Cooler Master CM 690 PC system case

[HEXUS]

With a mix of steel and plastic (and weighing in at 9.8kg), the Cooler Master CM 690 is certainly built to a budget and that's reflected in the £50 price-tag, though not necessarily the feature-set. Water-cooling prep? Yup. Up to eight fans? Indeed. Tool-free drive-fitting? Naturally. And there's more besides.

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[LuckyNV]

I've tested with the backboard fan slot using a Hiper low profile fan. temp drops only 1-2C at most (very minor considering i'm already 60C+ loaded) but noise is much more noticeable

The side panel grills need to be stamped out about 5mm IMO, the grilling itself concaves inwards, this means you can't use mid or high rpm fans at all, I'm using a Yate Loon D12SL-12 at 5V, any higher and there is some fan blade/motor noise.

The front grilling is too restrictive, IMO it is not needed since there is a dust filter and mesh on the front anyway.
Same goes for the top fan grilling, not needed since the top panel is meshed + plastic protective grilling.
I intend on cutting said grills out at a later date.

Curious there was no mention of the top panel, majority of people I know with this case have problems removing it, the clip system there isn't the best of designs. Perhaps 2 pairs of clips instead of 4 pairs.

If Coolermaster ever decided to release a CM690 Extreme or whatever there are still ample design changes to be had, and then pricing it on par with an Antec 900 the case would be unbeatable IMO.

Overall decent review

[Penguin2100]

Overall a good review of the case, but I would like to point out that you can put two 140mm fans at the top of the case and one on the bottow. Which you state to only being able to have a 120mm fan.

But generally a good case did not take me that much time to put everything in. unfortunatly the in-built cable managment does get in the way while installing but are easily removed.

Good Job Hexus, Keep it up.

[Izmunuti]

Does the inclusion of the 80mm fan socket on the motherboard side make for easier installation of custom CPU coolers?

[MD]

unfortunately not - the motherboard tray has a perforated area to mount the fan to, but it doesn't have a hole for larger than standard cooler mounts.

On the other hand with most cases the motherboard standoffs should provide you with all the space you need for the cooler.

Matt

[chaotic_russ]

i purchased one of these case's what a waste of money , it is poorly made and the sides do not fit correctly . the side with the fitted 120mm fan vibrates and is noisey , the chenbro gaming bomb i replaced this with was far better

[rkingb]

Good review.

I think the CM 590 at about £10 cheaper could equally attract the title of the new budget king.

Just bought one and now up and running. Slightly noisier than my old case - Gigabyte Aurora ( 4 years old and almost knackered ) - but I will try swapping out the supplied rear fan for a spare Xilence.