Introduction

Some, as the phrase goes, may say ‘Silence is Golden’ and in some situations this can be true. In the performance cooling world, silence is the last thing that is wanted. However, for those who just want a good computer that performs well and is fairly quiet to boot (pun intended) then accommodations must be made. No chassis can be 100 percent silent as air needs to be drawn into the case and then expelled again. However, efforts can be made to both reduce vibration and sound proof various parts of the chassis. Entrance CoolerMaster;  they believe they have the answer to the silent computer world, so without further ado let us investigate their latest chassis product, the Silencio 550.

Company Background

Cooler Master was founded with the mission of providing the industry’s best thermal solutions. Since its establishment a decade ago, the company has remained faithful to this mission, emerging as a world leader in products and services for companies dealing with devices where heat issues must be resolved. In pursuing this mission, Cooler Master is absolutely committed to delivering solutions that precisely meet customer requirements for features, performance, and quality. Moreover, we strive to be a reliable long-term partner for our customers that they can truly depend on.

Cooler Master’s current business encompasses a comprehensive lineup of thermal solutions for a full range of applications. Its products range from heat sinks and fans to component housing, chassis, and ducting for computers, industrial machinery, telecommunications equipment, and many other devices.

Specifications:

Near silent operation and prepared to take on powerful hardware, the Cooler Master Silencio is able to keep high-end setups running cool and quiet. Sound proofing on both side panels assist in vastly reducing noise levels. A sleek mirror finish front panel and clean lines present a minimalistic design aesthetic that speaks to its silent interior. The benefits of elegance and silence, combined with the functionality of built in Super Speed USB 3.0, a multifunction SD card reader, and 3.5″ X-dock HDD hot-swap all make the Silencio a giant among its kind.

Manufacturers Product Page

As one can appreciate by looking at the specifications above, a rather standard specified chassis-albeit with the sound-proofing added.

Packaging

The packaging itself reminds this reviewer of the ‘Storm’ series of products with it’s plain purple and white colour scheme. Although the specifications themselves are well presented and easy to read, one cannot escape the feeling that the box design is a rather generic affair.

The box sides and rear area also sport the same genetic look. However, with the added benefit of having the features listed. The aforementioned has a few new features amongst the generic ones; amongst these are the use of a large slide in tray for a regular hard drive for ‘hot-swapping’ and of course the soundproofing itself.

As shown above the case protection is the same as any other product of the same type. However, it does seem to do its job well and protect the chassis from ‘over-enthusiastic’ delivery men.

First Looks (External)

The Coolermaster Silencio 550 sports a steel frame and is finished in black. The front of the chassis has a plastic glossy black door featuring the Cooler Master Logo stenciled on the lower half and is hinged on the left hand side. The former mentioned has a thin ‘sticky back plastic’ layer to protect that beautiful finish on the front door whilst installing any components. The door opens to reveal three 5.25″ drive bays, with the bottom one having been pre-converted to support a 3.5″ drive via the provided X-Dock.

The front of the Silencio 550 has a rather unique quick removable fan cover which will promote easy cleaning of the fan filters. A 120mm, 800RPM silent fan comes pre-installed but the space provided supports two 120mm or one 140mm fan as well. This reviewer is thinking of a possible radiator mounting system here for those enthusiasts whom wish to water cool their system. An investigation on how practical this would be will be carried out later in the review.

 At the top of the front edge we encounter the I/O panel. There is a single USB 2.0, a single USB 3.0 port, a SD card reader slot , an audio 3.5mm audio out and the usual power and reset buttons.

All looks well thus far, let us investigate further on the external looks of the chassis.

External Looks (Continued)

Now that we have finished with the I/O panel let us continue with our investigation of the chassis exterior design

As mentioned before the Silencio 550 sports a door-based system in order to obtain access to the 5.25 bay and fan filters-with the addition of exposing the X-Dock feature.

The reader will notice (by looking at the above photos) that the top panel has no facilities to install a fan or ‘fans’ of any specification which could be seen by some as a waste.

Turning to the back panel we find the standard motherboard I/O location sitting beside a 120mm silent exhaust fan. Beneath these are pre-cut grommeted holes for water-cooling tubes, and the PSU location at the bottom. It is obvious that the largest motherboard this chassis can contain would be of the standard ATX variety judging by the number of PCIE expansion ports, which is seven in total.

The left and right panels of the Coolermaster  Silencio 550 are unadorned and black with no fan mounts. The former mentioned does indeed have sound proofing foam which will make them slightly more heavy than most steel side panels.

On the bottom of the case we find four non-slip rubber feet and the PSU intake area which, like the front fan, has a removable filter.

An all round pleasant, albeit a little generic, experience for the Coolermaster 550 Silencio. Let us now move onto the internal workings of this case.

Internal Workings

Getting inside the case is the same as virtually every other chassis on the market, that is with two thumbscrews placed at the rear (two thumbscrews per panel) then with a few turns the Silencio 550 innards are exposed.

Once the panels have been taken off, then we notice there is a good amount of soundproof padding placed on them. The material seems to be off a rather good quality and its fairly thick. We also notice that the padding is glued very well to the steel with no peeling on the corners. Once again this all makes sense given the name of the chassis

Now that we can see the innards of the case, you will notice the interior is powder coated completely black. The interior also features a CPU cut-out to aid system builders during the installation of a large air-based cooler or even that of a waterblock.

Present are a myriad of holes around the motherboard tray area to allow the installation of differing motherboard sizes.

At the bottom left of the case we find the PSU mounting hole. The aforementioned is raised off the bottom of the case by four rubber feet in order to reduce noise and vibration. Above this are the seven standard PCIE card slots (All of which have thumbscrews). Lastly, above this we have the 120mm near-silent fan which features a 3pin to molex adapter.

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At the top right location we find the three 5.25″ drive bays. The upper two bays features tool free installation via a plastic clip. Beneath these bays are seven 3.5″ bays, one of which can be converted to a single 2.5″ bay using the plastic caddy provided. The latter mentioned can be moved to any of the 3.5″ drive bays and the top four bays can be removed to support large video cards. It would be to the advantage of Cooolermaster if they made all the 3.25″ bays removable in to facilitate the installation of a 240mm water-cooling radiator. For a case of this price it would have been a nice touch indeed!

Remember the x-dock feature that we were speaking of earlier? Well here are the electronics and the interface to accommodate this idea. The top of the Silencio 550 is a single panel, which doesn’t have any fan holes to speak of. This would make sense given that this case is designed for quiet cooling. However, given the latter mentioned design it would have made perfect sense to have foam padding here also in order to further reduce noise coming out of the top of the case.

Overall the wire management of the Coolermaster Silencio is of a high quality with cables easily routed to the vital components inside the system. Please note that though there are no rubber grommets present in the motherboard tray, on a case of this range (budget-end of the market) one can indeed forgive the absence of the above.

The overall interior look is of a very high quality given the area o the market this chassis is aimed for. With only two exceptions, this being the absence of any sound proofing on the top panel and not being able to remove all the 3.25 bays in order to fit a water cooling radiator.

Conclusion:

A well thought out case in terms of design. It does puzzle us though on why Coolermaster did not add sound proofing to the top panel in order to fully proof the case against noise leakage. As water cooling enthusiasts we can see the potential of the 3.5 bay area, however this would involve ‘modding’ the case slightly in order to fit a radiator. Ideally we should not have to do this. For some of the bays, instead of using pop-rivets, screws would have been a better option in order to remove the bays and install a radiator. The interior design does remind us of the ‘Cosmos Two’ and of the ‘Storm Enforcer’ products.

However, in all honesty this is a beautiful case that just ‘shimmers’ good looks. A great cable-management system just adds more appeal to this offering from CoolerMater. Considering the price of around £70 for a silent case, this is hard to beat.

Pros:

• Great Price
• Shimmering good looks on the outside
• Quality Soundproofing
• Great x-dock feature
• Wire management looks good
• Can fit long graphics cards
• Great attention to detail overall
• Solid powder coating

Cons:

• No soundproof foam added to the top panel.
• Has to be ‘modded’ to fit a 240mm radiator
• Internal workings look a little like the Cosmos and Storm Enforcer range of cases.

It is our pleasure to award the Coolermaster Silencio 550 with a score of 8/10 and therefore a silver award.

Author: Gilgamesh