Closer Look: Exterior
What stands out the most in the Urban T81 is the two sliding doors: one that is windowed and the other to cover the hard drive and 5.25in cages. Right next to the tint-less window is a small lock that requires the two included keys, located behind the case. To open the two sliding doors, one needs to simply push a button underneath the chassis. The windowed door can be fully removed without any tools. The other one, however, will require a Philips screw driver to remove.
The front of the case is by far the best looking part. The nice black finish resonates nicely with any light in the room, giving off a nice aluminum look. Anybody with sweaty palms or fingers will have to be careful, as it is sort of a sweaty fingerprint magnet. Behind the door we find the two dust filters covering two of the included 200mm fans. The dust filters are easily removable and are easy to clean since they are made of stiff plastic mesh. At first glance, the closing front door does seem to provide limited air movement, but Thermaltake has ingeniously included side and bottom air intakes to compensate, which ironically are a lot harder to clean. Also found are two 5.25in drive bays, one of which accommodates a 3.25 floppy.
Taking a look at the rear, we see all the standard openings for a full tower case. What stands out the most is the PCI removal. Unlike most cases, the Urban T81’s 8 PCI slots are removed from the rear rather than inside the case. This is done by removing a small bracket held by two thumbscrews giving you access to the PCI thumbscrews to remove the PCI slots one by one. A welcomed and interesting feature by Thermaltake, it adds to the aesthetic appeal since the thumb screws will not be in the way of a graphics card when viewed though the T81’s side window. Expect everything else to be similar to your average full tower: 3 water-cooling holes and a fan port that supports up to 140mm fans. I do, however, wish Thermaltake would have added mesh openings at the very top of the rear to release the hot pocket of air that accumulates there when running a system.
Moving to the right side of the case, we see the door that hides all the cable management. Nothing special about the panel; it is removed by two thumbscrews and has a half inch indent to allow for extra cable space.
On the top of the case we find all the typical buttons you would find on a case and the top intake fans. The Urban T81 sports four USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0, a great addition for users who connect flash drives, cameras, and smart phones to their computers. Besides that we see the ON button and a two-button switch for the fan controller found inside the case. The top intake has an easily removable mesh fan filter; unlike the front fan filter, this one is not made out of plastic and cannot be cleaned as easily. Nevertheless, the intake fan filter is a welcomed addition to the Urban T81’s already great filtration system.
Lastly, looking at the bottom of the case we see four rubberized legs and a power supply fan filter that extends almost the entire length of the case. I love the look of the Urban T81’s legs; they are sturdy and when upright give the case an aggressive pose. My biggest problem with the legs is how much they impede you when picking up the entire chassis from the bottom. It is not possible to put your hand underneath the front of the case due to the design of the legs. The only opening that the legs allow when the case is up right is in the middle and that does not provide good grip or balance. The leg issue is not a con, it just shows that the Urban T81 is not really meant to be moved around too much and may provide some placement problems when first installing a system. What may bother some users is the long fan filter; it extends the entire length of the case and may prove a hassle to remove.
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