Mesh 7 review

The Mesh 7 was hotly anticipated in the PC Pro Labs this month, but it’s not a new CPU or graphics card we’ve been eager to see. You’ve probably already guessed from the picture, but our excitement comes entirely from Thermaltake’s staggering Level 10 chassis.

Created in partnership with designers from BMW, it’s one of the most outlandish cases you’re likely to see. With its hardware ensconced in individual enclosures and attached to a towering spine of brushed aluminium, it’s hard not to be impressed – indeed, the Mesh drew a crowd of perplexed admirers within minutes of its arrival in the Labs.

The Level 10 is vast compared to the average chassis – it’s 666mm tall and weighs 21kg when empty – and its eye-catching design means it will dominate any room it occupies. Thermaltake’s innovative approach means the motherboard, CPU and graphics card are contained within the main enclosure. The PSU and optical drives are housed in separate boxes, and each of the six hard disk bays is its own isolated, removable tray.

It also comes with several practical benefits. The motherboard tray, optical drive cover and PSU bracket can all be easily removed, and a hole in the motherboard tray allows easy access to the backplate of a heatsink or water-cooling unit. Each hard disk enclosure has a red LED that lights up when it’s occupied, too.

The Level 10 just isn’t built to the standard you’d expect, though. The motherboard enclosure wouldn’t open or close without grating on one of the 120mm case fans and, with the open door no longer supported by the rear fan mount, it noticeably sagged, too heavy for its own hinges.

Due to the asymmetric design, the chassis wobbled at the touch when sat on a flat surface and sagged slightly to one side when fully stocked with components; hardly the sturdy, indestructible build we’d expect given its preposterous price.

Away from the glamour, the Mesh 7 boasts decent upgrade potential: three DIMM sockets, four hard disk bays and two 5.25in bays lie empty alongside two spare PCI Express x16 sockets and two PCI slots. The port selection is fairly standard, with four USB ports and an eSATA connector on the front, and six more USB sockets alongside eSATA, FireWire and PS/2 on the rear.