Thermaltake V9 BlacX Flex Edition VN500M1W2N Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Features qualify it as the best case out there.Top 2 hard drive docks. ease of use, quick switch, front panel comes of instantly, just pull on the bottom. nice layout, front; back; top fans: holes predrilled for left side attachment of 5.25 bays. Great coolling, easy motherboard mounting. nice top buttons & USB 2&3: once you remove all the quick mount accessores very straight forward; front go-flex SATA hook up: installed a duel star tech 3.5 & 2.5 in one of the 5.25 bays for four hard drive bays total. That makes two on top and the star tech is two by it's self. Plus a go-flex back up slot dedicated for instant back up. front fan easily vacumed. Bottom of case fan easily vacumed just tip the case backwards

Cons: quick red back expansion slot lock poor quality; front red top and bottom red quick lock system poorly secures anything when the right is only secured by a mild steel leaf spring. remove it. once removed screws secrure anything securly without issue. Front right side must have leaf springs bent and straightened and drilled for securing the right side with screws and filed for half round slot for bottom screw for instance optical drive mounting; for some reason thermaltake has molex power connectors for power to the SATA drive bays this makes no sence. I replaced the front bottom fan with one that doesn't have a molex connector on it so I can plug it into the motherboard. Stability block for the front of the power supply needs to have new forward hole drilled in the case to facilitate use on my ocz 850 watt powersupply as it was farther forward than designed for no problem to drill the case though.

Other Thoughts: At some point in time I suspect other case manufacturers will pick up the top hard drive bays concept. Quality could be improved on the mounting systems but still very fuctional. This case is like a utility jeep very fuctional. I see no use in any of the screw driver less mounting systems. I do enjoy 5.25 bays be securly mounted for instance the drive bays need to be secured because you are constantly or if you are constantly sliding drives in there needs to be a secure system as the movement of putting them in and out renders the quick attach worthless. just use screws. I will continue to reccomend this case as it is the most versitile reasonable case for on sale rebate price of $49 nothing else comes close to features this case has.A real Clydesdale work horse. Nice bottom pads raise the case up for ventilation of bottom fan for power supply

Pros: -plexiglass pane lets me look at all of my parts
-good ventilation
-removable front and bottom air intake filters
-easy to remove side pannels
-free shipping

Cons: -front pannel is poorly constucted
-power and reset buttons feel cheap
-rear pci slot covers are not replacable
-brackets keeping the front drive bay covers on are very cheap (one f them broke off while I was undoing it)
-rear side pannel is very shallow and I couldn't really route any cords behind it

Other Thoughts: The 3 external drive bays were absolutely useless for me because I dont cary around internal hard drives and had never really heard anything about goflex drives before buying this case. I removed all three drive bays to reduce the amount of cords in my case, but removig the front bay leaves a gaping hole in the case and an extra drive bay cover wasn't provided.

I wouldn't recomend this case to anybody because the money would be better spent on a higher quality case.

Pros: The outer shell is a solid metal and doesn't bend to easily, love the thumb screws and the open side panel.

Cons: The fan blades are cheap and break easily, The clips that hold the Hard drive and disc drives are cheap and break easily as well. There's no real instructions on how to take off the front panel covers that are blocking the expansion bays, They are easily bent and the plastic breaks easily. Currently being held in by ductape. No real options for cable management. After spending 110$ for a computer case and for it to be made out of cheap plastic and contain horrible directions I feel cheated.

Other Thoughts: I may never buy another Thermaltake case if this is how they are going to be maid.

Pros: reasonably priced after rebate; good ventilation/cooling capacity; comes with fan filters

Cons: the steel is a little thin; shiny plastic trim looks cheap; no provision for cable management (no space behind the MB tray to stow cables); cannot access/replace the top fan after the MB is installed; only 1 usb 3.0 and 1 usb 2.0 plug in the front--if your MB doesn't have usb 3.0, then you're left with only 1 usb plug on the front bezel.

Other Thoughts: Thermaltake's spec erroneously lists a 23-cm top fan, even though the case is only 8.5" (21.6 cm) wide--it's a 20-cm fan. Overall a mediocre case, certainly not one of Thermaltake's finer cases.

Pros: Sturdy
Good airflow
Looks cool
Like that its also black on the inside which is important for a windowed case IMO, specially if you put lights inside
Plenty of room for long GPUs
Love the dual docking station
USB 3.0 port
Bottom mounted PSU

Cons: EXTREMELY HARD to get a dual slot GPU inserted! It's kinda hard to describe so here's my attempt, the tool-less locking mechanism for the PCI slots rest on plastic walls that slant inwards, so at first glance I thought TT knew what they were doing, right? They must have tested this with GPUs and figured out how to angle it so the GPUs would slide right in. I WAS WRONG! IT IS A NIGHTMARE to get a dual slot GPU in. It may be easier with a single slot card, I don't know. Finally, I took some small visegrips and just broke off the plastic slanted areas that were causing the issue. They broke off easily and did not affect the locking clamps at all
Wish it had a dedicated SSD slot, or 2
Not a seamless design. You can see the internal lights through various gaps where the front panel meets the case.
There is no mention of cable management but at this price point, and it being the V9, I feel like it should have some cable management features. I did achieve some cable management though

Other Thoughts: Breaking off the pieces blocking the GPU made it Much easier to install the graphics card. You should note how many SATA ports your mobo has before buying this case. If you use both docking stations and the GoFlex drive, thats 3 SATA ports already. I work on PCs so I really wanted the docking feature. I'm using all 5 of the SATA ports on my mobo so if I add another drive I'm going to have to disconnect one of the docks or add a SATA controller card. If you read the specs you'll notice it has 3 external 5.25" drive bays, but I think you can fit a fan controller in the top (4th) bay. I bought the TT 3.5" HDD converter for SSD/2.5" since my SSD didn't come with one. Overall I do like the case but I do not recommend it for anyone that intends to install a dual slot card. My optical drives were easy to install and the tool-less locking mechanisms worked fine for me. Install PCI cards After you put the case on it's feet, otherwise the red clamps will slide down and block the card.

Pros: *Good lockin mechanisms for hard drives
*Fits motherboard and large video cards
*Fairly light

Cons: BUYER BEWARE

I've had this case for 2 years. I've also had this case for 2 years too long. (I actually have the variant without the sidepanel, which comes with another 230mm fan). Within 3 months, top fan started clicking. Lots of vids about it, I RMA'd it, ThermalTake quickly sent out a replacement (they actually sent out 2 new fans (I suppose for when the side one would eventually die)). However, replacing the thing is a P.I.T.A. So cool, new one, no clicking.. for a month. Swapped it out again for the other new one they sent me.. lasted 2 months this time. Instead of going through the RMA process again, I just gave up on it and unplugged it to get rid of the clicking noise. 3 months later.. side fan goes out, and I'M GOING TO HAVE TO BUY A NEW CASE because my system is overheating now.

Other Thoughts: Sidenote: I also purchased a ThermalTake HSF for my CPU in this same system, whose plastic legs broke off when I transported my system to a LAN.

I've never felt that I should be OWED my money back for a product I purchased, but this was the first time I felt like that. This case is WORTHLESS without the big fans working, and they DONT work. I have lost ALL faith in ThermalTake as a quality components company.

P.S. - I plan to make an Office Space style video of me smashing my case to bits because thats how I actually feel

Pros: Nice looking case, roomy on the inside for putting in all components including full size graphics cards.

Cons: No cable management features. The large fans that come in the side panel and top of case are flimsy and constantly hit thier sides making a awful noise. Had to disconnect them. Will probably need to get replacement fans.

Other Thoughts: There is a air filter on the bottom of the case under the powersupply but there is no way to really clean it without removing the power supply or just blowing the dust through the filter into the power supply.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi azsheepdog,
We at Thermaltake apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you. We can replace both cooling fans through warranty service. Please contact ttsupport@thermaltakeusa.com for RMA instructions.
Best regards,
Thermaltake USA Customer Service
1-800-988-1088 M-F 9:00AM ~ 5:30PM (P.S.T)

Pros: The major selling points for me was the all steel construction, the dual HDD docks and the price. The included fan configuration and tool-less design were also on the awesome list.

Cons: Cable management was completely lost in the design phase of this case. The top drive bay is for the most part unusable as the dock occupies the majority of it. I was also disappointed that the fans and dock didn't have a factory daisy chained power coupling. The USB loop back internal cable is an extreme annoyance.

Other Thoughts: Here is a breakdown of the system build which went into this case.
2 x SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 11196-00-40G
1 x ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional
1 x Thermaltake Toughpower Grand TPG-1200M 1200W Power Supply
1 x AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz
1 x Team 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 2600 (PC3 20800)
1 x ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS
1 x OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-120G 120GB SSD

Pros: beautiful looking case
has tool less design could have an ssd slot inside but i have 2 ssd's on top of my case came with a goflex hard drive fans that came with the case are really quiet

Cons: the tool less design really needs to step its game up 2 of the hard drive mounting brackets broke already and i barely put any pressure on it

Other Thoughts: instead i just mounted it on with screws
overall great buy

Pros: I bought this case when it came with the 320 GB GoFlex which made it definitely cost effective. The quick connect hardware was a big draw for me. The case has great airflow.

Cons: The lack of cable management is the biggest downfall for this case. The size of the case is pretty good, however when I updated my CPU fan to the Thermaltake Frio the side cover is tight against the top of the fan.

Other Thoughts: I definitely love this case, the hot swapping capability makes it worth the cost.

My build:
AMD FX 6100 Black Edition
ASUS Crosshair V Formula Gamer Series
2 - 320GB Go Flex External Hard drives
1 TB Western Digital Cavair Black SATA 64 MB Cache 6 Gbps 7200 rpm
Corsair 16 GB DDR3
XFX HD-6870 2 GB 256-bit GDDR5
Thermaltake Frio CPU Cooler
Antec 900W Gamer series