Cooler Master Centurion 5: Simplicity Meets Functionality

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.

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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.

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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.

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