Appearance - Internal
Removing the side panels to gain access to the case is very easy – simply remove the three thumb screws and off it comes. The only slight problem is that it’s a tight fit to ensure it looks good, so it’s very easy to scratch the inside part of the case where the side slides on – although you never really see this with the side on, so it isn’t much of a problem.The familiar Cooler Master layout has fundamentally remained unchanged since the ATCS200, though there are a few differences. The case has a slide out motherboard tray – simply remove the thumbscrews from the rear of the case and it slides out making system installation very easy. The tray is also made from aluminium and is thicker and sturdier than the one found in my v1 ATCS201. There are two 80mm fans inside the case – one above the IO panel, which exhausts air, and one at the top of the case, which also exhausts air.
The fans are Cooler Master branded sleeve bearing fans, which is unusual because every other Cooler Master case I’ve seen is fitted with YSTech fans. The fans are by no means silent, but are certainly tolerable for day-to-day usage. I was unable to find any detailed specifications on the fans used. There is one 3 pin fan, and one 4 pin fan. The top fan is mounted into a cage type affair, which is screwed to the top of the case. It also has a dust filter between the fan and the top grille. I found the inclusion of this filter somewhat unusual – my 201 has no such filter, and it’s difficult to see why it has been included given that it exhausts air from the case rather than brings dust filled air in from outside.
The power supply cage is also different from the older Cooler Master cases – it is constructed of just enough aluminium to hold the PSU in place, but not so much that it causes problems with more advanced PSUs with more than one fan. You will have no problems fitting a PSU into this case – my Enermax 431w fitted perfectly.
The IO panel includes space for onboard sound and LAN and is also colour coded from the outside. This is pretty useful as most motherboards, even performance boards, are now shipping with onboard sound, and this way you won’t need to replace the IO panel. Beside the IO panel you will find the standard 7 blank plates, all held in by thumbscrews. The only time you will ever need a screwdriver in this case is to fit the PSU and the drives. Everything else is screwless.
Moving onto the drive cages – all the 3.25” and 5.25” drive bays are in one structure which stretches from the top to the bottom of the case. There is a great deal of space for all your drives – in total you can have up to 6 3.25” devices in the case. At the top of the cage is the power unit for the light on the front, and at the bottom of the cage is the wiring for the power and reset switches and HDD and Power LEDs, as well as the two wires for the front USB.
Underneath the case are 4 plastic feet, finished in a gold colour, with a foam underside. This protects the surface that the case sits on, reduces vibration from the parts inside and, when the case is actually sat on a desk, the gold colour of the feet adds to the feeling of class that the ATCS 220 exudes.
