Photos and Features
So typically I split up the inside and outside of the case into two different sections but with the Core P1, most of the inside of the case is basically on the outside right out of the hole because of its open design. The basic design is a flat pillar from the front that holds your Mini-ITX motherboard, the Power supply, and cooling. Then there are four chromed pegs that hold a tinted tempered glass panel out away from the case leaving the top, bottom, front, and back all open. The design takes a LOT of cues from the old Thermaltake Level 10 design only with everything being out in the open and with the glass. I should point out that the Core P1 actually comes with the tempered glass where some of the other Core P3 and P5 models only have the glass with specific models and the rest have to pick up the glass later as an upgrade. I don’t think I would like the look of this case half as much without it.
From the front point of view, there isn’t too much to the case. The front panel has a large aluminum button with power and hard drive indicator lights right above it. Then you get two USB 3.0 ports that are VERY spaced out to prevent any clearance issues. Then down towards the bottom are front panel audio connections and a reset button. The main casing is steel with a semi-glossy black finish and on the front is a small Thermaltake logo. Down at the bottom of the case, the feet are plastic and I feel like this is an area where they could improve. The feet have to stick out a lot on the back side of the case to keep balance but it does make the case about 3 inches wider than everything above it and more importantly, the plastic doesn’t really match with the rest of the construction at all.
The back of the P1 has a few things going on. On the left side (the back panel is actually installed upside down in this photo) it has a vented area to handle the airflow from the dual 120mm fan/radiator mount on the front of the case. The back panel is all steel just like the rest of the main case and it can be removed with the four thumbscrews that stick out. The 12 other holes near the middle of the case are all there for wall mounting the Core P1. They don’t actually include the rest of the mounts, you have to pick it up in addition to the case.
When you pull the back panel off we have a few things going on in the inch and a half thick main case. The large bracket in the middle is the main support for the wall mount, although they don’t include the rest of the mount you do get this main support pre-installed. If you don’t want to use this mount at all I would highly suggest uninstalling it before building in the case or you will have to pull everything apart to get to it. On the left is the dual 120mm mounts but the case actually ships with two adapter plates that can be used to install two SSDs in place of a radiator. If that isn’t your thing or if you want to have a radiator you have a metal 2.5 inch SSD mount over on the right side and a plastic 3.5 inch hard drive tray up on top.
You also get a magnetic fan grill that mounts to the inside of the back panel. This was interesting to me because all of the photos of the Core P1 seem to have the fans blowing from the front of the case to the back so this filter would really only catch dust inside of the case unless I’m not completely understanding where it should go. I love the idea of magnetic fan filters, I just don’t know if they are very usable in this case.
Back around on the front here is another look at the radiator mounting area and the two SSD mounts. It’s interesting to note that the mount is actually sunken into the case a little. In some ways, this is nice as it does leave even more room to be able to fit things like a pump and reservoir, but I am a little worried that some radiators might also not fit in this space as well. I personally haven’t run into this yet but so far I have only used a Thermaltake AOI kit, with custom water cooling in the plans I am hoping it doesn’t become an issue.
