Item: Coolermaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05
Author: Ryszard Sommefeldt

Conclusion

Overall case cooling is determined by the airflow of the intake and exhaust fans. With Cooler Master going for silence rather than monster cooling power, the cooling results weren't inspiring, but neither were they a surprise.

Installing a Model 3400+ Athlon 64, GeForce FX 5950 Ultra, two Western Digital 36GB Raptor disks and a separate Seagate 120GB 7200.7 Barracuda ATA V disk into the test cases, replacing the side panels and loading the system up with concurrent infinite loops of Pifast, 3DMark03 and a Vdub DivX encode gave the following results.

Ambient air temperature in the room throughout testing was an even 16°C. Internal case temperature was measured with a simple digital thermometer placed on the bottom of the case, underneath the graphics card.

Temps

A degree higher than the cooling-unfriendly Wave Master shows how the mesh front and low-speed fans don't conspire to cool things down to near ambient room temperature.

Not bad, but not great either.

Thoughts

My only complaint with the Centurion 5 lies in the lack of a removable motherboard tray. Otherwise I'm thoroughly impressed. Understated aesthetic, tool-free operation, decent power supply, blue LEDs, roomy interior and quiet fans are all obvious highlights.

Being a steel case, the potential for sharp edges internally was high, but Cooler Master take care of those before shipping. I couldn't find a single one.

Steel means it's heavy, but unless you move your case around your room for fun or attend LAN parties every other day, I don't think you'll care too much. Steel also means its cheap however. UK retailers should carry it, complete with PSU, for under £60. Sans PSU you're looking at under £40 even with dreaded VAT.

I'm a fan of cheap understated style and it's undoubtedly better than the CAC-T01 and T02 in that respect. Recommended if you're in the market for an easy to work with, cheap and stylish chassis.