Cooler Master Storm Scout

[MR_Candyman]

I just received this nice Cooler Master Storm Scout to replace my Cooler Master Centurion 5 which will be donated to my girlfriend's computer build coming up in a few days. I will get the boring stuff out of the way first. First: why did I choose this case? Well, I go to a friend's house to lan party every saturday night. This was getting tiresome with the Centurion5 as it had no handle. Also, I swap hard drives out very often. This was a pain in the Centurion because it meant I had to rip out my sata cables from the motherboard, my video card, and my sound card just to get them in and out. So of course my priorities were:

1: Good cooling (a must for every build)

2: A nice handle on top

3: Sideways mounted hard drive bays

As for the price, well, I got it for 80 bucks Canadian, though I could have had it for 60. Why didn't I get it for 60? Because I missed the sale. Ok, let's get on to the review.

There's something about this case that's menacing. I like the looks.

This is the very well designed control centre on the top front of the case. This houses the power button, reset button, LEd switch for the fans, 1X eSATA port, headphone jack, and 4X USB ports. Pretty nice selection. If you had your case on the floor this would make things VERY easy to manage. As for me, I have it on my desk *shrug*

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This might sound hard to believe but I could not find a SINGLE pic of how this top fan section looked before I bought it. It turns out it's a 2 tiered approach. It's purely for esthetic reasons, but it does look a bit nicer than if it were just flat, and it won't maper the air flow in any meaningful way. I put this pic here in case anybody else wanted to see what it looked like.

Opening the case up we see it as advertised. Notice the cables as pre-run through the case. This was actually a nice little touch in my opinion and I appreciate the effort. One thing of note: The cutout hole for the back of the motherboard to access the heatsink bracket is HUGE. The picture does not do it justice. I really can't see anybody having a problem with not being able to adjust it drom behind.

I just thought I would show you guys the back of the side cover. They both have these very easy to grip handles that make pulling the case back to unsecure the sides very easy. Another nice little touch I appreciate. Also notice that it has places to mount 2 120mm fans on the side. If you have a hot running video card you might want one in the bottom. The top one in my opinion should never be used.

The pre-run jumble of cables, hard drive bay, and the front 120mm LED fan. I like the amount of ventilation through the hard drive bay, though the top slot would not be very well cooled as the fan could not reach up there. There's enough space above a mounted drive that it would never be a problem for hard drive temps though.

This is the top rear of the case with the installed 120mm LED fan on the rear and the black 140mm fan on the top. This is a very flexible setup that will allow you to channel air up or back. I have my Thermaltake V1 set to the back as that is how I had it before. I wanted this transplant done quickly so I didn't flip it around. ideally it would be blowing up, but even blowing out it cools very well. Room ambient temp right now is 27C, my CPU is idling at 30. I won't do a torture test now but I can post results some other time if anybody requests it. I can pretty much assure you though that the results will be good.

Here's the power supply bay. Yes, the holes are as small as they look. That doesn't mean they don't do their job well though. They will not be the limiting factor in how much air your power supply receives. I do wish they would have added a filter though. Don't really want your power supply sucking up too many dust bunnies. You will be happy to know though that there is a small gap in between the power supply and the bottom of the case. This not only allows those external guards on power supplies to fit, it should allow you to easily add your own filter material.

Here we have the clamps that hold your 5 1/2" drives in place. They work well, feel durable, look good, but aren't anything fancy.

This is the inside of the front face of the case. It held on well, but was still nice enough to remove. Notice all the filter material? I have no idea why they couldn't put some in the power supply section, but it's nice to see so much here.

Notice those tabs? Pull them both apart on one side and the grille cover comes out so you can put your drives in.

This is one of the big selling features of this case. It's called StormGuard. Basically you loop your USB cables below the bottom slat, over the loop in the middle, then back out the top slat and connect to your USB port. It's a stupidly simple idea that I can see a bunch of knockoffs being made. I tried it out for giggles, and while it does work well, it is a pain to do as you need to take the side of your case off, remove the bracket, loop all your cables (max of 3 per bracket) and then re-install your bracket and your case side. If I was at a big lan tournement I would be tempted to use this, but for my needs it will never be used.

These nifty little things are the slide rails that hold your hard drives in. Those metal pins stick into your hard drive mounting screw holes and you slide the whole assembly in the bay. They are VERY fast, are very secure (they snap and lock in), and don't seem to induce any noise. Cooler Master, I think you have a winner with this set up!

3 drives installed (I didn't actually end up using the IDE drive). Remmeber kids: Let your hard drives breathe!

Are those sticking up a bit past the lip of the case? Yes they are! Bad Cooler Master! Bad! I was not actually able to close my case like this. If they would have given me another half a centimeter width it would have been easy. This is a BIG mark against this case for me. See my solution below.

This is how I was forced to set them up in the end. I'd already decided I didn't want the third drive in here, so that was a non-issue (it would have fit in anyways). Basically I just needed a bit of space to make the SATA and power connectors get away from the edge so I could bend the side down ever so slightly to close the case. Notice the space for another drive in between them? As I said, let them breathe.

This is the cutout for aftermarket coolers that have a clamp on the back of the motherboard. I just have push in tabs, but you can still see how big the hole is in comparison.

This is the cable channel on the secondary side of the finished build with the hard drives mounted the better way. As you can see it's nice and tidy. Though while I was taking this picture I noticed an odd Molex connector with only power connectors. I do wonder what this is for but I'll check it out later.

Side window view of the finished install. I love the shape of that window. The plexiglass is tinted by the way.

And here we go. Angle view of the finished install. Yes, that is a peg-board covering the window. I'm ghetto like that. Dog. Yes, I do have the LEDs on in this pic. It's just too light to see them well. They are not immensely bright though.

As a side note, you can hear the fans as a soft droning noise, but they are actually pretty quiet. I would say it's a tiny bit quieter than the Centurion 5 with the stock fans, though quite close. No, I did not leave my case at that angle, I pushed it close to the wall.

Conclusion: Very nice case for the money. Only 1 major downfall, which is the little bit too narrow width. The only 2 other tiny complaints are the lack of a filter for the power supply, but that is cheaply and easily rectified if you so desire, and the fact the rear tabs you remove to install your cards are VERY tightly in there from the factory. I tapped mine out with my screwdriver tip. I wouldn't really call this a fault, just something to be aware of. Overall I think this could be the best bang for your buck case I've come across. It looks good, is well built, and has good features. It's also very easy to get room to work inside the case.

8.5/10

UPDATE: Following PeterUK's suggestion I flipped around the hard drives, and sure enough he was right. There is a decent amount more space on the other side. I can even use the non-90 degree angle connectors (barely) with this setup. However, you can only do so with the short connector style ones. Of the 11 standard sata cables I could find around here only 2 of them were short enough to do this. Since I get most of mine from ones included with motherboards, you might have to be careful. I would still recommend going with the 90 degree connector sata cables if you are unsure. I just looked in the manual that came in the box for the case and it does show the hard drive mounted backwards. I never read manuals that come with cases so I overlooked this. Once again thank you PeterUK.

In light of this news I am raising my score. I would raise it to a 9.5, except for the fact what seem to be standard connector sata cables won't fit properly still. Because of this I will give it a:

9/10

[Razorwing]

Very nice review, I would've gotten it if the HAF X wasn't on sale. ;).

[MR_Candyman]

Very nice review, I would've gotten it if the HAF X wasn't on sale. ;).

That is a very nice case

[+PeterUK MVC]

Are those sticking up a bit past the lip of the case? Yes they are! Bad Cooler Master! Bad! I was not actually able to close my case like this. If they would have given me another half a centimeter width it would have been easy. This is a BIG mark against this case for me. See my solution below.

I think you will find that if you turn the drives around like they do it here you will not find it so tight.

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=754&page=5

Better pic

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/Storm_Scout/images/installrear.jpg

[Razorwing]

That is a very nice case

ohh yeah.. :).

[MR_Candyman]

I think you will find that if you turn the drives around like they do it here you will not find it so tight.

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=754&page=5

Better pic

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/Storm_Scout/images/installrear.jpg

I'll give that a go when I get home tomorrow.

[Matthew S.]

Very nice review, I would've gotten it if the HAF X wasn't on sale. ;).

Lol Give credit where credit is due, I was the one who told you about the sale :p

[Xerxes]

That is a nice case (Y) my work machine has that case and very pleased with it :) I have it on the floor too so the top mounted USB/sound etc is extremely useful :happy:

[MR_Candyman]

Updated topic.

[Razorwing]

Lol Give credit where credit is due, I was the one who told you about the sale :p

+1.. happy? lol.

btw, how is the cabling on the other side? a Rat's nest?

[unkdirkpitt]

Ahh yea, coolermaster makes very nice cases. I just picked up the HAF X myself, I am amazed at how tidy the case is and how much airflow it has. I upgraded from a Thermaltake Soprano DX that had a faulty PLED, Lock, and flimsy parts on the front panel (top) audio/usb thing. It also turns out the Soprano case was actually not very good at all for my newer components.

I only have one complaint about the HAF X, it's a bit of a pain to route the wires around due to the distance between components now. haha

[Razorwing]

Ahh yea, coolermaster makes very nice cases. I just picked up the HAF X myself, I am amazed at how tidy the case is and how much airflow it has. I upgraded from a Thermaltake Soprano DX that had a faulty PLED, Lock, and flimsy parts on the front panel (top) audio/usb thing. It also turns out the Soprano case was actually not very good at all for my newer components.

I only have one complaint about the HAF X, it's a bit of a pain to route the wires around due to the distance between components now. haha

really? it's not that bad. I right now have a clean system.. it's awesome.

[MR_Candyman]

+1.. happy? lol.

btw, how is the cabling on the other side? a Rat's nest?

I could take a picture of it, but I don't think there's much need to. It's got one grouping of wires that are nicely packed together going down the side and to the bottom. It's all well done in my book. There's still quite a bit of room in the pass-throughs to route your own cables. I bundled the excess of my cables down at the bottom between the power supply and the hard drive cage. This is not impeding air flow in any meaningful way, and the power supply is drawing it's own air from the bottom, so it isn't starved. A lot of cases have a metal housing to cover what I just did, but I am glad there isn't one because then that would impede the air flow over the hard drives. I much prefer bunching my cables at the bottom than having them covered and blocking air flow.

[Razorwing]

I could take a picture of it, but I don't think there's much need to. It's got one grouping of wires that are nicely packed together going down the side and to the bottom. It's all well done in my book. There's still quite a bit of room in the pass-throughs to route your own cables. I bundled the excess of my cables down at the bottom between the power supply and the hard drive cage. This is not impeding air flow in any meaningful way, and the power supply is drawing it's own air from the bottom, so it isn't starved. A lot of cases have a metal housing to cover what I just did, but I am glad there isn't one because then that would impede the air flow over the hard drives. I much prefer bunching my cables at the bottom than having them covered and blocking air flow.

I'm just wondering.. the back of my HAF X looks like a mess.. lol. Again, I just did a quick job on it. lol.

[BoneyardBrew Member]

Awesome review.

This case looks like an excellent solution for the price ($79.99 at Newegg).

[MR_Candyman]

I'm just wondering.. the back of my HAF X looks like a mess.. lol. Again, I just did a quick job on it. lol.

I updated the post with a pic of the secondary side (or back as a lot of people refer to it). I also put up a pic of the cutout for the cpu mounting bracket

[Razorwing]

I updated the post with a pic of the secondary side (or back as a lot of people refer to it). I also put up a pic of the cutout for the cpu mounting bracket

Can you do my secondary side ;) wiring for me? LOL.

[Matthew S.]

I updated the post with a pic of the secondary side (or back as a lot of people refer to it). I also put up a pic of the cutout for the cpu mounting bracket

So the price we agreed on for you to wire our cases was $20 for mine and 350 for Razor's right? lol

[MR_Candyman]

The funny thing is I just cobbled this together. I can't believe people actually are envious of my wiring job on this.

[Razorwing]

^ you should see mine. lol..

[MR_Candyman]

For those interested I finally did a temp test, and the results aren't surprising - it did a bit better than the centurion 5

This is with the Thermaltake V1 cooler on my Q6600. The fan speed is just below the half way mark on the cooler. All fans inside the case are stock and running at stock speed. I could probably get a bit better cooling even if I were the flip the cooler to shoot the air up, but it's not needed.

[icemanx]

thanks for the review

 

my case the Cooler Master Gladiator 600 Mid Tower looks like the inside so it helps me

 

thanks again

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Great looking and cost effective case. I love CM cases.

[The Evil Overlord]

Cool review, I have a silencio 600 series so love the little touches coolermaster throw in

(on mine the hard drive bay can be moved to accommodate both sizes of HDD) for example