Thermaltake A500 Aluminium and Glass Edition Chassis Review

Complete System

The 500 is a pretty big chassis, so it’s no surprise that we had zero compatibility issues with our test build. The layout of the chassis is well suited to high-end hardware. Plus, if something doesn’t fit, like a huge GPU, the HDD bays are movable and removable. Plus the entire chassis can be dismantled if you must, so customisation and modding is well catered for. Either way, you’re a thumbscrew or two away from getting what you need from it.

The PSU shroud keeps things neat and tidy, and again, I love those horizontal cable routing grommets. For getting PSU cables to the GPU, they just cannot be beaten. If you have a riser cable for vertical mounting of the GPU, that would also mean the GPU hides a few of the cables behind it, keeping things looking neat and tidy.

Spacious!

There’s a huge amount of space within the chassis too, so larger tower air coolers will fit with ease. The one we have isn’t tiny, but it looks it in here. there’s loads of room at the rear of the chassis, which would suit an AIO liquid cooler. However, if you’re going for large radiators, there’s room enough in the top for a slim radiator with push-pull fans or a thicker radiator with one layer of fans.

Up in the front, you’ll find excessive amounts of space for thick radiators, even if you have some of the biggest GPUs on the market installed.

Great Airflow

Airflow front the front panel is pretty much unobstructed too, meaning both your CPU and GPU get all the cool air they need. The GPU is just 1cm from the HDD bays here, but it fit just fine. Again, I could move the drive bays if required anyway. The drive bays have open sides too, so airflow is unobstructed even if you leave them in place.

Cable routing is tricky as it’s all going to be on show. However, the black interior means that cables blend in really easily. Well, unless you have brightly coloured cables, but that’ll be your choice on how you integrate that. The PSU shroud hides excess cable easily enough though, and overall, it’s easy to work with.

Once you close the side panel, the slight tint on the glass hides the cables even further. You’ll only see light shining through those openings or from any lights within your build.

Showcase!

With the other side panel back in place, the A500 looks glorious. The huge windows allow loads of light both into and out of the chassis, meaning you can easily show off your hardware.

RGB lighting on our components shines through nicely enough, highlighting our hardware.

However, good the hardware looks though, it’s playing second fiddle compared to the exterior of the chassis.