Thermaltake View 31 review: Tempered Glass RGB Edition

The View 31 Tempered Glass RGB Edition is a stylish case with a modern tempered glass design and three built-in RGB fans — which makes it all the more surprising that it’s just £120. Thermaltake recommends the case for high-end PCs with good liquid cooling support, and we’re going to put it to the test as we rebuild our XSReviews Test Rig. Let’s get into our full review!

Specs & Features

Left and Right 4 mm Thick Tempered Glass Window Design
View 31 TG RGB with left and right 4 mm thick tempered glass window guarantees the durability of the window; moreover, the enlarged window design permits users to fully display and admire all components of the liquid-cooling system. Show off your dedicated set in the subtlest manner!

Fully Modular Concept
The View 31 TG RGB comes with fully modular drive cages that provide the ease of installation/removal and maximize the interior space for custom cooling loop. Especially, the tool-less drive bay design allows users to freely interchange the 3.5” and 2.5” hard-drives to suit their particular needs.

Riser GPU Support Bracket
Specially designed with dual GPU placement, the View 31 TG RGB has the support for vertical graphic card layout with dual PCI-E slots design. The PCI-e riser cable is optional. Plus, the included riser GPU support bracket not only can prevent the graphic card from sagging, but also helps to reduce the weight on the motherboard. Thermaltake PCI-e X16 Riser Cable (Optional) – Support a wide range of GPU solutions.

Dust Reduction
Magnetic fan filter on the top simply attaches the filter for dust filtration. Super fine fan filters with excellent protection and reduction against dirt and dust at the bottom.

Made for High-End PCs with Outstanding Expandability
The View 31 TG RGB features its cable management with maximum 50mm in width, and supports up to a tower CPU cooler with maximum height 180mm, and a dual expansion slot VGA of up to 420mm in length without HDD rack. Moreover, the View 31 TG RGB has the ability to accommodate multiple 3.5”/2.5” storage devices at the same time. Most importantly, the hidden drive bay design guarantees expandability for more liquid cooling components.

Advanced Ventilation
The View 31 TG RGB Series delivers advanced cooling performance for DIY/AIO liquid cooling and air cooling systems. With wide top-to-bottom side ventilation grills, the View 31 TG RGB maximizes the air intake with three built-in 140mm Riing RGB LED fans. It includes options for up to (3) 120mm or 140mm front fans, combined with (2) bottom mount 120mm fan locations for maximum fan space selection. Dissipate heat properly with (1) rear built-in 140mm fan and (3) sectional top mounts to manage proper air flow in and out.

Design

Let’s briefly cover the case’s design. We have 4mm tempered glass windows on either side, and a semi-transparent front panel which curves to meet the two sides.

The remaining sides of the case are metal, with a thin metal mesh at the top and an even finer filter at the bottom. Both filters are attached by magnets and easily removable.

There are three RGB fans installed by default; two up front and one at the back. These are intended for use with a controller, which is provided but no pre-installed.

The case comes with three tool-less 3.5-inch drive bays, which start out in a small enclosure in the main cavity of the case. The bays can also be removed and mounted vertically on the far side of the case.

A GPU riser is screwed into place on the back, sitting perpendicular to the remaining expansion slots. It allows a graphics card to be installed and braced, which is particularly handy for heavy GPUs which need to travel a lot.

Top I/O consists of two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports and two 3.5mm inputs. A square power button is in the centre, with a smaller reset button off to the left side. The I/O area is completely flat.

The case is supported by four circular legs, which provide a few centimetres of clearance to ensure the PC will work well even on carpet.

Build Log

CAUTION: THIS IS A LONG SECTION. FEEL FREE TO SKIP AHEAD TO THE IMPRESSIONS IF YOU’RE PRESSED FOR TIME!

As we didn’t have a full set of spare components, we needed to empty out the NZXT Manta case that has housed our gaming rig for the past few years. It’s always a little sad to get rid of a case, particularly when it’s still in good working order, but we can’t give a proper review of this case without a rebuild!

Emptying out the Mantamachine was a bit of a mission. Over the years we’ve added a ton of random bling to the internals — a NZXT Kraken X61 liquid cooling system, an NZXT Hue+ RGB LED strip, an internal USB 2.0 expansion card (as the motherboard only has one and we need three) and two NZXT Aer RGB fans. Thankfully, everything came out OK and was carefully separated into various piles.

The only challenge was that the motherboard risers came out with the motherboard screws, requiring a helpful Ross McGrath to arrive and dispense a much-needed set of needle-nose pliers to separate things. From here, it wasn’t too challenging to fit the tiny Mini ITX motherboard into the top left corner of the case, as all of the standoffs were already in the correct position.

Assembling the system in our new case required a bit of thinking. We want to get our 280mm liquid cooling radiator along the top of the case, so we can vent hot air skywards. That requires affixing the radiator closer to the left side of the case. Thankfully, rather than having just a few choices of mounting points, there are literally hundreds of holes drilled into the top for your screws, so it’s easy to find a position that makes sense.

Next came the NZXT Aer RGB fans, which we mounted below the radiator so the RGBs were visible. We ensured the data and power cables these cards require were towards the back of the case, to keep things looking tidy up front.

The graphics card riser / support structure looks incredibly useful, but without an appropriate cable included it’s not something we can use — so that had to be removed. As I was unscrewing it, I observed the back panel was quite easy to flex, especially around the I/O. The metal used here doesn’t feel anywhere near as thick or strong as what we’re used to on the Manta.

Next, we installed the PSU and pushed all of its cables through to the back of the case. There are five massive shrouded holes for your cables to run through, and we were never in any danger of running out of space to work. The View 31’s top I/O and control cables came neatly packaged, running through the bottom cable hole, which we re-routed to the highest hole to match our motherboard’s position.

We installed the RAM next, as the motherboard was about to get very cluttered with cables. We connected up the case I/O, probably the most fiddly part of the job, as well as the motherboard’s primary and secondary (oh-so-easy to forget!) power connectors.

From here, it was a case of ensuring that every cable was accounted for, as we started to tidy up the back of the case. Where before we had all of the power cables and gubbins hidden within a shrouded PSU bay, this time everything would be on display through the right-side glass window. Happily, the generous width of the case ensured that there was enough room to place the required USB 2.0 expansion board, the Hue module (discussed below) and Thermaltake’s own Riing fan controller on the back side of the case and still have room for cables to go every which way. There were plenty of holes, loops and other apertures that ensured cables could be bound with twist ties to keep them in position as more components were added.

The Aer RGB fans need to be plugged into the Hue module, which handily adopts a 2.5-inch form factor. That meant the easiest option was to put it into one of the three drive bays, then mount it vertically near the back of the motherboard. This was very easy; just a case of sliding the drive bay into the waiting bracket. Adding our sole 3.5-inch drive in the front of the case was similarly easy; just insert the drive into the tool-less bracket and slide it into place. We also took the time here to install the Hue+ RGB light strip, adding some colour to the main cavity of the case.

In contrast, the case’s bundled Riing fan controller was much harder to install. You’re supposed to use velcro to stick it somewhere accessible, as you’ll need to physically press the buttons on it to change fan speeds or colours. We ended up with it zip-tied in place on the far side of the front drive bays; not a perfect placement but it will do. It would have been nice to have something that could be controlled via software, like NZXT’s Hue+, so that it could be placed more freely, e.g. next to the fans it is intended to control. Having more than one free slot to add fans of your own would also have been nice.

From here, it was time to install the graphics card, our EVGA GTX 1080 FTW ACX 3.0. This fit nicely into the motherboard, as we had made sure to route all of the motherboard cables above where the GPU should sit.

With every cable plugged in and accounted for (and all of the CPU cooler cables double-checked), it was time to turn on the PC!

To my great surprise, the rebuilt XSR Test Rig fired up on the first press of the power button, all of its fans whirring and lights blazing. The feeling of relief quickly subsided when we got the boot message “CPU FAN ERROR”, but looking at the BIOS the liquid cooling was doing just fine and there was no problem. We disabled the CPU fan error warning and proceeded to Windows, where everything worked as it should. Hurrah!

Impressions

So, with the build log over, let’s summarise what we’ve learned about the case so far.

Build & Installation

This case is easy to work in because it has plenty of space. We had so much space left over, that it was almost difficult to spot the tiny mini ITX motherboard clustered in the upper left corner of the case. Even with a full-size motherboard, there’s so much room in here for mounting liquid cooling systems; 360mm up top and 280mm in front. There’s also tons of space on the far side of the case, allowing us to fit in all sorts of small widgets and cables without struggling to get the side of the case on.

Your cable management needs to be on point. While there are plenty of holes to route your cables and hooks for your cable ties, there’s no hidden part of the system to cram a bunch of cables. You’ll need to think carefully about where you’re putting things, as the right side of the case will show them in excruciating detail. For lazy cablers, a case with a PSU shroud (e.g. NZXT’s recent works) might be more suitable.

The fan controller is annoying to place. While every other part of the case makes logical sense, the fan controller feels like an afterthought. You have to work out a way of routing four cables and placing the controller, in such a way that you don’t draw attention to the cable clutter but the controller box’s buttons are also accessible. Making this a standard 2.5-inch size to go into a drive bay or separating out the box into two (one for controls, one for all the fan inputs) would improve things substantially. Having things set by software would also work better, I think.

The GPU brace should come with the cable it needs to work. I would have loved to have used this system, but I’m not going to go out and buy a separate cable to get it working. Why not include one in the box if this is one of your big features?

The hard drive trays are well designed. 3.5-inch drives can be fit in seconds without tools, while 2.5 inch drives can be screwed in. It’s great that the same tray can fit in three slots on the back vertically or in three bays up front horizontally. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Post-Build

This case is gorgeous. The glass sides and transparent front cover are beautiful, allowing light to shine through from every direction. Meanwhile, the magnetic top filter hides the screws, presenting a uniform surface.

The top I/O is well-designed. It’s really nice to have flat USB ports once again, and four is the number I like to see. It’s also good to have the option of a reset button, even if I rarely need to use it. The only other addition would have been HDMI for VR purposes, but this is a relatively rare case so I don’t mind its exclusion.

Thermal performance is good, acoustics are average. After installing our components into a larger case with more fans, air flow has certainly improved. That’s lead to reduced temperatures across the board; idle temperatures are down about five degrees C and load temperatures seem reduced by a similar amount. However, noise remains unchanged; with glass on all sides and no acoustic padding, there’s plenty of ways to hear your components.

The case doesn’t feel super durable. The combination of tempered glass on two sides and relatively thin metal doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence; I’m not sure I’d be happy taking my PC to a LAN unless it was in its original box. The acrylic front panel is also easily scratched, which is a shame.

The case fans work well. The Riing fans are stylish and they allow for quite a bit of airflow as well. I like that you can see the coloured rings from any angle, in contrast to other fans which are more one-sided.

Wrapping up

The View 31 case from Thermaltake offers great value, with top-notch aesthetics, good thermal and acoustic performance and plenty of room to install your components. While we did spot a few flaws in the design and the dual glass panels will show off any cable spaghetti, the View 31 remains a top-notch case that we’ll enjoy for many years to come.

Links

You can see more information and buy the View 31 RGB via the links below.

See the View 31 on Amazon >

See the View 31 on Scan.co.uk >

See the View 31 on Newegg.com >