Sometimes there’s a lot of significance to a name. Thermaltake’s Divider 300 TG ARGB PC case is named for its unusual split side panel that comes off as two separate pieces—which will be an attraction for some builders, and a frustration for others. The mid-tower chassis has a few positive aspects to it, ranging from four preinstalled fans to room for seven storage drives, but in the end we were left with, you might say, divided feelings about its value proposition given its $149.99 price. It’s a solid and roomy effort by the case veterans, but its suitability to task depends on whether you’ll be cooling your silicon with air or liquid.
The Exterior Design
Seen head on or from the right side, the Divider 300 looks relatively mundane. The tempered glass panel on the front is nice, but with an abundance of cases nowadays shipping with glass fronts, it no longer stands out. The sheet of steel that covers the right side of the case doesn’t help distinguish it from that angle, either.
The case looks much more distinctive if you approach it from the left, as there are not one but two panels covering this section…
On the bottom left, that right triangle is a steel plate, and on the top right is a tempered-glass triangle. The two meet in the middle, creating a diagonal line across the left side of the chassis. Thermaltake left slight gaps between the sections to improve airflow.
As I said, this side panel is a mixed blessing: It certainly makes the case stand out, but removing it feels rather awkward. The steel portion is screwed on, while the glass relies on plastic clips set around its edge to help hold it in place. You cannot remove the glass first, and after the steel is removed, the glass hangs on the side awkwardly. It feels secure when it’s on the case, but it also comes off relatively easily, which leaves me concerned that it could fall off—say, if it were bumped by accident when removing the steel panel. Proceed with care, or lay the case on its side when removing these panels.
The top of the case holds the front I/O panel, which consists of two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Type-C port, separate microphone and headphone jacks, and the power button. A second button here is used to control RGB LED lights.
The Cooling Potential and PSU Mounting
Thermaltake ships this model of the Divider 300 with three 120mm ARGB fans mounted to the front of the case plus a fourth 120mm fan at the rear. There’s a fan controller on the motherboard tray that can support up to four fans. The rear fan isn’t attached to this controller by default, leaving you one port free.
In addition to the prefab fans, there’s room to add three more: The top of the case can hold one 120mm or 140mm fan, and you’ll find space for two 120mm fans on the right side of the frame.
As the top panel can only hold one 140mm fan, your options for adding a liquid cooler to the case aren’t great apart from relatively small single-fan 120mm and 140mm units. The only place you can add a 360mm radiator is on the front, in place of the existing three fans. You can technically install a 240mm radiator on the right side of the case, but as I’ll explain in a minute, that’s not ideal.
Thermaltake makes it easy to mount coolers onto any motherboard in the case, however, with a huge hole in the board tray left explicitly for this purpose. Not every case has this broad a space, and you can only imagine how inconvenient it is to have to remove a motherboard from a case to add a mounting bracket to its underside when the motherboard tray has a poorly positioned or no cutout. There’s no issue with this here, though.
Like most modern cases, the Divider places the power supply unit at the bottom rear. How easy it is to mount the PSU in this location varies greatly from one case to another, as the space allotted can be quite cramped depending on the design. The Divider 300 has roughly 3.8 by 9.4 by 7.8 inches of space devoted to the power supply, which makes fitting it into place exceedingly easy. I’ve reviewed entire cases and computers literally smaller than the volume Thermaltake allotted for the PSU. Nice.
Storage Mounts and Cable Routing
As mentioned, you get room for up to seven storage devices inside the Divider 300. At the bottom of the case, next to the PSU mounting area, are two semi-toolless drive mounts that can hold either 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives. I say “semi-toolless” as you can put a 3.5-inch drive in one of these bays without screwing it in place, but the drive will slide out if the case is inverted or if a cable is pulled. It’s best to screw any drives in for safety, especially platter ones.
Behind the motherboard tray are two detachable 2.5-inch drive brackets, and to the right of the motherboard is a single large bracket that can hold three more. This bracket fills the space I mentioned for fans on the right side of the case, which means you can either have three 2.5-inch drives or two 120mm fans here, but not both.
Notches cut around the motherboard tray allow for cables to run easily above and below the tray. You will also note openings for pushing cables through to the right of the motherboard, but if you add a water cooler there, things become trickier. A water cooler won’t block cables from coming through and smaller cables shouldn’t be an issue, but I’d strongly advise connecting the 24-pin power connector to your motherboard before mounting the water cooler’s radiator in this position. It’ll get tight.
The Dividing Line
After working with the Thermaltake Divider 300 TG ARGB, we’re left with mixed feelings. The case’s primary visual feature, the split side panel, is as divisive in concept as it is in appearance. If you have a big, pricey, handsome GeForce RTX or Radeon RX GPU you want to show off, it blocks the view of your gear. Conversely, if you want to hide the fact that you’re rocking integrated graphics or an old GeForce GTX 750 because of the GPU shortage, then you may love it.
The chassis is satisfyingly easy to build in and doesn’t have any major ease-of-use drawbacks. But the overall level of build ease or creature comforts is less than the price might suggest. The lack of room for a liquid cooler atop the case makes it less suitable for a build that might include one. That’s because mounting a liquid cooler on the side/motherboard tray has some negatives to it, including making cable runs less smooth and taking away room for three 2.5-inch drives. These factors make the case better suited for a build that uses a robust air cooler.
These aspects, along with its $149.99 MSRP, make the Divider 300 feel ripe for a mild discount. It’s far from a bad case, but it simply feels outpaced by other ATX mid-towers we’ve reviewed, though the included ARGB fans might be its saving grace if that is a look you are going for. If you like the look, however, hope for a sale—it would be a star at a price closer to $119.99 or $129.99.
