| Cooler Master CM 690 NVIDIA Edition Case |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Daryl Greene - Edited by Olin Coles | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Thursday, 06 November 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Cooler Master NV 690Cooler master is well known for a wide variety of PC accessories. The line-up consists of heatsinks, power supplies, fans, external storage and cases. The companies case designs have a reputation for being visually pleasing as well as functional. Their offerings range from very basic to options that are tool less and full of cooling options. Recently Cooler Master put a new spin on an established case with the NV 690 NVIDIA Edition. This case has a certain appeal and a nice list of features.Follow along as Benchmark Reviews takes a look. 
In recent years it seems that PC case design has blossomed. Back then I would never have believed that the PC chassis market would become what it is today. Originally the cases were just generic and boring. Today these enclosures have such a wide variety that when shopping for one you barely know where to begin. For those of us looking to protect our hardware, we are looking for functionality and cooling options. Cooler Master is definitely carving out a niche for themselves in this area of design. Cooler Master NV 690 Features
NV-690C-KWN1-GP Specifications
About the company: Cooler MasterCooler Master was founded with the mission of providing the industry's best thermal solutions. Since its establishment a decade ago, the company has remained faithful to this mission, emerging as a world leader in products and services for companies dealing with devices where heat issues must be resolved. In pursuing this mission, Cooler Master is absolutely committed to delivering solutions that precisely meet customer requirements for features, performance, and quality. Moreover, we strive to be a reliable long-term partner for our customers that they can truly depend on. It aims to be the first and foremost name that comes to mind for companies around the world seeking thermal solutions, and seeks to build such a reputation through outstanding technology, sophisticated design, and superior service. Cooler Master's current business encompasses a comprehensive lineup of thermal solutions for a full range of applications. Its products range from heat sinks and fans to component housing, chassis, and ducting for computers, industrial machinery, telecommunications equipment, and many other devices. A critical component of Cooler Master's ability to successfully pursue its mission is an unstinting commitment to quality, as demonstrated by the ISO 9001 certification granted to its main manufacturing plant in Taiwan. It has also enforced ISO guidelines and is in the process of applying for ISO 9002 certification at its second and third plants, located in China. Cooler Master has also implemented a number of analytical and testing protocols to ensure top quality, including at subcontractors, to further ensure thorough quality control. Moreover, Cooler Master's dedication to quality extends beyond manufacturing to every aspect of its operation, including service. As a company, Cooler Master is an organization that is finely tuned to the demands of providing innovative solutions that meet customer needs as rapidly as possible. Rather than adopt a traditional corporate structure and then try to retrofit operations to suit such a preexisting structure, Cooler Master's is a company built around the nature of its operations, providing maximum efficiency and strict work-flow control. Focused on meeting customer requirements flexibly and efficiently, Cooler Master's work-flows commence with careful surveys to understand these requirements, and then proceed to R&D, manufacturing, marketing, and sales, as part of a comprehensive and tightly integrated work-flow. Throughout the design process, Cooler Master maintains robust communications channels with customers, taking advantage of online systems as well, to keep customers informed about the status of projects and allowing Cooler Master engineers to understand customer concerns as they evolve. Moreover, Cooler Master engineers make extensive use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis software tools to model heat absorption and dissipation characteristics of in-progress designs to ensure that final products completely satisfy customer specifications. Closer Look: ExteriorWhen the NV 690 NVIDIA Edition arrived it was a bit worse for the wear. The shipping box had some damage as if something had been dropped on it. The retail box didn't fair much better as there was no additional padding inside the shipping box to help protect the case. I suppose the people at Cooler Master felt that the boxes and the Styrofoam padding inside the retail box would be sufficient and needed nothing extra. Luckily they were right.
The retail box was definitely a little worse for the wear, but it was attractive and well documented. I think it is a bit of an attention getter. Inside I found the case cradled by the typical Styrofoam padding, which had been broken along the way. The case itself was found to be in undamaged condition. My initial thought was that this case is more attractive than I had anticipated as well as a bit heavier. This case is made from 1mm steel and weighs in at 21.6 pounds (9.8kg). The framework and drive bays are riveted together, but seems quite sturdy.
The case presents itself with a black exterior, with the front and top of the case covered with a steel mesh and plastic accented by two bright green plastic accent strips that run the length of the top and down the front. The front has 5 external drive bays and accented on the lower half with the NVIDIA and Cooler Master logos. On the lower right hand side are the switches and activity indicator lights.
Located on the top are the external I/O ports. It has two USB, one firewire, one eSATA, mic and headphone jacks. I don't care a lot for the way these ports are placed. Though it is nice to have the extra connections they could be easily damaged if one of these ports was in use and something were to fall on them.
The right side panel's only distinguished feature is a vent in the upper rear for a small fan that would blow on the back of the motherboard. It is designed to hold an 80 x 15mm fan. 
The left side contains a neon green acrylic window that looks somewhat like an upside down L and a 120mm intake fan. Both side panels are secured by two thumb screws each.
On the rear you will find an exhaust fan vent, an opening for an I/O plate, seven expansion slots and the opening for a bottom mounted PSU. Also to the right of the expansion slots there is a vented area designed for dissipation of heat and two holes with grommets to pass cooling hoses for a water cooling system.
Rounding out the exterior we move to the bottom of this case. There you will find two small rubber feet at the front and two large feet at the rear. Also there are two vents, one is the vent for the PSU intake and one for a bottom mounted intake fan. Detailed Exterior FeaturesThe top of the case is secured by eight plastic retaining clips located under the lip of the upper chassis frame. They are pushed inward and the top is pulled upward. This is actually a bit of a task to accomplish. The plastic is rather stiff and doesn't give itself easily to flexing. After the top is removed you can see the vents punched out where two fans can be installed. They are designed to hold fans as large as 140mm. 
The right side panel's window is held in place by plastic pins that look a little like rivets. I was disappointed that the window had no protective film and I found fine scratching to it as a result. The 120mm intake fan has a nice mesh cover, but there is no air filter to help keep the interior free of dust. 
Strangely the rear expansion covers are not slotted. Given that this case is bit of a redesign, I am surprised that Cooler Master hasn't changed this particular feature. The vented area to the right of the expansion slots is a good feature to aid in heat dissipation from video cards. Especially those that are single slot cards and do not vent to the rear themselves. There is also a 120mm exhaust fan included with this case. 
The front bezel is supposed to be easily removable. The guide shows that you reach under the front and pull it away. In reality, it takes a rather sharp pull to remove. It also takes a bit of effort to replace it as well. I had to give it a sharp hit in all six spots to get it to fully seat. The durability of the posts that hold the bezel to the case is questionable to me. It takes such effort that I worry that they could be broken. You can also see the retaining clips that secure the bay covers. 
The top bay cover is rather difficult to remove as the clips are right against the top two posts of the bezel. There just isn't much room to move the clips to remove the cover and made me feel that I would break them off. I seriously doubt it would have made a difference if they had broken though. I think most people are always going to put a CD/DVD drive here anyway. 
The bay covers have a strip of black foam inside them. I would assume it's to help keep dust from making its way through the mesh covers and into the case. This is an interesting feature and I think it was a great idea. Air flow through the case could easily create an inward drift through the mesh on the front. If that is the case the foam would definitely be a help. 
Behind the bezel you find one drive bay already open and the other four are covered by plates. They just snap loose to remove them and can be replaced by using screws. Then there is the 120mm intake fan with filter in the lower front. To the right of the fan is the LED activity lights and switches themselves. There are no wires to contend with when you remove the bezel. This is a very nice feature since you will need to remove it occasionally to clean the front air filter. 
On the front lower right of the bezel are the chromed outer buttons and the activity indicators. The activity LED's are a bright green and a nice accent to this cases theme. Closer Look: InteriorOnce the case is opened you will notice the tool less drive bays. Moving from there are the wires for the external connections and switches. Next is the 120mm exhaust fan which has a plug to connect directly to the motherboard if you wish as well as an adapter to connect it via Molex plug. Directly below that we find the tool less expansion slots. The white box contains the accessories, of course. 
The accessory box contained one installation guide that is full of neat little illustrations, one 5.25" to 3.5" bay adapter and a small bag of stand-offs for the motherboard. When I saw the contents, I was baffled as to why there were no screws included. 
On the right side you can see there are no tool less features on the drive bays and only one hole in the lower motherboard tray for any kind of cable management. You may notice that hard drives are meant to be wired from this side.
The front intake fan is located forward of the hard drive bays and can't really be seen here. It can be removed from the front only. This fan also has a plug for the motherboard and an adapter for a Molex connection. I am left to wonder if this fan does much cooling of the hard drives since the drive bay is set sideways. There are holes to allow air flow, but I really wonder if the fan puts out enough pressure to push air effectively through the bay. Below the external bays are the internal hard drive bays. Here you will find five plastic drive cradles. These cradles have rubber mounted pins to hold the hard drive. These pins are rubber mounted to reduce vibration from the hard drives. I initially questioned whether or not the rubber mounts would reduce vibration since the cradle sits in the bay so tightly with a drive in it. To my surprise I can not hear my drives spin up any more. 
These cradles look and feel cheap and flimsy, but once a drive is wrestled into place it really doesn't matter. Slip it back into its slot and the drive is every bit as secure as it needs to be. I have no doubts about its security at all. The drive can be further secured on each side by a screw placed in the middle holes.
Here we have a closer look at the hard drive bays. To remove the cradles you grip the tabs on either side of the little loop and pull. Returning the cradle is as simple as sliding it back in until it locks into place. If a drive is in the cradle you will need to hook the loop with a finger and squeeze the tabs to remove it as it will not slide out very easily.
The 5.25" drive bays have a tool less design on the left side only. The blue button slides back and then the piece is flipped up, the drive inserted and the piece is brought back down to connect with the screw holes on the side of the drive and then just slide the blue button forward to lock it down.
Screws can be added to the right to further secure the drive if you wish. I would liked to have seen this feature on both sides rather that on just one. Detailed Interior FeaturesNow earlier I mentioned that there were no screws in the accessory box and found that disappointing. Well, as I was looking at the 5.25" drive bays, I made an interesting discovery. Down the back of both sides of the drive bays you will find all the screws you will need. 
Next in line are the seven plastic clips for cable management. These clips are two inches deep and have plenty of space to hold cables and wires. They are twisted into threaded holes in the motherboard tray and can be easily removed if necessary or desired. These clips are rather flimsy and not very good for more than managing the cables that were in them when the case arrived. More routing options in the motherboard would have been a better idea. 
The expansion slots have a tool less retention design. The blue clip is used by pushing the arched part inward to release and then pull it outward from the slot. Once a cover or card has been put in place the retaining clip is merely pushed against it till you hear it click into place. These clips are pretty solid and seem quite durable 
The PSU area is in the bottom of the case. It has a foam seal glued to the back of the case and stand-offs with rubber tips on the bottom. It has a vent punched out of the bottom for the PSU to breathe cool air from outside the case. 
I really think that some kind of seal could have been utilized underneath as well so that the PSU could be completely separated from the air in the case. Then it could intake and exhaust totally outside. Take in cool outside air and return the warm air out. 
Located directly in front of the PSU bay is a filter/fan clip that will hold a fan as large as 140mm. It is screwed in from the bottom, so there should be no issues of removal for cleaning as the screwdriver would not have to be utilized inside the case. 
On the back of the motherboard tray we see the opening where an 80 x 15mm fan can be attached. It is located directly behind the processor area of motherboards. Again, I think some kind of filter could have been used here. Eventually you would have a thick build-up of dust on the back side of your motherboard. This would definitely not be good for cooling and leave you with the need to remove the motherboard and clean it off. I suppose that you could use it to exhaust air from that area, though I can't say that I feel it would be of much benefit that way. Cooler Master Final ThoughtsThe NV 690 NVIDIA edition case is a nice spin on a good case. It is attractive without being overdone or pushing the limits of taste. I wasn't sure how it would strike me when I actually had one in front of me, but I was pleasantly surprised. It looks good in pictures and pops out at you a bit when you actually see one. The features are no different from the standard NV 690 other than the side cover with the green acrylic window and the accent strips. I like that it can handle up to six fans. The specifications say that it handles six 120mm fans, but three spots will hold fans to 140mm.The top and front bezel could have been designed with a better method of connecting them to the chassis frame. Repeated removal of the front to clean the filter may prove to be to much for this particular design. Installation went smoothly. Although this case is larger than my old one, it doesn't have much more interior space. The cable manager clips are flimsy and I didn't use them for more than managing the cables for the front I/O ports. The hole in the lower motherboard tray really needs to be larger. I ran most of the wiring through it and barely managed to get them all through. The tool less features allowed for quick and easy installation of my drives, video and sound cards. The rubber mounted pins that hold the drives made my hard drives silent and my CD/DVD drive barely noticeable.
My previous case had no side panels and no fans other than the ones on the heatsinks for the CPU and video card and PSU. After transferring my hardware to the 690 the first thing I noticed is my temperatures dropped by ten degrees Celsius. Previously, in this room, my PC ran from 50c at idle to about 63c gaming. Since the transfer it runs as low as 39c idling to approximately 53c gaming. I would love to see what would happen with three more 120mm fans. This might actually be good for a mild overclock with the addition of the final three fans. Overall this case is very sturdy. I read a lot of reviews where the author complains about a case being riveted together as if it will fall apart at any moment. Personally I have been through a good number of these riveted cases and personally found that most of the time it is the flimsy materials some of them are constructed of that is the actual issue. My previous case is mostly riveted and it is over ten years old. The framework is as sturdy today as the day I received it. I seriously doubt that the rivets will be a problem. NV 690 NVIDIA Edition ConclusionThe retail box for this case is certainly an attractive one. It gets your attention without being overdone. There is ample information on the back of it to convey its list of features. The NV 690 NVIDIA Edition is noticeable without people having a "holy crap, what is that?" reaction. It is different but still slightly subtle. Everyone that has seen it since I received it has had a positive reaction to it. The reaction from some of my son's friends was, "That's really cool!" So, I would say that it is definitely not overdone. Even though this case is riveted together, I have to say that the construction is quite good. The chassis has a very sturdy feel to it and I think it will last a long time. The functionality is quite good. With the fans that are included it performs well and has potential if you add three more. There is also the fact that it is ready for a liquid cooling system. Currently Newegg.com offers the NV-690C-KWN1-GP SKU for $89.99 and currently offers a $20.00 mail-in rebate. Even without the rebate this case is worth the money. With tool-less features and three 120mm fans included, you can't beat it. I would definitely recommend this enclosure especially for those on a budget. The price isn't much higher than cases that have no real cooling options or tool less features. Other cases try to get your attention with silly lights and cheesy side windows, but still have a very generic and cheap look. The NV 690 NVIDIA edition makes a bit of a statement without a total generic look while providing good "out of the box" performance.The fans that are included are very quiet while providing decent airflow. Pros:
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