Thermaltake Versa H34 Mid Tower Case Review

Building in the Thermaltake Versa H34 mid-tower gaming case
Some important things to know before starting a build with the Thermaltake Versa H34 mid tower gaming case:

1. Any common memory module with a heatsink wider than the PC board of the memory module will not fit in a single radiator common thickness fan. If it protrudes more than 1 to 2 mm they will not fit into the socket of the board and may cause the builder to have to RMA ram for other smaller thinner ram. I tried using my “Corsair Vengence” 1600mhz. blues in this build and they would not fit because of the top radiator and the fans came down about a millimeter too low. Notice: Please use good ram with heat sinks that don’t overlap the memory stick.

Size Matters

2. It is advisable to use a P8 or a CPU Power extension on this build and be sure that you plug it into the motherboard power plug before you install the motherboard into the case.

12 Volt EPS Extension

Tools recommended to have for this case senario.
1. A Phillips head screw driver
2. A small flat head pocket driver for working with small problems you may encounter.
3. A pair of side cutter “dikes” for cutting wire ties
4. A nice set of black colored plastic 6 inch wire ties from any hardware store or auto parts retailer.
5. A roll of black electrical tape is optional. I used it with my water hoses to keep them from hitting the back exhaust fan.

Tools Needed

Also here is a list of the hardware that comes with the Thermaltake Versa H34.
Hardware

With this case the first thing that needs to be installed is the motherboard back plate I/O shield.
Backplate placement

Now carefully install the CPU processor into the motherboard while its still laying in its own box that it came in for best results and don’t install the ram yet. I know, I did in the picture below but it was a mistake, so learn from my mistake and let the ram stay in the box for now. Without ram will be much easier to install the water cooling. Make sure that you have your EPS 12V Power extension plugged and routed to the back of the motherboard tray before going to the next step.

IF you are mounting an air cooling unit on your build then install RAM first then install the air cooling solution before mounting the board in. It will be easier to mount the air cooler out of the box.

Motherboard Placement

Next is to add your water cooling unit into the case. Use caution to follow all the instructions correctly. An extra few minutes studying the direction and reading what they say will save you more time in the end.
Cooler install

IF you are using an all in one cooling system make sure to mount your fans to the radiator with the wires pointing to the back of the case for best wire management before you mount the radiator to the top of the case. I didn’t do this either so I used black electrical tape to cover up my mistake. The best way is the mount the fans so the wires can be routed to the back of the case.

I also used a Fan controller and installed it in the front to get all the wires and the temps in all the same place and since this case has no fan controller you could use the board but if you want to overclock you will need to turn up your fans or turn them down depending on the ambient temperatures in the room where the computer is located.

Another important reason why you might want to use a dedicated fan controller is for the wire extensions that usually come with most controller units. This will help you with wire management and regulating temperatures on the finished build.

Dedicated fan controller

To make things easier plug in all the control wires/USB2.0/3.0 and HD Audio plugin that come with the case and the dedicated fan controller if you plan to use one. The power supply is coming up and its easier to plug in these little wires and plugs now before you install the big brick of a power supply just to help with finger room.

Here are the wires laid out for you to see that come with every Thermaltake Versa H34.

Control Wires

Now they are all plugged in and tucked away.

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First you want to prepare your power supply wires before you place the heavy body into the case. If you are using a modular power supply, make a mental note on all the plugs you will need and try to keep your wires down to just what you need unless you plan on adding another graphics card to the build later on in the near future. In that case add the extra GPU wire now. IF you are like me and don’t need two graphics cards then just run one graphic’s cable.

Thermaltake Versa H34 45

Now that you have your wires figured out now route them through the bottom rubber grommets keeping the big wires in the hole and EPS in the back hole and the rest of them into the front hole. Loop your graphics card wire back into back hole to power your Graphics card as this wire routing looks good.

Thermaltake Versa H34 44

Now that you have secured the power supply into the mounting holes in the back of the case with the screws provided its time to mount that graphics card into place and start plugging wires in so you can get to wire management.

Front of build

Wire management is usually done after all the wires and drives have been placed and plugged in. The whole idea for wire management is sometimes hard to understand.

1. You want to route extra wire in the back and hide them and tie them down.
2. You want to make it easy to figure out problems if you run into them.
3. You want to make it easy to replace back panel on the case
4. For extreme types marking wires with labels or other markings can be suggested for the anal retentive.
5. It just looks better.

(Remember that Wire Management is a form of art and I am not a “Picasso’ at it, so if you think you could do better, you probably can.)

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Lastly. We went into some detail before about the drive mounts on the back so I won’t boar you more that I have to about them but I must mention that there is a removable locking inner slot key that is used to hold mechanical drives in place. If you are using SSD’s in this area then its the same four screws to the bottom. But with this there is a Slot Key on both sides of the slot drawer. You pull out the Slot Key and then mount your mechanical HDD into the key you left in on one side. Then once you have the HDD pressed down into place, you install the Slot Key back into place and its done.

Slot Key

Then just slide the 3.5 inch or SSD into the bottom drive slot.

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If you plan on a second or your primary radiator to be at the front of the case then you can mount the mechanical hard drive up high in both or one of the two top 5.25 slots and leave the front covers on the front bezel closed. There is plenty of room up front for a 120 x 240 or a 140 by 280 radiator so you can have tons more room if you mount with a front radiator.

Drive in 5.25 bay

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