Cooler Master Cosmos II: Large and in Charge
by Dustin Sklavos on January 23, 2012 3:20 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Cooler Master
- Full-Tower
Assembling the Cooler Master Cosmos II
Part of the problem with assembling the Cooler Master Cosmos II is that it looks exponentially more complicated than it actually is, and the instruction manual on their website isn't as useful as I would like it to be. Assembly is really fairly simple; the Cosmos II is an oversized ATX case, but in terms of layout Cooler Master hasn't done anything radical here.
Owing to the copious internal real estate, getting the motherboard in is a breeze, but when you're paying $349 for an enclosure at least having the mounting studs preinstalled would've been appreciated. Some of Corsair's enclosures actually have the center stud already installed to use as a guide for getting the rest of the screws in place; why not have something like that here to make life a little easier? Installing the video card is painless as well; Cooler Master uses thumbscrews for the expansion slots but they're in pretty tight and you'll want to use a screwdriver regardless.
Installing the 3.5" and 2.5" drives is just as easy; Cooler Master uses the same trays for the top and bottom drive cages, and for 3.5" drives you just slide out the tray, snap it around the sides of the drive, and slide the tray back in. 2.5" drives need to be mounted with four screws to the bottom of the tray, but this is par for the course. Where things get dicey is the 5.25" drive bay. The bay shield pops out easily enough thanks to the lever on the left side (though it feels a bit fragile), but the "push-button" locking mechanism for the optical drive is dire and I wouldn't trust it. It's better to screw in the other side of the optical drive and call it a day, but this is not one of the better toolless systems I've seen for mounting 5.25" drives.
Finally, getting the power supply in and the cables all routed proved simple enough; there's just enough space between the PSU and the bottom drive cage to plug in modular cables without too much discomfort, but the mounting bracket for the PSU affords you a little more real estate if you need it. Cooler Master also smartly includes an extension cable for the AUX 12V line; our power supply didn't need it, but the cable was stretched about as far as it could go (and this is true for most of the power leads, actually). Finally, there's a healthy amount of headroom at the top for plugging in the AUX 12V, owing to the space needed to mount a full 360mm radiator.
I'm not ashamed to admit the most confusing part of the assembly was actually figuring out what the heck all the two-pin leads coming off of the top control panel were. There's a massive braid of them in the case, and these turned out to be the LED controls. You'll want to tuck these leads behind the motherboard tray (along with the extra fan headers) as only the front intake fan actually uses the LED lead. I did like that there's no dedicated power indicator lead for the motherboard front panel headers; given that the power button is powered by the same molex connection that powers the fan controller, what purpose is there for one? Yet you'd be surprised how many enclosures include one anyhow.
Ultimately, assembly and cable routing was really very easy, which is the major perk of a case of this magnitude. The worst part was trying to get the case to lay flat on the table, and then having to manipulate it to route cables, install parts, and so on. The case is very large and that makes it a bit awkward to manipulate, but in the end it's not hard to produce a nice, clean assembly in the Cosmos II.
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tzhu07 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Ridiculously large (in a very bad way) and ugly. Completely unrefined in every way. Look, I don't expect everyone to have great industrial design and precision like Apple, but this case is just tacky as hell, and you might as well label any owner of it as a person who has bad taste in aesthetic composition on a general level.Who cares about its features and performance when it looks like that monstrosity.
nevertell - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Well, I for one, don't care about the look. The PC will sit underneath the table, all I care about is noise and cooling. There is nothing worse than having insomnia due to lengthy file transfer because you skimped on the case a while back :(Death666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
In the end though, the case is just the last part in determining the noise of a PC. The component choice (CPU heatsink+fans, graphics card+fans, case fans and fan control) are much more important. :-)TGressus - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
This case is part of the Cosmos series from Cooler Master. The design should be no surprise to anyone who follows the industry.http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/category.php?categ...
The priorities you express don't align with the intended market of the product. You have wasted electricity by superfluously posting.
Death666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
So if you don't like something you have to shut up because it was obviously not meant for you? Can you be more condescending?....Tetracycloide - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
In his defense that's just returning in kind. The OP was a pretty condescending ass too. Probably more so than TGressus actually.Tetracycloide - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
I see, so it's an absolutely perfect case for the people who think it's perfect. That makes total sense.Stewox - Friday, February 3, 2012 - link
pretty much what i had in mindThe Apple guy who thinks this case looks bad is probably not in this category of hardcore enthusiast PCs ...
Cooler Master made a gread job and im very pleased with the effort that went into this, just like Western Digital making those Hard Drives with a window ... it was a marvelous technological achivement , it was made for the enthusiasts who know to appreciate and see the quality, obviously those glass HDDs wouldn't bring WD tons of new customers and brand popularity, and Cooler Master in this case doing in the same way as any great company would. In this case Apple is a crap company, they put out budget shit that is sold for premium and they never make enthusiast products that push the limits of tech, they don't even design anything except the packaging, the looks and color and their software, everything under-the-hood is all customized PC or Mobile parts which are made with over 200 suppliers and assembled at suicide-infested Foxconn in china. What do you think the MAC is ... it's a console with PC hardware, a closed system, it's a disgrace in morality, PCs are supposed to be open - ofcourse people found a way to delete MAC OSX and install other systems ... but then you don't need a MAC anyways, DIY custom PC hardware part-by-part is cheaper , a lot cheaper.
I would go to the grosery store and make a hamburger:
(optimal example)
- cheapest
- modest
- medium
- great
- Best
Me: (optimal financially, not hardcore setup)
- i pick a great ham
- i pick a great chese
- i pick a great salad
- i pick a great ketchup and mayo
- i pick a medium bread
- paper bag package
- i would pay 10$
Apple: ...
- would pick the cheapest chese (GPU)
- would pick the modest ham (CPU)
- would pick the cheapest salad (RAM)
- would pick the cheapest ketchup/mayo (storage space)
- would pick the best and most expensive bread ever (ex Casing)
- would package it in a super glossy shiny flashy silver plate package
- + bonus a FREE ticket to download of your item of choice on iTunez
- attach a price for 15,99 $
Which would you eat, the manual/custom hamburger or Apple hamburger ?
It's really sad to see many newer generation people who are complete ignorants how this works and this should not even be a debate here, the debate should have been about the Case and it's total win. I have always wanted handles for a case and they just fit on this design so nicely, it's not a thrown-up thing it's really part of the design.
And i don't know what wouldn and Apple fanboy be doing here talking shit about PCs. get out and go to your own wonderland.
Stewox - Friday, February 3, 2012 - link
Who cares about an apple fanboy not having idea about PCs.If you even are a PC enthusiast, and you would not buy the a hardcore case just because how it looks, is probably a very shallow reason and excuse.
Second, Apple looks so shiny and nice to attract noobs and tech-gadged buzz people who aren't technical people at all.
If you aren't in this category of enthusiasts please stop posting useless comments and go away, plenty of people will find this case a must buy, plenty of them also hate apple as they should.
Tech people will always hate Apple, that's because we know the inside of wha Apple does, they sell overpriced shiny packaged shit.
Death666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
With aluminum finish, you seem to just refer to the steel having texture as opposed to just being glossy/smooth, right? If that is the case and since aluminum can have a different texture as well, shouldn't you use different words? :-)