Cooler Master Centurion 5: Simplicity Meets Functionality
by Purav Sanghani on September 1, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Introduction
| Quick Look | |
| Cooler Master Centurion 5 | The Good |
 |
+ Front panel audio/USB/FireWire + Included 350W Cooler Master Power Supply + Five 5-1/4" drive bays + Five 3-1/2" drive bays (1 exposed) + Tool-less drive bays/expansion slots |
| The Bad | |
| - No removable motherboard tray - Unclear documentation |
|
We have seen many variations in the external look of desktop and mid-tower cases. Some of these had clean, elegant designs that were extremely attractive, while a handful of others were designed with themes that were extremely unattractive and did not appeal to AnandTech readers at all.
From the comments posted, we came to the conclusion that the majority of our readers, instead of having a fancy-looking product lacking the features that they need, would rather have a case with a very simple look and with only those certain features that they can't do without during their regular use.
Cooler Master has five mid-tower chassis in their line and all have a design that is simple, yet tasteful. They were kind enough to send us a sample of the latest in their Centurion series, the Centurion 5, to test out and compare with past products that we have reviewed. The Centurion 5 is similar in internal design to NZXT's Guardian. We will look at what puts Cooler Master's product apart from the Guardian and others.
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21 Comments
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Mday - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
One of my primary concerns with these reviews stil remains. Though the quality appears to be improving. Probably due to editor involvement. Anwyay, here's the concern: no where in the article did it mention who actually made this case, the fan or the power supply.PuravSanghani - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
LocutusX: That is correct, in place of the NorthBridge results for the Centurion we have entered our results for the single nForce chip and left the Southbridge results for the previously benchmarked cases. This change results from the switchup of our testbed motherboard.LocutusX - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
What are you referring to when you listed South Bridge temps? I believe the NF3-250 chipset doesn`t have a South Bridge.Phiro - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
Hey now, I liked that Spider man case!ggnl - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
"Some of these had clean, elegant designs that were extremely attractive, while a handful of others were designed with themes that were extremely unattractive and did not appeal to AnandTech readers at all.From the comments posted, we came to the conclusion that the majority of our readers, instead of having a fancy-looking product lacking the features that they need, would rather have a case with a very simple look and with only those certain features that they can't do without during their regular use."
You win today's Stating the Obvious Award. Congrats!
In any case, thanks for listening to your readers. We very much appreciate the non-butt-ugly case reviews.
Deinonych - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
That case is available in blue and red in addition to the silver (I like the blue, personally). In addition to the toolless drive bays, I like the fact that it's quiet. Add a low-noise 80mm fan like the Nexus (17.6 dB) or Papst (12 dB) and the noise levels would drop even more.goku21 - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
Not a fan of this case. I do like the meshgrill in the front, but the silver added into it turns me off. I like my case to be a single color.The other thing I didn't like about this case is that it's a mid-tower case.
On the plus side though, the tool less drive bay features are cool.
PuravSanghani - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
Degrador: The order of those specs were wrong. The 120mm is rated at 13dBA and their 80mm is actually rated at 25dBA. This has been fixed in the article. Thanks for pointing that out. :)SilthDraeth - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
I know another site has reviewed the Cooler Master Praetorian, but I would like Anantech to review it. I like the look of it better than the Lian Li cases,and from everything I have read/heard it is very sturdy, and an exceptional case, as long as you replace the stock fans.Can you try to get a Praetorian for review?
mongoosesRawesome - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
For nearly the same price, you can get the aluminum Cooler Master Praetorian (w/o the 350 watt power supply). Why would anyone get the Centurion 5?