Thermaltake AH T600 PC Case Review

When it comes to high-end PC cases, the guys at Thermaltake definitely spring to mind – bringing some of the most unique and customizable case options to the gaming forefront. So, when Thermaltake decided to send us their helicopter inspired – yep, you heard me – AH T600 PC case, we were more than excited to see what it could bring to the evergrowing market place.

The AH T600 is the latest in a growing list of uniquely designed cases that seem to prioritize aesthetic prowess over thermal performance and noise levels. The fully open-designed case comes equipped with three sides of tempered glass, plastic ‘missile-Esq’ side pods, and a cockpit-style front which rounds off the helicopter theme nicely. 

Today we’ll be putting the AH T600 through its paces to see how this outlandish design stacks up against other highly-priced alternatives. We’re going to give it the full rundown, looking at airflow, water-cooling, and how easy it is to build in. 

So, with that in mind, let’s dive into the Thermaltake AH T600 case review!

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Pros

• Very good build construction – high-quality materials used throughout
• Supports large E-ATX motherboards
• Unique design that screams showpiece
• For the most part, tool-free modularity
• Almost entirely modular design
• An open-plan design which should eradicate heat build-up

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Cons

• Comes to market at the higher end of the price spectrum
• Very limited airflow thanks to the open-plan design
• Weighs well over 20kg when fully built
• The rigidity of the case leaves a little to be desired
• The case doesn’t come with any pre-installed fans

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Specifications

Case Type	Full Tower
Dimensions (mm)	628 x 337 x 763 (L x W x H)
Materials	Steel, Tempered Glass, Plastic
Available Colours	Black, white
Weight	20.64 kg
Front I/O panel	1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, Audio I/O, Power button, Reset button
Expansion Slots	8
Drive Bays	2 x 3.5" 3 x 2.5"
Motherboard support	Mini-ITX, MicroATX, ATX, E-ATX
Cooling (Front/Top/Rear)	Front - 4 x 120mm or 3 x 140mm Top - 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm Internal right - 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm Rear - 0 Bottom - 0
Maximum GPU length	VGA length limitation: 300mm(With Water Pump) 440mm(Without Water Pump)

Main Features

• Fully Modular design
• Two sides of tempered glass
• Helicopter inspired aesthetics
• Tailored to water-cooling
• USB Type-C

Inside The Box:

• Thermaltake AH T600 PC Case
• Accessory Box
• Starter Guide

The Outside

The first thing you notice upon unboxing this case is just how big it is. I mean, this thing rivals their View 71 for both size and weight – weighing over 20kg without any internal components. Now, if you’re familiar with the View 71, you’ll know how awkward that case can be if you’re a little restricted for space. Well, unfortunately for some, the AH T600 poses the same issues. 

Size aside though, this might be one of the most peculiar-looking cases I’ve seen in quite some time. The AH T600 is inspired by military attack helicopters and you can kind of see this when looking at it from certain angles. The front sort of looks like a helicopter cockpit and the side pods could represent missiles, it’s a little ridiculous if truth be told.

That being said, there is an increasing demand for this kind of case growing in today’s market. I still can’t put my finger on who this is actually targeted at though. Hopefully, further down the review, this will become much clearer. 

Front

As mentioned above, the front panel is where most of the cockpit-style aesthetics can be found. It consists of three 3mm tempered glass panels that sit just below the I/O ports and give visual access to any radiator or RGB case fans you decide to install. The tempered glass sits inside a thick plastic shell that can be removed when access to the fans is needed. 

The bottom half of the front panel is made from a thick angular piece of steel, adding very little in terms of physical design features. It displays the Thermaltake logo in a fairly subtle fashion (when compared to the rest of the case’s design) and has large cutouts between the steel and cockpit area. This pretty much sets the tone for the case in terms of aesthetics and thermal design, with the majority of the AH T600 being open-designed – as we’ll soon see. 

Rear

Moving to the rear of the case, there again isn’t much to talk about in terms of design features. The back is, for lack of a better phrase, a gaping hole that gives users complete access to the internals of the PC. Out-of-the-box, there are literally no features what so ever at the back of the case. 

That said, the AH T600 does come with Thermaltake’s patented rotational PCIe 8 slot which can be screwed to the back of the chassis, giving GPUs and additional expansion cards the stability they require. Furthermore, a PSU bracket that can be slid in and out, secured by a thumbscrew, also comes with the case – giving users a much easier PSU installation process. 

The Top

The top of the AH T600 is comprised of two layers, one being the chassis and the other being a lid-like piece that is made from pure steel. The steel lid doesn’t’ really offer a great deal in terms of features, however, it does have air ventilation holes (large honeycomb-style) which allow the top radiator or fans to have full airflow. 

The lid screws into either side of the case via four fairly robust thumbscrews and feels secure in its housing – a characteristic that isn’t always the case with this chassis. Near the front lies the I/O ports which add an alien-like styling to this case’s already peculiar look. The I/O ports include a power/reset button (accompanied by LEDs), 2 x 3.5mm audio jacks (headphone & microphone), 1 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, and 1 x USB Type-C. 

The Inside

Gaining access to the interior of this case is, as you can imagine, fairly straight forward – achievable via numerous different angles. The side panels, which we haven’t really touched upon, are made from 5mm thick tempered glass and attach to the chassis via two easy-to-fit hinges. The doors can swing open when users want to gain access to the components and secure in place via a large, accessible thumbscrew. Whilst we’re discussing the sides of this case, one aesthetic feature we’ve failed to mention is those missile-like pods that sit at either side of the front panel. As far as I can tell, these have no performance impacting effect on this case what so ever – seemingly only installed for aesthetic reasons (and to give it that helicopter theme Thermaltake was going for). That being said, they are made out of plastic and feel quite robust – albeit fairly useless. 

As you open the side panel up, you get a better idea of just how big the interior of this case is. It’s huge – good news for a number of different reasons.

At the front, users have access to the fan mounting rack. The rack can be removed with relative ease via two screws found underneath the “cockpit” plastic shell. Once the screws have been removed, users can tilt the fan mounting rack backward and simply pull the entire thing out. Users have numerous cooling possibilities here, with support for a 480mm radiator, 3 x 140mm fans, or 3 x 120mm fans. Fan installation is extremely easy thanks to the modular design of this case, with users simply screwing the fans into place then sliding the entire thing into position. 

Gaining access to the roof can be done by simply removing the four thumbscrews found on either side of the lid. Once the lid is removed, users have access to the fan mounting area which offers up a ton of clearance from the motherboard – a dream for builders using advanced, high-end cooling solutions. The top of the AH T600 supports a 360mm radiator, 3 x 120mm fans, or 2 x 140mm fans – more than enough for the most elaborate of cooling setups. 

The base of the case is clearly the least prioritized area of the AH T600. It offers very little in terms of design features, only offering up a dual reservoir/pump mounting tray that screws into the base via a single thumbscrew. There is no PSU shroud on this case, nor are there any fan mounting possibilities for the floor either. The base is a solid piece of steel with no ventilation holes what so ever – so, whether you like it or not, the PSU will have to be mounted with the fan facing upwards. 

That leads us nicely onto the motherboard tray. This is where one of my favorite features of this case lies, the modularity of the motherboard tray. Whilst modularity has been a running characteristic throughout this case, it still came as a surprise when we discovered you could physically remove the entire motherboard tray from the chassis. That’s right, you can physically remove the motherboard tray, install the motherboard (and most of the other hardware), then re-install the entire thing with little to no fuss – via a couple of thumbscrews found at the top.

The AH T600 has support for up to E-ATX motherboards, however, when installing an E-ATX board of our own into this chassis, we did notice that cable management routes were effected – especially if you plan on using a large radiator next to the motherboard mounting area. The board would extend over some of the cable cutouts, making certain cables (24-pin for example) very difficult to install. That said, using a more conventional ATX motherboard yielded much better results, leaving us access to an absolute tonne of cable management options. As mentioned before, thanks to the size of this case, large radiators installed into the roof of the chassis aren’t going to produce any clearance issues what so ever.

Next to the motherboard mounting area users can mount a radiator up to 360mm, 2 x 140mm fans, or 3 x 120mm fans, respectively. Like many other full tower cases, this is a nice feature and allows custom-builders to really experiment with the cooling aesthetics they decide to use. This also plays host to your water-cooling reservoir (if you plan to go down the water-cooling route) or several SSD trays/HDD trays. As far as clearance goes, you aren’t going to be struggling for space any time soon. This thing has a ton of internal space to play with and very little in terms of obstructions. Even the largest of 2080Ti GPUs wouldn’t cause this case any problems. Speaking of GPU support, the AH T600 does allow users to mount vertically if they wish to do so. The display version at CES 2020 did utilize this feature (with water-cooling) and I can safely say, it looked pretty awesome. 

The Back Panel

Moving to the rear of the case, users are greeted by another identical 5mm tempered glass side panel that is also on hinges. After removing the side panel, it’s clear to see that cable management was a large part of the design process. There are a ton of cable routing options, including cable tie holes, cable cutouts, and velcro ties. However, for users not using a modular PSU, you are going to struggle when it comes to hiding the cables. As this case is completely transparent and open-plan, we were a little surprised that Thermaltake didn’t fit any sort of shroud. It would have been nice to have a little inlay or area that could have been used for cabling. However, that wasn’t an option. 

There is a large cutout in the center of the motherboard tray which allows easy access for installing large CPU coolers. Underneath, users will find three individual hard drive trays that can be altered to your preference. Choose between two 3.5″ HDDs or three 2.5″ SSDs, the choice is yours. You can also reposition the trays to the left-hand side, leaving you more space for cable routing.

Overall, the back follows the same trend as the front. Aesthetically it ticks a lot of the right boxes, functionally, it could probably use some tweaking. 

Features

Features are one of the most important factors to consider, even more so when you’re purchasing a case that retails around the $250 mark. Features can make building in a case a bunch easier, can make airflow work more efficiently, and can also have a real impact on somebody’s purchasing decision. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at the main features the AH T600 comes equipped with:

Open-Plan Design – Now, whilst the design of this case won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, it does hold a place in today’s market. Thermaltake has given the AH T600 a completely open-plan design that really leaves very little to the imagination. Whilst this can look fantastic (if done correctly), it does pose some problems when it comes to airflow efficiency. Most of the time, you want an enclosed space that allows air pressure to build and solid airflow to follow. With an open design such as this, that pressure can’t build up, meaning the airflow is much less potent than with other cases. That said, it does have it’s positives. For example, unlike an enclosed case, the AH T600 does a much better job of dissipating heat right off the components. There is no space for the heat to build up, it simply dissipates out the sides. 

Full Modularity – For me, modularity is one of the biggest selling points when it comes to high-end cases such as this. Modularity makes building in a case a lot easier. With this specific case, pretty much every part of it can be removed to aid in the build process – that includes; all side panels, the front and top “lids”, the fan mounting tray (at the front), and even the entire motherboard tray. Furthermore, the PCIe slot at the back can be removed and so can the PSU tray. 

Water Cooling Support – Water cooling has been growing in popularity for a good few years now, so it’s no surprise to see the increasing number of cases that accommodate water-cooling components. With the AH T600, I feel this was definitely one of the main reasons why this case was brought to fruition. It just screams water-cooling. Thermaltake has given builders an absolute tonne of space to play with, allowing them to create crazy custom loops that are competition worthy. The possibilities really are endless when it comes to water-cooling versatility for this build. 

Our Verdict

So, there you have it, the interesting and uniquely designed Thermaltake AH T600 PC  case. Initially, I thought this was just another obscure looking case that was destined for the scrap metal bin. However, after spending some time building in it (and seeing the massive amount of water-cooling/aesthetics possibilities), it’s clearly something much more than that.

Ultimately, what we have here is a showpiece – a custom builder’s dream when it comes to water-cooling. As displayed at CES 2020, you really can make this thing look superb. It has a tonne of room for water-cooling, is extremely easy to build in, and doesn’t actually look that crazy – albeit inspired by an attack helicopter. 

Whilst this case isn’t perfect, coming equipped with quite a few flaws for the everyday user, it’s still a very efficient blueprint for a much bolder project. The bottom line is this; if you’re looking to put together a water-cooled PC and want an extremely loud aesthetic to build around, then the AH T600 could be exactly what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, however, I can’t really see this thing working in any other scenario. A decent case, but a little too obscure for me.