Final Thoughts and Conclusions
The new Suppressor F31 Silent Mid-Tower case proved to be a worthy addition to Thermaltake’s already formidable PC enclosure line up. The Suppressor F31 is a full-featured enclosure that focuses on quiet, virtually silent operation, while at the same time delivering excellent cooling options, usability and support for high-end hardware. The Suppressor F31 provides numerous different case cooling options and comes with two installed fans to get you started, with optional locations for up to nine case fans. The enclosure also supports single, dual, and triple fan radiators for liquid cooling. The case proved very easy to work thanks to ample room inside the enclosure and requires minimum tools. The front door, top, and both side panels are lined with sound absorption material to keep the noise down.
The Suppressor F31 case can easily accommodate extended VGA adapters and offers three internal HDD/SSD mounting bays and two external 5.25” bays. Overall the build quality is very good, the case is easy to work with, and it is has the potential to offer excellent cooling with minimal noise.
It’s always a challenge to combine silent operation with high performance cooling. The Suppressor F31 enclosure provides an excellent foundation to build upon but ultimately it will be the parts that you choose to install into this case that will determine the final noise to performance benefit.
If your main goal is to build a very quiet, virtually silent PC then pay close attention to your choice for CPU/CPU cooler, VGA/VGA cooler, and power supply. Look for components that are designed to operate efficiently with minimal waste heat generation. With the right choices you can assemble a relatively powerful PC that can still operate with minimal noise and be virtually silent.
For those planning to liquid cool the CPU and GPU(s), you may be happy with the base line airflow provided by the two bundled fans. But for many, installing additional case fans and/or replacing the two bundled 120mm fans with 140mm units will provide better cooling performance.
If you are air-cooling and still want the quietest computing experience, seriously consider the Suppressor F31 case without a window. You will gain sound damping material on the left side panel (instead of the window) and will get an extra fan mounting location on the left side panel (120mm or 140mm) to generate airflow in the GPU area.
The Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Window Mid-Tower case is currently selling for $99.90 USD at newegg.com (January 2016).
Strengths:
• Very quiet with lots of options for both air and liquid cooling
• Clean styling with black brushed aluminum front door panel
• Roomy inside – easy to work on (250mm/9.8” wide)
• One 120mm intake fan and one 120mm exhaust fan included
• Sound absorption material on front, top and side panel
• Large side window
• Up to nine different case fan mounting locations
• Support for single, dual, and triple fan radiators
• Tool-free ODD and 3.5” HDD bay mounts
• Two 5.25" external drive bays
• Three 3.5” internal HDD/SSD bays
• Front intake, PSU intake and top panel dust filters – easy to clean
• Oversized CPU back plate cutout for easy CPU cooler installation
• Up to 180mm (7.1”) of space for tall CPU coolers
• Allows installing extended VGA adapters: up to 420mm (16.5”)
• Functional cable routing cutouts and extra room for neat wiring
• Good value (performance to cost)
Minor Weaknesses:
• I/O panel on top harder to access when case is located under a desk
• Bundled fans are very quiet but don’t move a lot of air
Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Silent Mid-Tower Case
I would like to thank our friends at Thermaltake for sending us the Suppressor F31 case to review – thank you.
Is it just me, or does this
Is it just me, or does this look nearly identical to the Fractal Design Define R5?
There was a whole scandal
There was a whole scandal earlier in the year where thermal take was accused of stealing the design. Not sure where it was left of, but I have to agree their exteriors are very similar.
Also there is a model similar
Also there is a model similar to caselabs aluminum cases. Personally I can’t complain, I love fractal design cases, I love the define s, but they don’t have resellers in this part of the world and otherwise thermaltake yes. so at last here we can find something similar.
btw, only 3 HDD slots? really thermaltake?..rly?
ppthfft! NZXT S340 is WAY
ppthfft! NZXT S340 is WAY ahead of this and it’s an older case. If you’re using a motherboard that has M.2 and use a 2.5 inch SSHDs, why would you need more than one 3.5 HDD bay for? Unless you like loading games on a slow SATA mechanical drive. This is DESKTOP case. Why would you being building a SERVER farm using something like this?
Slow SATA mechanical
Slow SATA mechanical drive???? Harddrives are still very relevant and useful. Using them for backups and media libraries is a common use case, therefore more than 3 slots would be preferable for a case in this price range.
Why would people use SATA
Why would people use SATA drives? I don’t want to spend $2000 for 4 TB of space. You may be made of money but I am not.
And in case you haven’t
And in case you haven’t noticed, games use more than just the files installed on your hard drive to play it. They have many updates and large patch files to download and when you have a large number of games, that becomes alot of space. Basically, if you have to ask that, you have never been to a decent sized lan party with 15 people or more who need updates or patches for all of the PCs to work together so all can play the game. In short, it’s not that SATA hard drives are lacking as you imply, but that your experience concerning games is lacking.
They are making a VR headset
They are making a VR headset powered BY an FX8800P(35W) APU, PCPer please review it when/if it becomes available!
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/4aczv2/new_vr_headset_sulon_q_powered_by_amd/
Question, it says it supports
Question, it says it supports USB 3.0, does this include USB 3.1 or is the wiring/connector different?
Go to part 3(A Detailed Look
Go to part 3(A Detailed Look from the Outside) of the review it’s Type-A hardware so having any USB Type-C form factor/electrical standard plugs will have to come from the motherboard maker and be run out the back, or maybe some other user modded way. I’m sure that there is probably a way for some modding to get some Type-C connectivity to the front/top of the case as long if the motherboard comes with a USB 3.1 controller chip built into the chipset, or on motherboard.
Remember the Type-C plug is not tied into getting any USB 3.1 speeds as the USB Type-C Gen 1 is for the USB Type-C plug paired with a USB 3.0 controller chip, and the USB Type-C Gen 2 is the Type-C plug paired with a USB 3.1 controller chip. It’s also going to be up to the motherboard maker just what USB Type-C electrical ability the USB Type-C port supports as that will come from the motherboard OEM also, So go to the USB-IF website and see just what parts of the USB Type-C plug’s electrial standard that the motherboard OEMs have the option of supporting, so that will be up to the Motherboard’s OEM.
I’d would like to get thunderbolt 3 supported motherboard as even that will be delivered through USB Type-C form factor plug with the TB3 wires added to the USB Type-C receptical in addition to the other standard USB wires. There are even going to be USB Type-C plugs that have display port wires also! So the USB Type-C plug standard supports the TB3, and DP additions/extentions to the USB Type-C plug wiring standard, in adition to the USB Type-C’s electrical power delivery standard.
Great answer! Thanks.
Great answer! Thanks.
Nice review Lee.
This case
Nice review Lee.
This case is Thermaltake unashamedly copying the Fractal Design Define R5 as close as possible without getting sued. I don’t like that, and will avoid Thermaltake for my next build. I do understand that incorporating the best parts of competitors cases is how the market works, but Thermaltake should have tried a bit harder to differentiate their case from the Define R5.
How do you know that both
How do you know that both Thermaltake and Fractal Design do not get their parts supplied by the same subcontractor! Just look at laptop cases! And PC cases are mostly rectangular boxes. So the case’s sub-parts(Grommits, fan shrouds, standoffs) as well as sheetmatal stamped parts, plastic parts, and such may just come from other suppliers that supply the entire case making industry!
I’m building a new pc and
I’m building a new pc and looking at the cases on the market has me deciding on a few different cases.
Corsair 400C 450D
Phanteks Enthoo Pro M
Fractal Define R5 and Define S
I ended up with Thermaltake F31 Why?
– All of the things I didn’t like about the Fractal cases are not present here
– can mount 3.5 and 2.5 on the same racks behind motherboard, can use still use 5.25 bays for dual SSD mounting also.
Supports more sizes of Fans and radiators on the top, front and bottom,
– Top mounted magnetic dust filter
– bigger side panel window
front side intakes are dust filtered.
Hi iam looking for a cooler
Hi iam looking for a cooler and quieter case i use a elite 120 but with a kavari overclocked with antec 950 along with gtr black rx480 i cant stay cool with cables from my semi mod power supply my question is about fan headers as i only have cpu fan using my antec 950 and one other fan header which goes to a 120 fan but this f31 has 2 fans and room for more how is this done hase the case got fan headers ? Many thanks gar d