THE COMMANDER C35 is a big ’un. While
it’s only a standard ATX mid-tower case,
it weighs a lot more than some of its
counterparts, thanks to the steel and
tempered glass. Yet when we peel off the
protective film on the glass window and
peek inside, we’re not overly impressed.
There are a lot of visible screw points
inside, along with the exposed circuit
board of the front I/O, giving the initial
appearance a slapdash look. It looks a
bit better once we’ve assembled a build
inside, but only marginally. The PSU
shroud helps, concealing a lot of the
potential mess under a layer of painted
black steel. It’s nothing new, though.
Indeed, it’s hard to see exactly what the
C35 brings to the table when compared to
other cases. It’s not cheap, which forces
it to justify its price tag with features that
set it aside from the competition.
The most eye-catching of these are
the two large ARGB fans mounted in the
front. At 200mm, they are beefier than
anything you’d normally consider for
case airflow. The front of the case has an
integrated dust filter behind the hexagon-
patterned plastic panel, too. The on-
board fan control unit connects to an RGB
control button on the front I/O, allowing
for quick customization of your PC’s color
scheme. These fans can sync with RGB
tech from other manufacturers, enabling
smooth color co-ordination. The fans
are noisy at full speed, however. Their
cabling is strangely long and winding
inside the case, too, leaving a lot of slack
to be managed—strange, considering
that they come built into the case.
At the rear, there's another fan: a
basic 120mm affair. No fancy lighting
here, then. In fact, the rear fan looks
annoyingly basic compared to the high-
quality materials in the rest of the case;
a cheap orange sticker bearing the
Thermaltake logo almost adds insult to
injury. There’s ample space for fitting
radiators, at least. The roof can take a
Introducing the
Commander-in-Grief
Thermaltake
Commander
C35
7
VERDICT Thermaltake Commander C35COMMAND Powerful front
case fans; good ARGB features;
plenty of clearance.
UNMANNED Loud fans; heavy and bulky;
limited front I/O; unattractive interior.
$110, http://www.thermaltake.comSPECIFICATIONSForm Factor Mid-tower
Motherboard Support ATX, mATX, ITX
Colors Available Black
Window Available Ye s
3.5-Inch Support 3
2.5-Inch Support 5
Radiator Support 360mm front, 280mm
roof, 120mm rear
Fan Support 2x 200mm front,
2x 140mm roof,
1x 120mm rear
Dimensions 18.2 x 9.2 x 21 inches
Graphics Card
Clearance16.1 inches (12.2 with
coolant reservoir)
CPU Tower Clearance 7.1 inches
Weight 17.3lbradiator with two 140mm fans, and the
front can take another two 140mm fans,
or three 120mm fans instead. Fitting a
radiator to the front of the case demands
a lot of work, though, as the fitted 200mm
f an s ne e d to b e r emove d fir s t. Ideally, this
case would suit a straightforward AIO-
cooled build utilizing 280mm of radiator
space in the ceiling. So, it’s functional—
but not particularly impressive.
Drive storage options are scattered
haphazardly around. There are two flat
mounts of 2.5-inch SSDs on the rear of
the motherboard plate, which should be
familiar to any seasoned system builder.
The 3.5-inch HDD mounting panels
(which can also accommodate a 2.5-inch
drive, if preferred), on the other hand, are
divided; two are positioned on the rear of
the plate below the I/O, to the front of the
case, but one sits flat on the bottom,
behind the front fans. A large hole is cut
in the PSU shroud to allow access, but it
just results in a huge amount of negative
space that is difficult to use effectively.
A reservoir can be mounted in this hole
for liquid-cooled custom loops, but
otherwise it’s poor use of space. A drive
cage could have been fitted here instead,
allowing for additional HDD storage
space, while still leaving room for a
coolant reservoir on top.
There are other concerns, too. The
mounting pegs that support the PSU are
har d p l a s tic , not th e r ub b er o r fo am w e’v e
seen in other cases to mitigate noise from
vibrations. The RGB control button on the
front I/O feels oddly cheap compared
to the satisfying click of the power andreset buttons, and the I/O only supports
two USB 3.0 Type-A connectors. Cable
management is at least straightforward,
thanks to plent y of clips to secure cables.
On the whole, it’s not terrible; it’s just
hard to see what the C35 offers that we
can’t get elsewhere. –CHRISTIAN GUYTONmaximumpc.com SEP 2019 MAXIMUMPC 89