Thermaltake Element Q Mini-ITX Case
Thermaltake has been making cases for a while, but usually they’re on the flashier, gamer side of things. This offering has a nice look. Notice the red on the front, which I actually don’t mind all that much, but it might not fit in with your specific environment.
The Thermaltake Element Q mini-ITX case was made for space-limited conditions, such as HTPC installations. This small form factor case offers a compact, stylish and convenient solution for housing a mini-ITX system with features arranged to do the job neatly and efficiently. The cooling system utilizes a fanless design to save energy and keep your operating environment quiet. Perforations in the panel vent hot air to keep heat from building up inside your system. The concealed front I/O panel gives hassle-free access to two USB ports and audio jacks.
I hope TechReaction fixes
I hope TechReaction fixes their link soon (I can’t get to the article from their web page either). I have a Rosewill case in the same form factor and I’m interested in how well this one stacks up. I like the plainer front panel on mine, but cooling is an issue, so I’m interested to see what Thermaltake as done here.
OK, Now that I’ve seen the
OK, Now that I’ve seen the review, I can say that this case is identical to mine except for the front panel.
The excerpt above makes it sound like they did a fanless design, but the PSU still has a fan (assuming the same PSU I have, it’s a very weak one, though.) A pico PSU could give more room in this case, but I haven’t tried that. As it stands, the CPU cooler sits almost directly under the PSU fan and they’re trying to pull air in opposite directions, which doesn’t seem very efficient.
I added a couple of 80mm fans on the side vents to help with air flow. That means I can’t use a PCI-e card, though.