Cooler Master Cosmos II Case Review

The Front Panel

The Cooler Master Cosmos II has a sliding door with magnetic latches covering its external bays. It comes with three external 5.25” bays and two external 3.5” bays for hard drives with hot-swap connectors and protected with locks, in order to prevent unauthorized persons from removing your hard drives. These two bays are called “X-docks” by the manufacturer.

In theory, you can install 2.5” devices in these 3.5” bays; however, we found it very difficult to make this installation, because the SATA connectors are very distant from the entrance and there are no rails to support 2.5” devices. There is no wall or support between the two bays; the space between them is completely empty. For a case this expensive, we expected the manufacturer to have included a pair of adapters to allow you to connect 2.5” devices in these bays. In fact, a simple railing system inside the bays would probably be enough.

Figure 4: Front panel

Figure 5: Front panel

At the bottom part of the front panel, the Cooler Master Cosmos II has a 200 mm fan that glows blue when turned on. (The LEDs can be turned off by a button located on the top panel.) This fan is connected to an individual three-speed fan controller located on the top panel. When it is set at its maximum speed, it spins at 700 rpm and produces a 19 dBA noise level. This 200 mm fan cools down the motherboard compartment and the upper hard drive cage. You can install a 120 mm fan below it to cool down the power supply compartment and the lower hard drive cages. There is an air filter for these fans.

Figure 6: Front fan

The case comes with two USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port, and the traditional audio jacks on the top part of the front panel. The USB 3.0 ports use an internal connector, so make sure you install a motherboard with an internal USB 3.0 header.

Figure 7: Connectors