Thermaltake The Tower 500 - Good Lord It's Huge 😳

00:00 Start
01:11 The Tower 500 - meccano!
03:15 The back
03:32 Storage options / removing plates
04:17 Bottom of the case
04:47 Front cover / interesting design / cooling
06:30 Nut plate - for pump mounts
07:05 Stripped down - building a system into the 500
10:30 Analysis: Thermal & noise testing
13:48 Leos Closing Thoughts

Thermaltake The Tower 500
MSRP for the case is £199
Accessory LCD panel is £89.99 inc VAT

Product page

Test System:
Processor: Intel Core i9-12900K (16 cores/24 threads)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Toughliquid Ultra 360
Motherboard: Asus TUF Gaming B660-Plus WiFi D4
Memory: 16GB Thermaltake ToughRAM DDR4-3600
Graphics card: Sapphire Radeon RX6800 XT 16GB
Power supply: Thermaltake ToughPower PF1 ARGB 850W Platinum
SSD: 500GB Sabrent Rocket 4.0 M.2 NVMe
OS: Windows 11

Pros:
The Tower 500 is unusual so kudos to Thermaltake on that score
The price is reasonable but you will need to add extras such as fans

Cons:
The case takes a large amount of desk space
You only get one set of fan/radiator brackets in the package
The optional LCD screen is fun but expensive

Award Worth Buying
Marks 8 out of 10

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#pccase #thetower500 #thermaltake

[Kiotai]

Thank you SO MUCH for the FULL teardown of the case. It really helps potential buyers visualize different setups. Most of the time other channels just rotate case and describe what's in the instruction manual.

[harleylover]

I actually really like the modular design, like mechano as you say Leo. pretty cool

[mikeoleksa]

This TT Tower 500 solves all the problems with the TT Level 20 HT that I have. The L20 HT is a beautiful case, but there are very limited fan and radiator mounting options where the fans aren't choked by a pane of glass or just recirculated back into the case. I have a full custom loop (CPU block, GPU block, 2 radiators, reservoir, and pump) and it even suffers from slightly higher temperatures.

[QuentinStephens]

I come back from a great evening out to a great video from Kitguru. Thank you Leo. I particularly liked your comments about Meccano and the fan brackets. I also liked how easy it seemed to be to disassemble the case.

Thermaltake seem to have used a paint (powder coating?) that is even less reflective than normal which makes it very difficult to see the insides. Perhaps some additional front lighting would have helped? Or maybe it's just Youtube's compression; I note that the 4k version of the video is not yet available.

I have many years of experience with vertically mounted GPUs first with a Silverstone FT02 and then a FT05 and cannot recommend vertically mounting a GPU that does not have a blower cooler. My GTX 780 Ti and RTX 2080 Ti with heatpipes and fans really didn't like it in the longer term whereas my Titans with blower coolers were fine. (If memory serves some GPUs are not warranted in a vertical configuration.) With the 2080 Ti I ended up leaving the FT05 on its side. However, a watercooled GPU is possibly a very different matter and should you do a follow-up video, I hope you will investigate that.

[NormaBATES]

I have this case. You said the "thermals are peculiar, the airflow comes in from the top, in from the side wich doesnt have fans on the side, in from the floor and expelled from the right side." If you put fans for intake on the front where the lcd screen is, intake on the floor where the psu shroud is, intake on the back behind the motherboard, and exhaust fans on top and exhaust fans on the right side, (see it as push-pull configuration, but then vertical) the airflow and thermals are actually very good.

[AlyxSharkBite-]

Got this case and that same aio coming from what I understand when you fill out the other fans (bottom and top) airflow is quite good. The issue is the ASUS board will default to letting the 12900k run with unlimited power. The fact it wasn’t thermal throttling is really impressive for that cooler. Even the Corsair H170i 420mm has a hard time keeping a 12900k under 90c with an unlimited power budget.

[akkanomark]

Good work leo you could mount the AIO hose bottom but you put it on top

[Magus]

I use the top fans as exhaust (hot air rises). Exhausted air is pretty cool.

[doctorno]

I do like this pop corm maker case. I almost got it for my home theatre p.c to be placed in my lounge.

After a more serious thought on internal components I needed to fit into it and the flexibility I wanted down the line the case wasn't fit for purpose.

Definitely will re look at this case for another project if applicable. I really do like it.

[JayGlascoe]

I finally started my build in this beast. Had to re-watch for tips.

[themice]

CPU temps - probably down to the "issues" with LGA 1700 socket seating ... also with this case - no gpu sag 😀

[Nigel__]

I don’t need a case this big, but I sure do want it!

[aeon]

It looks like a pop corn machine, I love it!😍

[nadtz]

If I was into big glass cases that's a pretty nice one. Funny that they call it a mid tower though, it's huge for a mid, though that thing screams custom loop and I havent seen an example of that yet. Happy with my solid Torrent though.

[williamc]

I have a Thermaltake Level 20 XT case. Now that is a big case!

[marcin_karwinski]

I wonder if this was a better buy if they added that second 360mm rad/fan bracket, or if they made it an up to 420mm set, that could allow the use of both sides for exhausts, either as AIOs for CPU and GPU or as the dual bigger rad setup in your loop, with top and bottom acting as intakes... or in a reverse orientation - by having two sides acting as intakes and having the chimney styled layout with the top for exhaust... Mayhaps there are huge differences in temps depending on not only components but the airflow orientation that the Tower 500 suffers from if inadequately configured...

[benjaminoechsli]

9:46 Always good to see reviewers practice what they preach. ;)

If I had the right motherboard to support all that front I/O, I might consider this. Actually, AMD's AM5 platform is supposed to have close to double the I/O, isn't it? Something to consider in the future.

[JeffBesoz-ki]

Thank you Sir, very informative. Great work

[OneManShow]

The case is pretty and flexible as far as configurations go. Normally I choose cases that meet my hardware needs. Granted, I did buy a Phanteks Enthoo Luxe for my Threadripper build. Roomy, pretty, and had the space I needed for my NAS drives, optical disc drives and USB 3.1 expansion bay. If the Tower 500 had been around back then I think it would have made my short list of cases for that project. Not sure if I like the rotated motherboard, though. I have a lot of I/O cables and having them be visible would kind of crash the aesthetic. Fine review except for that little detail. Are the cables routed out the back? Does it take a 90 degree-type video connector to accomplish that? As for the LCD accessory screen, I think that price is pretty steep for a cosmetic enhancement.

[OWRx]

I just got this and will be adding a few more fans to it. I am going to make the majority inlet to create positive pressure and see how that goes. I am running a 7900xtx red devil so it will be interesting to see thermals and an 5800x3d.