Coolermaster ATCS 500 Review

Coolermaster have a very broad range of cases now, from server cases, through mid towers and now the ATCS 500. So I hear you ask, what kind of case is this? This case is aimed at the lan/highly portable area of the case market. It is very light and a breeze to move around, even when full of drives and kit. If you are after a sweetlooking lan case or if like me you are fed up of lugging a huge computer round every couple of weeks, you really need to look into this case

What are the specs of the case?

• 5.25' Bays (Exposed) x 2

• 3.5' Bays (Exposed) x 2

• 3.5' Bays (Shadow) x 2

• Form Factor: - ATX Mid-Tower, 

• Material: - Aluminium 

• Weight: 4.5kg

• Dimensions 520 mm(L) x 196 mm(W) x 380 mm(H) 

• Dual USB ports at the front of case for easy access.

• 1 x (60 x 60 x 15 mm) case fan (Exhaust)

• 1 x (80 x 80 x 25 mm) case fan (Intake)

• Blue Power and hard disc LED's

• Tool-less assembly/disassembly for quick and easy access for maintenance or upgrades.
  
  

As you can see Coolmaster have created yet another amazing looking case, this case is perfect looking the quality of the aluminum is top notch. As you can see from the front of the case, there only two 5.25' bays at the top, this allows the case to be much smaller than say the ATCS 210 or the ATCS 200. This case looks very like a small ATCS 101. To me it is much much better looking. As with all Coolermaster cases they dont provide two bay plates which is a pain. Luckily I have a few spare.

Looking at the case you can see the little blowhole on the top of the case. It sits just above the CPU and draws heat away from the CPU. It is slightly offset and to the rear of the case. Not in the middle like on other cases in the series. This is so the 60mm fan is where its needed most. One thing that is not nice is the fact that the screws for it are on show as are the ones for the PSU cage, which detract from the clean lines of the case.

This case is a dream to work with, both side panels are removed very easily by removing a couple of thumbscrews for each side. Inside the case, you can imediatly see the front fan and the PSU which is tilted through 90°. As with other Coolermaster cases, the LED's are blue, also not there is no reset switch. I was and still am confused as to why there is not one? There is not issue of space that I can see, and I doubt it was done for cost saving. It is a minor drawback which could easily be overcome. Again as with all Coolermaster cases there is a removeable motherboard tray, removed by taking out a couple of thumbscrews , one problem I experienced is that the tray can't be removed unless you have removed both of the side panels. Mind you most people would do this anyway.

In order to allow fitting of full ATX motherboards as oppossed to just micro ATX it was necessary for Coolermaster to re-think the placement of the PSU. If you didnt move it the case would have to be much bigger, a similar size to the ATCS 210 or 200. As this case needs to be portable the psu had to be rotated through 90°. Unfortunatly this puts it directly over the CPU which in a hot system is not good. I have a Enermax power supply with dual fans so the 120mm fan sits over the cooler. This is much better than a psu with one fan would be but far from ideal. Overclockers will have to also check the height of their coolers as the just are too big to fit. My Alpha and 80mm fan was just not going to fit. It could be possible with a low profile fan. Therefore, I was stuck with no cooler, luckly a quick call to Graeme at Kustom.co.uk had a Taisol CKG760002 cooler winging its way to me. Coolermaster also recommend the DP5-6I11A. Even with the Taisol you have to remove the fan as wont slide in. As a rough guide any cooler more than 50mm in height will cause problems.

There are two fans in the case, the intake fan at the front takes in air from underneath the case through a small grill. It can be rotated to direct the airflow where required. Its altered by removing two thumbscrews and twisting, I found you need a fair bit of force to adjusted it which is annoying. The fan itself is an 80mm YS Tech fan. There is no filter so putting this case on a carpet or similar is bad idea. Your case will need a spring clean every week if you do.

At the top there is a extraction fan, this sits directly over the cpu, and is definitly required, with the PSU so close to the cooler. Again the fan is a YS Tech, this time a 60mm model. The cooling of the case was always going to be hindered by the PSU and on my set up, the temperatures went up by 10° centigrade from my Coolermaster ATCS 200. This is not good. It definitly needs a couple more fans adding to try to get some better temperatures. I will be fitting a window with fan hole and a blow hole on the top of the case to try to get low temperatures.

The ATCS 500 continues Coolermasters trend of having a usb port or two right at the front of the case, so you can quickly plug in a usb camera etc. This model hides the not so nice looking usb ports behind a little trap door. To gain access only I light press of the top of this little door opens the ports. The door is made of very thick aluminium and doesnt look out of place in the case as you can see from the pictures. From the back of the port there is a quite long cable to plug into your motherboards USB port, it only requires one port, unlike the ATCS 210's requirement of two which is a good thing.

Pro's

• Look's

• Build Quality second to none

• Very Portable

• Blue LED's

• Very light

• Two front USB ports

• Removable drive tray

• Thumbscrews all round

• Price

• No reset switch

• PSU placement

• Cooling disappointing

• Fan screws visable

• Limits choice of heatsink

Conclusion

This case is definitly not for all people and all uses, if you are looking for a LAN case you cannot go wrong with this case. If however you are wanting super cooling, this case will disappoint. I love the looks of the case, I probably like it more than the ATCS 210. It will look very nice on any desk.
After adding the 2 extra fans I have planned, I think cooling will be much improved, at the moment the temperatures are workable and I have not had any crashes yet using any of games or applications.

Thanks

A special thanks has to go to Graeme at Kustom PC's for providing the case, to my knowledge they are the only stockist of the case in the UK. Another big thanks for Graeme for sending me a taisol super quick to get my system running in this case