Thermaltake V9 is a mid-tower case targeted to gamers that want a case with a big fan on the top and don’t want to buy a more expensive full-tower unit. Here is a summary of what we found about this case.

Strong Points

• Use of a big 230-mm (with 190-mm blades) on the top.
• Meshed front panel.
• Washable dust filters.
• Sturdy screwless mechanism for holding daughter boards.
• Screwless mechanism for holding disk drives.
• Good number of hard disk drive bays (five/six/seven) and should please even the most demanding user.
• The two USB ports are distant from each other, allowing you to install two “fat” USB devices at the same time.

Weak Points

• Use of a lower-quality mechanism to hold the top panel to the chassis. The plastic latches used to hold the top panel are simply too thin. Our sample came with all latches broken.
• Not speed control for the fans.
• Use of standard 4-pin peripheral power plugs on the fan, which prevents you from monitoring their speed.
• You have to remove the metallic front covers from each external bay by yourself in order to achieve the maximum airflow this case can provide. Average users are not aware of this procedure.
• No anti-vibration mechanism for the hard disk drives.

In summary, if you are looking for a mid-tower case with good features – especially the top big fan and truly screwless mechanisms – at the USD 100 range, Thermaltake V9 is certainly a very good option. This product isn’t flawless, and the main problem with V9 is the low quality of the latches that hold its top panel. As mentioned, the sample we got came with all latches broken. This looks like a design flaw to us, since the latches look a lot thinner than they should be. However, it could also be a bad luck on the shipping on the specific model we got. Also, Thermaltake offers a 3-year warranty, so if your top panel breaks you can always replace your case for a new one.