Cooler Master Cosmos S Tower Case

Exterior of the CM Cosmos S:

For those already familiar with the Cosmos 1000 (or even the Stacker 830), the Cosmos S will seem almost like deja-vu, but it does hold a few exciting and surprising changes. The first thing to catch my eye was the omission of a front door. On my Stacker 830 one of the first things I did was to remove the front door and stick it in the closet. For most people that access their optical drive regularly a door is only a hindrance so it is good to see it go.

The Cosmos S does retain the same long tubular rails on the top and bottom as the Cosmos 1000. The bottom rails serve to elevate the case off the ground to allow airflow from underneath, while the top rails act as handle grips for picking up the case.

The Cosmos S is a combination of aluminum and plastic, while both lightweight materials this case still weighs in at a hefty 30 pounds (empty). No plastic is used for structural support, anywhere you see plastic usually has an aluminum support underneath. The Cosmos 1000 on the other hand is a steel chassis, weighing slightly more.

Another pleasant change is a vented left side panel, reminiscent of the Stacker 830. However, instead of having a separate panel with four (4) 120 mm fans, Cooler Master mounted a slim 200 mm fan directly on the side panel! It runs at only 900 RPM making it near-silent, but the sheer size of the fan moves a lot of air.

The front of the case has ten (10) 5.25" drive bays exposed. One of the face plates has a removable section for a 3.5" floppy. Cooler Master also includes a 4-in-3 drive cage which has a 120 mm fan mounted on the front that glows red. This shift back to the 4-in-3 module (as was in the Stacker 830) gives much more flexibility than the six (6) dedicated HDD bays in the Cosmos 1000.

The back of the Cosmos S looks near-identical to the Cosmos 1000. The power supply is mounted on the bottom, lowering the center of gravity and allowing for cool air to be drawn in from below the case. A single 120mm fan is fitted on the back. There are a couple holes with grommets to allow for water cooling tubes to pass thru. Finally there are the two levers which one simply has to push up to release each of the side panels.

The top of the case has also departed from the Cosmos 1000 design, and has a few unique features. The top of the case has placement for three (3) 120 mm exhaust fans (more on this in the next section). The front I/O panel now has a spring-loaded door that can be opened and closed with ease to keep dust and debris out. There are four USB ports, audio, firewire, and eSATA port. Also the panel will illuminate red when the PC is on.

The power button is the first of this touch-sensitive style that I have ever seen. It somehow only reacts to a person's finger, there is no clicking switch sound and it doesn't require any pressure to activate. Yet touching the power button with something like a pencil or screwdriver will not cause it to trigger. Just make sure you save your work before showing your friends this cool little feature (and believe me, you will want to show everyone). Sadly there is no reset button, but that is only a minor issue.