Thermaltake Element S PC Case
The Thermaltake Element S PC case is a great medium tower sized case with plenty of features to make working with and setting up your system a breeze.
Ease of Use, Performance: 22/25
Look & Feel: 24/25
Features 23/25
How much I enjoy 24/25
Total: 93/100
The Thermaltake Element S is the perfect size, the perfect cooling and the perfect design for not only working on your system but keeping things cool. The Thermaltake Element S case fits ATX and Micro ATX motherboards and accommodates all the standard interior system components like water cooling easily.
The Thermaltake Element S is a mid tower case that is 21.3 inches high, 9.1 inches wide and 19.9 inches deep that has a door that hides the nine front bays. The front door allows you to hide the front bays but does not pop open when you eject DVD’s or CD’s so you have to watch the auto eject.
The case includes a front 120mm fan and a rear 140mm fan as well as a 230mm fan on top for some excellent cooling as well as being able to fit another front fan if you want. The fans on the front are fitted into an adapter that snaps into the front when the front door and panel is removed which also snaps in place for a real tool less design.
The entire case is meant to be used as a near tool less case but for installation you will need a screwdriver for motherboard and other screws. Any 3.5 inch hard drives can fit into the seven slots of the hard drive cage or you can fit two 2.5 inch hard drives on the removable tray.
The 2.5 inch hard drive tray adjusts for various sized power supplies and fits right over the power supply toward the bottom of the case. You can simply remove the tray if you don’t want to use it or simply install any smaller 2.5 inch drives on it for a truly versatile case.
The main drive cage does install either with drives facing the front or facing the side so you can install the cage whichever way suits your system. I found changing it from one orientation to the other quite easy and the drive slots are tool less using the included screw slides that you do have to screw onto the drives.
Once you install the HDD screws onto your drives you simply slide them into the slot for the drive and it clicks into place, to remove them simply lift up on the appropriate tab. The CD or DVD drives do use screws but are easy to install on the three slots at the top of the case and the front bay slots with filter material on each intake slot snaps in and out easily for cleaning and removal.
The door works well and stays closed using a magnetic seal with a magnet at the top and bottom of the front panel and two steel tabs on the door. You can remove the door by unscrewing the hinges and using the case without the door if you find the door a pain, I just prefer not to have a door in front of my DVD drive.
The case comes with the usual assortment of screws and small parts as well as the removable 2.5 inch HDD tray that is handy if you have a smaller drive you want in your case. The Element S has the two front adapters that a 120mm fan snaps into with one fan already there for some good cooling.
I tried out the case and had no heat buildup using just the one fan on front but I like to have as much cooling as I can so I did install a second fan. The top 230mm fan is also very nice and means a better circulation through the case for the best cooling possible.