Thermaltake Commander G41 Mid-Tower Case Review

Thermaltake or Thermaltake Technology Co., Ltd is a manufacturer of PC cases, power supplies and cooling solutions. Its main headquarters is located in Taipei, Taiwan. It has multiple manufacturing facilities in Mainland China, including a major plant at Dongguan.

Founded in 1999 Thermaltake has made a lot of cases and have had a great following and some that have not but they have been a strong company in the Computer Case and Accessories department and have a long standing seat at the table of other fine computer accessories companies and while they don’t sit at the head of the table they don’t sit at the back of the table either and they definitely will not be seated at the kiddy table, that is for sure.

Its hard to call the Commander G41 a Mid Tower Case. There is plenty of room for eight expansion slots and a dual-slot graphics card on the very bottom slot with the ATX motherboards and the video cards we have available to us now the fit is nice and right. There is official room for a 120 X 240 mm radiator on the top and even some modified room to mod a 240 mm radiator in the front of the case but not a recommended option so if you didn’t mind removing both the drive bays in order to do it there are really two places to put a 120 X 240 mm radiator but its just for modders that know how to make it work. The budget gaming case has some real curb appeal as well. It’s a pretty case with a fine window that is extra large window and lots of room for whatever you’re building inside, so come with us as we take you through the Thermaltake Commander G41 (Windowed) Edition case Model (CA-1B4-00M1WN-00).

Features
Budget Case
Built for the gamer on a budget that doesn’t needs to spend more on the inside of the case than the outside but still wants the style and street cred that he is a gamer with power in the box.

Extreme Space
“Space is of the Essence” as the company says about this case and we have to agree with them. They did think about wire management, multiple different building types and plenty of room for wires in the back and plenty of tie downs too. We found it very easy to build into this case and was and enjoyment to build into it as well. Why. Because everything just fits.

Tool Free Design
While there are some tool free design in this case you had better have some tools for installing the motherboard or the All in One Radiator at the top and if you have SSD’s then you will have to use a Phillips head screw driver to fit them into the tool free Drawer assembly that slides and locks into the drive housing that one can be complete by just pulling up on the lever and sliding it out. Its not effortless but it is nice and very handy for extra long video cards or using the space for other things like a platform for a water pump for the modder that uses a custom loop and or maybe a reservoir. You will also need a tool to take out the Hex/Phillips head screws that hold the vented expansion bays into the case back and taking out the bottom hard drive unit will require some tools as well. So Tool-less is kind of subjective here.

Expandability
This definitely is a trait of this little Mid-Tower case that really can. The ability to remove one complete drive bay can give you room for all sorts of things including a TRI-SLI configuration and a custom water works. The drive bays at the top are officially tool free for three drives main drives that access the front, but if you wanted to you could easily mount a hidden hard drive of any size at the very top because there is room for four places but no front access for the very top unit but places like that are a great thing for the Modder gamer that loves to build in special features to their Rig out of sight and mind. Also there is room for that Third Video Card for TRI-SLI and Crossfire at the bottom since there are 8 expansion slots instead of the usual seven so you the modder gamer is ready to open up with three double width cards with no difficulty. Also there is an off to the side expansion slot that usually is made for Fan controller that mount in the back but with a PCIex extention you could very well mount a separated single slot card straight up and down in that area if you wanting even more expandability.

Extreme Visibility
This feature is great for that guy that likes the huge all sided window. The side window takes up almost 75% of the entire side panel so there is plenty of visibility to show your build and plenty of room to use what you want since the window is mounted on the out cropped part of the side panel to help accomidate any CPU air cooler you want in that space.

Specifications
Specifications - Thermaltake - U.S.A. - Commander G41 (Window) - CA-1B4-00M1WN-00

Packaging
While the box that the case comes in looks cheap its not. Its the first line of protection for the unit and it is a soft corrugated box that is pretty thick for a standard budget box. This box ranks high for us as we like for our readers to get what they pay for when they buy something and first it has to go through a lot of abuse to get to its final destination.

Themaltake Commander G41 Box

Both sides of the box are covered with features of the case and the other with the specifications for the case so its great for a brick and mortar box stores with plenty of information on the box for a quick sale at a great price. Also the sides of the corrugated box has great handholds built into the box for lifting and moving the box around and ease of carrying.

Themaltake Commander G41 Box sides

Styrofoam is not our favorite form of packaging because with a hard impact it can crack and break. In today’s online buy and deliver style of receiving items there are better options but more expensive too. This is one way that the company saves you money and it does the job but you can rest assured you will probably be throwing the pieces of the Styrofoam away once you unpack the item. Ours was really roughly treated and the side was disintegrated into small pellets on one side and a few solid pieces that survived but the case got to us in one piece.

Themaltake Commander G41 Styrofoam pack

The case is also protected from the elements by a wrapping of clear plastic that works really well at keeping humidity, water, and other elements of outdoor weather from damaging the case. It provides a very good water resistant seal that gives a great third stage of security for the case until the new owner is ready to use it.

Themaltake Commander G41 plastic cover

The final line of defense is the anti-scratch defense. This is carried out by covering the piano finishes and the plastic window from any damage that could be caused by anything even during the build process. For system builders it allows for a line of protection to the Final owner by allowing the builder to install a full build then repack it and send it back off without a scratch.

Themaltake Commander unboxed with window covered

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