Thermaltake VF1000BWS Black Aluminum Front Panel/ SECC Chassis MicroATX Desktop Computer Case - Retail

Excellent MicroATX Case

Reviewed By: Chiggs on 2/14/2007

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: The best best MicroATX case out there, barring the Fragbox and QMicra (of course, they're far more expensive).

Plenty of room for an 8800 GTX if you remove the hard drive cage (one screw and it's out).

Wonderful build quality (heavy), and the modular design makes things so very easy to work on.

Accepts full-sized PSU's, but you're definitely going to want to get a modular one (like the Kingwins)

Cons: The thermal performance could be better. It's not bad, but I'd argue that the Microfly might have slightly better peformance in this area.

Wish the CPU was directly below the PSU (make sure you get one with a fan on the bottom).

Other Thoughts: Make sure you buy an extra 60mm fan, and mount it in the available opening, which is adjacent to the PSU. The manual itself mentions this, and, believe me, it makes all the difference in the world.

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Great Case

Reviewed By: Ratchet Head on 12/22/2006

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Excellent fit & finish, superior construction but it breaks down easily to make installation a snap.
All drive cages, mobo tray, and PSU brackets come out quickly to install components. Easily portable with very large handle on top.

Cons: Optical drive cover plate for stealth installation of drives (Good). But covers are black plastic (Less than Good).

Other Thoughts: Build quality compares favorably to Lian Li and Silverstone cube cases which I also own. Expensive, yes. But the attention to detail and the excellent design of this case make it worth the money.

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After almost two years

Reviewed By: RGC on 10/6/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: more than 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Kind of a unique look. I loved this case when I first got it. It was different than most other SFF cases. It still is fairly unique although there are some copycats out there now.

Cons: It is bigger than you think and is very heavy for a case that is supposed to be easy to take to LAN parties. It is also very expensive compared to some other nice Micro-ATX cases. Despite its faily large size it is cramped inside. The one thing that really bothers me is that the optical drive bay doors are delicate. The plastic pin that holds them in place is tiny and it does not take much of a hit to break the door off at the pivots. The spring that closes them is also tiny and is easily lost if the door comes off. A replacemnt door seems to be impossible to get and therefore the case has lost much of it aesthetic appeal.

Other Thoughts: There are much better cases for one third of the price of this case and they also include a handle and are much lighter.

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Reviewed By: GeeBee on 9/24/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Sturdy, removeable motherboard tray, power supply mount, hd cage, cd mount.

Easy install considering the tight fitment of the case.

Cons: Does not fit well with forward facing sata ports on a micro-atx. The Hard drive cage mounts infront of the sata connectors and leaves very little clearance.

Other Thoughts: Do not use with a power supply that pulls air from the bottom - doing so will put 2 fans very close to each other blowing away from each other causing a high degradation in cooling eff.

Using a modular power supply is highly encouraged to reduce the cable mess.

Small cables for chassis fans can fall out of the vent slots in windows.

Haven't put a vid card in it and loaded it to see how cool the video card stays - that area appears it will be somewhat isolated from active airflow from chassis fans. There is a fair amount of open room around the card but, I suggest using a video card with a good heatsink on it.

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Project Rooster Case

Reviewed By: Vinas on 9/23/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: I used this case for the Rooster project water cooled build at extreme systems. This is a challenging case to mode since it is so small. The removable compartments make it easy to cut down parts that you don't need. This case comes apart in layers, making it pretty convenient to get at your equipment. The motherboard tray is awesome. I would not have been able to mod this case with water had it not had the removable tray!

Cons: Front panels are 7 inch panels and not the standard 5.25. So your optical drives will mount great, but anything else (like a 5 1/4 res or fan controller) will require you to mod/cut the front panel. I wrote customer service about the panels to see if they could supply 5.25" panels. They could not, but I was happy they responded quickly by e-mail and tried to help. They recommended searching another parts site they run, but no luck. I ended up just cutting down and moding the panels myself.

Other Thoughts: I would buy this or the lite version of this case again. It's my fault I didn't check the panel size (just assumed it was 5.25") so I can't mark it down for that. This, like all other Thermaltake Key3 cases, is an eggcellent case!

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