Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced Case Review

Conclusions

Cooler Master CM 690 II is one of the most complete mid-tower cases around, targeted towards ventilation. We couldn’t find any real weakness on this case: it is a very-well constructed case with a terrific cost/benefit ratio that will please average users and enthusiasts alike.

Strong Points

• Supports up to 11 fans (Cooler Master is saying that it supports 10 fans, but they forgot that you can remove the front 140 mm fan and replace it with two 80 mm models).
• Meshed bay covers.
• Hole in the motherboard tray for accessing the backplate of the CPU cooler.
• Holes for routing cables on the motherboard tray with rubber covers.
• Clips for fastening zip-lock ties.
• eSATA port.
• The two USB ports are far away from each other, allowing you to install two “fat” devices at the same time.
• Air filters everywhere (top, front and bottom panels).
• Thumbscrews for fastening expansion cards.
• Support for a blower on top of the expansion cards to remove hot air from inside the computer.
• Screwless mechanisms for fastening drives.
• The number of hard drive bays (six) will please even the hardcore user.
• Supports the installation of radiators from certain liquid cooling solutions on the top and bottom panels.
• No sharp edges where you could cut yourself while building your PC.
• Bracket for holding video cards (Advanced model only).
• Two bays for SSD units (Advanced model only).
• External HDD bay (Advanced model only).

Weak Points

• Slot covers could be meshed.
• No air filter for all side fans.