Cooler Master CM 690

[Rob Williams]

Gamers on a budget don't want to be forced to sacrifice quality, and Cooler Master realizes this. Their latest case, the CM 690, can be found online for $70 and under and has enough features to please most everyone.

You can read Matt's full review here and discuss it here.

I don't really understand the objection to the port location on top of the case. With mine under my desk but beside me it makes the ports the most accessible of any I've used. I don't think you can fault a case for not exactly suiting your personal requirements.
The ultimate solution would be for case makers to give you a choice of where you mount the ports.

The part I don't like about pretty much all cases these days is the way the satndard two USB ports are so close together. A lot of memeory sticks and bluetooth dongles for instance won't fit next to each other.

Just received my CM 690 today. Bought it to replace a CM Centurion 531. Agree with reviewer that front and top feel cheap being plastic, especially since my CM 531 had an aluminum bezel front. But for a total cost of $50 after rebate not complaining too loudly. Surprisingly, case temp not much cooler than my CM 531 even with two SFF21E Scythe fans installed on top in addition to three fans that came with case. My first case with a bottom PSU. I find it harder to manage my cables with this case than with my CM 531, even with the CM 690s built-in cable holders. I was expecting more space between the MOBO holder and back side of case to route and hide my cables. Could barely close my rear case panel. Guess I need to rethink my cable management strategy not being used to a bottom PSU. Hard drive activity light is too faint, can barely see the red light, never mind it blinking. On/off button placement perfect for me. CM 531 held my optical drives and media card reader very firm, but with CM 690 they are too loose. Overall, it seems that this case is 3 steps forward and 2 steps backward. Will keep it for the looks, not for the performance.

[MakubeX]

Looks like a very nice case for the money.

[Matt Serrano]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I don't really understand the objection to the port location on top of the case. With mine under my desk but beside me it makes the ports the most accessible of any I've used. I don't think you can fault a case for not exactly suiting your personal requirements.
The ultimate solution would be for case makers to give you a choice of where you mount the ports.

While that's true, having the ports somewhere on the front of the case is definitely more traditional. Even if they were at the front, you would still be able to use the ports, which may not be the case when they're at the top if someone's putting the case under their desk.

It's a small thing over all so it didn't account for much weight in my final score, but it's a nuisance to some either way.

i really don't understand complaining about top mounting ports, basically you're whining about case diversity, that hasn't been geared specifically towards yourself. Cheap construction i can see a complaint, but not really @ the $50 CDN price point. I've only seen the case on display and messed around with it there, and not with a purchase, but nothing felt cheaper than it should be, moreover it seemed the opposite. it's less than 1/2 the price of the antec 900, allbeit minus the ginormous fan hump at the top. doesn't the 900 also have top mounted controls?

I was wondering how much space is left from the CPU-socket to the sidepanel..

I planned to place a scythe-mine cooler on top of the CPU which has a height of 15cm(5.91Inch). Now with a case-width of just 21cm this could get narrow especially with side-panel-coolers installed.. Also there is this MB-Backplate with the mesh-wire under the CPU-Socket..

Someone suggested I get this case with my new computer. I was a bit worried because all the reviews I've seen said the side panel was really hard to get off. But I had no problem at all, it slid off with hardly any effort. Maybe they've updated this part the the design?

Picked one up today for $135 AU (with viewing pane) with the Antec 900 going for $180 it was a tuff choice, but i'm not a hard core gamer looking to put two or three graphics cards in. What I was most interested in was enough room for all my hard drives and the sub AU $100 cases I looked at could only take 4 internal 3/5 inch bays and that's a tight fit. So without the need for a power gaming case this was really a good price for what I wanted. Also my current case is pretty cramped from the video card and TV-Tuner and this should help me space those out a bit more. If you're looking to do an SLI/Crossfire set up and a tv-card I'd say go for the Antec but this case is a good price point for the mid range gamer.