Thermaltake Element-Q VL52021N2U Review

Thermaltake isn't new to the market. They have a full line of different cases and cooling systems. Today Benchmark reviews will be testing the Thermaltake Element Q, model VL52021N2U. This chassis belongs to the "Small Form Factor" Line and it's targeted at the Mini-ITX industry. Apart from being the typical mini-case with 220 watts PSU included, what makes this product special against other Mini ITX cases? It supports full 5.25" optical drives and two 3.5" full sized HDDs. Compared to many other Mini-ITX cases; this can be an advantage over other products making your new purchase a lot cheaper. It also supports a full-height PCI card, which means you can install your Audio or Video card and enhance your HTPC experience. Read our full review to verify if the Element-Q suits to your needs.

Have you ever considered building a Mini-ITX PC is more expensive than a normal PC? You need to sacrifice performance to gain space. This means you can't install super fast HDDs (unless choosing SSDs; of course), you can't re-use your Blu-ray or DVD writer since you need to buy them in slim factor. All this ends adding a lot of money to the equation, and suddenly an HTPC is not an option anymore. What if you could re-use your 5.25" optical drive and install a pair of 3.5" without problems in the Element Q? It would certainly end shaving some dollars from your wallet making it more interesting. And what if you want your machine to have a "decent" GPU for gaming? The Thermaltake Element Q chassis gives you all these possibilities in a very small case.

Benchmark Reviews will build and test a H55+Core i3 platform on the Element Q and analyze if this product can compete with the rest, sacrificing some space but adding very interesting features. Let's have a look at the features and specifications of this product.

Thermaltake Element Q Features

• Quintessence - Typical small form factor, Mini-ITX chassis.
• Qute - Cute, small size which require minimum spacing.
• Quiet - Energy saving platform with fan less design.
• Built-in 200W SFX power supply
• Front I/O ports for easy access
• Compatible with Intel Atom platform
• Don't settle for less. Element Q supports full-size 5.25" Optical Disk Drives (Blu-Ray Players or DVD-RW Drives).

Thermaltake Element Q Specifications

• Case Type: Mini Case
• Material: SGCC
• Front Bezel Material: Plastic
• Color: Black
• Side Panel: No
• Motherboard Support: Mini ITX
• Motherboard Tray: No
• 5.25" Drive Bay: 1
• Ext. 3.5" Drive Bay: 1
• Int. 3.5" Drive Bay: 1
• Expansion Slots: 1
• Front I/O Ports: USB 2.0 x 2, HD Audio
• Liquid Cooling Capable: No
• Liquid Cooling Embedded: No
• Power Supply Supported: SFX
• Power Supply Included: 200W SFX Power Supply, 64.07mm H x 125.53mm W x 100.29mm L, 2.52" H x 4.94" W x 3.95" L
• Dimension (H*W*D): 130 x 220 x 330 mm, 5.12 x 8.66 x 13 inch
• Net Weight: 2.7 kg, 5.95 lb
• Warranty: 3 Year

About the company: Thermaltake

Thermaltake Incorporation, based in Taipei, Taiwan is the global leader Thermal Solution and Thermal Management for PC & Industrial Market. Its engineering staffs master in Airflow Analysis, Material Conductivity and Heat Dissipation Efficiency. Thermaltake offers a wide range of products and services, providing effective and cost-conscious cooling devices. The Company has more than 1,000 employees' worldwide supporting customers from its headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, as well as from offices in China, Europe and United States Continent.

Closer Look: Element Q Exterior

Thermaltake packaging is good. Once you open the box the chassis will be standing there between the Styrofoam and a plastic bag. All the accessories can be found inside the chassis to save some space in the package.

Thermaltake includes an AC power cord, screws, drive installation brackets and the warranty with the instructions. There's nothing more special included.

At first glance, the Element Q looks a little bit cheap. The front is made of plastic and the rest of the chassis is made of SGCC. The red strip on the front makes it look more like a transformer than a sleek HTPC case, so this isn't the chassis you want if you're looking for an elegant design.

The Power and reset buttons are big and there is an LED for HDD activity also. The 3.5" and 5.25" bays doesn't include an automatic open/close mechanism, so it's up to you to choose an optical drive which combines with the rest of the case.

The real "attraction" of the Element Q is that you can mount a standard 5.25" optical drive, thus meaning you can re-utilize your old DVD writer or buy a new BD-player without spending the difference for a slim drive. Considering a slim DVD drive can cost up to twice the price of a 5.25" drive, it can be appealing for those who think an HTPC should be as cheap as the size of the case.

At the rear, there's an expansion slot with full-height card support. The 220 watts SFX power supply also exhausts the hot air trough the rear, and finally, at the left side there are some holes to improve ventilation. Notice the PSU is right above the I/O shield, which definitively restricts the use of a 3rd party heatsink for your CPU. We'll have a look at this at the moment of building the system.

Detailed Exterior Features

At the front, there is a push-clip button that leads pad to a pair of USB 2.0 and Audio HD connectors. I'd prefer adding this mechanism to the front drives and letting this ports directly on the chassis without a cover, but some people would prefer it as Thermaltake decided.

At the sides of the chassis, there are holes for ventilation. There are no fans inside this case, so forget about airflow, but considering you'll use a low-power CPU it shouldn't be an issue. The right panel holes would ventilate the HDD or the CPU (in case you don't install a HDD at the side), and the left panel holes would ventilate the expansion card or again, the CPU considering you don't add any card on your PCI port.

Here is a look at the right panel with the side-HDD installed. The good part is that the HDD and PCI-expansion card will be ventilated. The bad part is that this practically blocks all the ventilation to the center of the case, and the ugly is that the PSU will take all the heat remaining from CPU and other components. Again, considering you should install no more than a 100 watts CPU (at load) this shouldn't be a problem at all.

Once you open the Element Q you'll find there is plenty of space for installation. In case you have had a headache with another case trying to fit all the cables and components, this installation will be easier, especially because of the bigger height which allows managing the cables and components similar to a Micro-ATX case.

The SFX-PSU includes a 20+4 ATX connector, a 4pin 12+v CPU connector, a pair of Molex connectors and S-ATA connectors also. This is practically all you need for your HTPC. This PSU doesn't include Mini-SATA connectors but that's probably because it wasn't designed for slim optical drives.

The front panel connectors include: HD Audio/AC 97, USB 2.0x2, power switch, reset switch, power LED and HDD LED. Those cables can be hidden below the external drives if not used.

Closer Look: Element Q Interior

Now it's time to inspect the interior of the Element Q. As I've mentioned before, there's plenty of space inside this case because of its height. The whole chassis comes with a strong structure and 220 watts SFX-PSU.

Below the external drives, there's some space for cable management. You can either use the frontal 3.5" bay for installing a Floppy or external HDD, or let the cover on and install an internal HDD/SSD.

The SFX-PSU gives an overall of 220 watts which is enough for powering the majority of the systems today excluding the GPU. It provides 15A on the 12+v rail while many other manufacturers only offer 10A on the same rail. Thus, it can power up any 180 watts TDP CPU, and that`s enough for any processor today.

To start the installation, the first step is to remove the PSU. You need to take it off in order to install the motherboard and connect all the cables. As you're removing it as for the first step, it also means it will be the last component installed in the process.

That little rail you're watching there is for a side-HDD. If you decide to install your HDD here, keep in mind it'll be very near to the motherboard and PSU and it will also block the right panel ventilation.

I'll be using the front bay for my internal HDD since I don't use floppy anymore. Installing it is as easy as aligning the drive and adding 2 screws at the sides.

Detailed Interior Features

To install the second drive, you'll need to add some brackets included in the accessories bag. They are 100% necessary for the side-drive installation and there's only a pair included, so, don't lose them.

After that, we just slide the drive into the metallic rails and added a pair of screws on the upper side and we're done. The drive HDD should look like the photo above. Please notice the drive connectors should be oriented to the front part of the chassis.

Next step is the optical drive. Just remove the front cover and slide the drive through the hole until it aligns with your chassis, then add some screws. Avoid using white/gray drives because there isn't a mechanism to cover them at the front.

Now it's time to install the motherboard. If you don't remove the PSU, motherboard installation will be almost impossible. Just align it and put the 4 screws and you're done. Notice the PSU rail won`t interfere with the PCI card.

If you really need adding an expansion card you'll love this last picture. For my HTPC, I want the best audio available at the moment, but with half-height expansion slots you become pretty restricted. I've installed my Sound-Blaster Titanium card just to show you it will fit without any problems. There is much more space still, so don't worry if you want to add a mid-end GPU. It will fit as long as comes equipped with a single-slot cooler.

Element Q Installation Details

Now that you've installed pretty much all you need, it's time to make some connections. In the Antec ISK310-150 review , cable management was really awful. Basically, in Mini-ITX cases you can't expect lot's of space for cable management. As for the Element Q, you really need to connect al the cables before installing the PSU. Otherwise, you won't be able to fit your hand trough the chassis to connect the S-ATA or 4-pin CPU connector.

This is the right moment to connect all the drives and front panel connectors to the motherboard too. So please, do it before installing your PSU or you'll need to take it off again to make the proper connections.

Have a closer look at the S-ATA and 24-pin ATX connectors. If you installed the sided-bay HDD, you won't be able to disconnect them as the hard drive will interfere with the clips. That means that if you want to change the motherboard, you'll need to uninstall the side-drive too. This only happens on H55 mini-ITX boards and not on ION-based motherboards which offer a different location for the 24-pin ATX connector.

Here's a photo of the side-hard drive connectors and cables. You can easily hide them below the optical drive.

Finally, you can put back the PSU to make the final arrangements. It doesn't look as messy as other Mini-ITX cases, does it?

In this last picture, we want to show you how near the CPU heatsink is to the PSU. The power supply is practically sited on top of the heatsink, so any other heatsink won't do the work unless being low-profile. The SFX PSU has a 80mm fan on the lower side, so it will exhaust all the CPU heat trough the PSU and finally to the rear of the Element Q. It might not be the best way, but at least there's some airflow in there.

Thermaltake Element Q Final Thoughts

The Thermaltake Element Q offers some features other Mini-ITX cases don't. Basically, the whole idea behind this case is to make the change to an HTPC cheaper and easier. While a good DVD-Writer can cost $20 USD, a slim DVD drive costs at least $35 USD. The same applies for the Blu-Ray drives, where you can find a 5.25" one for $60 USD while the slim variants cost $150 or more. Offering 3.5" bays for hard drives lets you re-utilize your old drives or pay a little bit less for storage. Of course, this leads to some disadvantages too. First, using 3.5" drives usually means consuming more watts. Maybe 2-5 watts isn't that much, but for a HTPC, they are a good percentage of the overall system. The same applies for the 5.25" optical drives which will add some watts to your power consumption.

The second disadvantage is the space. While Thermaltake kept the wide and large similar to other products, the height almost doubles other Mini-ITX cases. I don't find these particularly problematic, but other users might be looking for the slimmest case they can get for their money and this won't satisfy those needs. The Element Q lacks of aesthetics and cooling options. The overall design of this case is good, but for some reason, it doesn't looks like an elegant HTPC, but more like an enthusiast HTPC (if that exists). The red line at the front tries to add some unique/elegant design, but in my opinion they're just adding some pimp. Maybe a glossy plated line would have been much more appropriated to the HTPC concept. There's also a lack of airflow due to the null fans included on the case. The only fan moving air inside the case would be the CPU heatsink-fan, and right on the top of it, the PSU fan, creating a weird airflow inside the Element Q. There are holes on both sides but it's weird not to find holes on the top of the case, whereas there's a lot of space for ventilation. Let's go ahead with the conclusions of the Thermaltake Element Q.

Thermaltake Element Q Conclusion

Performance on PC cases is rather subjective. The Element Q offers good features and "normal" performance. They let you install 3.5" HDDs and 5.25" optical drives, but considering there's lots of space below the external drives, they could have offered space for a pair of 2.5" drives too, but they didn't. The ventilation is quite simple and it doesn't have any fans except for the PSU. The good part is that you can install full-height expansion cards like a Mid-end GPU or even a good sound card. That`s what makes this case so special at the end. I wish they had added push-clip covers to the external drives instead to the front connectors though.

The Appearance of the Element Q isn't exactly sleek and elegant. It looks much more like a toy or an enthusiast mini-case, and the plastic finish on the front makes it look a little bit cheap. They added a red line but again, that doesn't make it elegant. A silver strap would have made the job better. Because of the height, it looks more like a mini LAN-party case, than a HTPC, and since you can add a full-height GPU, it might work like that too.

Construction is where this case shines. The construction is very solid and it´s very easy to build your HTPC inside the Element Q, while it isn't on many other mini-ITX cases. The only downsides I should add here is that the side-HDD interferes with the 24-pin ATX connector clip and finally, that you need to take off the PSU in order to make all the connections. They could´ve added some 2.5" bays below the optical bays, but other than that, the design of the Element Q is very well produced.

As for functionality, Thermaltake didn't added fans and it lacks of eSATA port at the front. In exchange, they let you mount full size optical/storage drives and it includes a 220 watts PSU. This might be enough for some users who just want to make a quickly change to a smaller form-factor PC, but at the expense of wasting more energy for each component (perfectly understandable if that reduces the final cost).

As of June 2010 the Thermaltake Element-Q, model VL52021N2U, costs $64.99 at NewEgg and includes a 200W power supply. This puts this case just between the cheap and expensive cases making it an interesting proposal. The price you pay doesn't get at a premium level, and it offers full functionability and backwards compatibility with full sized drives, so, if you're looking for something between both worlds, this might be the right case for you.

Benchmark Reviews recommends the Thermaltake Element Q for those who want to build an inexpensive HTPC system without changing or adding an extra price for small-sized units. As you can reduce they cost (especially in the BD drives area) or even re-use your desktop drives, this becomes a very well suited product for that change. However, if you´re looking for the smallest configuration, with lower power consumption and noise, there might be other options in the market for your needs. Please remember the 220 watts PSU basically supports all kind of CPUs at the moment (without overclocking and over-voltage), so you could even buy a H55 motherboard and put a Core i5 650 in there and it should work well as long as you don´t add too much stress with a dedicated GPU.

Pros:

Cons:

Ratings:

• Performance: 8.50
• Appearance: 8.50
• Construction: 9.00
• Functionality: 9.50
• Value: 8.75

Final Score: 8.85 out of 10.

Quality Recognition: Benchmark Reviews Silver Tachometer Award.

Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.

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