Cooler Master unveils astronomically-sized Cosmos II chassis

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104
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Cooler Master has unveiled the latest iteration of its venerable Cosmos series, marking the first true successor to 2007's Cosmos 1000 chassis. The Cosmos II literally brings the series to new heights, measuring approximately five inches taller than its predecessor at 27.7in (H) x 26.1in (D) x 13.5in (W).

Despite being mostly made out of aluminum and plastic instead of steel like its progenitor, the Cosmos II weighs nearly seven pounds more at a commanding 48.5lbs. In fact, it's so big, Cooler Master has placed it in a new "Ultra Tower" form factor, whereas previous versions were deemed "Full Tower."

Although its size might discourage some of you, most hardware enthusiasts seem thrilled at the prospect of owning a Cosmos II. After all, you know what they say about big cases, right? You can fit lots of stuff inside. The new chassis can accommodate up to 13 3.5-inch drives and 10+1 expansion cards.

Feature-wise, you can expect nothing short of excellence based on reviews we've seen, including one written by TechSpot community member Red1776. Externally, you'll find two bars above and below the chassis. The top ones are for easier transportation while the bottom set improves airflow under the case.

The front panel has two sliding covers. One conceals an attractive array of buttons for power, reset, fan speeds and LEDs. The other cover glides down the front façade to reveal three 5.25-inch bays and two 3.5-inch dock-X hot-swappable SATA hard drive bays. Both HDD slots are secured by tubular locks.

Front connectivity includes four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, as well as an eSATA port and audio jacks. As usual, Cooler Master has made liberal use of mesh all around the enclosure, including the side panels, which are more like doors. They swing open on a hinge but are easily removable if desired.

Inside, you'll find a smorgasbord of chambers, bays and grommets. The bottom has a dual-120mm fan bracket in front of a tool-free cage with room for six 2.5 or 3.5-inch devices. This sits beside a bottom-mounted power supply bracket that supports extra-long units and has noise-dampening padding.

The remaining five hard drives can be seated in a sideways-mounted cage placed behind the front panel, below the hot-swappable bays. This can be removed if you need additional space for super long expansion cards (up to a whopping 15.15 inches) or if you simply want to improve the intake airflow.

The primary chamber supports virtually all motherboard sizes, including E-ATX and XL-ATX, while there's enough clearance for the beefiest of CPU heatsinks (up to 7.48 inches tall). As noted, there's plenty of room for PCI-E cards with 10 horizontal openings and one vertical slot for connectivity expansion.

The Cosmos II supports more fan combinations than we can coherently list, but just know that the case is no slouch when it comes to cooling -- be that air or liquid. You'll find tubing holes in various places around the chassis and there is native support for triple radiators in the top-most compartment.

The air-cooling configuration seems extremely efficient. According to Red1776's performance tests, Cooler Master's latest enclosure offers superior cooling to the company's HAF 932, keeping the processor, graphics, hard drive and chipset temperatures lower by between two and six degrees Celsius.

The Cosmos II is expected to crash through shelves this month with a price of roughly $350. Although that's about $150-$200 more than you'll pay for the HAF 932, HAF X or CM Storm Trooper, the price seems well justified. We'll find out for sure when we get our hands on a review unit in the near future.

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I was wondering why I haven't been able to find this case online I have seen it all over the place I am getting this case it is in every way better than the original Cosmos and I love the room it has and the extra air flow is a big plus. I am buying this case soon.
 
This is great!.. i have the Cosmos S and modified it the fit 1X360mm rad + 1X120mm rad. it required a bit of modification but i was able to get everything fitted and running. it's a great case. with all the heavy plastic and steel cases out there... i am glad to see once in a while we still see a nice aluminum case like this in the market. one thing i still cannot tell is if the case is Silver color or dark grey. the original Cosmos S was depicted to be dark silver, but in reality was more brown-ish grey than true silver. i had to custom paint the case to give it a pure silver that i wanted. here's a vid of the cosmos S if anyone is interested. again, the vid is 3+ years old... so please disregard the hardware spec: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJPh8fKhK8k
 
Damn, that case is gigantic. Got to love Cooler Master, currently have a case from them. I don't pack enough hardware to fill a case like that though.
 
Wow, I initially thought the case might be a bit too big, but after seeing the video, it is simply beautiful. I think it even looks better than Thermaltake's Level 10 (which you either like or hate).
 
I currently have a Cosmos S, Are they going to do this but in an S version as well? Nice case though :)
 
Crap, always wanted a Cosmos series case. They were always slightly above the price point that I was willing to pay. I have a two year old HAF X now and can't really justify the spending yet again.
 
Looks identical to my HAF X on the interior except for the lower fans. Like the fact that it sets off of the table a bit although I'm not sold on the top handles. I'm not picking up my 50 lb computer with a couple grand of innards with any plastic handle!

Love my HAF and cannot ever envision filling it up. I've got a good mid to high gaming rig in there and still enough room to plant crops. I'm sure new builders will enjoy this unit for a lot of years.

PS. HAF comes with wheels that also provide a little lift for air, but since mine is on the desk, wasn't NO way I was going to install those! ;)
 
Guest said:
I'm not sold on the top handles. I'm not picking up my 50 lb computer with a couple grand of innards with any plastic handle!

Ok first off, the handles are metal and very strong, If they are anything like the old Cosmos cases (I have a Cosmos S myself) those handles are stronger than any other lifting system any other case can offer and gives the case a lift off the ground so the vents at the bottom have plenty of room to breath.

Out of curiosity, why did you think they were plastic?
 
Burty is correct. The handles are tubular aluminum and designed to handle the weight of the case with components. They are bolted to, and part of the framework of the case.I filled it with my triple power supply, quad GPU, six HDD's etc rig (has to be 85 lbs easy) and move it around with the handles just fine.
 
At burt and red... My fault for commenting on the article without reading it thoroughly. Just joking anyway. My intent was to praise CoolerMaster overall I love my case and I'm sure this one is going to make a lot of people very happy.
 
I am confused to why you would buy this for $350 when you can buy a Silverstone FT02 for $250 and not have to worry about having a ~610mm high case? The only thing that this case looks like it has going for it is the awesome front panel but that is hardly worth an extra $100, especially since it does not have three 180mm fans pumping air straight at all of your components.


Just saying…
 
The Fortress FT02 isn't an ideal watercooling chassis (far from it), nor is it geared for quad graphics cards, nor XL-ATX or HPTX (the latter isn't in CM's literature but the SR-2 and SR-X can be accomodated)- even E-ATX is a relatively snug fit for the Fortress. These are the reasons that Silverstone make the TJ11 (which costs a great deal more than the Cosmos 2)
You could also argue on the grounds of aesthetics and longevity/modding potential - the latter encompasses to the fact that the Silverstone chassis requires 18cm fans which are available in a limited range.
 
I am confused to why you would buy this for $350 when you can buy a Silverstone FT02 for $250 and not have to worry about having a ~610mm high case? The only thing that this case looks like it has going for it is the awesome front panel but that is hardly worth an extra $100, especially since it does not have three 180mm fans pumping air straight at all of your components.


Just saying…

If this case in on your list, you really should get ion front of it if you can and you will 'get it' other than size and accommodations. it is built like an expensive auto. including the doors,(actual six sided 1" thick hinged doors with sound deadening foam in the middle) which are very much like car doors. The feel, fit and finish are impeccable. Every single opening is filtered with effective ,removable, and high quality filters, I am in the middle of lining up Water-cooling for this thing, but have been living with it for a few weeks now with 4 x 6970's under the hood (not known for quietness at full tilt) and it just emits a low hum while gaming. There is also a great deal of 'ergonomics' to this case (the sliding panels, doors, etc) as well and as I wrote in my review, it feels professional. Leaving all objectivity at the door...it is drop dead gorgeous!
 
Even though Coolermaster has announced the Cosmos ii, and those really nice ads are out there all over, they may not yet have actually released the case for sale on the market quite yet.

Often they will release these ads to build interest and demand so as to maximize sales when it's actually available on the market. Maybe it will be available to buy by mid January?

PWN
 
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