Cooler Master Cosmos S
Examination:
When initially looking at the Cosmos S, it looks just like... Well, the Cosmos 1000. The RC-1100 case is meant to be the "Sports" version for computer enthusiasts and gamers. We had initially seen this case back during CES 2008. The Cooler Master Cosmos S is made of aluminum and has quite a number of mesh surfaces. The case is colored gunmetal grey and black. One of the first items we noticed about this chassis is that the front panel door found on the Cosmos 1000 has been removed. With this sporty case, all of the 5.25" drive bays have a mesh cover and then running along the sides of the front case are two hinged doors. Opening up these doors is similar to the SilverStone Sugo SG03, but its purpose is to just allow the easy insertion/removal of the 5.25" drive covers.
At the top of the case are a touch-sensitive power switch and the front I/O area. This power button isn't exactly a button but a touch-sensitive area where when pressing against the panel will power on the system. The front panel ports consist of four USB 2.0, one IEEE-1394 Firewire, one eSATA port, microphone input, and audio output. A sliding door conceals these ports. Unfortunately, this case doesn't have a dedicated reset switch. Running on both sides of the Cosmos S along the top of the chassis are two aluminum case handles. Behind the front panel ports are room for three 120mm exhaust fans. What is special about this case and its three-fan support along the top of the chassis is that it provides easy support for mounting a water cooling radiator along the top of the chassis. The Cosmos S is very water cooling friendly and we will talk more about some of the other optimizations later in this review. Shipping with this case by default is just a single 120mm exhaust fan at the top.
Cooler Master will have an optional transparent side panel for the Cosmos S, but with our review sample is the standard side panel with a very large fan. The Cooler Master RC-1100 side panel has a 20cm fan that spins at 900RPM for providing 150CFM of airflow. This fan had reminded us of the Enermax Chakra ATX, which had a 25cm fan. Like all of the fans included with this case, it has a 3-pin fan connector but a 3-pin to 4-pin molex adapters are included. This fan is designed to cool the expansion slots -- primarily the graphics card(s) - and the north/south-bridges. The Cosmos S is a certified chassis by NVIDIA for SLI usage. The majority of the side panel is made of mesh and there is a Cosmos S logo on this side of the chassis.
At the rear of the case there are seven expansion slots, one 120mm exhaust fan, I/O panel, standard PSU mount, and two holes for water cooling tubes. These two holes for the water cooling are located near the top of the chassis and make it ideal if you're going to be mounting the radiator on top of the chassis. The power supply mount for the Cosmos S is located at the bottom of the chassis. Rather than using screws (or thumbscrews) for securing both of the side panels, there is a lever on each side for quickly detaching the side panels.