| Cooler Master Elite 343 RC-343-KKN1 |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by David Ramsey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 19 April 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cooler Master Elite RC-343-KKN1
Manufacturer: Cooler Master Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Cooler Master. The enthusiast case market is replete with fancy cases brimming with exotic materials and features. It's not unusual for builders to buy "more case than they need", investing extra money in a case their system can grow into. But sometimes all you need is a basic case: a good-quality enclosure that will serve as a home for your components in a business, "grandma computer", or other non-enthusiast setting. Although Benchmark Reviews does not often look at cases like this, they make up the bulk of the case market. While Cooler Master's best known for its enthusiast cases, they serve this market as well with cases like the Elite 343 mATX computer case. The micro-ATX (mATX) form factor is becoming more popular these days, and it's not hard to understand why: even most enthusiast systems use but a single motherboard slot (for the video card). Why pay for three or four extra slots you'll likely never use? And when it comes to a non-gaming machine, an integrated video solution is probably all that's needed. Micro ATX systems are smaller, less expensive, quieter, and cooler than full-sized systems, and especially for family or office computing needs, make a lot of sense. In these applications, bespoke aluminum cases with built-in fan controllers and LED lights are a waste of money; all you need is a good, basic case.
Cooler Master will be happy, of course, to provide you with an enthusiast level case if you wish. Their "High Air Flow" (HAF series) cases are popular, as are their gamer-oriented "Storm" series of cases. Elite 343 Specifications
Closer Look: ExteriorThe Cooler Master Elite 343 is a small, micro ATX ( mATX) computer case rendered in black-painted steel and ABS plastic.
The included accessories are sparse: a multi-language manual as a single folded page, several neatly-labeled re-sealable bags of screws, and a dozen or so zip ties (not pictured). 
At the front of the case are two 5.25" drive bays and a single 3.5" drive bay. Below the 3.5" drive bay is the I/O panel, which has two USB 2.0 ports as well as microphone and headphone jacks. A space for an IEEE 1394 port is visible at the right side of the I/O panel, but the connector and cable are not included with this case. Just to the right of the I/O panel are the power and reset switches. As you can see from the image below, the front plastic is very glossy. The bottom front of the case is a metal mesh covering a non-removable foam filter for the included 120mm intake fan.
The left side of the case has a mounting point for an 80mm fan, with extra ventilation holes below. The fan mounting point is positioned to blow air on the CPU area of the motherboard, rather than the video card area, and oddly, only two of the four fan mounting screw holes are actually holes. The right side of the case is a plain black steel panel with no vents or other embellishments.
The rear of the case shows the power supply opening, a mounting area for an 80 or 90mm exhaust fan, the motherboard I/O area, and the four slots. Both side panels are secured by thumbscrews.
The bottom of the case shows four plastic feet and four screws near the front feet. The screws secure an internal drive bay assembly I'll discuss in the next section.
Now let's take a look at the interior of this case. Closer Look: InteriorThe interior of the case is plain unpainted steel. The motherboard tray does have the largest CPU cooler cutout I've ever seen, though! Visible here are the two 5.25" bays at the top of the case. The tool-less mounts for the drives snap on and off with the rotating lock knob in the middle. Below the 5.25" bays are two 3.5" bays (one with external access), and below those are four more 3.5" bays in a removable cage. The removable cage is secured by four screws on the bottom of the case, and a single thumbscrew that connects it to the two-bay cage above it.
With the four bay cage removed, the interior 120mm intake fan is exposed. In this configuration you still have room for two 5.25" devices and two 3.5" devices. Why remove the bays? Mainly to make room for long video cards. Cooler Master offers this same feature in the Storm Enforcer, and it's nice to see it available in an inexpensive case like this.
Here we can see the power supply mounting area, the mount for the optional exhaust fan, and the four card slot covers. Note that only the first cover is secured with a screw; the remaining three are knockout panels that can't be replaced. While many builders will have spare slot covers in their junk piles, I would have preferred Cooler Master spend a few more pennies here and made all of the slot covers replaceable.
Don't plan on running any cables behind the motherboard tray. With a bare 1/4" of clearance, about the only thing that would fit would be a SATA cable...flat.
There is, however, plenty of room behind the drive bays. If you removed the lower drive cage for your build, you'd want to take care to ensure that cables in this area didn't interfere with the intake fan.
Let's see what it's like to build a system in this case. Building a SystemBuilding a system in the Cooler Master RC-343-KKN1 is straightforward, with few surprises. For this test build I used a Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2L mATX motherboard and an AMD Radeon 6850 video card. This is a test build only since I don't have a functional Socket 775 processor or heat sink available. Note that the position of the PCI-E slot on the Gigabyte motherboard required me to punch out the slot covers for the two middle card slots.
To install the optical drive, I needed to pop off the front bezel so I could remove the punch-out plate for the top bay position. The bezel is secured by 6 snap fasteners and is easy to pull off the front of the case with a little care. The foam filter for the intake fan is behind the hexagonal mesh at the bottom of the bezel. There's no easy way to remove the foam for cleaning: the front mesh panel is secured with bendable metal tabs, but these would probably break off if you tried to remove the mesh panel more than once or twice. A blast of compressed air from inside the panel would be the best way to clean the filter. 
Here we can see the optical drive and 3.5" hard drive installed. Note the black plastic-covered thumbscrew securing the top of the four drive bay cage to the bottom of the two drive bay cage. This screw would block the installation of a 3.5" drive in the bottom of the two drive bays, although there's plenty of room for a card reader or other non-drive accessory.
With everything installed and connected, there's still plenty of expansion space for another 5.25" device and several 3.5" devices. Removing the bottom drive cage would make room for a longer video card, too.
All in all, a pretty easy build. I'll discuss my conclusions about this case in the next section. Cooler Master Elite 343 Final ThoughtsI generally review and am interested in cases designed for enthusiasts; compared to them, the RC-343-KKN1 is not a particularly exciting or interesting case. But as I mentioned at the start of this review, sometimes this is all you need. The experienced system builder will choose components that best fit the intended use of the computer, and spending extra money on an expensive mATX case from Lian Li or Silverstone would make no sense for an office computer or a system intended for web browsing and email. What you look for in these situations is the best combination of price and utility, and that's where this case fits. The Elite 343 case sells for about $40 from a number of online vendors. For this you get a very basic micro-ATX computer case, with a few nice features like an optional side fan mount and a removable internal drive cage. You don't get aluminum construction, LED-lit fans, or tool-less mounting features...but if those were important to you, you wouldn't be looking at this type of case.
RC-343-KKN1 ConclusionBenchmark Reviews' product evaluations are necessarily subjective, and different reviewers will have different opinions on the same product. Also, be aware that product price, specifications, and availability are subject to change, so the product we review might not be a precise match to the product you see in a store or online. Also, some review conclusions may be based on comparisons to similar competitive products, and changes in these products may affect the overall ranking of the review product. Please use our reviews and conclusions as guides, and do your own research before making a purchase decision. The performance of the Cooler Master Elite 343 case was good, although it's a little deficient in the ventilation department. While the single 120mm fan would be adequate for a low-powered system based on the Intel Atom or AMD Fusion processors, a more powerful computer would benefit from at least the addition of an exhaust fan. The appearance of the case is generic and unexceptional; but it's not intended to be anything else. Its small size and plain styling will enable it to blend in almost anywhere, whereas a more radical or colorful case would tend to stand out. The construction quality of the case was very good, as expected of a top tier manufacturer like Cooler Master. Although the case makes use of penny-pinching features like punch-out card slot panels, all the pieces fit well and the painted black covering is evenly applied. Functionally, this case offers somewhat more than most lower-end mATX cases, with the ability to accommodate up to 6 3.5" devices or two 3.5" devices and a long video card. At $40.99 with free shipping from Amazon, this case represents a good value. If you value functionality and price over bling and features, this is a case worth looking at. Pros:
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Comments
More interesting to me is that the price is what I paid for a Thermaltake V3 Black some time back. It looks like the costs of steel and plastic is being reflected across all products already and is only going up, iron ore having gone up 20% 6 weeks ago, and we all know what oil (plastics) is doing. Probably a good time to make a decision if one is in the market for a new case of any description.
I feel it's a better choice.
I like it for a budget case.
If you need more cooling than the stock cooler can provide, my suggestion would be to use one of the many all-in-one water coolers available. Their 120mm fan/radiator assemblies should fit fine.