A Closer Look:

   The Thermaltake V9 Black Edition was designed to be quite a windstorm, but also to be very quiet because no one wants the sound of a box fan sitting next to them. You'll immediately notice the huge 230mm intake fan located on the left side side panel. This is positioned to blow cool air directly onto the entire motherboard area, including CPU, memory, graphics, etc. This will be especially crucial when building a high performance dual graphics rig, and/or overclocking your components. Add to this the same huge 230mm exhaust fan located directly above the motherboard/CPU area, but instead this time it's on top of the chassis. This is designed to suck the hot air being expelled from the red hot CPU/Chipset/Memory area of the motherboard. So cool air in the side, it gets hot and exhausts right out the top. A potent combination of airflow it is and a must for today's ultra fast gaming rigs.

Moving to the back of the chassis, you'll find dual watercooling tube inlets/outlets. Thermaltake has thought ahead and added this convenient option for the water-coolers, or soon to be water-coolers out there. Keep in mind that Thermaltake offers many liquid cooling options that would be a perfect addition to this chassis.

    Inside the V9 Black, Thermaltake included all the tool-less gadgetry they could fit, including tool-less hard drive cage, tool-less 3.5" bay, and even a tool-less I/O section. All to that the thumbscrews that the side panels tighten up with and the only thing you even need a screwdriver for while assembling your system is the motherboard standoffs and screws. That certainly makes things easier and less time consuming for the heavy hardware swapper.

   Popping off the front bezel was surprising easy. In some chassis`, this simple task can be incredibly daunting. Fortunately, Thermaltake made it easy for us all. Notice also the foam dust protectors (cushions) inside the bay covers. Another nice touch that certainly helps keep dust out and noise in.

Notice the "backside" picture above. See the cutout that looks like a fan? Well that's another thoughtful addition to this chassis by Thermaltake. It allows you to install most motherboard mounting systems for the CPU without removing the motherboard. It may not work on them all, but it should certainly work on a bunch of common setups. Removing the motherboard to install a CPU cooler is definitely one of the most heard complaints and with Thermaltake trying to do their part to help out, hopefully more manufacturers will follow suit, even on lower end models.

Conclusion:

Thermaltake has done it again. They've created a perfect blend of mainstream looks and high end performance with the V9 Black Edition Chassis. I can see this housing being used for a serious gaming rig. Slap a couple graphics cards in here along with an overclocked quad core and feel confident that the V9 Black will certainly keep the cool air coming in and the hot air being forcefully evicted without mercy. With that in mind, I shall award this product a Gamers Choice Award.

A big thanks go out to Thermaltake for allowing Virtual-Hideout to give it a review for you guys. If you like what you see, and I think you do (or at least should), then head on over to Newegg and pick yourself up one while they're in stock.

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