My Cosmos, Part 1: Overview, Improvements, Modding Potential
Overview: The Cooler Master Cosmos is a great case in almost every way; however, there are a few aspects of it that can be improved. I have compiled and summarized a list of pros and cons after reading all the Cosmos reviews online. First off, here are the pros of the Cosmos:
- High Quality Construction
- Very Quiet
- "Tool-Free" Design
- Front Panel access to HD Audio and eSATA
- Easy System Installation
- Roomy Interior
- Carrying Handles
- Noise Reducing Foam
- VGA Air Duct
- Runs Very Cool
- Great Hard Drive Mounting System
- Removable Dust Filters
- Holes for Liquid Cooling
- Cable Management System
- Good Extras
- Stylish Exterior
And the cons:
- Expensive ($200 US)
- Very Large
- Very Heavy
- Passive Hard Drive Cooling
- Narrow Space Behind Hard Drives For Cables
Some of the pros and cons may be reversed depending on your personal preference. For example, the tool-free design is neat, but I almost always screw everything down instead of using the less secure tool-free mechanisms. In many cases, the tool-free mechanisms allow drives to vibrate and increase the noise of the system. While this may not be the case with those in the Cosmos, I would rather use my trusty screwdriver and know for sure everything is completely secure. Also, the size and weight of the case are pros in my opinion; however, this is probably not the case for most people. I would rather have a big, easily workable case than a small, hardly workable case. As far as the weight of the case, everyone can use a little exercise. ;)
Improvements: Cooler Master can easily make some improvements to the case, but some of the cons cannot be fixed without completely redesigning the case. The weight of the case can be reduced and cooling slightly improved by building the case out of aluminum rather than steel. This would also increase the cost of the case significantly though, so Cooler Master would probably just make an aluminum version of the Cosmos in addition to the steel version. In future versions, they should definitely change the layout or positioning of the hard drive cages to allow more room for cables behind the hard drives. They should also either include an extra fan for active cooling of the hard drives or simply move the lower intake fan above (or below) the hard drive cages. And of course it would be nice to have different color combinations for the Cosmos. Aside from these improvements, there is not much else I see to improve on the Cosmos without a complete redesign.
Modding Potential: The Cooler Master Cosmos is probably not going to be the most modded case ever, since there is not a vast amount of room for improvement. But there is always some way of modding a case to make it better. These are some of the modding ideas I have had for the Cosmos. First, I would cut the front door in half, from left to right, like this.
Then cut out part of the front panel and rotate the hard drive cages 90 degrees towards the front of the case.
So the front of the case would look similar to this.
This would allow for front panel access to the hard drives and solve the problem of the lack of space behind the hard drive cages. Since the hard drives are in cages anyway, it is possible to make a back plate behind the hard drive cages with SATA data and power connectors to make the hard drives hot swappable. Then, adding and removing hard drives would not even require opening the case.
For cooling, it is possible to remove the plastic cover on the top of the Cosmos and mount a radiator in its place. A radiator can also be place inside the case, like Maximum PC did in their Dream Machine '07. There is room to mount 2 120mm radiators or one 2x120mm radiator. It is possible to use even a 3x120mm radiator with slight modification to the case.
I would like my Cosmos to be Black, inside and out, except maybe the carrying handles.
These are just some of the possibilities with the Cooler Master Cosmos. I am sure we will see many more modifications to the case once more people get their hands on it.
* Pictures from DVHardware, Hexus, ProClockers, Phoronix, Bit-Tech, and Kromex.
