Cooler Master Cosmos Review

Does performance meet silence with the newest flagship case from Cooler Master? We dissect and compare the biggest chassis we’ve ever reviewed at FPSLabs inside.

Category: Case
Manufacturer: Cooler Master
Product: Cosmos RC-1000
Gallery: Click Here
Price: $199.99

Introduction

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When reviewing cases we try to look for what works - multiple silent fans, sound proofing material, ingenious device mechanisms - and what doesn’t - poor thermal performance, for starters. Cooler Master brought its game when it came to the recently reviewed 690, but instead of simply improving on the best elements of that case, Cooler Master rewrote the rules to interior airflow design and came up with the case seen here today. Ideally, there are certain elements enthusiasts commonly look for when choosing to upgrade their PC chassis: an extravagantly designed exterior, spacious interior, multiple component capability, all wrapped up in a adequate cooling package without the jet engine sound. In the end, however, the Cooler Master Cosmos - its name as gigantic sounding as the case itself - fails to meet even the most basic expectations that any case should entail, let alone one of this price. As Albert Einstein once said, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.”

Specifications

Test Setup

Hardware Configuration

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos

Power Supply: Antec TruePower Trio 650

Motherboard: DFI Lanparty 939 nForce4 Ultra

Processor: AMD Opteron 146 2.0GHz (Overclocked 2800 MHz)

Hard Drive: Seagate 320GB SATA

Hard Drive: Seagate 300GB SATA

Hard Drive: Maxtor 250GB SATA

Video: eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express

Memory: OCZ Dual-Channel PC4000 Gold Edition VX 1024MB

Optical: Lite-ON 52x CD-RW

Audio: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Cooling: Zalman CNPS9500 CPU Cooler

Cooling: ThermalRight HR-05 Chipset Heatsink

Display: Samsung Syncmaster 710N 17″ LCD

Software Configuration

Motherboard BIOS: NF4LD406 BIOS Update Revision A (2006/04/06)
Chipset: NVIDIA nForce4/500 Series 6.86 32-bit WHQL Certified
Operating System: Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2
Video Driver: NVIDIA ForceWare Release 162.18 32-bit WHQL Certified
Audio Driver: Creative SB Audigy 2 Series Driver 02.09.0016
Test Software: Orthos Prime v20060420
Test Software: Futuremark 3DMark 2006 1.1.0

{mospagebreak heading=Introduction&title=First Impressions}

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Cooler Master decided their product packaging for the Cosmos would be as minimal in design as the case exterior itself. Wrapped in a large plastic bag and protected at both ends by styrofoam, the box seems gargantuan. Aesthetically, the aluminum and plastic exterior give the Cosmos an elegant appearance fused together by the mirror black door. The full tower design commands a considerable amount of desk space. The weight of the empty case is a staggering 37.2 lbs (16.9 kg) and fully loaded is 53.2 lbs (24.1 kg). Although the Cosmos has useful handle bars that are helpful during installation, it certainly doesn’t merit the Cosmos as a LAN party chassis. The aluminum hides fingerprints and dust well, but be aware that handling the front will require a wipe of a dust cloth once in a while depending on how dusty your environment is.

The fascia is designed such that no front fan can be installed, nor is one provided by Cooler Master. This is a decision done in order to keep the noise level down by eliminating the closest source of sound to the user. Theoretically it’s a great idea, but in reality it is but one of many issues we encountered with the Cosmos. Due to the tall composition of the Cosmos, many users may opt to place the chassis on the floor. Having two fan filters for the hard drive bay and the power supply bay will help keep the level of dust entering the Cosmos down. If you would like to actually see the activity lights this typical setup must be done. Unfortunately the connections provided with the Cosmos are missing a pin by design so our LED lights failed to work with our testbed motherboard.

The power and reset buttons feel fine but are rather small for a case of these dimensions. Opting to utilize undercarriage cooling, the Cosmos lacks side panel fans (Cooler Master went with an alternative cooling system with questionable potential, but more on this later). The rear of the Cosmos shows off the built-in, and very well placed 1/2″ water cooling inlet and outlet holes. Besides the usual expansion slots and I/O shield bay is a 120mm fan from Cooler Master and a bottom power supply bay. The side panels use a latch system that makes it very easy to get inside the case: Simply lift the tab and the metal hooks that keep the side panel secure pop the panel off. This is by far the easiest method we have ever come across for opening a side panel. Unfortunately, this too is the cause of another design flaw that limits the intended use of the Cosmos.

The front door on the Cosmos includes another latch system that allows the user to switch which side the door opens on. The process is simple - just slide a clip so that the door becomes free from one hinge and it slips right off. Next, you remove the actual hinge and accompanying spring and switch roles with the screw and magnet found on the other side. In the photo below you can see the system up close and how we switched our door from the default position. Because the front door is so close to the 5.25″ bays, users intent on installing a fan control device or any device that protrudes outward whatsoever cannot close the door at all. Users may opt to remove the door altogether at the expense of nice looking exterior. Cooler Master has included multiple external connections whose value is increased by the clean space provided to place miscellaneous objects on the top portion of the case. Dust is a concern since the ports remain unprotected.

Cooling at the top of the Cosmos is provided by double 120mm fans rated at 1200 RPM producing 17 decibels. Furnished with a stylish exhaust, the actual fans themselves remain hidden yet functional in transmitting warm air out. The only area that comes in contact with the base surface are the twin bars at the bottom of the Cosmos. The visual appeal is accentuated by the function, providing the Cosmos with enough clearance for the bottom cooling to properly work. First impressions bring up questions as to Cooler Master’s decision to forgo any active cooling on the front of the Cosmos and whether or not the airflow corridor provided by the included duct is of any use whatsoever. Regardless, the Cosmos is a visually minimalistic design that attracts attention, if not for it’s sheer girth.

{mospagebreak title=Features}
Sound proof material lines nearly the entire interior of both side panels. Catching sound waves and reducing vibrations are required if a chassis truly wishes to call itself “nearly silent”. Unfortunately the adhesive used to hold the material in place was weak and upon opening the side panel a large flap was hanging off. Simply pressing the material against the panel should be sufficient in order to rectify this minor issue. The interior of the Cosmos has many unique features that work well in some cases, and not so well in others. The most apparent is the video card air duct. This is designed using the negative pressure effect, and attempts to provide cool air flow to the video card. However, we found the difference to be nonexistent when stressing the testbed video card with and without the removable air duct.

No power supply is included with the Cosmos. When considering a power supply keep in mind the layout of your motherboard and make sure the cable length is appropriate. Cooler Master provides a large sheet of paper taped to the motherboard tray in order to make the process of installing motherboard standoff screws easier. This is necessitated due to the Cosmos’ compliance with the extended ATX specification. The patented one-button installation for 5.25″ devices is the best we’ve ever used. Cooler Master one-ups it’s previous exotic mechanism with an idiot-proof button. However, the shield plate that must be removed from the 5.25″ slot is a particular nuisance; during installation of our 5.25″ device our shield plate fell to the bottom front housing of the Cosmos, never to be seen again. What kind of design is this? Unfortunately installing a 3.5″ device is also the worst we’ve ever encountered. Cooler Master should have stuck with the system used in previous 690 chassis for 3.5″ devices.

Cable management slots at both the top and bottom of the case are designed to allow the user to slip cables to the right-hand side in order to keep airflow free from any obstructions. This is a welcomed addition; unfortunately, it is utterly useless. Due to the latch design of the side panels, the space between the side panel and the case must remain the same. Therefore not even a measly fan wire can be placed on the right side of the case. Stop and think about this for a second - any case of this price, size, and shape should not have this problem and it is completely unacceptable. Cable management is important to many enthusiasts, and wasting practically the entire interior design of the case because of this issue is one of the most disappointing aspects of the Cosmos.

Six hard drives is the maximum capacity of the Cosmos. The intricate thumbscrew design and lever system is a nice touch but it is at the source of the thermal problems inherent to the chassis. Cooler Master made the decision to forgo a true 120mm fan and instead opted for combination aluminum housing and air vents for heat to naturally rise through with the help of pressure. If you place your hand below the front of the Cosmos you can indeed feel the suction of air. This design is excellent for dampening the noise of otherwise annoying hard drives. We noticed in particular our noisiest drive was quite subdued during a normal defragmentation procedure. Alas this design becomes the defining nail in the coffin in terms of thermal performance for the Cosmos.

Thankfully the video card air duct is easy to remove and can be tossed out altogether. Real cooling exists at both the top and bottom of the Cosmos. Double 120mm fans at the top and a easily replaceable 120mm fan at the bottom. Of particular note is the 120mm fans included in the Cosmos, but none except the rear fan seem to really push air and maintain a low noise level. Cooler Master should follow other fan manufacturers decisions to create fans equipped with multiple speed settings or power connectors suitable for motherboard control. The power supply bay is functional and has the added benefit of the bottom 120mm fan shroud blocking cables from view and keeping them together since the cable management slot next to it is useless. The bottom filters are easily removed and simply require a small amount of pressure in order to slide in and out.

{mospagebreak title=Features, Continued…}
The biggest concern we have is with the entire thermal design of Cosmos. Because the hard drives aren’t being actively cooled, temperatures for hard drives will reach unacceptable levels. At one point our Western Digital 250GB SATA drive reached a temperature of 63°C at idle conditions! This is not what you expect from a case of this price and class whatsoever. The air vent provided alongside the hard drive bay is capable of an additional fan installation but it certainly will not do an adequate job of cooling six hard drives, should you proceed to fill up the entire hard drive bay. First off, noise dampening is certainly appreciated, but Cooler Master needed to make the rubber grommets softer for enhanced noise dampening. Secondly, you cannot design a case in this manner at the expense of thermal performance, you just can’t! Users want to make sure their data remains cool, any feeling of doubt injected into the customer as to whether or not their drive will stand up over time is completely unacceptable.

Users who opt for water cooling are in a better position than those who simply use air cooling with the Cosmos. The top fan shield is held in by a single screw at the rear of the case and can potentially house a water cooling radiator that can dissipate heat generated by the processor, memory, video card, and chipset. If this is done, the users can ensure that at least these components are cooled sufficiently and focus on installing a higher rated fan alongside the hard drive bay. A hidden gem accessible only by unlocking a hard drive slot reveals an accessories package with zip ties, many screws in a bag, and miniature screwdrivers. A nice touch, but we would have rather seen a logical and smart thermal design than a cute box.

If you choose to not use any of the ports at the top of the Cosmos you have the option to easily access the underlying connections of the external port bay by removing two simple screws once the top fan shield has been removed. Only the eSATA connection is permanently in place, so disconnecting annoying cables such as the top microphone and headphone jacks for Creative sound card users is easily do-able. Installing the actual motherboard and PCI devices was a simple process. No annoying tight spaces or non-functional PCI securing mechanisms here, just plain screws hold the devices in place. Again, we found it extremely aggravating that the entire right side of the case remained useless. Removing the noise dampening material may yield results, but then you lose a considerable feature. It’s simply mind boggling that Cooler Master quality control never bothered to slip a single cable to see if what they engineered “for years” actually worked. Take a look at any cable management enthusiast forum and you’ll see the abundance of cables hidden from view are always tucked back here.

Analyze the final build below and you’ll see a case that is a mess - we were left to basically feed cables through the lone side slots next to the hard drive bays. This added clutter diminishes the cooling performance since the bottom fan doesn’t push air as quickly as its rear cousin does. Inlets for cool air are as follows: the bottom fan, air vents below and above the hard drive bay, the video card air duct.. and that’s it. Outlets for moving air include the rear fan and the double 120mm fans up top. The airflow that the case has to deal with is not enough and is further suppressed if a 3.5″ device is installed, blocking some of the top hard drive air vent. Cooler Master itself warns to only install a 3.5″ device in this slot because obviously installing a full optical drive would yield even worse results.

Simply gazing upon the top picture and seeing how the back of the motherboard tray is practically naked leaves you with no option other than to skip this case if you are serious about cable management. As visually satisfying as the system is once the components are fully installed and sitting on your desk or floor, it doesn’t make the fact that the Cosmos has poor thermal performance and tries, unsuccessfully, to reinvent the way airflow should work in a case. Take this into consideration: the SilverStone Sugo SG01 reviewed at FPSLabs some time ago has better cable management properties than the Cooler Master Cosmos, and it does it all in a setup less than half the size of the gargantuan Cosmos. This is where the Albert Einstein quote mentioned comes into play.

{mospagebreak title=Noise and Temperatures}
The temperatures are bad for a system of this price range. Obviously additional cooling fans would drop temperatures even further but for fairness’ sake we tested the system with the fans equipped as-is. For our testing purposes we used a combination of software and hardware with the Hardware Sensor Monitor program and our lab approved Fluke 62 Mini Infrared Thermometer. It offers the best accuracy in its class, +/- 1% of reading. It also has a very wide temperature range from -30º to 500ºC (–20º to 932ºF.) The Fluke 62 was used at a constant distance of 10 inches from each surface and each reading was measured at an ambient temperature of 25º C. Keep in mind when running the system at 100% the entire rig was quite noisy due to the increased CPU fan speed. The sound emitted from the system fans is acceptable but your mileage may vary. As many noise reducing features as the Cosmos has, the long ago reviewed Antec Solo still holds the mark for the quietest case ever reviewed at FPSLabs. Setting temperature triggers via the system BIOS or using a third-party temperature monitoring program such as SpeedFan would be a wise choice. While taking each measurement, Orthos Prime & Futuremark 3DMark 06 ran on a loop for 60 minutes to ensure 100% CPU & GPU utilization at all times.

With our test setup, the AMD Opteron 146 has a stock speed of 2.0GHz and was overclocked to 2.8GHz, which required the OCZ Dual-Channel PC4000 Gold Edition VX ram to run with 3.2 Volts and the nForce 4 chipset to run with 1.8 Volts. This of course caused extra heat to dissipate into the case. Yes, this system might seem outdated to our readership, but it still emits a ton of heat compared to other systems at FPSLabs. That being said we feel it is time we retire this testbed in lieu of the advanced progress quad core processors are making via both Intel and AMD. Considering the internal design of the Cooler Master Cosmos compared to that of the Antec 900 and NZXT Zero visually you understand why those cases function better. They don’t try to reinvent the wheel, they just make it work better. Cooler Master’s own CM 690 costs less than half of what the Cosmos does and does a much better job of cooling it’s hard drives than the Cosmos. Note the huge temperature difference in HDD2. This is no doubt a result of the lack of airflow to that particular area. Keep in mind if you are interested in installing any type of cards in SLI or CrossFire configuration we recommend that you install the additional side fan as well in order to haul air as quickly as possible over the cards and out the rear - there is no issue of space so this can be done safely. Unfortunately the thermal performance is abysmal and certainly shouldn’t sit well with any consumer purchasing any case, much less a $199.99 chassis.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
The Cooler Master Cosmos offers a chassis that contains inherent design flaws, making it unsuitable for recommendation. This chassis is designed for enthusiasts who seek the best of the best when performance meets silence. Unfortunately, these two elements don’t meet here at all. The Cooler Master Cosmos is not a good value considering the internal design is supposed to be cable management friendly (which it isn’t because of a huge design flaw forbidding any cables being hid on the right side of the chassis) and it doesn’t even do a good job of cooling components. We feel Cooler Master took a huge step back and that it’s hard to ignore the potential problems this case has for housing your system long term. If you want to pack in some of the longer video cards of today, you’ll have no problem installing them. Just make sure you are comfortable having toasty hard drive temperatures and a messy interior if you still decide to leap into the Cosmos. We frankly couldn’t believe such an error was plausible on Cooler Master’s part since they have a strong reputation for excellence across their entire product range. We spent hours trying to re-route cables and swap hard drive positions to figure out if we were at fault for any of the aforementioned critiques. It’s just too bad something so nice just simply didn’t work out. If you’re still interested in the Cooler Master Cosmos, we don’t blame you since it really is a stunning case and is manufactured with the highest quality, but tread with caution.

Pros
+ Lots of space to work with
+ Capable of housing multiple fans of multiple sizes
+ 5.25″ drive bay installation is the best we’ve ever seen
+ HDD mounting mechanism simple to use
+ Superb external port variety with USB, FireWire, eSATA
+ Sound dampening material a welcomed feature
+ Flippable front door
+ Extremely easy to open side panels
+ Water cooling friendly

Cons
- External peripheral connection ports exposed to dust
- Cable management slots completely useless
- Thermal performance is disappointing
- Video card air duct also useless
- 3.5″ installation a huge hassle compared to 5.25″ installation
- Possibly for some, the lack of included power supply
- Poor price versus performance value

Rating
6/10

The Cooler Master CM Cosmos is a chassis our readership should pass on. If the case actually performed well in terms of cooling each component well and actually made the large dimensions worthwhile by being a cable management dream then obviously the above score would be different. Instead Cooler Master messed with the tried and true airflow design case manufacturers have been using for decades and this is the result of that experimentation. We mentioned before that it doesn’t exactly sit well with us that not all of the devices work as they should in a case when we reviewed the Cooler Master CM 690, but that case had the best bang-for-your-buck ratio we had ever seen at FPSLabs. When the Cooler Master Cosmos touts major features that don’t work, then it’s our job to tell you to stay away and save those 200 dollars (USD) for a better case. We understand that the Cooler Master Cosmos is certainly a great looking case but these physical faults and the fact that it came in dead last in every single thermal performance test prevents it from scoring any higher according to our Rating Criteria.

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