Cooler Master Praetorian 730 Case

Cooler Master is a company well known in the DIY and enthusiast communities for their high quality enclosure and cooling products. Cooler Master cases are generally well recieved for their durability as well as their looks.

Today HardwareLogic looks at the Cooler Master Praetorian 730, a mid tower case that takes all the positives of the Cooler Master Wave Master case, and builds upon it with improved cooling and a modernized look.

Lets look at the spec sheet before moving on to the case itself.

Case	Cooler Master Praetorian 730
Color	Silver / Black
Material	Aluminum
Motherboard Support	Standard ATX, Micro ATX
External Drive Bays	Four 5.25" Drive Bays Two 3.5" Drive Bays
Internal Drive Bays	Four 3.5" Drive Bays
Cooling	Front: One 120 mm intake fan (1200 rpm, 22 dBA) Rear: Two 80 x 80 x 25mm exhaust fans (1800 rpm, 22 dBA)
Weight	22 lb. (10kg)
Dimensions	21.3" x 8.9" x 18.3"
I/O Panel	Two USB2.0 One MIC  One SPK One IEEE1394a

The Praetroian 730 takes everything that made Cooler Master's Wave Master such a wildly popular enclosure and udated some key aspects which should make it a popular choice for those looking for a new mid tower ATX case.
The Wave Master was easily one of the best looking cases in its time, and aside from poor cooling and a mildly cramped interior, I still consider it one of the most attractive, and best built cases ever. 

Pictures don't really do this case justice, from the side view you can see the brushed aluminum finish Cooler Master is known for. Also of note is the side panel air duct, which we'll touch on later.

With the case door open, you can see the same mesh type drive covers that proved so popular with the CM Stacker, these covers are very easy to remove when installing your drives, and aid in cooling your system by allowing fresh air to easily pass through.

The power and reset button have been placed on the top front section of the case, making them easily accessible. With no plastic or crazy colors, the Cooler Master Praetorian 730 seems very refined, and should fit nicely in any enviroment. 

Looking at the rear of the case, you'll notice the thumb screws used to secure the side panels as well as the motherboard tray. You'll also see the pair of 80mm exhaust fans used to suck hot air out of the case.  

One really nice aspect of brushed aluminum is fingerprints and smudges.....as in there isn't any. While I do like cases with a gloss finish, those cases are prone to fingerprints. Brushed aluminum always looks clean, and the simple look really makes this case attractive.

The top of the Praetorian 730 also features a small door which hides the front panel connectors. Here you'll find connections for your audio jacks, a IEEE 1394 port, as well as a pair of USB 2.0 ports. For those who want additional cooling, Cooler Master also includes an 80mm fand shroud which can be used to replace these connectors. Simply unscrew the apparatus and replace it with the shroud and fan for additional cooling.

The Praetorian 730 includes four external 5.25 drive bays as well as a pair of 3.5 drive bays. While some may complain about the lack of tool-less features, I actually appreciate it. Most tool-less cases break after a few modifications. Honestly, is it any harder to simply secure drives with a few screws?
When it comes to external drive bays, I think the Praetorian 730 has ample storage room with four 5.25" and two 3.5" drive bays..

Next up is the internal 3.25 drive bays. First off let me say I greatly appreciate the use of a 120mm fan for cooling.  While the full mesh front will undoubtedly aid in cooling the system as a whole, the 120mm fan placed directly in front of the internal drive bays, in front of the HDDs, should make for a much cooler system.
I would have really liked to see the internal drive bays turned sideways here. I can already see an issue between the HDD area and any SLI or Crossfire setup.

Aside from the appearance, my favorite aspect of Cooler Master cases has to be the removeable motherboard tray. This makes system building much easier in that you can simply remove the tray from the case, install all of your components, then simply slide the tray back in and connect the power....in theory.
I ran into an issue here while trying to install a Vapochill Micro CPU cooler.  The cooler proved too tall to simply slide into the case. If you plan on using anything other than the stock cooling solution that came with your processor, make sure you have enough clearance before installing it.

Again, in my opinion, the lack of a tool-less design make this case more attractive. I've never had a tool-less case that didn't break after more than a few installations. With the included thumb screws you never have to worry about your cards coming loose.

A feature that in my eyes has either been hit or miss is the side panel fan shroud. Some case companies have started including these in their newer cases.... and while the idea is nice, these tend to be more of a problem than they are worth. Most often, they don't line up with the motherboard correctly and in some instances they prevent the use of aftermarket cooling solutions.

The shroud included with the Praetorian 730 is unique in that it doesn't include a fan, but suffers the same problems found in most other shoruds....refusing to line up with my cooler on a DFI LANParty NF4 SLI-DR motherboard. Compouinding that issue was the shrouds conflict with my Vapochill Micro. Alieviating the issue was as simple as removing the shroud. I really wish companies would get this concept right, or simply avoid using it.

When we covered the front exterior of the Praetorian 730, we touched on the mesh drive bay covers. Cooler Master started using these with their CM Stacker case last year, and while tey were a great idea, they tended to be hard to work with and broke easily.

The mesh cover included on the Praetorian 730 are everything these covers should be. Easily removed, durable, and easy to disassemble for cleaning the mesh covers here should make for an extremely cool system.