Cooler Master is a name that many here at VL should be very familiar with. They offer a pretty diverse product line, making everything from power supplies, liquid and air coolers and of course, case enclosures. Their premium cases are things of beauty, but their more modest offerings are pretty nice as well. Leading the way for their entry-level products is their Centurion line. At first, they really only offered a couple models, but now it has exploded with several products covering "standard" and small form factor sizes.
As we've seen in the past, the Centurion offers an impressive featureset, as far as cases are concerned, while staying pretty committed to their value priced reputation. In fact, some of their features are so impressive, we find even Cooler Master themselves should take a page or two out of their Centurion playbook and put it into their premium aluminum cases.
Cooler Master Centurion 532 – Exterior
As with all their Centurions, the Centurion 532 is constructed primarily out of steel, which is stronger than aluminum, but also heavier. My primary case is an older Lian Li PC60 and compared to that one the Centurion 532 is not that much heavier. The steel is not very thick, which is why it doesn't weigh that much, but it should be solid enough to withstand everyday, normal usage. I personally use it as an ottoman since it sits under my desk, but I only weigh 180lbs, so your mileage may vary.
The front bezel is 100% aluminum, though there is no swing door such as those found on the Cavalier, WaveMaster or newer Praetorian cases. The front bezel design-wise is generally simple, though it does feature two bars on either side. I personally do not like this design feature but it does have some value. We mentioned it wasn't too heavy, but the bars, for me anyway, serve as a method of carrying the case around. A fully loaded system didn't seem to stress these bars all that much.
The weight, or lack thereof, can be attributed to the mesh facade of the front bezel. One thing to keep in mind is that although cooling should be better overall, the fact that it is mesh will mean it will be a little noisier. That said, some of the noise will be muffled due to Cooler Master's use of filters throughout the inside of the bezel.
The top portion of the bezel has five external 5.25" drive bays, which should be more than enough for the majority of users. There is also one 3.5" external bay. There shouldn't really be any issue here since I don't think many of us use floppy drives these days, so one should be more than enough.
The lower half of the bezel lies the Centurion logo. Just behind this logo is the front 120mm fan grill and lone 3.5" external drive bay.
Due to the mesh bezel, Cooler Master moved all of their buttons and I/O's to the top of their case. This isn't a bad location if your PC sits on the floor, and unless you're 3 feet tall, these buttons shouldn't cause any issue if your PC sits on top of your desk. For those of you who prefer using headphones for late night gaming, or if you tend to plug in a lot of peripherals into the USB or FireWire ports, you'll appreciate this location if your PC sits on the floor as it beats reaching behind the case to plug in headphones or a USB key.
Both side panels are removable via a couple thumbscrews. There is a 120mm fan grill that can be used for exhausting air from the rear of the case and out. The fan grill is factory cut in a honeycomb manner, and while not as effective as a standard fan grill, it is better than the sorry excuses of a fan grill with older, cheap ATX cases. While Cooler Master provides one 120mm intake fan in the front of the case, no rear fan is included, so you'll need to pick up one of those on your own.
The main side panel (to access the interior) features a couple of vented areas to allow some cool air to flow over the hottest components. We are not too sure how effective the rectangular vents will be for video card cooling, but the round vent works quite well thanks to the CPU fan duct on the opposite side.
The fan duct allows air to be drawn from the outside directly and over the CPU heatsink. Normally, most CPU heatsinks draw airflow from above and into the CPU heatsink's fins, so this duct will help separate the exterior air from any warm zones inside the case. However, as we've seen with our past two Centurion reviews, many of today's modern performance coolers may be too large for the air duct. Either you'll need to remove it (which can be done with a simple screwdriver), or change your heatsink. Chances are, most will choose the former if they already have an effective cooler in place.
Interior
Removing the fan duct side panel exposes the interior of the Centurion 532. As with past Centurion cases, Cooler Master chose not to include a removable motherboard tray in the Centurion 532. Normally, we prefer having a removable tray as it makes upgrading a lot easier, but there is enough room inside that working isn't too difficult. There is no power supply is included with the Centurion 532, but they do sell models with a power supply as well as a case window.
We've already mentioned the thumb screws for the side panels, and in keeping with the tool free design philosophy, the Centurion uses snap rails for installing the hard drive and optical drives, negating the need to use Phillips screws and a screwdriver for installation.
Installing the CDROM, or any other 5.25" device is done by pushing the device through the front of the case until it slides into place. Once the drive is installed, you snap the lock on the rail into place, thus securing the device.
Hard drive installation works a bit differently, but no more difficult. There are drive rails that need to be inserted into the drive as most other forms of rails. The difference here is no screwdriver is needed. Simply pop them in and slide the drive into place.
In front of the hard drive bay is a 120mm LED intake fan, which is included with the case. As per ATX specifications, the fan draws in exterior air through the bottom and into the case where it's exhausted the rear fan, if installed (and not included). A byproduct of the fan's case cooling is it also cools the hard drives as well.
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