Gadgetory

hey guys welcome back to another hard-working ox review the most anticipated 2012 chassis is finally here starting the year with cool masters new addition to the cosmos series here is the cosmos 2 ultra tower the aesthetic design still maintains the cosmos style with some slight refinements to keep up with the current market demands but it still feels and looks like a cosmos case with its smooth curves and an elegant appeal just like the rest of the cosmos series this cosmos 2 is made for gamers and enthusiasts who want to utilize most of the available features and functions to build a high-end Xtreme machine the cosmos 2 is being released at a whopping price of $350 and should be available in early January with cool masters excellent reputation within the enclosure market let's find out if the cosmos - deserves the attention it has been receiving the primary construction is a mix between aluminum mesh and plastic for the exterior and a steel frame for the body and as you can tell the case is gigantic and weights a hefty 47 pounds however it's very simple to transport with the aluminum rail handles at the top attached directly to the steel frame and are able to withstand the weight of a fully loaded system the case is also elevated by similar aluminum rails at the bottom to keep the style uniform now starting on the front panel the integrated fan controller and the power buttons are purposely hidden behind this light cover this where we have the power and reset buttons with hard drive activity lights and a fan controller for dedicated fans around the system now the button layout and design reassemble a cell phone pad or a high-end remote and looks quite unique for the front panel of a case with this metallic finish it supports up to 9 fans with all the cables labelled to aid during assembly however we would have liked to see these cables and black with small colored tabs to distinguish from one another just to keep things uniform and you also have the LED cables that allow you to control the lighting from the front panel however not all fans have the LED connector leaving unnecessary cables in the back to deal with the LED on each of the buttons indicates the speed of the fans blue for slow purple for medium and red for high-speed right below that is our audio eSATA port 2 USB 3 & 4 USB 2 port the USB 3 ports connect through an internal 20 pin cable and unfortunately cool master does not provide the USB 2 2 USB 3 and after leaving the ports and used in case you do not own a compatible motherboard now we've seen a lot of case manufacturers leaving this adapter out of the accessories and we believe it should become a standard to include the adapter if the case is USB 3 ready moving on the aluminum front cover is held on by magnets and slides down to open sort of a cool feature to create this robotic look this is where we have three five and a quarter inch removable base allowing excellent addition of two hot-swap base with a locking mechanism and a removable dust filter for the front intake fans next up the side panels on the cosmos are covered in brushed aluminum and have plenty of venting on either side now the side panels don't slide off as usual and require no fiddling around with screws but instead they open up to 90 degrees and side panels can be completely taken off just by lifting them off this is something that works really well in practice if you want to do a quick modifications for the inside without taking off the side panel but needs extra room for the door to open and if the chassis is placed on the desk or in small confined space it is not very ideal and may get frustrating at the back of the case we have water cooling holes exhaust fan IO area 10 PCI expansion slots plus an extra vertical one for any additional accessories and a bottom mounted power supply with the PSU bracket with a removable dust filter right underneath the top panel has a built in dust filter and this is where the chassis would be appealing to water cooling enthusiasts the cosmos 2 has native triple radiator support with enough room for push and pull configuration something expected with the case this size alright enough with the exterior let's check out the core of the cosmos first the optical drive base used to list mounting mechanism below which to hot-swap base are mounted next up is the hard drive cage which has support for five drives with support for 2.5 drives as well below that dual 120mm fan bracket is installed to cool the second hard drive cage for support of additional six drives the power supply platform is raised and has rubberized surface to reduce vibration the PSU bracket is removable with four thumb screws which aren't exactly easy to get to and is attached on to your power supply and back into the case ok and finally a fairly large CPU cutout with plenty of cool Master's rubber grommets for an easy and organized cable management which is needed to sort out all these front panel connectors now being such a large case the airflow and the cost must do is well thought out for any enthusiast set up and included - 100 millimeter front intake fan to cool the top chamber mounting for and optional 120mm fan onto the hard drive cage for extra cooling potential with included 140 millimeter exhaust fan for the back and either triple 120 millimeter fans set up for the top or dual 140 millimeter or a single 200-million air fan is supported and the bottom chamber is really well ventilated with included dual fans for the bracket and if needed another 120 millimeter fans can be installed as front intake for the bottom chamber now the fans on the bracket are held on by clips to reduce the hassle of working with screws however the clips allow the fan to wobble a little bit and may cause unwanted noise if high speed fans are installed look in the back of the chassis with plenty of room for wiring with cable tight mounting spread out in just the right places alright let's see some of the modular options for the cosmos first the top hard drive cage can be removed either to have less resistance for the airflow or installation of water cooling components next up is the bottom chamber which can house a dual radio first we need to remove the fan bracket and after several screws remove the bottom cage completely as part of the accessories radiator brackets are included which are needed for mounting the rod onto the bottom chamber it is mounted vertically with plenty of room for simple configuration and tubing can be passed through the rubber grommets into the top chamber now speaking our accessories an 8 pin cable extension along with some cable management zip ties and clips are included with two pairs of keys for the hot-swap base alright we are almost ready for assembly but one more thing to mention more cooling can be added through the side panel this isn't a tool approach requires to remove screws and mounted dual 120 millimeter fans onto the part of the side panel these sit directly the Bottomley motherboard and they're meant to cool your graphics cards now as expected assembling a system into such a large case is no problem we really like the tools hard drive bays and the optical drives support for long video cards is no sweat either with top hard drive gauge in place 15 point 5 inches is available which is more than enough to house the longest video card on the market at the time of this review also the cable measured making sure you can get your system up and running fast and most importantly clutter-free is the case here absolutely breeze and can be completed in no time the cosmos chassis have always stood out with its elegant appeal and enthusiasts craving possibilities as the enclosure market gets more and more competitive those who have the edge in design and really understand what makes a practical yet unique case will attract consumers interests with that said Coolermaster seems to be heading into the right direction with the cosmos - alright let's wrap this up the cosmos - has class and we love the stylish and elegant design the chassis that speaks quality with the steel frame and aluminum accents on the exterior with much of the possibilities to suit many needs for both air and water cooling especially the native triple rad support at the top is absolutely a must and lastly the cable management with rubber grommets and separate chambers for hardware division is well-thought-out and any user will appreciate it however a couple of useful functions backfire like the opening in the side panel while useful for quick check ups they require to be at least at 45 degrees before they can be lifted off and may require more work than intended and we also found the PSU bracket thumb screws placement a little awkward and hard to get to but for the overall package cool masters new cos plus two is a damn good case and that wraps up a review of the cosmos - thank you guys for watching a we'll see you next one