Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
By removing the two thumbscrews at the back, one can open up the side panel on the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I. The side panel uses a conventional removal design, where the user slides the side panel back to free its hinges. Although this side panel design is by far the most used and most seen on cases, it definitely is not my favorite one, because it can be difficult when putting the panel on.
In contrast, the interior of this full-tower chassis is much more down-to-earth compared to its outgoing battle hungry exterior. Painted matte black all around, and fitted with rubber cable flap hiders, the overall quality is generally acceptable. Much like the exterior, the Overseer RX-I follows the same blue-black color theme, with the 5.25" drive bay tool-free locking mechanisms colored bright blue.
As stated previously, the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I is a full tower chassis that can house Extended ATX sized motherboards. ATX and mATX are also form factors that are supported by the RX-I. The standoff mounting holes are clearly labeled on the motherboard tray; in fact, the standoffs are already pre-installed. The Overseer RX-I uses a 140mm TurboFan as an exhaust (Much like the Thermaltake Chaser MK-1; a larger 200mm blue LED fan seen at the top. Both exhaust fans uses 3-pin motherboard headers with fully sleeved cables. The top exhaust fan cable routes through the back of the motherboard tray, and is neatly tied down along with the front 200mm blue LED fan cable for maximum user convenience. From the above photo, you may see that the top bezel does not feature a dust filter. This, in my mind, is a huge issue with the entire design. The majority of users will most likely not install another fan at the top, unless they are planning to add a water cooling radiator in that location. Because of this, dust will fall freely into the system through without much resistance.
Below the top fan is a very small opening just above the motherboard tray; perfect for routing the motherboard power cable, and the such. I would like to see the hole increase in size, since many cables, such as power, fan, and even HD audio may find its way through here to plug into the motherboard. Hence, such a small cable hole falls short in my opinion. On the other hand, below is a huge opening on the motherboard tray for users to easily install aftermarket CPU heatsink backplates. The hole is actually quite large to accommodate motherboards of different generations.
Because the case uses a bottom mounted power supply, we can see the usual ventilated grille. Since the Thermaltake Overseer RX-I is able to pack a lot of internals inside, one thing that will always be a priority is the ability to support long and high-wattage power supply units, and this case certainly satisfies. Unfortunately, this PSU bay area is missing vibration dampening feet or material we tend to see on most enthusiast cases nowadays, but other than that, I have no complaints.
Just above the bottom mounted power supply bay are eight expansion card slots. The expansion slots use thumbscrews to secure the slot covers and add-on cards. Along with the system seen in the 5.25" drive bays, Thermaltake has made the Overseer RX-I a fairly tool-free case, which is great for users who find this extra convenience beneficial.
Towards the front are the HDD mounting trays. These trays are made out of a fairly bendable plastic, and are easy to slide into place. To install a standard 3.5" hard drive, one will need to slide out a tray, place the HDD into it, align the screw holes on the sides, and use the provided screws in the accessory bag to fasten the HDD in. The side of the HDD tray includes rubber dampeners, which is quite nice. To install a 2.5" laptop or solid state drive, the user will need to position the drive with the holes found on the tray, and screw the drive into place with the provided screws.
Removing the back side panel reveals one of the cleanest motherboard tray backsides I have seen. All the front panel wires are routed to the back of the motherboard tray, and are cable-tied neatly for the user -- straight out of the box. The front and top 200mm blue LED fan cables are also routed through here, and are tied down to the back of the motherboard tray, just liked the front panel wires. Both fan cables use a 3-pin connector. No more headers on your motherboard? No worries -- Thermaltake has provided two short 3-pin to Molex cable adapters in the accessory bags. Lastly, found all around the back of the motherboard tray are a lot of cable tie holes, as well as an immense amount of cabling room behind the hard drive trays. All cables are fully sleeved for a nice finishing touch.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
