Need your opinion on these Cooler Master cases.

[Zombeh]

I'm trying to Decide on these 3

Cooler Master 330 (i like this one because of the front 120mm intake and non-blocking hd cage)

CM Centurion 5 (i like this one cuz i heard it's better quality and its a little bigger)



i want the BEST airflow & cooling.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I've got the Centurion 5, and while it's a great case, I wish the intake fan was 120mm instead of 80mm.

Having said that, you really can't go wrong with any of the above cases. Cooling is excellent in all 3, but for best airflow, I'd lean toward the 330 or 532 simply because of the quieter and more CFM of a 120mm intake fan.

 

[Zombeh]

but hd cage in the 532 is kinda blocking the the 120mm airflow isn't it?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Zombeh
but hd cage in the 532 is kinda blocking the the 120mm airflow isn't it?

It looks that way, but then again, even with the 330, the airflow might be impeded somewhat.

If you've got multiple HDs or hot running drives, then cooling with the intake fan is a good thing.

 

[RallyMaster]

What about the 534?

 

[Zombeh]

i will only have 2 hds at most. and the 534 has a window (not a huge fan on windows). but now im thinkin on gettin a full tower but they are all so expensive, anyone know of any cheap ones?

 

[Evacide]

Originally posted by: Zombeh
i will only have 2 hds at most. and the 534 has a window (not a huge fan on windows). but now im thinkin on gettin a full tower but they are all so expensive, anyone know of any cheap ones?

the 534 is a good case, i got a friend one for his computer. u can get it with or without window and in silver or black

 

[Zombeh]

ok i looked at it and im not that excited about it.

 

[Zombeh]

ok now im leaning towards the 330 over the Centurion 5, the 532 is in last place. what are the advantages of the C-5 over the 330?

 

[Zepper]

How about the Rosewill R6A series (available mainly at Newegg/ChiefValue because Rosewill is a subsidiary of Newegg). Identical to the Antec 3000B inside with a different (better to my eye) appearance - that Antec case style has been around for eons... They have been having "Instant Savings" on many Rosewills recently.

Here is the top variant in the R6A series. They have several new variants without the door since I last looked - sharp and only $30.00! The R6As with doors meet all my "Casitude Criteria" ((r) by me) while the Centurions miss two or more dependng on the version.

.bh.

 

[corsa]

From what i can see, each of those cases allows room to install an extra 120mm below a single dvd drive...i think its moddin time
The 532 is very much a small stacker in appearance, and i prefer the placement of the buttons/usb ports at the top.

 

[Zombeh]

alright i'll look at the r6a's. only this one is catching my eye right now (like the cms more tho). and corsa is there a major difference of having a 120mm on the bottom for the gfx and 80 under the cd drive compared to having an 80mm on gfx and 120 under the cd drive? and i kinda want a full tower now too lol, but ill make a seperate thread for that.

 

[NuAlphaMan]

How about this? Pretty nice case. I just picked one up and it's great! I also have this case and it's pretty cool too.

 

[Zepper]

That Rosewill is made of thin metal and likely has a junk L&C PSU (some of their others do) - note there is no pic of the PSU label... The R6A models and the R560x models are by far the best of the bunch.

And iStar has put out a model based on the Centurion design - pretty nice looking.

And if you like the basic Centurion design, you should check out the Enermax Chakras. They are the Centurion chassis with a big honkin' fan. Lots of companies are having variants on that chassis done: Gigabyte, Enermax, Kingwin, etc. etc.

.bh.

 

[Zombeh]

i wish harddrive cages didnt block the 120mm fan flow.

 

[Zepper]

All you really need the intake fan for is to cool the HDDs. Beyond that, you just need some venting to allow the exhaust fan to draw air into the case.

.bh.

 

[Zombeh]

what about cooling the gfx with front intake? that was my main concern. i wanted more airflow towards all my add in cards from the front.

 

[Allio]

I just bought a 330, should be waiting for me when I get home from work. I'll let you know what I think about it (and whether it'll fit a Scythe Ninja properly )

I considered the C5 for a long time because it's only a few dollars more, but in the end the 80mm intake fan (which by all accounts is near unusable) put me off. The interior of the 330 looks really attractive to me for such a cheap case.

Edit: I just looked at a picture of it and realised that that CPU duct is going to have to go, heh.

 

[Zombeh]

Originally posted by: Allio
I just bought a 330, should be waiting for me when I get home from work. I'll let you know what I think about it (and whether it'll fit a Scythe Ninja properly )

I considered the C5 for a long time because it's only a few dollars more, but in the end the 80mm intake fan (which by all accounts is near unusable) put me off. The interior of the 330 looks really attractive to me for such a cheap case.

Edit: I just looked at a picture of it and realised that that CPU duct is going to have to go, heh.

i'm feeling the same way, did you get it? show me your set up and tell me about it!

 

[Allio]

Originally posted by: Zombeh
i'm feeling the same way, did you get it? show me your set up and tell me about it!

I did, installed most of the stuff I got for a quiet Linux PC build into it tonight. Unfortunately the video card didn't arrive so I haven't been able to power it on and can't rate the fan/airflow properly yet. I'm pretty impressed with the case - it looks good and has a decent construction quality. I don't think you'd mistake it for a $100 plus case by looking at it, but I didn't get it to impress people.

I'm so excited with how the airflow in this thing is going to turn out - an almost unobstructed 120mm intake fan as well as 3 empty drive bays with a mesh covering. I'm passively cooling a Sempron 2800+ and 7600GS (just 120mm intake and exhaust and 120mm psu) but I think this case has the potential to passively cool a lot more.

I'll try to get a few pics up at some point, but it's not wildly exciting - I'm no cable management expert. Plus I only have a crappy cell phone camera for the next few days. Feel free to ask any questions you have in the meantime!

Long story short, I'm not regretting the purchase at all

Oh yeah, and the Ninja fits perfectly

 

[Zombeh]

awesome glad to hear! im glad to know it has enough room to put a huge ninja in there. did you put any LED fans in it?

 

[RedLetterDay]

I use the Centurion 5 and in hindsight I somewhat wish I made a different choice. It works great but (and I don't know if this is a concern of yours or anyone else) I wanted to remove the lower HD/Floppy rack and ended up having to use a power drill to get it out.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

I've had a Centurion CAC 5 for close to a year now. Newegg had them on sale for less than $50 (no PSU) when I bought mine, and I really like it. The thing that would make it almost perfect would be a slide/out MB tray. I have a Kingwin 534 with that feature than is just great. A few months afte getting that first Centurion, and finding that Kingwin dropped the line of cases I preferred, I considered getting a second CAC 5, but in Silver instead of black.

But Directron had this 531 Centurion on sale with a 430 watt PSU for about $65, and it has the twin 120 mm fans, plus I am using it as a workhorse shop machine, so the side-facing Hdd cage makes swapping drives in and out to prep them for new projects so much easier. Beaucoup intake air gets around and through the Hdd cage, so I wouldn't worry about any other case made that way.

http://www.directron.com/rc531kkn1.html

http://www.directron.com/rc531ssn1.html

It seems I was among a limited few who wanted that Centurion, and now it's gone. Mine has a little added trim design work in its intake grill compared to these two, and I did consider the 532 model at the time (as well as the 534), but the corner trim looked silly, and when I saw it up close on a floor sample at CompUSA, that trim looked too fragile around someone with hands made up mostly of all thumbs, and clumsy feet that go way out of the way to find things to stumble over. I'd end up knocking that edge trim right off very soon!

 

[Zepper]

Use a Zalman bracket-fan to put extra air where you need it. You could even duct the air to it with one of those flexible duct kits that are all over the place now.

.bh.

 

[Zombeh]

now this came up:


http://www.svc.com/cac-ec5-uwc.html