Today we'll be looking at two new cases from one of our favorite manufacturers, Thermal Take. The Matrix is a midtower steel enclosure, and the Matrix VX is an aluminum midtower. Despite having the same name and similar looking front bezels the two cases are quite different internally.

As you can see from the photo above the Matrix (Steel) on the left is slightly shorter than the VX on the right. The VX has more beveled drive bay covers and has it's USB/Firewire/Audio headers on the front of the case at the top while the Matrix has them located on the right side of the case front bezel near the bottom. Personally I prefer the side USB layout, as I find it very awkward to plug in my USB devices and have cables hanging down across all of my drive bays.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to using aluminum in cases but the most notable difference is of course the weight. The Matrix VX weighs in at just eight pounds while the Matrix is over sixteen. It always amazes me when we get an aluminum case in stock and I pick it up. You're never quite sure if it's an empty box or if there's an enclosure in there somewhere hiding out. The aluminum cases also tend to dissipate heat better.

Structure

As we mention in every Thermal Take case review we do, the fit and finish on both Matrix cases was excellent. There are no sharp surfaces on the inside of either to cut your fingers on, as all metal surfaces are rolled over and in a few places where that wasn't possible they're capped with little rubber covers. Both cases have tool-less expansion card retainers which I'm not really big on. I move my computer around every day and I'm a little concerned about the little clip downs working themselves loose eventually. The ones on the VX lock down more solidly than those on the Matrix, as they slide down to retain the card then flip sideways and lock. The retainers on the Matrix just flip down and I've learned from experience that they certainly won't retain things like extra USB ports. Fortunately you can remove the hold downs if you don't like them and just use screws. Thermal Take obviously learns from their past mistakes as I note that the VX hold down has cut outs on the locking flaps to allow them to work with taller than normal cards, which was an issue on some older designs.

Matrix VX tool-less expansion slot retainer.

Matrix tool-less expansion slot retainer. I hate this type, but they do work most of the time.

I much prefer the side panel on the Matrix as it has latches that retain it and lock. The VX is retained by screws. I'm assuming they designed them differently because of the much thinner side panel material on the VX and the huge side window. Interestingly, the Matrix we received is slightly different than the model that's displayed on the Thermal Take website. The display model they have doesn't have the side latches. The VX also has a large bar that runs just under the top of the window across the case for rigidity and support for the power supply. It's retained by three screws and is easily removed. The Matrix has an adjustable bracket for power supply support located near the center top rear of the case which we had to remove to fit out Thermal Take 430 watt PSU as it wouldn't open wide enough for the PSU to fit. Unfortunately one of the screws that secures the bracket is under the motherboard and inaccessible once the mobo is mounted which we didn't notice and so had to pull the mobo out to remove it.

Matrix side panel.

Matrix VX side panel, also: Caramilk bars. Hmmmm.. Caramilk.

Both cases have loops for padlocks on the left rear of the case. The Matrix one comes mounted, the VX's is included in the bag and just screws in. The VX also has a case open warning switch. I've never actually seen anyone use either of these options and I immediately removed them from my case, but they might come in handy if you were attending LAN parties where you were going to be leaving your computer unattended for any length of time. One things I've always wondered about is why companies that build cases specifically for games/LANs don't make a reinforced slot on the back of the cases to accept a laptop lock down cable.

The surface finish on the VX seemed to scratch fairly easily, but that's not unusual for aluminum cases.

Drive Retention

It's amazing how much stuff you can cram into such a small case. I'm used to massive full tower cases like the Shark and Tsunami, and it's quite a difference to move everything from one of those behemoths into a midtower. Both cases have 4x external 5.25" bays, 2x external 3.5" bays and 4x internal 3.5" bays. Retention for the drives is quite different on these two cases. The Matrix drive bays have a bracket on the right side with two arms and a little dimple on the end of each arm that slips into the screw mounting holes on your drives while the left side has a purple plastic widget with two metal studs that slide into the screw holes. The assembly's knob is then twisted to lock it into the case. The dimples that supposedly hold the right side of the drive in don't secure it all that well. Realistically you're going to have to use screws thereby negating the tool-less nature of the drive retention. (Du'oh!)

Matrix retention widgets.

The Matrix VX has all of it's drives mounted on plastic screwless rails and the front bezel of the case had to be popped off to slide in externally access able drives such as your floppy and optical drives. Three of the internal 3.5" bays are mounted sideways at the bottom front of the case, which is an arrangement that I really like as it keeps your drive's cables out of the way of your cards and gives you a little more room, which is especially important when you have a newer higher end card that requires power. I'm not sure if my SLI rig would even fit into the Matrix, as it was a pretty tight fit in the VX and the traditional back facing drive mounts on the Matrix would make things even tighter. As it was the top hard drive wouldn't fit without removing the video cards from the motherboard.

Matrix VX drive rails, no screws required.

Matrix VX side facing hard drive mounts and top internal bay.

Cooling

The Matrix comes with one rear 12cm fan and has the option to install an extra fan at the front blowing across the hard drives. I'm not sure why it's an option, as it's the first thing I'd do if I was buying one of these cases. It's also got a spot on the side panel for an extra exhaust fan as well as a series of square slots that they claim is a "VGA card venting hole". Personally I'm not a believer in having side fans, or large openings on the side as I believe that they screw up your air flow and increase case fan noise. I like a case that has large low rpm fans front and back to keep things moving nicely and I'd tape up the side holes on the Matrix if I got one. The VX has a small set of holes for venting built into the grab handle on the side panel. I'm debating taping them up, but thus far I've left them alone.

The front panels on both Matrix cases are an aluminum grille. Each of the drive bay covers has a filter behind it. I'm not sure how often they're going to have to be cleaned but I'm guessing they should remain relatively clean as the majority of your incoming airflow should be from the bottom fan. The drive covers on the Matrix are a bit of a pain to remove as they've got a screw in them but the front panel is easy to pop off, which you'll need to do on both cases to clean the main filter. The VX front covers are easier to remove as they're just retained by small clips. The front panel lights on both cases are hooked into a wiring harness that splits in two so you can remove the entire front panel with ease for cleaning and drive installation. It's nice to see that Thermal Take went back to a filter in a plastic frame that works much better than the crappy one on my Shark case that always vibrated and made noise. Antec still has the best fan filter design ever. On their SLK series cases it just slides out the bottom of the front bezel, no tools or disassembly required.

The Matrix VX front filter. Note the wiring harness for the front panel lights and buttons at the top middle of photo.

Installation

The only problem we encountered while assembling the Matrix VX was the lack of space. The Matrix towers are fairly narrow and short when compared to the full tower cases that I'm used to. Working in the case wasn't too bad until I actually got the PSU mounted and it was time to start playing "hide the wires". It was quite frustrating to try and find a spot to run cables as there really isn't any extra space in this case for it. Generally there's some space behind the drive bays to stick extra stuff but not on the Matrix. I would have liked to the see the case be another half inch wide so I could do my cabling job a little neater, but I did the best I could. One of the new Ultra X-Connect power supplies with the super thin cables might help tidy things up a bit. It was also a bit of a pain to mount the top hard drive as that bay isn't accessible until the video cards are removed from the system. This shouldn't be a problem normally since most people don't have four hard drives in their system.

The Thermal Take Shark case towers over the Matrix VX.

Conclusion

Another excellent set of products from Thermal Take that are very reasonably priced. The VX would be our choice if we had to pick between the two because let's face it: Aluminum kicks ass. While the space in the Matrix cases is somewhat limited we did manage to fit a high performance gaming/workstation into one and everything did fit. Even with the case crammed full of gear it still stays quiet and cool and is one heck of a lot easier to haul around than a full tower. The Matrix case design is simple and elegant and everyone I've shown them to so far has commented on their good looks. Overall they're a great value for the money you're going to spend on them and should give you many years of service.

Everything stuffed into the Matrix VX. It fits, even if just barely.

Of course we had to add an extra blue light in the bottom of the case.