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Review: Coolermaster ATCS 630

by Bob Crabtree on 30 June 2003, 00:00 3.5

Tags: Cooler Master

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The Internal

You can see it's pretty cramped in there. The case is capable of accepting 2 x 5¼ inch devices and 2 x 3½ inch devices. Can you imagine how busy it would be in there if all expansion slots were used and all HD and CD bays were in use. The hard drives are mounted upside down underneath where the CD drive or 5¼ inch devices go. As we all know hard drives get quite hot, especially the larger drives. There isn't any cooling around the hard drive bays apart from a few vents cut into the side of the case. In my mind an 80mm fan would have been ideal apart from it would block the use of 1 of the 5¼ inch bays due to the fans being 25mm deep.

The new Cooler Master Black Drive Bezel would have been an ideal companion for this CD drive. Unfortunately since the screw holes are not adjustable like most cases there is no space to fit the black drive bezel behind the fold down front of the CM630. Although with a few modifications it would be possible.

Next to the CPU is a Cooler Master 80mm sleeve bearing fan. This exhaust fan helps to keep the temperatures down by blowing the hot air from the CPU out of the side vents of the case. Usually Cooler Master cases are made from aluminium. The CM630 is made from SECC steel (a Japanese standard for general purpose, galvanized, cold-rolled, sheet steel) with an aluminium front. Most of the edges are bent-in to add extra strength and to reduce the possibility of cuts during assembly. I found no sharp edges within the case. The case is still quite light (4.4 kg) compared with aluminium cases. Since the case is made from steel it has a very solid feel to it.