Cooler Master Cosmos
The next obvious thing about the Cosmos is the placement of the PSU and the motherboard, which is reversed so that the power supply is at the bottom and the motherboard at the top. This makes the carry handles at the bottom more than just a decoration as they hold the true base of the case up by just an inch or two. With ventilation holes in the base of the case, they allow air circulation around the PSU through the bottom of the case.
Next to the PSU there is also a base fan, albeit a rather unconventional one. Although it may at first look like just any other, it is in fact just a little bit special in that the airflow can be directed via an attached funnel. It may be a little bit stiff at first, but a good twist of the fan siding will direct the airflow one way or another.
Opinion on this funnel was a little divided – not over it’s function but over the benefits it may provide. After all, the HDDs are all compartmentalised to the right of the case in a set of six drawers so the only thing you can really cool with the fan is the graphics card anyway. Why not have it positioned so that it only cools the GPU?
Click to enlarge
Because customisation matters, that’s why. True, everyone will just direct the airflow over the graphics card but that doesn’t matter. What matters is having the option to do something else if you want.
We’ve mentioned the HDD compartments in passing, but now is the time to go into a little more detail because while they may look cool in the pictures there are a few drawbacks to using them.
Our initial impressions about the HDD compartments were very favourable. Each of the six drawers has a handle to pull it out by, all of which can be clipped down to help reduce rattling when the case is turned on. On top of this, each drawer is screwed in securely and the drives themselves are screwed over rubber grommets which help to further cushion the valuable data and there are ventilation holes in both ends of the compartments so that air can flow freely over the drives as much as possible.
However, in practice the drawers are a little fiddly to use. Removing and replacing all of the drawers is a little difficult thanks to a too-tight fit which makes it feel a bit stiff, but worst of all it means that the cables have to routed behind the drawers so that they can connect with the drive.
Click to enlarge
Cable routing isn’t a problem thanks to the gap behind the motherboard and various gaps for wires to be fed through, but it is an extra hassle to take both side panels off. There’s also no front fan in the case to cool the HDDs directly, or room to fit one. It would have seemed a much better idea to have only three HDD drives with a front fan used for cooling, but this failing still isn’t enough to dim the bright glow of the Cosmos.
Besides for all we know, the four 120mm fans which are included in the case (two in the top, one in the back and one on the base) may be more than enough to cool the case. Here at bit-tech though we don’t like being in the dark, so we set out to test the Cooler Master Cosmos and see just how it well it stands up to the stresses of our heat tests.
Next to the PSU there is also a base fan, albeit a rather unconventional one. Although it may at first look like just any other, it is in fact just a little bit special in that the airflow can be directed via an attached funnel. It may be a little bit stiff at first, but a good twist of the fan siding will direct the airflow one way or another.
Opinion on this funnel was a little divided – not over it’s function but over the benefits it may provide. After all, the HDDs are all compartmentalised to the right of the case in a set of six drawers so the only thing you can really cool with the fan is the graphics card anyway. Why not have it positioned so that it only cools the GPU?
Click to enlarge
Because customisation matters, that’s why. True, everyone will just direct the airflow over the graphics card but that doesn’t matter. What matters is having the option to do something else if you want.
We’ve mentioned the HDD compartments in passing, but now is the time to go into a little more detail because while they may look cool in the pictures there are a few drawbacks to using them.
Our initial impressions about the HDD compartments were very favourable. Each of the six drawers has a handle to pull it out by, all of which can be clipped down to help reduce rattling when the case is turned on. On top of this, each drawer is screwed in securely and the drives themselves are screwed over rubber grommets which help to further cushion the valuable data and there are ventilation holes in both ends of the compartments so that air can flow freely over the drives as much as possible.
However, in practice the drawers are a little fiddly to use. Removing and replacing all of the drawers is a little difficult thanks to a too-tight fit which makes it feel a bit stiff, but worst of all it means that the cables have to routed behind the drawers so that they can connect with the drive.
Click to enlarge
Cable routing isn’t a problem thanks to the gap behind the motherboard and various gaps for wires to be fed through, but it is an extra hassle to take both side panels off. There’s also no front fan in the case to cool the HDDs directly, or room to fit one. It would have seemed a much better idea to have only three HDD drives with a front fan used for cooling, but this failing still isn’t enough to dim the bright glow of the Cosmos.
Besides for all we know, the four 120mm fans which are included in the case (two in the top, one in the back and one on the base) may be more than enough to cool the case. Here at bit-tech though we don’t like being in the dark, so we set out to test the Cooler Master Cosmos and see just how it well it stands up to the stresses of our heat tests.
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