Thermaltake A31 Chassis Review

Out of the box we see that the left side of the chassis features a raised section and a huge side panel window, this provides a little extra room within the chassis as well as a great view of the chassis interior.

Along the front we have this fantastic “bay” look, where each section of the front panel appears to be a 5.25″ bay, of course, that isn’t the case and only the top three 5.25″ bays are actually usable by drives and devices. Either way, it provides a really uniform and stylish look to the chassis and that blue trim really does look great, adding a classy touch of colour to the front of the chassis.

The top I/O panel features a large custom design power button, the HDD LED and the reset switch, each set into a single recess section that gives them a seperated appearance from the rest of the panel. Further to the right we have microphone and headphones jacks, as well as a pair of high speed USB 3.0 ports. That’s quite a small number of USB ports for a chassis of this price, but at least they’re high speed.

Behind the front panel we see that the 5.25″ covers are each fitted with a tiny bit of removable mesh, which roughly translates as a royal pain in the butt to clean when it comes to maintaining any dust build up on your chassis. Although Thermaltake have provided a good quality 120mm fan on the front intake and there is room for a 2nd, as well as a tailored cable management cut-out for the front fans, both of which are welcome features.

The right side panel features the same raised section as the left side, albeit without the windowed section. This raised section will alow us a little more room for cable management behind the motherboard and more space is always a bonus in this area as it can make the build process a whole lot easier.

The top panel features a large ventilated section that is compatible with 120/140mm fans, up to a thickness of 25mm. It also features a raised section in the middle which keeps in style with the raised section of the left and right side panels. further to the front we have a plastic, but ridged area, this is can act as a handy area to store your USB drives, controllers, etc.

Around the back of the chassis we find a small screwed panel that can be used for a locking mechanism, a 120mm exhaust fan, 7 ventilated PCI slot covers, two cable/water routing holes, a small ventilated section and finally a bottom mounted PSU cut-out. Nothing extensive, but certainly all the major features you would need for a modern gaming system.

The underside of the chassis features four very large and durable plastic moulded supports, these provide excellent ground clearance that should allow for a lot of airflow to the 2/3 length air filter.

The air filter is easily slid out from the back of the chassis and provides a clean airflow to the bottom PSU air intake as well as the bottom-center  internal 120mm fan mounting (fan not included).