Thermaltake Ceres 500 TG ARGB Case Review

How Much Does it Cost?

Thermaltake Ceres 500 TG ARGB Black Mid Tower PC Case is a high-end and very well-made case, so when I heard it costs £159.99 I was not surprised at all. It’s not cheap, but you certainly get what you pay for. It’s about the same as a Lian Li Lancool III, Corsair 280X, or Fractal Torrent, which are all great too, but my point is that the price is competitive for a flagship mid-tower. Also, the inclusion of 3 x 140mm RGB fans in the front and 1 x 120mm in the rear certainly helps. It would be interesting to see if TT did a fanless version for around £129-ish though.

Now, one very important thing to remember, is that the LCD display IS NOT INCLUDED as standard. The Thermaltake LCD Panel Kit Black for Ceres 500 TG ARGB is an optional extra that costs £109.99, and that’s not exactly cheap for a gimmick. If you can afford it and you think it looks neat and you can’t live without it, it’s actually pretty neat. However, it certainly isn’t going to appeal to everyone, so I’m glad it’s optional as the case is nice on its own, and £269.98 for the pair is a tough pill to swallow for many.

Overview

Thermaltake has taken the standard mid-tower design we know and love and… actually done pretty much nothing to it. This case is as straightforward as they come in terms of configuration and that is a good thing. There’s a PSU shroud, good cable management, removable drive bays, and all the stuff we expect to see on a good-quality mid-tower.

However, it’s the little details that add up. The drive trays are mostly flat, even the motherboard tray is surprisingly flat. there’s actually very little in the main compartment that sticks out much at all. This is a huge benefit for hardware compatibility and makes for an easy installation process. Your motherboard isn’t going to get hung up on some fancy metal cable routing shroud, your radiator thickness won’t be limited due to a funky aesthetic curved mounting plate, and GPUs can use virtually the whole length without bumping into a fan mount or drive bay.

The case is very capable and can handle some potent liquid cooling configurations. However, I’m really impressed with the stock setup. 3 x 140mm fans in the front mean big airflow at lower RPMs and low noise. There’s one of the best air filter configurations I’ve seen in a long time too, with everything fitting tightly, and yet still easy to open up and maintain.

However, as “standard” as the layout is (which is a good thing), it’s the garnish that sells me on this case. Those funky little air vents next to the PSU look cool. I like the unique perforation design on the front and top panels and that weird angular folded metal that surrounds the front panel. The side panel glass stops short of the front of the case, giving it a bit of a different look to most cases that are just full glass. None of this is groundbreaking stuff, but it all adds up to a really unique and bold design that certainly grabs your attention.

Oh and you can slap a little LCD screen on the side that has dank memes and CPU temperatures showing on it. You don’t need it, it’ll cost a lot of money… but let’s be honest, you know you want it.