Thermaltake Urban S31 Mid-Tower Case Review @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Thermaltake Urban S31 Mid-Tower Case Review - Thermaltake sets its sights on a part of the market that is looking for an excellent enthusiast case with a look that is not over the top, but rather more refined and sleek. Along with that Thermaltake promises "extreme silent performance" and "advanced ventilation" along with a helping of space for those water cooling users.
 
That's too bad. I like the look of it, but there are way too many red flags to even consider one of these.
 
This is a shame: I currently use this case and have built with it several times for customers and I have never encountered the door issues mentioned. Bad QC by ThermalTake?

I have the version without the window, and I love it! its a shame [H] didn't get a good sample, but hey, if anything this may kick ThermalTake in the ass to produce better QC.
 
I personally can't stand anything made by Thermaltake. Anytime I see their name on something I just ignore it. There are just too many quality products to spend my hard earned money on a company whose name to me is synonymous with junk.
 
Like I said earlier, This is evidence of wonky QC: I've sold and built with about seven of these cases (including my own personal PC) and I've never had the problems with the door or the exposed glue... I admit the colours mismatch, but I thought that was sort of intentional to add a bit of 'industrial' look, but I can understand if that isn't everyone's cup of tea.

I'm not trying to defend the reviewed case: I completely agree with the conclusion that [H] came to: If I had opened a case in that condition or quality I would NEVER recommend it to six of my customers, or buy one myself. Just to check to see if I was looking at my case through rose-tinted glasses, I played with the door for a bit, no issues. I came to work and played around with the one we have on display: no issues there either...

The version I own and sell is the one WITHOUT the window. It comes with insulating/noise canceling foam on both doors and a HDD dock at the top...

maybe the windowed version is shitty?
 
For the briefest moment, I thought the title was:
Thermaltake Urban $31 Mid-Tower Case Review.
At that price, it might be worth consideration.
 
wow what a let down. It seems to me that TT seems to go in waves. They will produce a few good products and follow it up with a pile of garbage products.
 
Having purchased this case months ago based on some early reviews, I have experienced exactly what has been highlighted as design faults, and/or poor QC with this case. I suspect other models in the line would suffer from the same problems if they all use the same core design.
The top hinge on my door broke not long after I removed it a number of times. Removing it is necessary to use the optical drives; either that or forcing it to open enough and holding it open, which puts pressure on the flimsy, 1mm thick plastic hinges. The SECC spec of the steel isn't supplied, but looking at it against a tape measure, it is either 0.4 or 0.5mm. Again, flimsy. The stated net weight is about 0.5kg over what the case actually weighs.

The optical drive locks don't work too well. One flew off when I was installing a drive and I had difficulty putting it back in. Another drive just wouldn't lock into place. The 3.5/2.5" adapter caddy has a fragile bottom,front strut, which is thinner than the rest of the plastic. That strut broke when I had to use a bit of force to get it to go in.

The bottom of the case underneath the door, has a large gap that lets air in which bypasses the front filters, meaning the filters can only perform some their intended function. There are other things, like holes and gaps in the bottom of the case, plus a number of other annoying things, obviously done to cut costs. The guy who says he hasn't run into the door problems, well I cannot see how that can be, when it seems this is how all of these cases have been designed. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy this case, or others in the line. What should have been a decent case has been stuffed up by cost cutting and bad design.
 
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