Thermaltake Suppressor F31 ATX Chassis Review

By far one of the most spacious and modular cases we’ve reviewed in a while. This chassis was built for those who do things a little different from the norm. Extremely customizable and fun to build with, buckle up while we talk about Thermaltake’s new Suppressor F31 case.PANELS & FILTERS

A first look at the F31 shows us a solid black colour. The front panel is a door that opens to expose the two 5.25” drive bay doors and the front fan’s dust cover. While on the topic of dust covers, the F31 is full of them. Thermaltake has really taken an effort into ensuring your computer stays clean and running smooth. The panel door itself has a padded sound dampener, sound “suppressor” some may say, bringing its name into the picture. At the bottom of the door panel you’ll see a small rubber tab on a hook, if you pull this up and off the hook it acts as a locking device when engaged on a tab located on the bottom left of the front panel. The only reason we could see for this lock to be used is if you transport your computer often and don’t’ want the door swinging open and potentially breaking. The magnet is pretty strong that holds the door shut to begin with but that’s the conclusion we came up with.

As you move up to the top of the front panel you’ll notice the power button centered on the top, t it’s left the microphone and headphone jacks and a reset button. We had a little issue with the headphone jack as when we plugged in we only had sound in the right-ear we had to pull it back slightly to get the proper sound. We assume this is just an individual error and don’t think is indicative of Thermaltake’s quality. To the right of the power button is where you’ll find your two USB 2.0 & 3.0 plugs. The front panel easily removes with two clips per side top and bottom. This is how you will be able to add/remove fans and add/remove the 5.25” bays. The front fans draw in air from both sides of the front panel and through the front panel when the door is open. With the front door panel closed the air being drawn in through the front filter is cut off and almost makes the front dust cover irrelevant as usually you won’t leave the door open.  The top panel reveals something unique, a magnetic dust cover which spans the majority of the top panel. This is a good idea as it’s easily removable and allows access to the top panel which you will see there is plenty of room to mount fans and liquid coolers. There are three removable panels dependent on how many and what size of fans/coolers you attach.

The side panels are attached by two thumb screws which were rather difficult to unscrew or put back in. Almost felt like you were cross-threading each one. Paint may have been applied to the screws or chassis after build causing this extra friction. Once you pop the window panel off you’ll probably hear a little rattle, this is due to how the window is connected to the panel itself. Little bent metal tabs hold the window in place. We weren’t huge fans of this. Even though it’s a rarity that you would ever remove the window from the panel, the bendy tabs remind us of those that hold the backs of picture frames on and they always seem to break over time. A little extra time spent engineering the front could alleviate such problems as tabs breaking and the excess rattling from not being secured properly to the panel.One thing we noticed about both panels is that they have hooked lips that usually you’d figure would slide them into place but just the front slides and you can basically close the sides like a door. Not a huge fan of that especially with how finicky the thumbscrews are, but not a major issue.

Opposite the window panel is a full steel panel, it’s heavy. On the inside of the panel there is more sound dampening padding. A quick look on the inside and you’ll see that Thermaltake has given the F31 more than enough stand-off so your cables aren’t pushing back on the panel when you close it. They have also left you the ability to clip your 3.5″trays on the back side if you wish to keep your SSD’s or HD’s out of the way. Along the bottom you’ll see there is another dust cover that slides out but you’ll have to elevate the front of the computer to access it as it’s difficult to get your fingers under there and pull it down and out.