The Cougar PANZER MAX Case is a full-tower case with eight expansions slots, two 3.5” bays, four 2.5” bays, a transparent window at the left panel, supporting two 360 mm radiators. Let’s take a look at it. The PANZER MAX comes only in black. Its left panel has a transparent window, and the right panel is solid.
Let’s take a closer look at the case in the next pages.
The front panel of the Cougar PANZER MAX is all meshed, as shown in Figure 3. Behind the mesh, there is a dust filter.
Removing the front panel (just press it on its top and it is released,) you see the room for up to three 140 mm fans or a radiator up to 360 mm (you need to remove the 5.25″ cage to install this a 360 mm radiator.) Here, there are two 120 mm fans (1200 rpm, 64.37 cfm, 16.6 dBA, 3.6 W.)
On the top of the front panel is the area with two USB 2.0, earphone and microphone connectors, two USB 3.0 ports, reset and power buttons (with the power LED inside it,) a fan controller switch (off, low, and high positions,) and the HDD activity LED.
The PANZER MAX comes with a headset holder, that you can install on the right or left side of the front panel, as shown in Figure 6.
The top panel has also a mesh with air filter. There are also two handles to transport the case.
Like on the front panel, just press the panels to release them. Removing this panel you see room for three 120 mm or two 140 mm fans, also fitting a radiator up to 360 mm.
The bottom panel of the Cougar PANZER MAX has room for a 120 mm or 140 mm fan. It has an air filter that covers this opening, and also the power supply air intake. This filter is held in place magnetically.
Figure 10 shows the filter removed.
The rear panel of the Cougar PANZER MAX are painted in black. The power supply is installed at the bottom of the case.
The product comes with a 120 mm fan installed on its rear panel (same of the front ones). There are three openings for external liquid cooling system hoses, that must be broken to use. There are rubber rings among the case accessories to protect these holes.
This case comes with eight expansion slots, with vented reusable covers held with thumbscrews. There is one open slot, but the cover for it comes with the case.
Let’s now take a look inside the Cougar PANZER MAX.
Each panel is attached to the chassis using a quick-open mechanism operated by a lever.
The motherboard tray has a huge cutout for you to access the backplate of the CPU coolers without having to remove the motherboard from the case, and holes for you to route cables behind it. There is a 2.2 inch (55 mm) clearance between the tray and the right panel to organize the cables.
The case supports E-ATX and smaller form factor motherboards.
There is a removable cover for the power supply compartment.
In Figure 14, we have another overall look inside the case. As we mentioned before, expansion cards are held with thumbscrews.
The PANZER MAX supports video cards up to 154.4” (390 mm) long. You can install CPU coolers up to 6.7” (170 mm) tall.
On the front panel, there are two already mentioned 120 mm fans. There is a plastic flap that directs part of the airflow to the 2.5″ bays.
The power supply is installed at the bottom of the case, covered by a removable cover. It can be installed with either its bottom fan facing up or facing down, so you can decide if you want the fan of your power supply pulling air from inside the case or from outside of it. As shown before, there is an air filter for the power supply fan.
You will be able to fit power supplies up to 15” (390 mm) deep if you don’t install a fan in the bottom panel.
The Cougar PANZER MAX has two external 5.25” bays, two internal 3.5” bays (that can also fit 2.5” devices), and four internal 2.5” bays.
Figure 17 shows the 5.25” bays, that use a tool-less mechanism. You can remove this
cage if you will not use these bays.
Two 3.5” bays are located under the motherboard tray, as shown in Figure 18. 3.5” HDDs are installed without tools or screws.
Figure 19 unveils the four 2.5” bays, also under the motherboard tray. These bays are “drawers” where you slide the drive into. Here you see an SSD installed to illustrate.
Figure 20 shows a complete PC built on the Cougar PANZER MAX.
The Cougar PANZER MAX is a huge case, with a great look and excellent quality, focused on internal space and refrigeration.
The easily removable panels are also a highlight: you can access its interior easily and quickly. The eight slots and the fan controlled are also great features.
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Strong Points
- Excellent construction quality
- Easily removable top, front, and side panels
- Huge internal space
- Eight expansion slots
- Air filter for the power supply
- Air filter for front fans
- Supports two 3.5” and four 2.5” devices (or up to six 2.5” drives if the 3.5” bays are unused)
- A huge cutout in the motherboard tray for accessing the backplate of the CPU cooler
- Holes and a good clearance for routing cables behind the motherboard tray
- Supports two 360 mm radiators
- Fan controller
- Left panel with transparent window
- Handles to carry the case
- Reusable slot covers
Weak Points
- Demands a lot of room on the desktop
- A little bit expensive
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