in conclusion
So far, I’ve been very complimentary of the CTE C700 TG, and not without reason. Unfortunately, not everything is rosy. Thermaltake once again shows us a rather large case. This in itself is not a problem. The problem is that they gave us a large case that was poorly optimized for space. The CTE C700 TG is as tall as my personal favorite water-cooled case, and a lot wider. For the CTE C700, if you’re very careful and specific about the parts you choose, you can probably get two 420mm radiators and a 240mm bottom radiator. In my case as a personal rig, I can fit two 480mm radiators as well as two 360mm radiators. Both boxes retail for $179.99.
Also, inspecting the front panel of the CTE C700 with the 360mm radiator installed, it’s obvious that if Thermaltake had spent a little more time designing the exterior trim and internal spine of the case, there would easily be enough physical space to place two 360mm side by side on the front heat sink. Depending on the situation, there’s almost enough room to do this, so some minor design tweaks may be needed to achieve this and really increase the cooling potential of this case.
Additionally, the space above the I/O at the top of the case is too deep. Plugging in a USB device (especially a stubby wireless adapter) requires a long reach from the top down. It’s obvious that Thermaltake’s idea was to hide all the cables coming out of the top of the case. Unfortunately, this also means that the cables they decided to hide from the outside are actually visible inside the case. Any USB or display cables plugged into the I/O are visible through the side panel.