Thermaltake Core X9 E-ATX Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

This is a big chassis, that much I think we’ve established, but what I think might surprise you is that the price isn’t as heavily loaded as the product. The Thermaltake Core X9 is a very reasonable £117.37 from CCL and readers in the US can find it on Amazon for just $160, which is an absolute bargain. Of course, that’s not counting the massive cost of actually filling a chassis like this.

Overview

I’m seriously in love with the Thermaltake Core X9, it’s just too bonkers not to want one. Of course, there is a catch, as I have literally no idea where I could put the darn thing! It’s too wide to fit next to my desk, it’s deeper than my desk too, so it wouldn’t be ideal to put it under the desk, certainly not on top of it. It couldn’t go next to my TV as a HTPC, that would be silly. A chassis like this needs a desk all to its self, or at the very least, a suitably massive desk in general to accommodate it.

Without a doubt this chassis is overkill for most builds, even our test system looks laughable inside it. However, if you’re looking to go for the extreme end of the hardware market, with huge amounts of water cooling, quad graphics cards, pumps, reservoirs, more fans than I care to count, a huge amount of storage and god only knows what else, then you’ll be able to fit every single bit of it in the Core X9. If you run out of space, or you want the biggest commercial water cooling radiators on the market, then buy two X9’s and stack them for double the fun/trouble.

Build quality is rock solid throughout, everything is reinforced and durable, while also being amazingly easy to work with. Every major component is fitted with easily accessible thumb screws, allowing you to remove side panels, hard drive trays, cooling brackets, the motherboard tray and more. This means you can install your hardware onto the brackets, then re-insert the bracket, making it very easy to work with such a big chassis. Cable management is everywhere you would need it and there’s a good amount of hiding space for extra cables too.

Little innovations such as the movable I/O panel on the front, as well as interchangeable side panels are also nice to have, as they’ll help you orientate the chassis to suit your needs. Being able to install dual power supplies is great too, as this can help you reach your enthusiast aspirations with ease.

Pros

Excellent build quality
Endless capabilities (in terms of hardware)
Crazy levels of water cooling support
Competitive price
Reversible side panels
Reversible I/O panel
Dual PSU support
Stackable design
Dust filters
Removable hard drives
Removable motherboard tray
Movable cooling brackets

Cons

Too big to fit on, under or around most desks

“The Thermaltake Core X9 is big, bold and completely bonkers. It’s not for everyone given the amount of space it requires, or the amount of hardware it can hold, but if you’re looking to house an extreme rig, the X9 will manage it with ease.”