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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Coolermaster 690 II Plus - Review




Coolermaster 690 II Plus - Review

Introduction

Cooler Master's current best seller, the CM 690 was initially launched in 2007 and has been one of their mainstays ever since then. The popularity of this chassis was such that it spawned a number of variants, amongst them a windowed version and later the 'Pure' version with an all black interior. The chassis was very simple in design and construction and what made it such a great product was that it was designed keeping a lot of the market requirements in mind.

With changing times and a lot of competition in the same price bracket, it was time for CM to look at a redesign of its current mainstay and that's exactly what they have done. They worked on the relevant additions required in today's market place and came back with the CM 690 II Advanced and the CM 690 II Plus. The Plus is an Asia Pacific specific model and is a little less customizable than the Advanced, but it still retains most of the practicality and all of the looks of its more expensive sibling. So without wasting anymore time, let's start by taking a look at the features of the CM 690 II Plus.
Available Color
Black

Material
Steel body / Plastic + Mesh bezel 

Dimension (W / H / D)
214.5 x 511.8 x 528.8 mm / 8.4 x 20.1 x 20.8 inch

Weight
Net Weight: 9.56 kg / 21.08 lbs
Gross Weight: 11.56 kg / 25.49 lbs

M/B Type
Micro - ATX / ATX / Mini-ITX(supports)

5.25" Drive Bay
4 (without the use of exposed 3.5”drive bay)

3.5" Drive Bay
6 Hidden
1 Exposed (converted from one 5.25” drive bay)

I/O Panel
USB 2.0 x 2 , eSATA x 1 , MIC x 1 , Audio x 1 (supports HD / AC97 audio)

Expansion Slots
7 + 1

Cooling System
Front: 140 x 25 mm Blue LED fan x 1 / 1200 RPM / 19 dBA
Rear: 120 mm fan x 1 / 1200 RPM / 17 dBA
Top: 120 x 25 mm fan x 1 / 1200 RPM / 19 dBA (supports 120 / 140 mm fan x 2)
Bottom: 120 mm fan x 2 (optional) 
Right side: 120 / 140 mm fan x 2 (optional)
Left side: 80 x 15 mm x 1 (optional)
HDD cage: 120 mm fan x 1 (optional)

Power Supply
Standard ATX PS2 / EPS 12V (optional)




Unboxing and AccessoriesThe chassis come packaged in a nice glossy white cardboard box. The front of the box has an image of what you can expect inside.


As you can see, the cabinet is a bit bigger than the old CM 690 and also has a slight change over the configuration of drive bays. Overall the extra room is a requirement of most modern mid to high end systems and CM has done the right thing by increasing the space available.

Let us see what all accessories are bundled with this product.




The Accessories

  • Product Manual.
  • Motherboard Installation Stand-Off Screws set.
  • Additional set of Black Screws for peripheral installation.
  • A set of 4 Plastic Thumb Pins for Side Fan Installation on Acrylic Window.
  • PC Speaker.
  • Lock Notch.
  • Black Cable-Ties.
  • 5 ¼ inches to 3 ½ inches drive bay convertor set.
  • PSU dust filter.
  • SSD Installation Adapter.
  • VGA Card Holder.

The Exteriors

The very first look at this chassis, made me wonder about the designers at Cooler Master, who have really worked hard to bring those small but very noticeable differences to a CM 690 which eventually brought CM 690 Advanced into existence. To start with, we have a much clearer side window then that of its predecessor or even the CM Storm Scout. Here the vertical lines of the side vent are confined to the fan installation area, giving you a clearer picture of what is installed inside this beautiful Chassis.








I
personally like the silver Streak going across the cabinet, from the front and to the top. Plus the small plastic groves at the front and top panel of the chassis, which gives an overall tough and rigid look to this product, or shall we say “The Military Style Looks”. Here Cooler Master has really maintained their craftsmanship and designed a flawless front and top panel. Another thing to notice in the CM 690 II series is that although it is clearly visible that the front and top panel are two different parts however has got a perfect fit. An issue that we noticed in the CM 690 was that at times the Front Panel did not fit in with the top panel and there used to be a noticeable gap at the median.

This time Cooler Master have shifted all the buttons and ports at the top panel of the chassis, making the front Bezel less prone to installation issues with no strings attached to it.




Looking at the top side of the chassis we see the reason behind the word ADVANCED added to the CM 690 II series, and it is the Hot Swappable HDD Bay which is a first of its kind feature added to the Cooler Masters range of Computer Chassis. The nice thing is that the Dock Space comes with a Slide-On Black Acrylic Cover for the times when the Dock is not in use.

Apart from that we now have an eSata port and an LED On/Off switch for the front LED fan, and as stated earlier, they are all mounted/incorporated in the top plastic section of the chassis, rather than the front bezel.






And a closer look at the HDD Dock with a HDD installed in that space. One more thing that we noticed was the angle of the slope at the dock space. It is perfectly crafted, so as to allow Easy-In Easy-Out access for the HDD.






Continuing, we see the similar Mesh Style at the top panel exhaust of the chassis and we see 3 embossed groves in the mesh metal top, going with the overall Tough theme of the chassis.






Moving ahead, the right side panel of the chassis is same as that of any other chassis of CM 690 series. It has a vent to incorporate an 80mm x 80mm x 15mm fan to cool of the CPU Socket are of the motherboard. This feature has been quite successful and we have seen a drop of 3-4 degrees near the CPU Socket area. With the introduction of STACK COOL II Technology from ASUS and Ultra Durable 3 Technology from Gigabyte, which are designed to evenly distribute heat through the area of the motherboard, this 80mm vent will come in handy.






Looking closely at the back side of the cabinet we found it identical to that of an HAF 922, with similar holes for water cooling and the concept of 7+1 expansion bay system. However there is certainly one major difference, the built quality. CM 690 II Advanced seems to have better built quality then I have seen in the Mid-Tower range of computer chassis from cooler master, in fact in comparison, the material used is the same as that of the CM Storm Sniper and with an overall black finish of the Chassis, it certainly stand against most of the Mid-Tower offerings in the market. Moving ahead we have the 120mm back exhaust with a 120mm fan included with the chassis.



One more thing to notice is that the expansion bay covers no longer have any ventilation system designed, this is a plus in keeping the dust away from the internal components of your RIG. Later we will talk about Dust Prevention System of CM 690 II Advanced, and unbelievably there is a lot to talk about. And, an industry standard, the PSU Housing is at the bottom of the chassis. Some detailed pictures.






If you remember, we had a VGA Card Holder in the accessories that came with CM 690 II Advanced. The two vertical grooves to the right of the 7 expansion bays are the mounting grooves for the VGA Card Holder.





Last but not the least, the bottom of the chassis. It is interesting to see the giant rubber feet of the chassis and right between them we have the inlet vent for the bottom mount PSU. At the right of it we have the bottom inlet designed specially to fit in 2 x 120mm fans or even a radiator of 2x120mm dimensions for all your water cooling need for a Crysis ready RIG. Good to see that we have a thin mesh plastic sheet for dust prevention at the 2x120mm vent.







In our next section, we talk about the interiors of the CM 690 II Advanced.






Interiors

The side panels are held in place with a pair of thumb screws. Once we take those of, we are greeted by the lovely black interior. I am sure that most of you will love it and I am happy that CM decided to paint even the basic model with a black interior. I for one would have saved a couple of days if they had offered the same interior on my CM Sniper.

The manual and accessories box is kept inside the chassis and the box is secured well enough to make sure it does not move while shipping. Once we remove these, we can admire the full beauty of this cabinet.




So let's start with some basic bservations about the interiors. The paint work is extremely durable and unless you try real hard, its a bit difficult to scratch. This is a well done machine finish with not a single blemish or bubble on it and CM have done a very good job of it.

Next, we have six HDD caddies, each with its own plastic retention bracket. I wish they had put in some more effort to dampen the HDD sound though. On the plus side, its a very easy to use and straight forward mechanism and much better than the ones on the previous 690.

The 5.25" bays have a new locking mechanism, which also works quite well. But if you do plan to move your system around, make sure to use the included screws to secure the other side as well.

Moving on, we see six cable management holes in the motherboard tray, as well as a large hole behind the CPU area. This is very well thought out and gives any person the chance to get the most wire free finish with minimal work. there are also a couple of areas where you can use zip ties to hold down those massive cables behind the motherboard tray. The bottom has three ventilation points, one of which will be used by the PSU. The second one can hold a 120 mm fan and the second and third together can be used for a 240 mm radiator if required. This should work extremely well with the new Swiftech MCR 220-Drive, since both the radiator and the pump can be fitted down here and then you only need tubes going to your CPU block. However this version does not have the removable HDD brackets, and so you would have to do a bit of work to get that done.

Looking at the top, this is where the 2 X 140 mm fans can be installed. 





The chassis comes with one 120mm fan as part of the package.









Continuing with the fans, we see the rear fan, which again is a plain-Jane 120 mm with no LED's and the front blue LED 120 mm fan. In the second picture, we can also see the cable management holes, and I wish CM had left a little more space between the motherboard tray and the rear panel to make it easier to hide the thicker cables.

Finally we take a closer look at the HDD caddies.




The one on the left will accommodate a normal 3.5" HDD and the one on the right would be helpful to those who have invested in an SSD. The positive of this system is how easy it is to work with, but I wish there was a little more rubber to keep HDD vibrations down.

Specification 

Features

  • Oversized front and top mesh design for superb ventilation
  • Accommodates 120 x 240 mm radiator inside the top or bottom
  • Dust-control filters for all meshed areas
  • Air cooling support for up to 10 fans (with support for up to 5 x 140mm fans)
  • External SATA X-dock
  • Front blue LED fan on/off switch
  • Rear retaining holes for water cooling kit
  • Includes 1.8" & 2.5" HDD and SSD adapter
  • Cable management and CPU retaining hole for easy maintenance
  • Includes VGA card bracket (supports triple GPU card)


Specification Sheet



Next, let us see how it holds a Dragon





Final Installation and Conclusion

I sat down to install a couple of components in this case and was presently surprised. Cable management is a breeze and I probably finished installing the below components in around 25 minutes, with minimal fuss.




Well the surprise here is the motherboard, but leaving that aside for another day and another review, you can probably make out how much those holes help in keeping things tidy. A nice sleeved PSU would probably enhance the overall looks a lot more. Everything went in without a fuss and as you can see we can easily install a 5870 or any of the new GTX series from Nvidia.

There is also a version with a side window which looks very much like the one on the Corsair 800D and I expect that will be available as well.


The reason for no CPU and ram in the final installation is that, that's a secret we are keeping for sometime later. To end this review, let's take a short look at the main pros and cons:


Pros



  • Great Cooling with ample space for Fan Installation
  • In Built HDD dock
  • 6 HDD installation Bays
  • Near Tool Free
  • Thumb Screws for Expansion Card Installation
  • Room for Cable management
  • VGA Card Holder
  • Plastic Thumb Pins for Side Panel Fan Installation
  • Flip Side Dual SSD mounting adapter
  • Absolute Quite Operation
  • Absolute Dust Free Environment
  • Very Easy Installation
  • Dual Radiator Support for water cooling
  • Rough Looks with Complete Black body & interiors
  • Great Built Quality
  • Price


Cons


  • Cannot install a HD5970
  • Small CPU Heat Sink replacement/installation hole
      • Very similar to the 690 Pure
      • Rear side panel should have had a bulge to help easier wire management
All in all, a great chassis but I would rather spend the extra Rs. 500 and get the advanced version. I expect the street price to be a bit lower than Rs. 5,000 once the initial hype ends.

The chassis will be available online as well as in shops around the 15th of this month.



Final Rating - 4.5/5

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