Installation and Operation:

The next two images show the final layout of the installed system, which almost looks incomplete because it is so clean. I have to say - I keep looking at this pictures and I am very impressed at how neat and organized the wiring is. It could be better, and may be very soon, but I have never done an install that was so orderly.



OK, while I was very impressed with how clean the front side of the motherboard tray looks, here is where the mess resides...



Cooler Master provides anchors and ties to clean up your cables, but since it is not seen I didn't spend too much time on the back side. The important thing is that there is ample room for all your cables to stay out sight, will still letting you close the back side panel! Not using baby blue SATA cables would be the quickest way to make this look neater, but spending a bit more time coiling unused wires and what not could make a big difference. The group of thin black wires coming from the upper left corner of the image are all leads from the fan controller. While there are five different fan groups controlled by these buttons, each button can control 2-3 fans each. So, with just 5 fans connected (I only used the fans provided with the case), there are numerous unused leads to hide. The same goes for the LED lighting control leads... Only the intake fan has LED lighting, and it happens to have a separate power lead that can be used with the controller, while the rest are left to be tucked away.

Once installed and powered up, I have to say I was very impressed at how quiet the system was. Just a low hum, which is nothing considering the noise from some of the other full tower cases I have (equipped with a similar number of fans). It turns out all of the fans were at high speed, too, so using the convenient fan controller to adjust things made it even quieter.

The chart below shows a comparison of CPU idle temperatures for the test system with the Cooler Master Cosmos II on high and low, as well as compared to the same system in a Thermaltake SwordM full tower case. The SwordM is wide open inside, giving it decent cooling efficiency, but the Cosmos II is able to shave a couple degrees off while at idle.



Under load conditions (with 3DMark Vantage running repeatedly), things shoot up but the Cosmos II is able to keep it several degrees cooler.