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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Rictorhell - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
I am a big fan of this site and I read the reviews and articles all of the time and I find them very informative and useful, but, I have a request.When a review is written, particularly about a certain smartphone or tablet, it is mentioned whether the device has an SD card slot and you always tend to differentiate between whether it is a “full-sized” SD slot or a “micro”SD slot. That is useful to know, but there are several actual types of SD cards available, each with a different maximum storage capacity, and you don't specify in your reviews which types of SD cards are actually supported by the device being reviewed and I think that is a bit of an oversight.
To the best of my knowledge, standard SD cards only have a maximum capacity of up to 2gb, while SDHC cards can go up to as high as 32gb, and SDXC cards, while only available right now in sizes up to 128gb, are supposed to theoretically be able to be manufactured in sizes up to 2tb.
There is a huge difference in size between 2gb, 32gb, and 128gb. Given that smartphones and tablets have substantial built in limits as far as storage capacity, I think it would be very helpful to know which type of SD card is supported by which device, if that is possible.
If I read two reviews about two different Android tablets and both reviews mention that both cards have a full-size SD card slot, as a user with a lot of media files, I'm going to be interested to know if one of those tablets can support SDXC cards while the other one cannot.
I consider that to be a major feature, to me, just as important as battery life. If you do reviews of tablets and smartphones, or even ultrabooks, and neglect to specify how much storage potential these devices have or do not have, you are making it very easy for the hardware manufacturers to simply put in second rate storage and format support, knowing that it will not be covered in reviews by sites like Anandech. Not only is this going to stunt the evolution of these devices but it's also going to mean less options for consumers.
Anyway, thank you for your time.
ExarKun333 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Huh? Everything you said is not relevant to this review at all.Sladeofdark - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
if the USB front panel was facing up like the Cosmos S it would be PERFECT! But i still cant wait to purchase this case to replace my Cosmos S. It has all the improvements ive been wanting in a Chassis for YEARS.. serious cable management, and Serious consideration for hard drive placement. It is like they finally made a case that was not only about making the price point.sviola - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
Agree with you. I too have the Cosmos S, and I wish it would have some of the improvements here like the drive cage facing the side of the cage (but I prefer the red leds on the S model, a bit of the change from the blue led theme that seems to flood the industry).Solidstate89 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
After I've had my full of my current build in my Silverstone FT02B case, I'm definitely buying this case and building a behemoth of a system in it. Combined with Windows 8's Storage Spaces, you don't even need a separate Home Server anymore, and that's where all those drive bays will especially come in handy.Risforrocket - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
It's for a build with lots of drives, I agree.I have 4 drives in RAID 10 and am wanting 6 and then the SSD (or two) for the OS. That's 8 drives right there. Lol, I love this case.
Tetracycloide - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
Or a build with a radiator. You loose all of the drive bays in the PSU chamber if you mount a radiator and some pumps down there. I'd argue that's what the chamber was designed for and the bay cages are just tact on so the space still looks useful if you're not water cooling (although it's still wasted space if you don't have all the drive slots filled).Bonesdad - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
have to agree with some other posters here, this case, though top of the line functionally is big, ugly and fugly. Just my opinion, but no way would I ever own this. I don't think I could even be friends with anyone who owns this.whitehat2k9 - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
The Maximus IV Gene is a Z68 board. Perhaps you meant the upcoming Rampage IV.ggathagan - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
Which doesn't change the overarching point that you can get a fully packed motherboard in the m-ATX form factor, diminishing the need for the full ATX size board in a large majority of situations.