Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced reviewHere we test the CM 690 II Advanced Case. The new version enhances the original CM 690 striking features with a seductive all-black interior additional capacity... More...
i bought this case about 4 weeks ago and it's been pretty much awesome from day one. as mentioned in the review the one gripe i have with it and its very minor, is that they could have had just a tiny bit more space behind the motherboard tray for cable management. i got all of my cables to fit no problem but since my psu has the rounded cables they were a little closer to the back panel than i had expected so it took me an additional 10 seconds to get the back panel back on. so yea really its a very small gripe but if you wanna nit pick for something thats about all I can come up with other than that they used screws for the side panels instead of latches. being able to remove the bottom 1/2 of the hdd trays is cool too, allows more airflow from the front of the case. I currently only have the 3 stock fans installed but I dont do any overclocking or anything like that so its plenty sufficient. if you're using a psu with a fan located on the bottom of it you will most definitely want to install the optional mesh filter, hell id install it regardless, couldnt hurt any. the pure simplicity of putting this case together was so nice, no sharp edges or small working areas to deal with. i honestly do not believe there is a mid size case out there that can compete with this one and especially at this price. i highly recommend it
Just had one of these delivered today to replace my dyson , sorry i meant antec 900 v1 - looking forward to transplanting my rig into this one on the weekend !
yea but thats a full size tower this is only mid. i was actually going to get the 1200 but its too big for where i wanted to put it. i debated between the nine hundred two and this and i went with this and im glad i did
The redesigned motherboard tray is the big win here. The old 690 only had two small holes for cable management. Now these holes are bigger, and there's an extra few as well. Oversized mesh all over is a big plus, too.
And all the dust! - for the love of god i've never seen dust bunnies like the ones i get in in my antec 900 - my gtx260 has been slowly getting hotter and hotter over the last 6 months or so , starting off i with the fan at 75% i used to get 59c playing crysis , lately it's been more like 80c - so i took the gtx260 into work and carefully blew it out with a compressed airline - man the amount iof dust that came out was huge - now i'm back to 59c again - anhows i'm building my rig into the cm690 2 over the weekend so i'll post some pics on hardware forum...
Just ordered this along with a Coolermaster Silent Pro 1000W Modular PSU since my old PSU seems to be complaining about my 295 and my Antec P180 is a few years old now... Anyone from the UK - ebuyer.com have an offer on for the case & PSU together saving £35
I still cannot like a Cool-master case because their name is so cheesy and so is the logo that they slab right in the front. Obviously I could chisel it off and put something else on (like a jinx sticker:nerd
Really nice case. I especially love the graphics card retention bracket thingy. I hope it shows up in future Cooler Master cases. My hope is that they'll make a refresh/update/sucessor to the HAF 932 and include some of the cool new features, like the aforementioned bracket thingy. Only quibble I have with the design is the number of USB ports up front. Only 2?! You know, it they'd put four USBs up front, I'd have had no problem buying one of these. As it stands, though, it's another case I won't be buying. Sorry, Cooler Master, but I need more than 2 USBs up front! Why do you think high-end makers put six USB pin headers on their motherboards? For decoration? Get a freaking clue already!
Cm 690 I have had the original CM 690 for several years now, I still love it. I got it brand new for 50 USD. I plan to take mine apart soon and add many of the features of the new version. I am a skilled craftsman so it won't be a problem. I have small HVLP touch up sprayer and compressor, to black out all the bare metal. My trusty old Dremel will cut out the CPU cooler hole and cable management holes. If I can find some good pics of the video card support, I will probably fabricate that too. I'm still trying to figure out where to get the components for the HD dock too. If not it already has Esata anyway. I definitely need some kind of filtering system. From what I know about version one, I would recommend the CM 690 Advanced. It would be easy to pay more for another case and get something inferior. Coolermaster gives a lot of extra details on their less expensive cases. As far as the style, it's hard not the like the clean look of the CM690 of any version. Unless somebody only likes the gaudy ridicules looking cases, with a bunch of lights, Bling Bling and windows all over the place. But there are plenty of those around out there.
I was able to solve that problem on my CM 690 no problem. Just add a card reader with a couple of extra USB port on it. I spent 15 USD and now I have 5 USB ports and a card reader too.
