Conclusion
We have had a lot of fun reviewing this case and indeed it has been an epic undertaking. In order to give the Cosmos SE full credit, writing an article when either testing in an air cooled environment or a all-in-one water cooling kit is not doing the reader or the manufacturer any justice. This is why we at Overclockers Tech go full-hog on any chassis marketed as water cooling compatible as only then can one fully test on what is going on. The chassis itself is a pleasure to work with and has taught us some (of which will mentioned later) lessons and indeed is water cooling ready as (albeit with a few quirks) as Coolermaster claim. The cable management is second -to-none for a case priced at around £145 GBP including taxes and in general the Cosmos SE is highly configurable.
However here and for the reason that we tested the chassis in a thorough manner have we encountered a few issues, with those being the issue of not being able to fit a right-angled SATA connector when the drive spaces behind the motherboard tray are utilised and the issue with the radiator mounting screws. We also feel that more clearance should have been designed into the top of the case that allows for a 55mm thick radiator to be installed.
Having said the bad news above, these issues can be readily resolved by the end-user with a little common-sense and foresight. This said we feel that this is a very good quality case and should be enough radiator mounting space for most of the ardent cooling enthusiasts out there.
Though we made life hard for ourselves by using this radiator we do feel that it is to the credit of Coolermaster that the COSMOS SE can accommodate both 15 and 25mm based 360mm radiators.
If the reader of this article has an old THERMOCHILL PA 120.3 radiator then help is at hand as this product will support it, as well as more modern radiators.
Lessons we have learned whilst using this case?
- We made life hard for ourselves by using a (but it allows us to really show how good the COSMOS SE is ) Thermochill PA120.3
- Employing 1/2 inch Inner Diameter tubing is too much for a case this size and if we used thinner tubing then two separate loops could have been installed within this Coolermaster COSMOS SE.
Pros:
- Excellent space for water cooling
- Great at air cooling
- Highly configurable
- Some original ideas such as SSD mounting (but see cons)
- Built exceptionally well.
- Able to even fit the largest of 360mm based radiators
- Front panel can employ both 15 and 25mm spacing radiators.
- Wire management is well conceived.
Cons:
- Need more than 6/32 screws to mount the front radiator
- The same again for the top panel, with the addition of installing ‘spacers’ to allow for radiators with differing DTF (Distance to Fins)
- Motherboard tray mounted SSD’S cannot use a right-angled SATA connection.
- Should come with some 120mm fan to 3.5″ or 2.5″ converters so even if all the bays are taken up by the front radiator then one can get them all back by using this device.
All in all the Coolermaster COSMOS SE does exactly what it says on the ‘tin’, albeit with a few quirks. It is an excellent mid-ranged water cooled capable chassis and capable of much, but just a few things could have been thought out in more detail. Overclockers Tech are proud to announce a 8.4 out of ten and therefore a silver award.
We like to say thank you to the following companies that gave products to either test or to review.
Coolermaster
MAYHEMS
PRIMOCHILL
MOD-SMART
BIOSTAR
INNOVATION COOLING
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author:
Gilgamesh
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