a removable dust filter that expands almost the entire top of the case. The filter has magnetic strips along it’s circumference and sticks down to the chassis very well.

Underneath the filter, you will notice several venting holes and mounting locations for radiators up to 420 mm, and up to two 200mm fans.

Now that we’ve seen the outside of the Thermaltake Core V51, let’s take a detailed look at the inside and all the features this chassis brings to bear.

First we’ll have a look at the motherboard tray and it’s ample pass-throughs for cable management.

The Thermaltake Core V51 supports M-ITX, M-ATX, ATX, and E-ATX motherboards giving plenty of options for choice of motherboards without the worry of incompatibility. You’ll also notice the front panel connectors for audio, USB 3.0, and power, LED, and reset switches.

The Core V51 also features all tool-free design for mounting of hardware, including the 3.5 drive cages, DVD/CD players, and PCI expansion slots on the rear of the chassis. The 5.25in. drive bays must be unscrewed with a philips head screw driver. This is only needed if you plan on using large radiators or extreme fan set-ups.

Thermaltake Core V51’s 3.5 drive bays are completely modular. You can remove these by unscrewing 4 screws, 2 on the inside near the motherboard tray, and 2 more on the backside of the chassis.

Removal requires the backside panel be taken off to get access to these screws. Although they are ‘tool-free’ in design using thumb screws, I found them impossible to remove with just my hands. I’m not sure if it was the paint in the screw holes or that they were just wrenched down really well in the factory to make sure none of the thumbscrews got loose during transport.

The backside of the Thermaltake Core V51 is pretty standard with bottom mount PSU and 120mm exhaust fan. The 8 expansion slots on the other hand are not something you see every day on a mid-tower design. That is something usually seen on full-tower designs. I’m glad the option is included, even though I more than likely will not make use of all 8 slots.

This piece here in the bottom back end of the Thermaltake Core V51 is the PSU mounting bracket. This came installed in the wrong direction, which I was able to swap around easily enough.

I wanted to point this piece out because this part became tedious later in the installation. The PSU is lifted slightly from the floor of the case to allow the fan to draw in air from the bottom of the case. This is pretty standard, but the issue I had with the bracket was that the PSU was so snuggly fitted to the back of the chassis getting this bracket under the rear of the PSU was a bit tight do to the fact that it has two rubber grommets that the PSU sits on and they didn’t want to slide under it easily.

All was good once I managed to wiggle it in place and tighten it all down. Once tightened that PSU isn’t going anywhere!

The business side of the Thermaltake Core V51’s cable management has various tie-down points and plenty of space to organize the plethora of cables needed to run your PC.

There is also two mounting clips where two of the 3.5 mounting drive bays can be latched on vertically if you decide to completely remove the 3.5 cages in order to set up water-cooling options, or just to have clear air-flow from the front of the chassis to the rear.

With the front grill removed we have a clear look at the front end of the Thermaltake Core V51’s included 120mm fans and optional mounting points. You can mount a total of three 120mm, two 140mm, or one 200mm fan in the front of this case.

Optional radiator support includes radiators up to 360mm and 420mm in size. With a 360mm or 420mm radiator installed you will have to remove the 5.25in. drive bays to accommodate them.

Here is a look at the front panel removed from the Thermaltake Core V51. The front intake filter is plastic and held in place by several large plastic tabs. It’s a bit of a pain to remove. I think Thermaltake could of come up with a bit better of a solution here. But at this price point, I can see why they cut corners slightly here.

Lastly, we have a diagram of the various fan and water-cooling mounting options taken from the Thermaltake Core V51’s pdf manual.

The amount of options engineered into this case is mind-boggling to say the least. This will please your high-end enthusiasts, while those that just want a case with nice cooling options will also be completely satisfied.

I must admit the build part was a bit of a hastle for me. Mainly because my PSU had short cables, so this isn’t a reflection on the Thermaltake Core V51. However, the nagging issues of ‘tool-free’ not really being tool-free ate at me with every part I needed to unscrew. Even after loosening thumbscrews with pliers, I found the screws to still be a bit of a pain to re-tighten with my hand afterword. About the only thumbscrews that did come off by hand were the case side panel screws. Although, the 3.5 and 5.25 drive bays worked flawlessly without any need for tools.

I’ll be building the Thermaltake Core V51 with the hardware listed below.

System specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom ii X2 555 @ 3.5Ghz

MB: MSI 870-G45

GPU: Asus HD 4870 1GB

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2×2) @1600 8CL

PSU: OCZ ModXstream Pro 700W

HDD: WD Black 750GB SATA II & Maxtor ATA 133 80GB

DVD: Mad Dog DVD 16x burner

OS: Windows 7-64 Ultimate Edition

The motherboard shield plate went into the Thermaltake Core V51 without a hitch. Although, the thumbscrews to remove the PCI slots again had to use a screwdriver to be removed. Other than that, there was no issues with the backside of the chassis during installation.

I installed a 200mm fan that I stole from another case of mine. This was from an Antec 900 Gaming case, and the mounting holes didn’t seem to be standard, but it made little difference with all the slotted holes it was fairly easy to find a spot to mount it. There is also a nice little cut-out just above the motherboard tray that I was able to use to tuck the top fan and both of the CPU cables behind for a clean look.

With the side panel off you can see that there is plenty of room in the Thermaltake Core V51. Installing the motherboard, CPU cooler, GPU, and PSU were a breeze.

I must mention that the PSU cut-out was pretty snug and the rail system that the PSU back-side sits on is a bit tedious to set up right. There isn’t much wiggle room, but more than enough length to fit a large PSU without problems.

Here is a list of limitations for CPU, VGA, and PSU:

CPU cooler height limitation: 185mm
VGA length limitation: 310mm (with HDD rack)
480mm (without HDD rack)
PSU length limitation: 220mm (with bottom fan)

This view gives you a better idea of how much space there is left to work with in the Core V51. I could completely remove the three-bay drive cage to allow better airflow to the graphics card and motherboard.

In the upper right corner you can see the DVD burner, although I was not able to hook it up since the IDE cable would not make the run from the 3.5 bay at the top to the burner itself. I’ll be fixing this issue as soon as I get another SATA cable to use and IDE to SATA adapter that I have. Again, this isn’t an issue with the Thermaltake Core V51, but an issue with the computer components I have to build in this system.

Ok, the business side of the Thermaltake Core V51’s cable management being put to use. I decided to use only one peripheral cable with 4 pin power, so I had to use a SATA to 4-pin for the power on the WD 750GB HDD. I also had to make use of a 4-pin splitter to power the IDE Maxtor 80GB and some of the system fans, as the MSI motherboard only had one additional fan header to power one of the front case fans and the other front 120mm and top 200mm fans had to be powered from the 4-pin power cable.

Even with that massive clump of wires in the middle there I was able to get the side panel shut. Although, it is a bit snug. I think I might have to reassess this wiring issue once I have another SATA cable to connect the DVD burner and try to make it tidier, which is something that I’m not the best at to begin with!

Here’s a shot with the Thermaltake Core V51 powered on. You get a nicely glowing ring around the power button. The LED next to it picks up the blue glow, but when the HDD are active it flashes red. Speaking of the buttons, they have a nice feel and the reset button may not be recessed, you do have to push on it with some force, so you don’t worry about accidentally hitting it.

The DVD burner works, it’s just currently unplugged. I put it into the system to flesh it out and you can see it’s slightly recessed by almost 1/4 of an inch. I would of liked it better if this was flush with the face of the front panel grill, but it’s pretty nit-picky. This is purely a matter of taste, so be aware of this if you are a stickler for aesthetics.

The Thermaltake Core V51 has it all, literally. The modular capabilities allow this case to full-fill many differing designs and placements of hardware. You can build yourself the ultimate air-cooled monster PC, or go for a completely custom water-cooling loop and the Thermaltake Core V51 has you covered.

My time with the Core V51 has been fun for the most part. There are the issues with the thumbscrews needing tools, and some other nit-picky points with the design, such as removing the front bottom air filter requires you to pull the front panel plate off, which can be tedious and puts wear and tear on the plastic clamps the hold the panel on to the front of the chassis.

As far as noise goes, the case isn’t that loud, even with case fans at 100%. The only fan I can control the RPM on is the exhaust fan via the motherboard header. They turn at around 1100 RPM and seem to push a decent amount of air. This shouldn’t be an issue with modern motherboards that have enough headers and support fan speed control via UEFI BIOS. That, or an aftermarket fan controller might be in order if one were to plan on building this case and populating it with a lot of fans.

Case vibration on the other hand is a tad high, but I do have two 7200 RPM HDD’s installed. The included drive bays do have rubber grommets built-in to them, but seem to do little to dampen vibration. I don’t imagine this will be an issue for most people if they plan on using an SSD or only one mechanical drive. In any event the vibration isn’t enough to warrant any major complaint from me. Just be aware this case could have potential issues with vibration if you are sensitive to that issue.

Thermaltake is marketing the Core V51 as a gaming enthusiast chassis. I have to say, they hit the mark on just about all of the points I can think of that you would need for a high-end gaming system.

You have the ability to use 120mm, 140mm, and 200mm case fans in a variety of configurations. The support for water-cooling is just as varied. You have room to use up to 420mm radiators in the front or the top of the case. You just can’t beat the endless amount of configurations of the Core V51.

The styling of the Thermaltake Core V51 is a bit on the simplistic side, but it’s a lot better looking in person than the pictures give it justice. The Core V51 is sleek and the large plexiglass side window just begs for some window treatment to give your system that pop most enthusiast builders enjoy.

All-in-all, I have to say that Thermaltake has done an awesome job on the design of the Core V51 case. I can’t think of many cases at $109.99 that have the shear amount of configurations, or even more expensive cases for that matter, than the Thermaltake Core V51 has to offer in the mid-tower segment of the market.

The Thermaltake Core V51 retails online for $109.99 (Amazon l Newegg), which puts it a bit higher than a budget gaming case, but not so much so that it breaks the bank. For all the features this case has, I think it could easily be sold for more and still be a good buy.

Pros:

+ Spacious case
+ Excellent build quality
+ Modular design
+ Simplistic styling

Cons:

– Tool-free that didn’t quite hit the mark
– Case vibration

• Performance: 9.0
• Appearance: 8.0
• Construction: 9.5
• Functionality: 9.0
• Value: 9.0

Final Score: 8.9 out of 10

Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.