Cooler Master Cosmos II: Large and in Charge
by Dustin Sklavos on January 23, 2012 3:20 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Cooler Master
- Full-Tower
Conclusion
Being the most expensive case we've yet tested by $100, the Cooler Master Cosmos II had to deliver. It had to be quieter and had to run cooler than anything else. It had to justify both its price tag and its sheer volume. Unfortunately, when you get to something this pricey, justifying the price tag and size becomes more a matter of personal preference and needs than anything that can be concretely quantified.
What can be concretely quantified is the acoustic and thermal performance. On those two fronts, the Cosmos II is arguably the best performing case we've ever tested. While the wins aren't devastating, they are measurable in nearly every discipline. It looks like a refrigerator and thankfully it pretty much performs like one, and that's before you get into all the different ways you can plug water-cooling and whatever else your enthusiast heart desires into it. The Cosmos II can support pretty much any machine you want to build inside it.
So why can't I bring myself to be more enthusiastic about it? It's my understanding the kinks in the build quality with my review unit are worked out in retail models, so that's not really a strike one can level against it. Assembling a system inside it is about as painless as you could ask for, all things considered. My issues are the price and the size.
Rosewill may not be the most beloved brand among enthusiasts, but there's no denying their Thor v2 provides comparable performance to the Cosmos II at roughly a third of the price. Sure you sacrifice five of the Cosmos II's eleven drive bays, but who needs eleven bays? And the Thor v2 doesn't look as nice and the build quality is lacking in places, but it's also smaller and lighter.
I also have to wonder who needs a tower this large anymore. For sure, the Cosmos II is a niche product with a price to match, but cases like these used to be halo products. As I mentioned before, when you can get an X79 build in a MicroATX case without sacrificing too much in the way of features or performance, who needs a machine this big?
Ultimately the Cooler Master Cosmos II isn't my cup of tea, but I think it really does come down to a matter of personal preference. It's big and some might even say beautiful; other's will just call it oversized and look for something more svelte. If you have need of or just plain want a case like the Cosmos II, you can at least rest easy knowing it's very hard to find a better performer on the market.
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zappb - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Oh yeaDeath666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
it just doesn't look very pleasing to me. Too much "1337 gamz0r pwn4g3".But that's just me. :-)
ReachTheSky - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
I'd be proud to own that. I'm honestly getting a bit tired of minimalism. There's not a whole lot of flashy "HEY LOOK HOW BADASS I AM!" cases that are also functional.Death666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Like I said, just my own opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. And "badassness" and "functionality" are also very subjective, I wouldn't give this case high marks in either category, much less so considering the price. :-)michaelheath - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Agreed. This case is aimed at the crowd of people who pay through the nose for features that accomodate the other components they paid through the nose for. As a person who lives within his means and requires no more case than what provides room for a modest gaming/entertainment machine, the Cosmos II is pretty overboard in most aspects, and I could put $350 to better use.Sabresiberian - Thursday, January 26, 2012 - link
Actually, I think this case is made so people like you can get swelled heads about how well you manage your money.I have a suggestion: give up your gaming/entertainment altogether. After all, it's really nothing you actually require. It's not only a waste of money because you spend it on things you don't need, it's even more a waste of money because it takes up your time, as well, time you could be using to make money instead of spend it.
;)
aguilpa1 - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
At this price I honestly expected it to have an integrated liquid cooling radiator with dual fans not just holes for one. I like to buy high end stuff but I still expect to get my money's worth. This isn't it.ZeDestructor - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
You'd like the Lian Li PC-A71F then. Its a big, black monser of a case that I'm planning to build my next rig in, complete with dual watercooling radiators...Tetracycloide - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
The thing is, it's really not that flashy in many respects. They basically took an ostentatious design and painted it matte black. Why they wouldn't go with cleaner lines or a color scheme that better accents the lines it currently has I have no idea. I think it fails on the aesthetic front by trying to split the difference between minimalism and snazzy, never quite reaching either and attempting to appeal to two tastes that are fundamentally opposites.Tetracycloide - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - link
Now that I've looked at it a little more and seen some additional close up shots from other review sites I've decided to change my mind. The case is flashy but in tasteful way although the tastefulness is largely left up to the builder. The mesh areas have a unique polygonal design layered into them that's almost fractal. With the matte black brush aluminum finish and the right color backlights (blue was the wrong choice IMO) the case could be very beautiful. Personally I'm thinking amber LEDs myself. Without backlighting many of the aesthetics of the case are lost IMO and it just looks like minimalism in areas that don't make sense because the other areas aren't very interesting without lights so the minimalist areas don't contrast with them enough. If you can imagine those areas backlit with LEDs it's a completely different case. The unlit pictures don't do it justice I think.