Thermaltake VI5000BNS Black SECC Steel MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Generally easy to work with
Fair quality except for power button

Cons: Power button gets stuck -- constantly
Overpriced

Other Thoughts: Kinda takes the fun out of things when you have to keep taking the front cover off the case to unstick the power button. Basically have had this case sitting around for a while, then finally got some parts together and assembled a new build. Everything works great except for the power button, but, ya know, that's a kinda important part. Have used and TRUSTED Thermaltake products in the past, but this case is basically useless, and now I'm gonna have to remove everything and reassemble in a different case. No more Thermaltake products for me. There's NO EXCUSE for not being able to make a decent power button. NO EXCUSE.

Manufacturer Response:

Hello,

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. It's possible that there is simply a defect with THAT specific power button and we can easily replace that for you through our warranty claim service. Please use the following link to direct you to the specific page where you will need to enter in your submission.

http://support.thermaltakeusa.com/ttRma/Agreement.aspx


Thank you!

Thermaltake USA Customer Service
1-800-988-1088
M-F 9am~5:30pm (PST)

Pros: Space for 9 3.5"s drive if you use a 5.25 to 3.5 converter. Which is pretty amazing for a low cost case. Using the case for a media server, household PC and work PC backup station.

Already had a PSU and just outgrew my old case.

Cons: The 2, 3.5 external slots had hole and guides which were slightly off...

No biggie for someone with a power drill.

Be careful inside there especially on the PCI expansion slot area... When putting this system together I got a real stinger of a sheet metal cut

Pros: - Solid case meaning no flex
- Good size for microATX boards
- Looks great for a office/basic build

Cons: - Proximity of the hard drives to the motherboard make it a tight fit

Pros: Solid, generally well-built, nice-looking case for a cheap price.

Cons: - "MicroATX" case takes a regular ATX power supply, and this is not clearly stated in the product description.
- Only comes with one (exhaust) fan.
- Photos show a black plastic side air duct to funnel air from CPU fan directly out of the case. This was not included in my box. I do not know if the photo is wrong, or if my box was simply mis-packed.
- internal HDD enclosures will position tail end of HDDs over the lower-right of the motherboard; many motherboards (including the one I used) have their SATA ports in this location, making for a tight fit. This is more of a problem if the SATA ports are aligned perpendicular to the board, less if they are aligned parallel. There is enough clearance so it's not impossible to connect them, but once the HDDs go in, don't expect to adjust the cables that are connected to the board.

Other Thoughts: It was harder than I would have liked to maneuver a microATX motherboard into place with anything else in the case, or with any cables connected to the board; it's a tight fit.

My only *real* complaint is that it's not clearly labeled that this takes a full ATX power supply, so I ended up ordering microATX and had to run out to the store for a replacement in the middle of my build.

Pros: decent case, serves the purpose well, 120mm fan quiet

Cons: the 120mm fan (tt1225) died after a little over 2 years of use. in all fairness though, my computer is on all the time

Other Thoughts: big enough for an average system. do some calculations before you buy your case though. a little extra room won't hurt

Pros: Good Quality. Attractive design.

Cons: Will not accommodate larger video or other addon cards.

Other Thoughts: Great for a small compact system

Pros: The case is small but moves a lot of air with with 2 120mm fans (1 intake, 1 exhaust). Everything stays well within acceptable temperatures. Built in standoffs. Decently good looks, not too flashy or boring. Standard ATX power supply.

Cons: Buying this case you probably want something small, but it should be noted that there is little to no extra room in this thing. A 9600 GT has only millimeters of clearance, and is too tall to allow the slot retainer to close at the back. Intake fan is not included. Stock exhaust fan is loud. I cut my finger trying to wrench off a slat in the back when installing the graphics card. They are not individual slats, it is stamped metal and the slats have to be broken out to install anything into the pci slots. Graphics card extends into the 3.5 bay, which forces my hard drive to be mounted in the lowest bracket. This also covers several sata ports. No tool free design. Plastic feet do not grip. Inserting a usb device on the front port will slide the whole computer backwards if on a smooth surface.

Other Thoughts: For the price it's not awful, but I can only recommend getting this case for simple micro atx projects. Consider the size of your pci cards and the location of your sata ports. This is a cramped case, not quiet, and not overly user friendly. You need to plan the order in which you install things, or you will block yourself. 3 eggs because I made it work for me, but the case fought me on it.

Pros: I used this case for a computer that I was building for my dad. Just a pc that he could use for basic web surfing, watching videos, stuff like that. It was really easy installing the motherboard, came with built in standoffs so you dont have to screw any of those in. Came with more than enough screws to install everything and more. The fan that comes in the back moves a lot of air and is really quiet. Man, what more can I say about it. Its just a really solid case.

Cons: The side panel is kind of annoying to put in sometimes, it usually takes me a little bit to get it on correctly, but its really not much of an issue.

Other Thoughts: First time building a computer, everything went great. Stats of my dad's new computer.
Intel E5200 2.5Ghz
GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L
Antec Earthwatts 380w psu
Samsung DVD burner
WD Caviar 160gb HDD
G.Skill 2Gb DDR2-800
Windows XP Home 32bit

Pros: Nice strong case with lots of air flow.! Modern look...easy access for all component installation. Extremely well finished.! Kudos to Thermaltake.! Oh..and Newegg too.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: None

Pros: The construction is high quality and the associated manual goes into enough detail for the lay person to install and get up and running quickly.

Cons: Tight fit, whoa! I installed a µATX ASUS Rampage II GENE motherboard, along with a OCZ 60 GB SDD, a Western Digital 1 TB HDD, and MSI GTS 250 graphics card. The closeness of the graphics card to the SDD and HDD is very tight, which forced me to install the drives first which I wanted to do last. This didn't detract from the use however, just time to install.

Other Thoughts: This is an esthetically pleasing case and it has most of the external items you'd need for a home user. While I knocked it for a tight fit, this is also a sign that they did their homework to ensure they made a case reasonable for the µATX, of which you could actually turn it around as a plus.