Thermaltake core x9

[Sebastian M]

So, i've been looking at cases for quiet some time.

First I was very much into the corsair 540 air , and almost bought it. But after reading some of the reviews around the internet about how "cheap feeling" the case is, I decided to step back into my thinkingbox.

Then a few days ago I found it , the core x9.

And oh my , that case looks very beast

I mean , 2x 480 mm rads in the top? That's a huge case, maybe I'm able to fit my house in that thing , holy moly.

So basically guys, can anyone recommend this case? I'm not going to watercool it, and that is only because I'm kinda on a bugdet right now, so also leave a thought about aircooling on this beast :-)

[Trik'Stari]

If I had the money to spend on a case, I would switch from my air 540 to the core X9.

 

Mainly because of how upgradeable it is, as well as it looking better than the air 540 IMHO. I would recommend buying a couple of quad pack fans to fill out all those fan spaces though.

[shawn finkenstead]

So, i've been looking at cases for quiet some time.

First I was very much into the corsair 540 air , and almost bought it. But after reading some of the reviews around the internet about how "cheap feeling" the case is, I decided to step back into my thinkingbox.

Then a few days ago I found it , the core x9.

And oh my , that case looks very beast

I mean , 2x 480 mm rads in the top? That's a huge case, maybe I'm able to fit my house in that thing , holy moly.

So basically guys, can anyone recommend this case? I'm not going to watercool it, and that is only because I'm kinda on a bugdet right now, so also leave a thought about aircooling on this beast :-)

I found a Thermaltake video that shows 2 x9 stacked with most of the watercooling in the top case and the comp itself in the bottom looked badass.

Found it.

[Sebastian M]

If I had the money to spend on a case, I would switch from my air 540 to the core X9.

Mainly because of how upgradeable it is, as well as it looking better than the air 540 IMHO. I would recommend buying a couple of quad pack fans to fill out all those fan spaces though.

Well I really like the noctua fans , and no not them ugly poop browns.. Considering buying 8x 120mm for intake and one or two for outtake .

I need to look closer on the specs before buying tho.

[shawn finkenstead]

The industrial Noctuas the black ones perform well. They can get noisy when you run them wide open but throw out a lot of air even when ran down low.

[Leonin]

I just swapped to the core x9,  i absolutely love it,  I was coming from the rosewill thor v2 which was awful for anytype of watercooling tho. It was very easy to work with  every single piece pulls out so you can get rid of alot of the stuff you dont need.   My cons with it was the hard drive cage has to sit ontop of one of the 2x120 fan brackets in order to secure correctly (could be ways around it but I got tired of trying to make it work somewhere else and didn't need the bracket) and that the bottom fan filters werent magnetic like the rest of the fan filters.  They just use flat clips to hold them up which you can still get them out easily but it requires access to the bottom of the case.   

 

Thermaltake has recently just started selling extra parts on its ttbuy website and has plans to release different side panels, atm they offer the extra 2x120 fan brackets,  Window side panels and an additional psu support bracket.

 

As for air cooling it takes alot of fans you can pretty much stick one anywhere,  it was easy to keep cable management clean looking i have currecntly have 5 120mm fans, 2 for a 220x swiftech cooler and a 200m in just the top portion alone.

 

The case quality its self is great,  I had the same concerns with the air 540 which I had my heart seton as well,  the x9 is all metal construction  the only piece not tied down with a thumb screw is the front but that is very easy to get on/off doesnt feel like its going to break no matter how hard you tug at it.   when you have all the pieces off it feels alittle flimsy but Its basically a few square poles at that point that make the case and even then I didnt feel like I was going to break it.   I picked it up at Microcenter for 160 and I know I will never need to buy another cpu case again because there is still a ton more room in mine and can always stack another one in the future.

[Trik'Stari]

Well I really like the noctua fans , and no not them ugly poop browns.. Considering buying 8x 120mm for intake and one or two for outtake .

I need to look closer on the specs before buying tho.

I'm waiting for someone to do a professional unboxing and review of it *cough* @LinusTech *cough*

[skline00]

Just built the rig below using a Thermaltake Core X9. Able to fit 3 480 rads in it!

[Trik'Stari]

Just built the rig below using a Thermaltake Core X9. Able to fit 3 480 rads in it!

NICE.

 

How's the quality of the case? I've been curious about how well it's made.

[skline00]

Quality of case is good. Solid and heavy. Not the type of case you want to move a ton. I bought casters from an online caster company that supplies exact size casters to fit the 1" x 1" spots when you removed the fixed feet. Very versatile. I've never seen a CaseLabs, Mountain Mod etc case in person. My 2 most expensive previous cases were CM 932 HAF Advanced cases. I've seen Corsair 900D cases in the store. It compares favorably to that quality.

 

I like the fact that it is 15" wide by 18.5" high (without feet or casters -just under 21" with my casters) by 25.5" deep. There are a ton of inside shots on the Thermaltake website. As a Custom watercooler it realistically (I'll explain mods later) allows me to mount internally 2 XSPC RX480 rads with 4 Gentle Typhoon AP15 GT fans per rad attached in the top (side by side GREAT Mounting) AND internally a 480 rad to the side (EK 480PE with 4 more AP15 GTs). The motherboard tray is removable and easily holds bigger mbs. Has a really neat removable plate below it to hold 2 ssds or HDD

 

PSU can be mounted on either side of the bottom in the rear. You could if you want mount rads to the bottom or if need be to the front.  Comes with a standard Thermaltake 200mm intake fan in the front and a 120mm in the rear (I replaced with a 140).

 

SO many mounting surfaces it's hard to imagine.

 

The front has 3 removable trays to hold 5.25" devices DVD etc. I removed the top one for internal clearance for my twin 480 rads but use trays 2-3 to hold the NZXT 6 channel fan controller and my LG Blue ray player.

 

Negatives? Sure. Not real "pretty" Basic black. Drive cages are solid (2 cases that hold 3 fullsize HDD each with nice mounts) but take up a lot of room below if you want to add rads to side.

 

I knew I wanted 3 480 rads so one side would need to hold the third rad without a lot of room inside of it. As you look at the case, I put the 3rd rad (EK) to the right side and put my PSU (1200W) to the left. Also on the left I mounted my 5.25" wide XSPC Twin D5 bay res to the floor. The room between it and the PSU was enough to squeeze the big HDD cage in but I opted to ditch it for a smaller 2.5 inch bracket I had from an old Chieftec case to hold my 2 ssds. In addition, I used the plastic HDD bracket (secured it to the floor with 1 bolt/nut combo and nylon tie) to hold my 2 Tb WD Black HDD. Plenty of room for tubing etc.

 

Bottom line? For the price a great case for watercoolers needing room for rads who don't want to pay for a CaseLabs case. The Corsair 900D is MUCH taller but not as wide. For the price of it, you could almost buy 2 Core X9s which are stackable with TONS of room.