Thursday, January 5th 2023

Thermaltake Unveils the CTE Form Factor Series

hermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Case, Power, Cooling, Gaming peripherals, and enthusiast Memory solutions, is excited to announce the launch of CTE Form Factor Series at CES 2023. CTE, which stands for Centralized Thermal Efficiency, is focused on providing high-level thermal performance to critical components. The series includes CTE C750 Air, CTE C750 TG ARGB, CTE C700 Air, CTE C700 TG ARGB, CTE T500 Air and CTE T500 TG ARGB, giving plenty of options for your next build.

The CTE Form Factor Series breaks the conventional chassis design with its newly reimagined body created from the ground up by utilizing a 90-degree rotation of the motherboard, which provides more efficient airflow pathways. Such design gives the CTE Form Factor chassis a lead in cooling configurations. As the TDP of new graphics cards and CPUs increase, we thought to move the critical heat sources closer to intakes, achieving thermal extraction benefits as the CPU location has been moved slightly towards the front panel and the GPU closer to the rear, providing an independent cold air induction to your components. The overall approach has allowed CTE to provide better and more efficient intake airflow through the placement of main components and cooling, as well as optimization to heat extraction for the system.
On top of that, the CTE Form Factor Series comes with new CT series fans, allowing users to choose from black or white, RGB or Non-RGB, to match whichever color scheme they desire. The CT series fans are Thermaltake's new generation of PWM fans that are designed to fit all usage scenarios, with a speed of 1500RPM and made with specially tuned fan blades that can push the air further.

With that being said, you can expect the C Line and the T Line of the CTE series to be officially available during April 2023, and please stay tuned to our official sites for the latest information on the E Line!

Features of the CTE Form Factor:
90 Degree Rotation on the motherboard
The CTE design utilizes a 90-degree rotation of the motherboard providing a more efficient airflow pathway and allowing the cold air to be dispersed on your critical components more effectively and efficiently.

Move Critical Heat Sources (CPU and Graphic Cards) Closer Towards Cold Air
Since the CPU location has been moved much closer to the front panel and the graphics card moved closer towards the rear panel, independent cold air induction is given for thermal dissipation of the CPU and graphics card respectively.

More Efficient Intake Airflow
This overall approach has allowed CTE to provide better and more efficient intake airflow through the placement of main components and cooling, as well as optimization to heat extraction from the system.

New CT Series Fans
New CT series fans are included, allowing users to choose from black or white, RGB or non-RGB, to match whatever color scheme you have.

Patented Rotational PCI-E Slots
Patented rotational PCI-E slots give you the option to display your graphics card either horizontally or vertically, creating plenty of flexible space for your system.

Source: ThermalTake
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13 Comments on Thermaltake Unveils the CTE Form Factor Series

#1
goldman
Sounds like an interesting idea, but i believe it'll be pretty hard to make it mainstream. Would like to see actual real cases like this, specially how they handle the back I/O
Also, what's the deal with "Patented Rotational PCI-E Slots"?
Posted on Reply
#2
TheLostSwede
News Editor
goldmanSounds like an interesting idea, but i believe it'll be pretty hard to make it mainstream. Would like to see actual real cases like this, specially how they handle the back I/O
Also, what's the deal with "Patented Rotational PCI-E Slots"?
Check out the site linked to as the source on TPU, they have some animations there, it's a terrible site, but there are some explanations of what they're doing.
Posted on Reply
#3
geniekid
Their little promo video is really bad. They start with a traditional configuration with an air cooled GPU and 4 fans and then compare it to a rotated configuration using their new case, except now it's a full water loop with 11 fans. Talk about an apples vs oranges comparison...

Personally, I think a rotated motherboard is a good idea. But that video...ugh.
Posted on Reply
#4
dj-electric
Some of these look... oddly familiar...
Posted on Reply
#5
cbb
Slight tangent? maybe?
it seems (naively) to me, you'd want very low power stuff (chipset, ssd, etc) upstream, and cpu & gpu each to have their own airflow path? The 2-3 slot size limits how much the gpu can vent directly and quietly, so it ends up dumping a lot of heat into the same space where the poor cpu cooler is trying to do heat exchange (and making it's life harder; delta t is a powerful factor in any heat exchange effort, iirc). I can imagine a lot of different ways to try it (simple passive partition to guide the air, or a 2nd exhaust fan and layout or partition for separation, all the way up to dedicated push/pull per path) so idk about best approach. But, basically, I'd think your cooling is gonna work a lot better/easier/quieter with cool input air, and these days the gpu and cpu have pretty similar (and pretty massive) TDPs leading to pretty hi temp air. IDK, just idle thoughts rly. Having both just dump into the same space as everything else seems like the weakest link (highest heat output) sets the ambient temp for everything else.

In a way that makes sense (assuming everything stays below max acceptable temp), but it's always kinda bugged me and seemed "wrong".
I freely admit to zero experience w/ thermal systems design!
Posted on Reply
#6
thestryker6
I very much like the design of these as it's an evolution of what Silverstone pioneered in the DIY case market. I've been surprised over the years that more case manufacturers haven't done it, but it does require an all new design so maybe that explains it.

Side note CTE is an extremely poor choice of naming convention (I don't care what they say it stands for) given that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a widely known thing that ruins lives.
cbbSlight tangent? maybe?
it seems (naively) to me, you'd want very low power stuff (chipset, ssd, etc) upstream, and cpu & gpu each to have their own airflow path? The 2-3 slot size limits how much the gpu can vent directly and quietly, so it ends up dumping a lot of heat into the same space where the poor cpu cooler is trying to do heat exchange (and making it's life harder; delta t is a powerful factor in any heat exchange effort, iirc). I can imagine a lot of different ways to try it (simple passive partition to guide the air, or a 2nd exhaust fan and layout or partition for separation, all the way up to dedicated push/pull per path) so idk about best approach. But, basically, I'd think your cooling is gonna work a lot better/easier/quieter with cool input air, and these days the gpu and cpu have pretty similar (and pretty massive) TDPs leading to pretty hi temp air. IDK, just idle thoughts rly. Having both just dump into the same space as everything else seems like the weakest link (highest heat output) sets the ambient temp for everything else.

In a way that makes sense (assuming everything stays below max acceptable temp), but it's always kinda bugged me and seemed "wrong".
I freely admit to zero experience w/ thermal systems design!
This is a real problem (at least when using all air cooling) and the 90 degree rotation of the motherboard on these cases can help mitigate it. Switching to a CLC from an air cooler ended up lowering the temperatures on my video card in a prior case setup I had just because it allowed for less heat concentration.
Posted on Reply
#7
Chaitanya
Interesting concept, especially 700 Air looks unique, but in the end all depends on how well they deliver on usability and build quality.
Posted on Reply
#8
claes
Chinese OEMs have been doing this for a few years now, but nice to see the rear configured as intake for once. Doesn’t look like there are filters though?
Posted on Reply
#9
Rotorama
Great to see the 90 degree layout making a comeback. Loved the concept on my FT02. Nice spacious case with room for some fun concept builds!

Only thing to be wary of is that not all gpu cooling solutions seem to be suited for this orientation, read some reports of reduced cooling performance...
Posted on Reply
#10
DeathtoGnomes
claesChinese OEMs have been doing this for a few years now, but nice to see the rear configured as intake for once. Doesn’t look like there are filters though?
a quick look and you'll miss the reverse mounted fans. 3 rear fans out is a nice change.
Posted on Reply
#11
claes
Hm? I'm not sure what you mean.

I was thinking of the T500 and referring to cases like these:
en.sharkoon.com/product/404495103212
aerocool.io/product/flo/
darkflashtech.com/collections/gaming-case/products/phoenix-t1-white-atx-full-tower-gaming-case-gpu-vertical-mounting-with-tempered-glass-mesh-front-panel

Edit: Oh do you mean rear exhaust? I noticed that but on the mini-site they highlight front and back intakes? More mixed messages. On some of them it looks like the rear is filtered but the front isn't? :p
Posted on Reply
#12
PLAfiller
I wish they had options with solid fronts. I am a sucker for solid fronts, makes the cases look really sleek IMO. Since you have a vertical design and bottom to top flow convection, you can afford to have a solid front. That's why Silverstone early Raven's and FT-02B had a solid front.
Posted on Reply
#13
zig13
goldmanSounds like an interesting idea, but i believe it'll be pretty hard to make it mainstream. Would like to see actual real cases like this, specially how they handle the back I/O
Also, what's the deal with "Patented Rotational PCI-E Slots"?
I have the Geometric Future Model 8 Dharma which is a somewhat similar rotated case and it handles IO like this:
photos.app.goo.gl/iBckiM67qVV6wG187
Or this with prior motherboard and without cables:
photos.app.goo.gl/SDvQzkpqXBbAtNVG8
Cardbord and tape obviously added by me - trying to maximise amount of air actually passing through fins on my GPU.

Personally I have my case elevated at the rear of my desk with glass side panel facing out to the room so I would rather the cables exited out the "traditional right-side" / rear of the case.
That way they could be completely hidden by the case itself as they run down towards power, monitor and peripherals while still allowing some cables to run directly up to my VR headset and it's tracking sensors.
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