Cooler Master CM 690 Case

The CM 690 bundle is a sparse affair. Along with the requisite brass standoffs for the motherboard, CoolerMaster offers a 5.25” transfer bracket tray for the floppy drive along with a black mesh face plate. Also included is a single, self adhesive zip tie contraption for cable management duty. While it was nice that CoolerMaster included it with the bundle, in the end, it was not really needed due to the excellent cable clip system that is featured with this enclosure.

This being a review sample, there was no documentation that came with the enclosure. Nonetheless, we would have still liked to have seen something, anything that described and/or showcased the enclosure's features. The box it arrived in was totally devoid of any markings, arriving in a nonde scri pt, plain brown cardboard box.

Like us when we first took receipt of this chassis, you may be wondering where the screws for the motherboard standoffs and peripherals went to. As we will see later on in the review, CoolerMaster will show us where they have cleverly stowed them away.

The front of the CM 690 sports classic good looks while still remaining functional. The entire front of the case incorporates a black mesh metal screen over the five external 5.25” bays, and a lone 120mm, 1,200RPM, 17dB intake fan at the bottom. The black mesh helps with internal cooling, which is important considering that CoolerMaster is billing this case as being SLI certified. The front 120mm intake fan includes a blue LED and is quite bright.

However, what makes this metal mesh so nice is that behind it, everything is lined with a thick dust filter. This serves two purposes. The first, obviously, is to prevent as much dust from being sucked into the case as possible. The second reason is that it helps to muffle the sounds of the internal components whirring away inside. With the option to install seven 120mm fans inside this enclosure, one can only imagine the kind of noise that this case could produce if there was nothing that did not help to contain it.

The front panel of the CM 690 is easily removed by grasping the bottom of the panel and gently pulling upward. Underneath the panel, we can see the five 5.25” external bays and the single 120mm intake fan at the bottom. Upon closer inspection, you can also see the filter system that is installed behind the front panel to help prevent dust from entering the case, as well as to absorb sound from within it. Towards the bottom right of the case, you can see the HDD and power buttons, along with their respective LED’s.

As a side note, you do not necessarily have to use the bottom 5.25” external bay for floppy drive duties. Even though the 3.5” floppy drive cutout can be removed from the bottom 5.25” plate it’s attached to, you can opt to remove any 5.25” metal cutout since the transfer bracket includes a black floppy faceplate that fits the external bay anyway.

The right side of the CM 690 is pretty uneventful save for the optional 80mm fan mounting area behind the side panel. It is not very often that we see case fans mounted in this area, considering the tight confines between the side panel and the motherboard. However, we do like this idea and it would seem that CoolerMaster has pulled it off very well. But we have to ask, why not go with the now standard 120mm size?

We also found odd the power and reset button placement. They are located on the bottom right side of the case along with the HDD and power LED activity lights. This can make the operation of the buttons as well as visually identifying the LED’s tough for those enthusiasts who place this enclosure in narrow desk openings or to the right of their work area.

 

The left side of the CM 690 is where CoolerMaster really let it all hang out. Not content with a single cooling solution on the left side panel, CoolerMaster decided to go with a dual fan approach: two 120mm fans can be installed and configured to either exhaust air out or blow air in. For those enthusiasts who are finicky about the way air moves throughout their enclosure, CoolerMaster has certainly made the job easy for them.

While CoolerMaster did include three stock 120mm fans with this enclosure, (one of them being on this side panel) you will have to purchase an aftermarket fan if you wish to take advantage of the second mounting area on this panel. The nice thing about this however, is that CoolerMaster gives you the option to purchase just about any size case fan (120mm or smaller) as they have ensured that it will fit via the drilled holes in the side panel.

Wondering where CoolerMaster could have possibly found room to stuff two more optional 120mm fans in the CM 690? So did we. Removing the top reveals the I/O header connection points as well as the mounting areas for two 80-120mm fans. The top is easily removable, held in place with friction tabs. Also worth noting is the fact that the top of the CM 690 is covered with the same metal mesh and dust filter foam as found on the front of the enclosure. Always attentive to details, CoolerMaster once again demonstrates why they are one of the top names in the industry.

Unbelievably, the CM 690 is actually one of the first enclosures ever reviewed by HardwareLogic that incorporates not only an eSATA port, but a 1394 FireWire port as well. Suffice to say, a lot of the higher end cases we've reviewed opt for one or the other, but never both.

It is nice to see that CoolerMaster remains true to the enthusiast community in that they understand that many people still use legacy 1394 devices; not everyone has jumped on the eSATA bandwagon, and rightly so. There are few devices that have taken advantage of this new technology, and until it becomes mainstream, any enclosure manufacturer that includes both 1394 and eSATA ports on their headers will get major kudos from us (though we'd certainly choose eSATA over 1394 if we had to choose).

Along with eSATA and 1394, CoolerMaster includes two USB 2.0 ports, as well as a headphone and microphone jack. The headphone jack, as with all newer enclosures being manufactured today, supports High Definition Audio (HDA).

With seven PCI slots, and a rear 120mm exhaust fan with stamped out grille, things here are pretty much what you would expect. We like the fact that more and more enclosure manufacturers are including water cooling cutouts on their cases. This makes the enclosure not only more versatile, but caters to the enthusiast market as well; the two ports use a very soft, durable rubber to protect water cooling lines from being chaffed.

Usually, most enclosures never include anything substantial enough for us to warrant a separate look at the interior right side. However, the CM 690 suggests otherwise. The important features on this side of the case are not in the 80x15mm mounting area of the fan or the cutouts in the motherboard tray, but in the space that exists between the motherboard tray and the side panel.

We all know that most enthusiasts love to hide, route or otherwise position wires, cables and harnesses behind the motherboard. Most times, we are only able to stuff a limited amount of cables behind the motherboard and the side panel. Not so with the CM 690. With a full 3/4” of clearance, enthusiasts will have zero problems hiding unwanted cables and wires, and they will be able to do it with ease.

Much like Steve Carell in the movie, "The 40 Year Old Virgin" we hope you like big trunks, because you’re going to be putting your bike all up in it. The inside of the CM 690 is large and spacious with plenty of room to play around in. With the ability to hold mini and standard ATX motherboards, this case offers a lot of features that other, more expensive enclosures do not. As mentioned earlier, the 80x15mm fan behind the non-removable motherboard tray makes its appearance here. Located right where you would expect a hot operating CPU and MOSFETs to be on a motherboard, the execution of this feature is nothing short of superb. We would certainly like to see more enclosure manufacturers include this in their case designs.

Taking a closer look at the I/O wire bundles, we can see the familiar (and expected) complement of USB and audio wires. However, as mentioned earlier, the big draw here is the eSATA and 1394 FireWire cables. We wish more enclosure companies would offer both with their products instead of choosing one or the other. There is no question that 1394 on its way out, and we'd choose eSATA over the legacy port; however, many people still use products that rely on this technology.

The USB, FireWire, and audio wire bundles are more than adequate to meet all cable management configurations. At 32" long, they make routing duties a breeze. However, the eSATA cable came in at a disappointing 22" which made wire routing a real pain.

Mimicking the disappointment with the length of the eSATA cable, we found the header wire bundles to also be shorter than expected. At 19" long, we wished that they were a bit longer in order to really work our cable management magic.

Increasingly, and with a certain sense of satisfaction, we are finding more and more enclosure manufacturers including removable male/female molex connectors with 3-pin connectors on their case fans. In our opinion, this is a great move, since it gives an enthusiast that much more control over how they want their system to be configured and cooled.

The CM 690 is considered fully tool-less, as evidenced by the seven PCI slots shown here. The design of these plastic clips is one of the best we have ever seen. They are extremely strong and very easy to use. They handily hold even the heaviest videocards without a problem, and you never get the feeling that the plastic clips will break. And for those not comfortable with tool-less expansion slots, you're still given the option to use good old fashioned screws.

If you have not noticed already, CoolerMaster has made great strides in ensuring that your experience with this enclosure is exceptional. This is evidenced by the dense foam that is lined around the PSU bracket and the four mounting platforms on which the power supply is supported on. This helps to reduce vibration and noise while the PSU is use.

The grille is a nice touch in that it allows the user to position their power supply so that it sucks cool air from the bottom of the case through the grille and into the PSU itself. Usually, case designs force an enthusiast to orient their power supply a certain way so that a PSU will use the hot air of the enclosure to cool its internal components such as its capacitors and VC sinks.

Moving to the center of the enclosures’ interior, we see that CoolerMaster has implemented a new feature that will no doubt become a fast favorite with enthusiasts concerned with cable management. Seven clips made from molded plastic and engineered so that the ends bend into themselves are used to hold wire bundles in place. This allows the wire harnesses to be securely held in position without having to resort to zip ties or purse clips.

Not content with just plastic clips for cable management duties, CoolerMaster has gone one step further. If you take a closer look at the motherboard tray, you will see rectangular cutouts at the top and bottom. These openings are to slide unused molex daisy chains, power connectors, and other cables through them. This effectively makes the case not only look neater, but helps to defeat the clutter of extraneous wires and cables that would otherwise be bunched up and coiled at the bottom of the case.

For the pièce de résistance, the CM 690 includes a bottom mounted, 120mm fan bracket with dust filter. This bracket is removable and with good reason. For those enthusiasts who want to install a monster 1Kw power supply in this case, the bracket will have to be removed in order to accommodate it.

The 5.25” external bays use a tool-less design that we have mixed feelings about. While we appreciate that CoolerMaster has adopted a full tool-less feature selling point with this enclosure, the clips are woefully inadequate. The drives themselves are secured by only one side, which leaves the side opposite free to move around. This can cause vibration, something that CoolerMaster has tried very hard to eliminate in this case. Admittedly, we could use screws to fasten the other side down, but this would contradict the whole point of a tool-less chassis in the first place.

As pointed out earlier in this review, we now see what CoolerMaster has done with the missing motherboard standoff and peripheral screws. Located on either side of the rear edge of the 5.25” drive bays, there are more than enough screws to secure the motherboard and peripheral devices in place. To be honest (aren't we always? - Ed.), we like the way that the CM 690 stores its screws. Nothing is worse than conducting maintenance on your machine and not remembering where you put your screws. This way, they are all in one place, and easily accessible to boot.

The CM 690 uses a clever and effective method in securing and storing hard drives. The plastic tray system incorporates four rubber grommet pins that are inserted into the hard drive itself. This helps reduce the vibration of the hard drive and gives it a very secure and stable environment in which to operate. The tray also allows you to install your drive in a more permanent manner by allowing the installation of screws on either side of the tray. With the ability to securely store five hard drives, we are very pleased with the design and execution of the hard drive area.

 

Here we have the left side panel of the CM 690. Made of thick steel, this panel is very heavy - something you do not want to drop on your toes. Taking a closer look at the cooling solution used, we can see that it is a CoolerMaster brand, 120mm fan. After poking around online, we managed to dig up a bit more information: pushing 44CFM at 19dB, this 120mm fan is more than up to the challenge of cooling the spacious CM 690.

However, not all is peaches and cream with this side panel or the left one. These panels are extremely difficult to remove. It takes a certain amount of brute force to gain access to the interior of the CM 690. To put it bluntly, it is such a pain to either remove or install these side panels, that leaving them off altogether is almost a more convenient alternative.

Like Emeril, BAM! The installation of a full system in this enclosure hits you in the face worse than a Mike Tyson KO. The refinements that CoolerMaster has made to the CM 690 in the realm of cable management has really paid off. The plastic clip system neatly holds the wire bundles in place, and the cutouts in the motherboard tray proved to be invaluable.

As you can see, there is no cluttered mess of cabling at the bottom of the case which can impede airflow. The simple fact of the matter is that even with a full build, we had to use one (1) purse clip for the whole installation. That’s it. That is how effective CoolerMaster has designed its cable management features into the CM 690; and quite frankly, we love it.

Aside from that, the installation was pretty uneventful. There is plenty of room in the chassis, and at no time did we feel confined. This was mostly due to the cable management features Our paper napkin test passed with nary a problem; truly a testament to CoolerMaster’s commitment to quality control.

The only gripe we have with this case, either as a full build or sans components, is that it is extremely heavy. With an empty weight of 21.5 lbs and a full build weight of just over 32 lbs, this is not a chassis that you will be taking to a LAN party. Aside from that, the installation process went as smooth as silk and was a very enjoyable experience. We experienced no warping or bad rivet joints in the entire enclosure.

Our Recomendation

If there ever existed a line between the features that enthusiasts want in a chassis but at a price point that they can afford, CoolerMaster has certainly found it. And perhaps, that is the niche CoolerMaster has exploited that has made them the most recognizable enclosure manufacturer in the world. It is not enough to say that CoolerMaster just makes cases; that is akin to saying that Aston Martin just makes cars.

The fact of the matter is that quite possibly, CoolerMaster has managed to make one of the best mid-ATX enclosures for under $60.00 on the market today. Pound for pound, this case does what no other enclosure can lay claim to: the features the CM 690 uses as its selling point are not only well designed, but by golly, they work!

Yes, yes - we know that all cases are not the same. Some focus on cooling, some on gadgets, and yet others on how well they suppress noise. But for all that the CM 690 stands for, at the end of the day the feature that this case offers absolutely trounce the competition. Rubber grommet hard drive trays? Padded power supply area? Cable management clips on the motherboard tray? Seven places to install 120mm intake/exhaust fans? The list just goes on and on.

The idea that an enthusiast must settle on a case that may do one or two things well, based purely on price has effectively been crushed. The CM 690 simply offers the best bang for the buck, hands down. Admittedly, it does have a few problems, but not enough to mar an otherwise stellar chassis. If the only problems that this enclosure has is that it weighs a ton and that the side panels are difficult to remove, then that is a very small price to pay for an enclosure that contains a load of sweet features and executes them flawlessly.

Other Reviews of Note

It’s always nice to have more than one opinion on a component before you spend your hard earned money. For one, we may see something others missed, or vice versa. As with all reviews published at HardwareLogic, we'll not only give you our recommendation, but also point out reviews from some other great sites around the web.

ClubOC.net
TechGage.com
MadShrimps.be