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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JarredWalton - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
I assumed Dustin meant something more like a steel frame for the doors and hinges, with aluminum sheeting for the main side cover. But perhaps he can clarify. :-)Death666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Ah, so that would mean everything that has a functional purpose is steel while the outside is an aluminum sheet. Not as I assumed just all steel with an aluminum textured surface. :-) I wouldn't mind a clarification. :DJarredWalton - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Chatting with Dustin, it sounds like the above is correct -- except some of the exterior is plastic as well, and the bars around the main body are steel. Actually, I think the main body is steel, the frame/inside of the doors is steel, and only the outside of the side panels is aluminum.Rick83 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
I have an original Stacker, and while it has its weaknesses, it's still one of the best cases when it comes to keeping a lot of HDDs installed with decent cooling or hot-plugging.While 5.25" bays are dying out, so has the Stacker died a few years ago - something that I am a bit sad about, as it's a simple, efficient, large case made from top materials. Also it comes with wheels :D
I think the Cosmos is in some way supposed to be a modern replacement for it, and while its price point is slightly elevated compared to what a stacker sold for back in the day, you do seem to get some very nice features, and decent stock fans.
Clearly, the test program is not suited to really differentiate between high end enclosures, and I'd like to see a multi-card setup, ideally of silent, open circulation cards. Radial fans are so noisy, that the noise performance of the case is directly correlated with the RPM of the GPU-fan.
Additionally, if you want to run that big radiator, the cosmos 2 becomes more of a value proposition, and it keeps the mostly restrained looks of the CM case family (with the exception of many things HAF). The lack of wheels is disturbing, as with a full complement of drives and heat sinks, you could easily hit 40 kg for the entire machine. Lugging that about is quite a chore. And the Stacker faces the same issue as the Cosmos: there's nowhere really to grab a good hold of it, especially as all the weight is where you can't grab it.
Finally, bringing a µATX-comparison isn't really apt. Firstly, SB-E is all about PCIe-lanes, which µATX negates completely. So a Gene-Z is a reasonable proposition, but X79 is what XL-ATX is made for. With X79 you want multiple graphics cards, which is where big cases come in, as usually the need arises to water cool these things, as otherwises the kW of heat coming out of four cards can't be managed - enter the 360mm radiator mounting capability.
This case has a market, and that market clearly does not comprise the reviewer - it would have been interesting to see more aspects that actually interest the targeted users, such as actually mounting that radiator, and whether the case offers rooms for pumps and reservoirs, etc. A 350$ case would never appeal to a mainstream audience.
Death666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
We had the radiator discussion already, but if you want to cool multiple GPUs and a high end 6 core CPU quietly, you need more than this case offers. Offering one 360mm radiator space is not that impressive.For a quick reference on what cases provide that minimal kind of water cooling functionality see here: http://www.aquatuning.de/download/Gehaeuse-Radiato...
And if you talk about water cooling, the TJ07 can easily fit a 420mm radiator in the lower part of the case, it is really a common sight. :D Also, in this price range, you start bumping against caselabs cases: http://www.caselabs-store.com/cases/ which has all the radiator space you need without modding. Or you just go external solution. :D
But this case will find it's buyers.
Kristie - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
The Cosmos II comes with the brackets needed to take out the 6 HDD bays and install a 240mm radiator in the bottom area. There's people who've installed two 240mm radiators in there too and I don't think that'll take much modding work. The only downside is that for the 360mm radiator space at the top, there isn't enough clearance for a radiator thicker than 5cm.Risforrocket - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
"I have an original Stacker...I think the Cosmos is in some way supposed to be a modern replacement for it...
Clearly, the test program is not suited to really differentiate between high end enclosures, and I'd like to see a multi-card setup, ideally of silent, open circulation cards. Radial fans are so noisy, that the noise performance of the case is directly correlated with the RPM of the GPU-fan.
Additionally, if you want to run that big radiator, the cosmos 2 becomes more of a value proposition, and it keeps the mostly restrained looks of the CM case family (with the exception of many things HAF)...
Finally, bringing a µATX-comparison isn't really apt. Firstly, SB-E is all about PCIe-lanes, which µATX negates completely. So a Gene-Z is a reasonable proposition, but X79 is what XL-ATX is made for. With X79 you want multiple graphics cards, which is where big cases come in, as usually the need arises to water cool these things, as otherwises the kW of heat coming out of four cards can't be managed - enter the 360mm radiator mounting capability.
This case has a market, and that market clearly does not comprise the reviewer - it would have been interesting to see more aspects that actually interest the targeted users, such as actually mounting that radiator, and whether the case offers rooms for pumps and reservoirs, etc. A 350$ case would never appeal to a mainstream audience."
What he said.
There is a market for this case and it's not for the smaller motherboards.
Good try, Mr. Sklavos, but not everyone want's everything small.
KoolAidMan1 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
I recommend "expensive" cases like the Corsairs and Silverstones, but even I have a hard time swallowing $350 for this. I'd recommend a Raven, Fortress, 800D, or 600T over this. All are great in the same ways that the Cosmos II is, but with lower price tags.ggathagan - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
While I certainly agree that it's overpriced, you do have admire the sheer over-size of it.The cases you list are good cases, but none of them have have more than 8 expansion slots.
I really like my FT02, but consider it a major design flaw that they not only limited it to 7 expansion slots, but placed the 5.25" bays so close to the motherboard that you are severely restricted in your choice of optic drives.
Juddog - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
It would be awesome to see an extended test of this case to see how it performs with the top setup with a 360mm radiator and a 240mm radiator at the bottom (with the hard drive brackets removed).