Cooler Master Elite Mid Tower Case, RC-310-BWN1-GP (Blue)

Can’t Beat This Value, October 24, 2009

Pros:

The exceedingly low price. While nice and more feature rich (read: tool-less) towers exists, they regularly go for double, triple and quadruple the price.

Lots of expansion slots
Side window is nice touch
HD audio help
120 mm fan slots (front, side) rather than 92 or 80 mm fan slots (better fans go more air with fewer rotations, resulting in lower energy costs and less heat generated)

Comes with one 120 mm fan which blows around 44 CFM
Nice looking affect scheme

Cons:

Not tool-less
No features for wire management
No front firewire (minor for vast majority of people)
PCI covers are attached by single use metal connector

Other:
Steel difficulty pads for hard drives
Power give slot is located on top rather than bottom
Only three fan slots, no ceiling fan slot
Due to position of hard drive slots get right angle SATA cables rather than flat SATA cables but this common in many cases today

Ending Thoughts:

By and large, I’m exceedingly pleased with this case.
Running:
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 Processor
4 Gig DDR2
PNY VCG98GTXPXPB Geforce 9800 GTX+ 512MB PCI-Express Graphic Card
2x Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 32 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD10EADS
Zalman CNPS9500 AT 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Heatsink
1xSilverStone FN121 Case Fan with 120mm 9 blades 26.6 Db(A) – Retail
1xCooler Master 120mm Case Fan – (R4-C2R-20AC-GP)

Running system temperature 38C on idle, 45C on load

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OK for a budget case, August 26, 2010

By 

Steve Benefield “Steve” (Texas) –

  

First off, let me say this case does have a small more style than most $39 ones. The front affect trim is a nice touch, side windows are nearly unheard of on cases this cheap….and it doesn’t make your case LOOK like it was built on a budget of $200. But aesthetics aside, it does share a lot with other budget cases. Side panels are EXTREMELY flimsy, lots of sharp edges, and a total of ONE non-LED fan.
Sideways hard drive cage comes CLOSE to being unusable (ends way to close to side panel), I’d recommend 45 point angle sata cables. With the translucent front trim…you’d reckon they would have at least sprung for a matching LED fan, instead of the stock black one.
On the bright side, it comes with PLENTY of assorted screws and risers, and all plastic parts are well protected for shipping with a peel-off film layer.
DEFINATELY not up to par with what you would guess from a CoolerMaster case….but a small more than you would guess from other bottom of the line cases.
If you are on a TIGHT budget….this is the case for you. If you have an extra $20 or so in your budget…there are way better cases for a small more.

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Awesome for the price, January 9, 2010

Pros: The price of this case (currently <$40 USD) is it’s best feature, but not the only one. There is a vent on the front of the case to the sides and underneath the I/O panel. They give you the option to mount a fan on the inside there, but I find it works best as a passive vent. The case looks pretty and clean and seems to be built quite sturdy. Thumb screws from the side panels are very simple to use, especially if youre like me and are constantly taking the side off and putting it back on.

Cons: It might just be me but the front of the case isn’t very simple to remove. I felt that if I tried to take it off I might break it. *** This case does not come with a speaker *** (If you’re new to buying cases and not sure what I mean by speaker, it’s the beeping you hear when you turn your notebook on or hold down too many keys on the keyboard at once). I was able to take the speaker from my ancient case and rig it to a small spot near the I/O panel, but if I had a fan there it wouldn’t have worked. The built in rear fan seems like it doesn’t do much, but I also have a 120mm on the side that is moving a lot, so it might just be that.

Over-all: Pretty, Sturdy, and cheap. Lacks a speaker, but all else works as expected. Certainly value the 36+4s/h I payed for it.

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