Every once in a while the opportunity is presented to review a revised product. It’s happened for Icrontic with the NZXT Beta and Beta Evo, and it happens again now with the Thermaltake V9 Black and its newest incarnation, the Thermaltake V9 BlacX.
The Thermaltake V9 BlacX lists for $99.99 plus shipping on Newegg.. This is $10 more than the original V9 Black costs now. Also available is a “Newegg Exclusive” edition
. Currently a $20 rebate and $1.99 shipping provide a price advantage over the “standard” version. The only difference appears to be a red LED fan instead of the “official” blue LED in front.
What has changed?
The left panel in the original V9 Black contained a 230mm fan. This has been replaced in the V9 BlacX by a large window running diagonally from top-left to bottom-right and vent holes in the opposite corners. The benefit here is slightly more internal space for large heatsinks.
The front USB and audio ports have been moved forward to accommodate the added dual drive docks. They now reside just in front of the drive docks.
One USB 2.0 port has been replaced by a blue USB 3.0 port on the top panel. This is connected by a blue cable running to the back of the case and connects to a port on the motherboard’s I/O panel. While I’d rather see a cable to run to an internal header on the motherboard, not all USB 3.0 enabled motherboards have this feature. Regardless, it’s more convenient than reaching to the back of the case.
The V9 BlackX case now has four feet attached providing about 0.5″ additional ground clearance. This should make ventillation better for the bottom-mounted PSU, especially for computers sitting on a carpeted floor.
What hasn’t changed?
Almost everything else remains the same. The 3.5″ drive cage remains in its (personally preferred) rotated position. Both the 3.5″ and 5.25″ bays feature the same locking mechanism that only does a half-way job. The same 120mm LED-lit fan sits in front of the 3.5″ bays. The same 230mm fan exhausts air through the top of the case. The same plastic clips hold expansion cards in place, sort of.
What is a BlacX?
For those unfamiliar with Thermaltake’s BlacX products, the BlacX is a line of SATA drive docks. It works in a similar fashion to a drive enclosure, except the BlacX doesn’t really enclose anything—the hard drive just plugs in, similar to a console cartridge. These models support USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and eSATA connections. Each dock built into the V9 BlacX plugs into a SATA port on the motherboard and uses a 4-pin molex cable for power. Oddly, there is not a power button present for these docks, but the case instructions state that setting the SATA ports to AHCI will enable hotplugging on the motherboard. Because the integrated bays on the V9 BlacX are plugged into the motherboard’s SATA ports, these bays may be used for boot drives—the PC will see them as internal devices. Just don’t remove the boot drive while the system is running—trust me…
Adding/removing a drive via the BlacX while the system is running is just like using a USB or eSATA port. It pretty much just works.
The install
Just like the original V9, installing hardware in this case is pretty easy. In fact, with the exception of the heatsink installation, everything was identical in experience. The current heatsink for the install hardware, a Noctua NH-D14, now fits with the side panel closed. Both heatsink fans needed lowering but it does fit (potentially limiting your RAM height depending on slot placement). This is a big benefit over the previous case design since most folks will no longer need to worry about whether their heatsink will work.
GPU room—the GPU for benchmarking is an XFX Radeon HD 6950. It’s an 11.3″ long card, and fits well in the first PCI Express slot. If no devices occupy the external 3.5″ bays, a longer card (just a bit over 12″) may be used. Cards next to the rotated 3.5″ bays have a little over 11.5″ of clearance, enough for most video cards with PCIe power plugs on the top edge. Cards with power connections on the end will have that clearance amount reduced by a bit.
The V9 BlacX still retains the same “bend it until it snaps off” method of cover removal for expansion slots and drive bays, but the case material feels more sturdy this time around. The same holds true with the metal surrounding the I/O shield. Nothing got bent out of shape. I’d still prefer to see removable slot covers that don’t require bending, but the current method works.
The drive bay locking mechanism only secures one side of a drive. If you plan on moving your case around a lot (going to/from a LAN party, for example) or are generally paranoid about your drives remaining secure in their slots, you’ll want to make sure screws are used to secure the other side. This is easily done for the 5.25″ bays, but the 3.5″ bays require more work since the “unsecured” side faces the front of the case. Fortunately the front panel is easily removed and the 120mm fan is held in by a thumb screw, providing easy access to the drive cage’s side.
The thing that really concerns me is the expansion card retention mechanism. It’s a series of plastic clips that slide up and rotate out to allow the card to be locked in place. Sort of. The reality here is that the retention clips do not do their job. Instead, the only things keeping the GPU in place are the retention clips next to the slots occupied by the GPU as well as the DVI ports making contact with the slot. Call me paranoid, but I just can’t trust that little amount of tension to keep my personal gear in place. The test GPU was able to move up and down pretty freely, to the point I’m concerned about the safety of it and the motherboard slot it occupies. It’s the same mechanism used in the original V9, and it was mentioned as an issue in that review when using a single slot GPU. Now that I have a dual-slot GPU in place, I’d consider it a deal breaker. Users without any expansion cards (mainly those using integrated graphics) will not experience this problem, though.
Conclusions
The BlacX integration is a fantastic idea which Thermaltake should extend into their other case lines such as the Armor series. It’s a great way to add value to existing product lines for a minimal cost.
The minor complaints about the Thermaltake V9 BlacX are just inconveniences that really don’t matter once your parts are installed and the computer is running. Unfortunately the single major complaint—the retention clips for expansion cards—are something serious enough to warrant a non-recommendation for this case except under one condition: if you only use integrated graphics and no expansion cards, this is a good case. Discrete GPU users looking for a Thermaltake case would be better served by looking to some of their other offerings such as the Armor series (the Armor A90 in particular is great) or other models within the “V” series that use screws to hold cards down.
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