Another day, another Cooler Master chassis review. But unlike previous reviews this time we’re going big. Bigger than the 360mm AIO review. Larger than the delicious H500M chassis sneak peak. We got our hands on the feature rich, full-tower, halo chassis of the year: the Cooler Master Cosmos C700M. The M stands for ‘maker’ and if there’s one thing the Cosmos C700M will do it’s MAKE[r] you a believer in Cooler Master’s prowess at delivering a quality, functional chassis - albeit and a supremely steep price. First up is a quick look at some specifications.
Technical Specifications
- MSRP: $439.99
- Available Color: Grey, Silver & Black
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Materials:
- Body: Steel
- Side Panels: Curved Tempered Glass, Steel
- Dimensions (LxWxH): 650 x 306 x 651mm / 25.6 x 12.0 x 25.6in
- Motherboard Support: Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX, E-ATX (Support up to 12” x 10.7”)
- Expansion Slots: 8
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Drive Bays:
- SSD: 4
- Combo 3.5”/2.5”: 4 + 1(in accessory box)
- 5.25”: 1
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Front I/O Panel:
- USB Ports: USB 3.1 Type-C x 1, USB 3.0 Type-A x 4
- Audio Jacks: 3.5mm Headset Jack (Audio + Mic) x 1, 3.5mm Mic Jack x 1
- Fans/Lighting: Fan Speed Control Button, ARGB Control Button
- Included Fans: 140mm PMW Fan x 4, 1200RPM, 4-Pin (3 x Front, 1 x Rear)
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Fan Support:
- Top and Front: 120/140mm Fans x 3
- Rear: 120/140mm Fan x 1
- Bottom: 120/140mm Fans x 2 (bracket needed)
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Radiator Support:
- Top: 120mm, 140mm, 240mm, 280mm, 360mm, 420mm (remove ODD, maximum thickness clearance 70mm)
- Front: 120mm, 140mm, 240mm, 280mm, 360mm, 420mm (remove ODD)
- Rear: 120mm, 140mm
- Bottom: 120mm, 140mm, 240mm
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Clearances:
- CPU Cooler: 198mm
- Graphics Card: 490mm (without 3.5” HDD Bracket), 320mm (with 3.5” HDSD Bracket)
- Supports Multiple Motherboard Orientations (Conventional, Chimney, Inverted)
- Vertical GPU Mount w/ 400mm riser
- Tasteful ARGB light strips
- Included Cable Management Solutions
Before I get into the guts of my time with the Cosmos I want to touch on the unhidable fact: price. There’s no denying the fact: this case is expensive. Whether it’s worth the money is an entirely subjective to how much you value it’s features and what you learn in this review. There’s a lot of features and options with this case - enough to where I’m bound to miss some - but it does leave me feeling like I’ll pretty much be able to do whatever cool thing I fancy with my PC without ever NEEDING to get a new chassis to get it done.
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Cosmos C700M (Left) versus MasterCase H500M (Right)
Large and in Charge
There’s a group of people out there in the wilds of the interweb, and some here at MMORPG.com that are very vocal about their hatred for tempered glass and RGB lighting. I am very much not one of those people so when it comes to the looks of the C700M I find almost everything about it aesthetically pleasing. The curved tempered glass side panel is really well done and sits on a hinge panel that allows completely tooless entry into your case. It locks into place with decently powerful magnets (enough to where it’s not going to accidently come loose) and is tinted less than its older brother, the C700P. If you’re familiar with that case it also had a really off putting green tint on it’s glass panel that seems to have vanished with this iteration.
The front panel goes in a direction we don’t usually see in mainstream cases these days, which is to offer support for 5.25” drives, like a DVD or BlueRay reader/burner. Behind the front panel is another full length panel/second dust filter with an optional punch-out for two 5.25” bays. The first front panel can either be removed entirely or can swing out a ways with a hinge at the bottom that allows access to a drive - enough to eject and load an open DVD drive. I’ll talk a little more about the dust panel behind the front of the case later and its effect on thermal if you choose to leave it in.
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5.25” Drive Bay can be seen in the top right. Almost everything seen is modular and can be moved and/or removed
In addition to being gigantic by pure dimension standards, the C700M is easily the heaviest case I’ve ever handled - coming in at around 52.5lbs (23.8kg) without components installed. Once you have hands on the weight makes sense with it’s nearly full steel build, which includes two stylized feet that keep the chassis elevated from the surface and beautifully reflect the RGB strips on the bottom of the case. The feet are mirrored on top as handles that came in handy for lugging this case around from my build area to my office area - though I’m pretty sure I gave myself a hernia in the process.
Speaking of the RGB, I want to give Cooler Master some praise here. It’s really easy for manufacturers to go way overboard with lighting these days and I really appreciate how conservative they were with the inclusion of RGB lighting. The C700M features two (mostly) continuous strips that wrap around the entire chassis, minus the rear. I’m not exactly sure how many specific LEDs are under it’s opaque surface but it blends the colors wonderfully and can be completely controlled by a small button on the front I/O panel with multiple presets. Of course you have your standard rainbow preset that we see everywhere, including some of my pictures, but there is a good selection of solid color choices as well as some various effects that CoolerMaster uses that have never been much for my personal tastes. If you don’t like any of the included options you can wire the controller into your motherboard and use your motherboards software to control the lighting. I personally opted not to because the included presets had the purple and cyan colors that I wanted. Overall, the RGB is well done, it accents the case without being overbearing or stealing the show and, in my humble opinion, represents a perfect example of how RGB lighting should be included in a chassis’ construction.
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Included lightstrips are vibrant yet not overbearing. The honeycomb pattern cage for the top fan area seems out of place with the overall design of the C700M, however.
