Thermaltake Core X1 Overview
For a full overview of the Core X1 be sure to check out our video below.
Taking a first look at the Core X1 we can see it has that cube-style design that I mentioned in the intro of this review. The case is larger than your typical mini-ITX case with the official dimensions of 426 x 280 x 471 mm (16.8 x 11 x 18.5 inch). The case is mainly made of SPCC steel and plastic and weighs in at 19.9 lbs.
Lets start at the front of the case. Here you will find two 5.25-inch drive bays, something you do not normally see on an mini-ITX case. Below those you have a ventilated section and the Thermaltake logo.
You can easily pull the front of the case off. Doing so you can see that the front bezel of the case has a removable fan filter to help keep dust out of your system. The case comes with a 120 mm intake fan pre-installed. You can also fit a 140 mm or 200 mm in the bottom spot. The 5.25-inch drive bays are removable and if you remove them you can fit even more fans and cooling options. The front of the case will actually support three 120 mm fans or two 140 mm fans. As far as water cooling support the front of the case will support radiators up to 280 mm.
At the top of the case you have a very large ventilated section. The top panel of the case can easily be removed. Once removed we can see that it has a removable magnetic filter. There are no pre-installed fans on the top of the case, but you do have quite a lot of options here. For air cooling you can do three 120 mm fans, two 140 mm fans, or two 200 mm fans. And for water cooling you can fit radiators up to 360 mm. Thermaltake has also devised a way to make everything mount perfectly with these panels that can be moved to perfectly fit the cooling solution that you choose.
The side panel of the case features a very large clear window. It will show off pretty much anything inside of your case. The cool thing about both side panels is that they are interchangeable.
On the same side of the case you have your control module that has power and HDD LEDs, power button, two USB 3.0 ports, HD audio connections and reset button. This module can also be moved to the opposite side of the case.
At the back of the case there is an included 120 mm exhaust fan, you can also install a 140 mm fan here instead of you wish. To the left of that is a cable routing hole opening. Moving down you can see there are three expansion slots, your power supply will be mounted on the bottom left and there is a little ventilation for your hard drives on the bottom right.
The opposite side panel of the case has two very large ventilated sections. This will allow the case to “breathe”. Remember this panel can be switched with the windowed side panel if you like. This side panel also has two magnetic removable filters to keep all of the dust out of your case.
Taking a look at the bottom of the case there are four rubber feet that will lift the case off the ground for optimal airflow and there are two more removable filters.
