Cooling

The Centurion features two fans: one in the bottom-front of the case, and one in the top-rear of the case. The whole case is made of 0.8 mm SECC, which won't cool as well as Aluminum, but was still somewhat cold to the touch at room temperature.

In our testing setup, the intake was placed near the CPU (rear) and the exhaust in the front.

Testing Setup

Chaintech 9CJS (Canterwood) motherboard, Intel P4 2.4C, Corsair PC3700 TWINX, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, 2 x Hard Drive, Zalman 300W PSU, Cooler Master Aero4 CPU HSF.

I compared the cooling properties of this case against it's Aluminum cousin, the ATC-220B. Temperature was kept within +- 1 degree Fahrenheit.

Celsius Temperatures

Fahrenheit Temperatures

As we can see, the aluminum case wins by quite a margin - but remember that the ATC-220B costs more than double what the Centurion costs, and its aluminum construction allows for heat to dissipate from the air inside of the case to the case itself.

Installation notes

Other than the aforementioned hard drive problems, I didn't have many problems installing my components into the case. The optical drives fit without a hitch, and the motherboard-standoff alignment was good.

Final Words

One thing I noticed about the SECC is that it was easily bendable, as I said above I could easily bend the metal with my hands. However, Cooler Master would not release a case that would crumple - due to the way the case is made, there is structural integrity from the bottom of the case to the top, and from the left side of the case to the right. Noticing this, the side panels are thicker than the SECC used in the rest of the case.

Cooler Master has taken their first step into the budget case market with a bold step. Their case is sleek and flashy, sure to catch the eye of many people. And for those of you who put your components into this case once, shut it up and leave it alone (except to clean the front filter every few years, this case is a good budget solution to a mid-tower.

However if you plan on constantly swapping motherboards and hard drives out this is probably not the case for you. Although the sides are easy enough to take off, the small space will make it tough to switch out motherboards, and the problems I experienced with the drive cage makes me feel cautious in recommending this case to someone.

The case has style, and it cools well enough for a steel case. I'll be the first to admit that I really love drive cages - they make your life a lot easier. However, if the cage has problems with insertion, it will most likely become more trouble than it's worth.

Just keep in mind that this is a budget case - you're not going to get the same quality, functionality, or ease-of-use with this case when compared to one of the high end Cooler Master cases.

Pros: Sleek front bezel, Inexpensive, Drive cage

Cons: Drive cage insertion was a problem, thin steel in construction (excess weight issues?)

Bottom Line: If you're looking for a case that has all the right looks, a good price, and some nice features all for an inexpensive price, this is the case for you. For our UK readers, Pete at Overclock told us .

If you got any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.

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