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.

TechReaction

  • 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.