Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Silent Mid-tower Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The Thermaltake Suppressor F31 is available in the UK from Scan.co.uk for a very reasonable £67.90. Readers in the US, Europe and Germany can expect to find it at most popular retailers for $89,90, €89,90 and €99,90 respectively. The Windowed version of the F31 is also available from Scan for just £71,17, and you should expect a similar small increase in price in other regions.

Overview

Thermaltake have really gone all out when it comes to build quality on this chassis. The side panels alone are insanely thick and heavy, so much so that it seems almost pointless having the noise dampening material installed, but it certainly couldn’t hurt. If you’re the kind of person who kicks your PC in a fit of rage while gaming, it’ll take its beating without sustaining damage, but I can’t say the same for the bones in your foot. That extra tough build quality doesn’t just help with kick-resistance and sound proofing either. If you’re installing a lot of high-end water cooling equipment, that adds a lot of weight to the system, so it’s nice to have the confidence that the frame of the chassis can handle it.

The system may be closed up pretty tight, but with all that ventilation on the front panel edges, on the base of the chassis and the optional fan mounts on the top and side, airflow certainly isn’t going to be an issue. You can have this chassis as closed up tight or as open to airflow as you like, or as your build requires and it’s certainly nice to have that kind of flexibility. With washable, clip in, slide on and magnetic dust filters on every intake, maintenance is going to be very easy too, just strip them down, give them a wash and a dry, re-install and you’re good to go.

Cable routing on this chassis is incredible, there’s a crazy amount of space behind the motherboard that will no doubt please those who like to do the lazy cable management method – stuffing huge amounts of cables out of the way. Those who like things neat and tidy will find lots of cable tie loops, a huge range of routing grommets, the PSU shroud and more will all help you get everything just the way you like it. Of course, the interior of the chassis does look amazing, but you’ll no doubt want the windowed side panel version if you’re eager to show that off.

The removable hard drive bay is handy, but even more so that you can move all three 3.5″ drive bays to behind the motherboard, freeing up all that space for radiators and other hardware of your choice; something that will no doubt please the modding community.

Pros

Tough build quality
Sound proofing materials
Front panel door
Removable 5.25″ drive trays
Removable HDD bays
PSU shroud
Excellent cable management
Dust filters
Removable cooling mount covers
Room to fit 3.5″ drives behind motherboard

Cons

Two types of screws used to mount side panels
Removal of the front HDD bay is essential if you’re using front mounted radiators or dual GPUs (for most cards)

“The Thermaltake Suppressor F31 may be rather bland looking behemoth, but in terms of building a system, it’s an extremely capable and well-made chassis, that’s sure to last you a lifetime, while helping you have a cool and quiet system build.”