conclusion

Up to this point, I’ve been very vocal about the CTE C700 TG, and not without reason. Unfortunately, not everything is great. Once again Thermaltake presented us with a rather large case. That in itself is not the problem. The problem is that they gave us a large enclosure with poor space optimization. The CTE C700 TG is so tall and quite a bit wider than my favorite water cooling case. With the CTE C700, if you’re very careful and specific about the components you choose, you might be able to get two 420mm radiators and one 240mm on the bottom. In the case that I use as my personal rig, it is possible to fit two 480 mm radiators, as well as two 360 mm radiators. Both cases retail for $179.99.

Also, an examination of the CTE C700 front panel with a 360mm cooler installed, it becomes very apparent that if Thermaltake had just taken a little extra time to design the outer casing and inner spine of the chassis, there is easily enough physical space. that it would be possible to fit two 360mm radiators side by side in the front. There’s just about enough room to do that, depending on the case, so it could be a few small design tweaks that would allow for that and really increase the cooling potential of this case.

Also, the space at the top of the case, above the I/O, is very deep. It’s a long way from the top to plug in USB devices (especially rugged wireless dongles). It’s obvious that Thermaltake’s idea was to hide any cables coming out of the top of the chassis. Unfortunately, it also means that the cables they decided to hide from the outside are actually visible inside the chassis. Any USB or display cables connected to the I/O can be seen from the side panel.