If you’re looking for a new pre-built PC, there’s a name that might not immediately come to mind. Well, at least not for full systems. That name is Thermaltake. Yes, the well-known maker of cooling products, cases, power supplies and more has branched out into the gaming PC market.
In fact, that’s the impression Thermaltake made: it won the Australian PC award 2022 for the best maker of desktop PCs (opens in new tab). The Australian editorial team had this to say about Thermaltake PCs: “Thermaltake has a solid local Australian team and has branched out into the pre-built PC space with a range of reliable and reasonably priced gaming towers with well-chosen and balanced components, the proprietary components of bring the company to the fore.”
So these are PCs with real credibility. If you think about it, such systems make a lot of sense. Thermaltake components make up the bulk of the system, even the memory. The only exceptions are the CPU, GPU, and motherboard. It has worked for Corsair anyway.
Thermaltake has steered its Sub Zero system (opens in new tab). The aim is to strike a good balance between value for money and performance. You can pay a lot more for a gaming PC if you go for it, but the Sub Zero’s components have been chosen to deliver value for money, but is it an attractive option in an increasingly crowded PC market?
Thermaltake Sub Zero Specifications
PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5 12400F
Cooling: TH360 ARGB AIO liquid cooling
Motherboard chipset: B660
Memory: 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4-3200
Graphic: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
Storage: 500GB NVMe SSD and 2TB 3.5in HDD
Current: 650W Gold PSU
Guarantee: 2 years
Price: € 2,499 (opens in new tab)
Our Sub Zero review sample came with a configuration we’d generally recommend for a decent mid-range gaming system. The Intel Core i5 12400F is an iGPU-less version of our favorite budget gaming CPU (opens in new tab). It’s just a great and affordable CPU, even when paired with a high-end GPU.
The GPU of choice is an RTX 3060 12GB (opens in new tab)in this case an MSI, which is a good option for a 1080p monitor with a high refresh rate.
Thermaltake opted for a solid motherboard, the MSI B660M Mortar Wi-Fi (opens in new tab). It is joined by Thermaltake’s RGB ToughRam, a 500GB Kingston NV1 NVMe SSD, 2TB HDD and ToughPower GF1 650W 80+ Gold PSU. There’s nothing wrong with that, although I personally think the SSD could be faster.
The case is Thermaltake’s own Divider 300 Air Snow Edition. I’m a fan of white themed systems, there’s just something neat and clean about them. I also like the split side panel, it’s just that little bit different.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the system is the AIO liquid cooler. That alone is far from uncommon, but the choice of a TH360 ARGB to cool a 12400F certainly is. It’s better that Thermaltake over-specified rather than under-specify the cooling, but in this case it’s really overkill and makes us wonder if TT should have gone with a simple air cooler, saving it a good hundred bucks or more. the price. Anyway, at least you can rest assured that you can drop a high TDP 12th or 13th generation CPU there after a BIOS update.
Because the MSI B660M Mortar is a turnkey model, it is much easier to find drivers, troubleshoot and upgrade compared to a custom design. You can add a second PCIe 4.0 M.2 drive, SATA drives, or up to 128 GB DDR4 memory. This particular motherboard has strong VRM and capable cooling, and it will gladly accept a higher TDP LGA1700 CPU in the future.
The Sub Zero has a rear I/O that puts many pre-built systems to shame. You get eight USB ports consisting of four USB 2.0, three 10Gbps Type-A and one 20Gbps Type-C. Add to that 2.5G LAN, Wi-Fi 6, a full set of analog audio ports plus S/PDIF and you have a great set of connectivity options. The 12400F doesn’t have an integrated graphics card, but if you add a non-F CPU in the future, you’ll get up-to-date DP 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 ports.
All in all, the Thermaltake Sub Zero has all the hallmarks of a DIY PC built by someone else. And it will be easy to upgrade in the future. There’s no reason you can’t pop something like a future Core i7-13700K, GeForce RTX 4080 and 32GB fast DDR4 and not have a very competitive gaming system for years to come.
While it has those DIY build features, it still has the key features of a pre-built PC. Thermaltake technicians are experienced and knowledgeable. You get a two-year warranty and local customer support. The warranty doesn’t quite meet the standards set by on-site warranty companies, so if you absolutely refuse to ever remove the side panel from your machine, it might be worth considering.
The Sub Zero comes with Windows 11 pre-installed, and after you get past Cortana’s annoying screaming interruption, you’ll be on the desktop in minutes. Download your game library and away you go.
It’s great that Thermaltake over-specified the cooling rather than under-specified it, but it’s really over the top.
The systems in the charts below are included for reference only. It is important to note that they are a lot more expensive than the Sub Zero. The HP and Aftershock both cost well over AU$4,000 and come with faster CPUs and 3070 Ti graphics cards, and it’s important not to overemphasize their relative performance.
With a 12400F, RTX 3060 and 16GB of RAM, the Sub Zero should deliver good performance for your dollar. If you play games with DLSS support, it’s definitely worth turning on for a bit of free performance with virtually no loss of quality.
System performance
The i5 12400F isn’t one you’d pick for content creation or multithreading support, but it will happily multitask. I myself use a 12400 system for work purposes. Sometimes I have Chrome with 30 tabs open, a word document or two, spreadsheet, photoshop, Slack and other miscellaneous apps and it doesn’t struggle at all.
The SSD of the Sub Zero is a bit on the slow side. It’s a Kingston NV1, an entry-level PCIe 3.0 drive, so it won’t set any speed records. But it won’t necessarily feel sluggish in general use unless you really hammer it. With 500 GB, you need to add a second M.2 drive if you want to install a large game library and get better performance.
Now look at that CPU charging temperature. It’s not a typo. The longer term maximum temperature I saw was 48°C. 48! If you’ve ever wanted proof that you don’t need a 360mm AIO for this processor class, here it is. Even at 68°C I would still call it cool. As you’d expect, the noise levels are nothing to worry about, although the idle noise level is a bit higher than I’d like.
Synthetic and 1440p gaming performance
The RTX 3060 isn’t the most powerful GPU out there, but in the last few months it’s gotten cheaper and cheaper. It’s more like a 1080p card than a 1440p card, but as you can see in the benchmarks, even a demanding game like Metro: Exodus runs around 50 fps, and just a little lower with ray tracing enabled.
If you’re planning on hooking up a Sub Zero to a 2560 x 1440 screen, you may need to turn the settings back a notch in some games to stay at the all-important 60fps level. Of course, some games will happily run at over 100 FPS and older games will have no problem even at 4K.
Forget Cyberpunk. I’m not even sure why I’m including that anymore! Even an RTX 4090 Ti can struggle to hit 60 fps with all options enabled.
If you’re looking for a system to run modern games at 4K, you’re going to have to spend more. And sometimes A LOT more. Those AU$4,000+ systems like the Aftershock Ultracore and HP Omen 45L have to justify their prices somehow, right?
There are many different types of PC gamers. There is the enthusiast who is always upgrading. There’s the more casual type of gamer who knows a bit about PCs but doesn’t really focus on the details. Then there are gamers who care next to nothing about the PC itself and view it as a means to an end.
The last group of users is attracted to ready-made systems. Set your budget, google some of the more popular options from Alienware and HP, or browse the aisles at Harvey Norman or JB Hi-Fi. Buyers like this might overlook the Thermaltake Sub Zero, but if you’re a little cynical about filling Gerry Harvey’s pockets, your attention will be drawn to one of the major PC retailers.
PC Case Gear or Mwave are a pair that comes to mind, and viola. Mwave has the configuration of our Sub Zero sample for AU$2,269 (opens in new tab). That’s cheaper than the AU$2,499 the system is going for on Thermaltake’s own site.
It’s a system that should be on your watchlist, just like any other gaming PC in this price range.
For that price, the Sub Zero offers good value for money. The combination of a 12400F, RTX 3060 and 16 GB RAM along with the beautiful white housing, excellent I/O and connectivity is sure to appeal to many buyers on a budget.
Going back a year, a decent graphics card costs more than this entire system, and in that light it’s a pretty solid purchase. However, don’t ask too much of it. It’s a mid-range PC after all.
The Thermaltake Sub Zero is definitely worth a look. It is highly expandable, looks great, has incredible cooling potential and as a result is quiet under load. I wouldn’t say it’s amazing value for money, and that cooler is definitely overkill, but if you’re looking for a system from a reputable company that offers good spec for the price, the Thermaltake Sub Zero is worth considering .
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