Cooler Master Cosmos II
Our favourite case makes a comeback
When it was first released almost ten years ago, the Cooler Master Cosmos jumped straight to the top of our list of most desirable cases. Sure, it was huge and expensive, but if you wanted a full tower that was as well-built as it was flexible, there was nothing better. In fact, it was so beloved that it remained our most recommended case for several years. It might have taken them a decade, but Cooler Master has now released the next iteration, the Cooler Master Cosmos II 25th Anniversary Edition (the 25th Anniversary refers to the company’s age, not the case design).
Unlike the first case, the Cosmos II now comes with dual tempered glass side panels. The company claims they’re the first in the world to deliver curved tempered glass, but we saw several other such panels at Computex. They’re mounted elegantly on a hinge system – just unlatch them at the rear and they fold open. The rest of the case is built from steel and aluminium, with a beautiful subtle brushed finish to the front. A sliding plate at the top front reveals a series of buttons that control everything from power and reset, to GPU and fan speed controls. Underneath this are four USB 2.0 and twin USB 3.0 ports.
The rest of the design hasn’t changed hugely, retaining the large handles that help make this monstrosity a little easier to move around. Blue LED lights are used throughout to show off the interior, which has been divided into three zones: the motherboard mount, PSU shroud and removable drive bays. It’s possible to reverse the motherboard mount if you’d prefer.
We can’t understate how big this case is. It’ll easily handle an E-ATX board, and has 10+1 expansion ports at the rear. There’s room for three 5.25” optical drives, 13 3.5” drives or 11 2.5” drives, but you’ll have to sacrifice some of these depending on the final drive bay configuration you decide upon.
Cooler Master has also giv en it a stack of fans, with a single 120mm at the top, a 200mm at the fr ont, a 140mm at the r ear and room for three more to cool the hard drives. There’s also plenty of room for various radiators, up to a 320mm radiator at t he top.
This case obviously isn’t for everybody – it’s massive, and rather outlandishly styled. However, it’s also a darned site cheaper than the original, at just $449, and we’re in love. Welcome to our new Beast case. BENNETT RING
built from steel and aluminium, with a beautiful subtle brushed finish to the front