Cooler Master Centurion 5: Simplicity Meets Functionality
by Purav Sanghani on September 1, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Internal Design
As soon as we looked inside the Centurion 5, we realized that we were working with the same layout used in the NZXT Guardian, which we looked at in April. There are slight variations in the construction of the shell of the Centurion, but besides that, the design is very much alike.
Click to enlarge.
The drive bays, for one, use the same tool-less locking devices that we saw in the Guardian. We believed these devices to be much better than drive rails, since they are attached to the case. The drive rails, which were used in the SilverStone TJ05, were a bit difficult to work with, since they wouldn't easily slide into the bays.
Click to enlarge.
One feature on the NZXT Guardian that was a turn off was the expansion card area and the devices used to secure them in place. They were little, flimsy plastic mechanisms, which could barely hold an expansion card in place. Our ATI 9800 card, which is extremely heavy due to its fan and heatsinks, had to be secured with a screw to keep it from falling out. Thankfully, holes were provided for screws to be used in the Centurion 5 instead of these flimsy plastic clips.
Click to enlarge.
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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?