Thermaltake Overseer RX-I Case Review

[siopao1984]

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Having been designing and manufacturing enthusiast-grade PC cases for over a dozen years, nowadays Thermaltake is one of the most experienced companies in the market and also one of the most well known brands among technology enthusiasts. Today we are having a look on a cheaper, less featured version of the Chaser MK-I full tower case which we reviewed several months ago, the Overseer RX-I, the case which Thermaltake desires to dominate the 110-130$ USD gaming case market with.Manufacturer’s features and specifications

• Breath lighting effect.
• E-sports gaming style front bezel.
• USB 3.0 SuperSpeed .
• Top-mounted HDD Docking Station enables blazing fast file transfer and effortless hot-swap capability.
• Black coating makes stylish inside look.
• Bottom-placed PSU design for better and easier installation.
• Supports most advanced AMD & NVIDIA graphic cards up to 12.5”/32cm (e.g. AMD Radeon HD 6990 & nVidia Geforce GTX 590).

P/N	VN700M1W2N
Case Type	Full Tower
Dimension (H x W x D)	535 x 220 x 580 mm (21.1x 8.7x 22.8 inch)
Net Weight	10.3 Kg / 22.7 lb
Side Panel	Window
Color	Exterior & Interior : Black
Material	SECC
Cooling System	Front (intake) : 200 x 200 x 30 mm Blue LED fan (600~800rpm, 13~15dBA) Rear (exhaust) : 120 x 120 x 25 mm Turbo Fan (1000rpm,16dBA) Top (exhaust) : 200 x 200 x 30 mm Blue LED fan (600~800rpm, 13~15dBA) 200 x 200 x 30 mm fan (Optional) Side (intake) : Optional 200 x 200 x 30 mm fan Bottom (intake) : Optional 120 x 120 x 25 mm fan
Drive Bays	- Accessible: 3 x 5.25’’, 1 x 3.5’’ - Hidden: 5 x 3.5’’ or 2.5’’ - HDD Docking: 1 x 3.5’’ or 2.5’’
Expansion Slots	8
Motherboards	9.6” x 9.6” (Micro ATX), 12” x 9.6” (ATX) , 12” x 13” (Extend ATX)
I/O Ports	USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 2, eSATA x 1, HD Audio x 1
PSU	Standard PS2 PSU
LCS Upgradable	Supports 1/2”?3/8”?1/4” water tube
Other	CPU cooler height limitation: 177mm VGA length limitation: 344mm

Read more: Thermaltake Overseer RX-I Case Review by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

Thermaltake supplies the Overseer RX-I case inside a large, colorful cardboard box. Thermaltake likes fancy artwork and this box is no exception, although a picture of the case itself dominates over the artwork displaying a “transformer”-like robot.



The bundle is fairly simple and straightforward. It includes all of the necessary screws (all of which are black), a small black and white manual, several black cable management bead ties, the motherboard speaker, two 3-pin to Molex fan power adapters and a CPU EPS/ATX 12V extension cable.

[siopao1984]

The Overseer RX-I has been designed to offer the same level of thermal performance as the Chaser MK-I at a considerably lower price, aiming towards enthusiasts who do not want/need the myriads of features the Chaser MK-I is loaded with. As a matter of fact the two cases share the same steel body, consequently we expect the Overseer RX-I and the Chaser MK-I to be similar in many ways.



Outside the box, the Overseer RX-I is an impressive-looking case with an aggressive futuristic design of many edges and sharp angles. Weighting just over 10kg, the Overseer RX-I is not what you may call a lightweight chassis but it definitely does not weight above average when compared to other steel cases of similar size.



The frame of the faceplate of the Overseer RX-I case is mostly made out of plastic and a metallic mesh covers the front, allowing air to be easily sucked inside the case by means of negative pressure and/or the front intake fan. Blue lines are forming a colorful next to the drive bays. Although it appears that four 5.25” bays are available, they are actually three; the far bottom bay is part of the faceplate and only the mesh may be removed to accommodate an external 3.5” device. The design of the faceplate is highly aggressive and complex, obviously aiming to please gamers and users who enjoy fancy solutions. A simple nickel plated company logo can be seen at the bottom middle part of the faceplate.



The front connectors and buttons of this case can be found at the top side of the faceplate. An asymmetric, large power button can be seen at the right front side of the faceplate, while the smaller reset button has been placed on the left. The “vandal” kind of artwork at the center between the two buttons will light up blue when the system is powered on. The very large power on and disk activity LEDs can each be seen at the right and left edge of the top cover’s front respectively.

Right after the front panel buttons Thermaltake neatly placed all of the front connection ports, which are two USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, two USB 3.0 ports and the standard headphone/microphone 3.5mm jacks.

The USB 3.0 is using an internal header and no cables will have to be routed to the back of your motherboard; however your motherboard must have an USB 3.0 internal header available as well. We should also mention that the USB 3.0 header cannot be installed on an internal USB 2.0 motherboard connector, meaning that if your motherboard does not have an internal USB 3.0 header you will not be able to make use of the USB 3.0 ports at all.

Further in towards the middle of the top cover, Thermaltake installed a SATA dock for 2.5” and 3.5” SATA devices, allowing the user to connect and remove disk drives as easily as if they were floppy disks. There is no fan speed controller, which is the most noticeable missing feature of the Overseer RX-I over the more expensive Chaser MK-I.

[siopao1984]

The top plastic cover of the case increases the aggressive appearance of the case even further, being littered with ridges and cuts and with the most part of its surface being covered with a metallic mesh. Beneath the metallic mesh a massive 200mm exhaust fan can be found hidden beneath a metallic mesh.



The mesh can be removed, along with the entire top panel plastic cover, by simply pulling it upwards from the rear side of the case. There is a second spot for another exhaust fan and a 120mm, 140mm or 200mm cooling fan can be mounted. Unfortunately this chassis design is not ideal for users who would like to install a two-fan watercooling radiator at the top of their case as the cuts are incompatible for that. A single fan radiator may be installed without any problems under either of the openings, as long as it utilizes a 120mm or larger fan.



The rear of the Overseer RX-I case is all black, as apparently is all of the chassis. The power supply bay has been moved at the bottom of the chassis. Right above it, we can see two round holes covered by rubber grommets for routing watercooling hoses or cables from the inside to the outside of the case and vice versa.



Most of this case’s bottom has been perforated to allow the PSU to draw cool air from the bottom of the case and for the installation of the optional fan. A long dust filter has been placed at the bottom of the case which can be removed by simply pulling it off from the rear of the case. The case has tall feet with anti-skid rubber installed.



The left side panel of the Overseer RX-I case is rather complex, with a strangely shaped sharp small plastic window embracing the 200mm intake fan opening.



There is no fan installed from the factory floor on the left side panel, only a dust filter which needs to be unscrewed in order to be removed for cleaning. An aftermarket 200mm intake fan may be installed if the user desires to do so.

[siopao1984]

As we mentioned before the body of the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I case is entirely black. Thermaltake also went with black cabling, internal plastics and even screws, making this case an all-black affair. The motherboard tray is cut behind the CPU area, allowing the installation of large CPU coolers without having to remove the motherboard from the case. There are five large holes covered by rubber grommets for routing cables from and to the back of the tray.



The rear of the motherboard’s tray is roomy and gives the users ample room to route and manage the cables of their systems. There are numerous points for securing the bead cable ties included with this case, allowing an unprecedented level of cable management versatility.



The five 3.5” trays are black and self-locking once inserted into their slots. They are simpler than the trays we found in the Chaser MK-I case and the drives will need to be secured with screws onto them. These trays can accommodate 2.5” drives as well, which with the massive SSD device market growth it becomes more and more important.



The disk drives are being cooled by the massive 200mm LED fan installed at the front side of the chassis. The large fan runs at a comfortable 800RPM, balancing thermal performance and acoustics

[siopao1984]

The expansion slot covers are mostly cut open, allowing small volumes of fresh air to enter the case. Given that the exhaust fans of this case are more and more powerful than the intake fans, substantial amounts of air will enter through these slots (as well as from the perforated bottom and side panels) due to the negative pressure. Thumbscrews are used to hold the expansion cards, although a screwdriver should be used for firm long term installation.



The rear 120mm fan is a relatively simple 1000RPM black fan has its own 3-pin power cable, which is nicely sleeved.



Our ICTT system easily fits inside the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I case and plenty of room is being left to work and to route cables. Long PCI-E cards of up to 33cm in length will fit inside the case and they will not blocked the installation/removal of disk drives, since the drive bays are facing sideways. Installing a system inside the Overseer RX-I should be a quick job for those in a hurry those who simply are not crazed about a perfect cable job; the options are there though, perfectionists can take their time and come up with a remarkably clean system.

[siopao1984]

In order to assess the thermal performance of the case we will be using our Integrated Casing Torture Test (ICTT) system to take readings over a period of one and a half hour. All of the case fans are operating at their maximum speed during the test and both side panels are closed. The exhaust temperature probe was placed above the rear fan of the case.



As expected, the Overseer RX-I shares not only the design but also the excellent thermal performance of its more expensive sibling, the Chaser MK-I. The temperatures inside the HDD trays are relatively high considering there is a 200mm fan blowing at them; however one needs to consider that the plastic trays reduce the surface of the drives which comes in contact with the ambient air and that shows even with our dummy drive heaters. The area surrounding the CPU is being kept very cool considering the conditions inside the case during this test and we also received good results from the GPU card area, despite the lack of side panel fan blowing fresh air towards the cards directly. The thermal performance which the stock fans offer is more than adequate for most users, with the exception of hardcore gamers who are planning to install triple and quad GFX systems inside this case and should purchase a 200mm side panel fan beforehand.

Despite the low dB(A) ratings of its stock cooling fans, the acoustics performance of the Overseer RX-I is barely above average. The fans installed inside the Overseer RX-I generate 35.7dB(A) while operating at their maximum speed, a clearly audible figure. Since this case is aiming towards gamers and enthusiasts, we hardly think that this would be a problem for most; however this case also offers no means of fan speed control and users who would like a quiet system will have no other option than either purchase a fan speed controller or disconnect some of the stock cooling fans.

[shryock]

i wish ma-available ni soon sa cebu.

[siopao1984]

Quality (30% of the total score)

Quality wise and considering its retail price, the Overseer RX-I is a well made product and built with fine materials. The steel body of the case is very strong and the plastic panels are thick and well made; however the studs which secure the plastic front and top panels on the steel body are not as strong and can crack after a potent blow. Furthermore, the Plexiglas window panel is of lower quality than the rest of the case and it can be scratched or brushed with relative ease if mishandled. Safety wise, the aggressive design of the Overseer RX-I creates a lot of sharp edges and bumps which could hurt a person who might collide with (e.g. fall on) the case by accident which, considering this case is designed to be placed on the floor or a low height shelf, is especially going to be an issue if children are going to be frequently present inside the room.

Quality Score 8.5/10



Performance (30% of the total score)

Without a doubt the thermal performance of the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I is excellent and should please even the most hardcore of overclockers. The Overseer RX-I can handle a massive thermal load for extended period of time even with its stock cooling fans alone. Considering that the cooling capabilities of the case can be expanded much further, this case gives a lot of headroom for installing power hungry parts and performing modifications for highly advanced users. The acoustics performance of the Overseer RX-I is just above average. While most gamers and enthusiasts would find it satisfying, more advanced users and especially users who enjoy a perfectly quiet running system from time to time might need to either uninstall some of the fans or purchase a fan speed controller.

Performance Score 9.0/10



Aesthetics (30% of the total score)

Scientists claim that aesthetics are a non-relative and subjective matter and the Overseer RX-I is the perfect example of just that. The large tower case has a highly complex and very aggressive design of many straight lines and sharp edges, which is paired with blue lighting on several parts of the faceplate. Obviously, this case is not meant for users who would require a product subtle and elegant. On the other hand however, there are several classes of users who will enjoy the strong design of the Overseer RX-I case, including (but not limited to) gamers and modders, particularly young adults and teenagers.

Aesthetics Score 9.0/10



Value (10% of the total score)

Considering its size, construction, versatility and number of features, the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I possibly offers the best potential value for money to users wishing to purchase a gaming-class case around its price range. The Overseer RX-I is currently retailing for about 125$ USD (160$ SGD at the time of this review) and considering that other cases utilizing the same base chassis design retail at a price of more than 75% higher, the Overseer RX-I is nothing short of a steal for those seeking a high performance gaming case with exceptional adaptability and unique appearance.

Value Score 9.5/10

[Vino Kid]

Thermaltake overseer RX-1 Full Tower Chassis
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