Removing the right panel requires you to take out two additional thumb screws. The removable motherboard tray is held in place by four more smaller versions of these thumb screws that do not hold the right or left panel in place. The motherboard tray slides out easily once released, notice the 2mm thickness on even the motherboard tray... I set the tray aside to install the motherboard on once ready.
The Praetorian 730 has a PSU enclosure, not just a rail or two to slide the PSU onto, an actual enclosure for it. Although in my case this was not an issue, I can see in some busy solutions the surrounding brackets getting in the way of cable flow. I do like how sturdy the solution is, something you don't see in a lot of cases these day's.
Installing the Motherboard took little as is the case with most removable motherboard trays. The tray is one again made of 2mm thick Aluminum, giving you more then enough support for most anything you can install on a motherboard, and then some.
The tray slips back into the case nicely, even with a rather large mounted HS/Fan combination. The front panel connectors were labeled well and had plenty of slack to reach most any motherboards choice of FP header position (I have seen some winners :P). I installed the FireWire and USB connectors without issue.
Now that everything is mounted, it is time to put it all back together, connect all of the cables and see how everything fairs. As you can see, the side panel blow hole is large enough to allow positioning directly over top of most CPU fan positions, it fit nicely on our ECS KN1-SLI Extreme motherboard. If I had to guess, I would say it would just miss the DFI center CPU socket scenario. The side panel air duct is more then sufficient to bring in a good amount of fresh air from outside the case to cool the CPU adequately.
The Praetorian 730 comes with one intake 120mm and two exhaust 80mm blue LED fans. This design gives the ability to have more air expelled then is brought in, however, take into account the entire front panel is a mesh, and the side panel air-duct is larger then most CPU fans will utilize, this should not be an issue for airflow whatsoever. It would have been nice to place an 80mm exhaust on the top of the case, where the heat builds up, however, I can see where that might get in the way of the overall design flow of the case.
Testing
Test system will be: ECS KN1 SLI Extreme, AMD Athlon64 Opteron 148, Western Digital 250GB, 7200RPM 8MB Cache SATA-II Hard Drive, HIS X850xt IceQ Turbo-II
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HTPC Tech Station
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Cooler Master Praetorian 730
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CPU (100% load)
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39C
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41C
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Motherboard
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38C
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38C
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Hard Drive
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28C
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28C
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Video Card
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39C
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39C
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Some may say that measuring a case against a wide open Tech Station is unfair. Well, I feel it’s a good baseline of what an air cooled system can achieve. The results show that the Praetorian 730 is no slouch at getting air through the system, allowing the components to keep themselves cool. The one impressive stat is that of the HD temperatures, but then both the Tech Station and the Praetorian have a nice 120mm fan blowing directly across the HD.
Final Words
, known for optimum cooling solutions, has delivered just that. An optimum cooling case that performs almost as well as open air case. It just so happens that Cooler Master has delivered this solution in an enclosure that is built better then most along with a design as elegant as any piece of audiophile equipment you might have. Impressive, from my point of view, is that throughout this review I was unable to find one, not one, true imperfection on this case. This could be due to the simple design that Cooler Master has set forth, nonetheless, impressive.
If your PC enclosure says something about you, then with the Cooler Master Praetorian 730 you are bursting with confidence, have class while not overly flaunting it and you will not settle for anything not made properly for its task. The design is crisp and entertaining, but that doesn't stop at the surface, dig deeper and you find a case that is not only built well, but exudes style and functionality at every corner.
I think it’s pretty obvious what I think of this case, and while there are a few small downsides or missing features that can be found on other cases, when you take into account the price of the , you are undeniably getting a lot of case for you money.
Pros: Extremely aesthetic Design, Above par cooling with minimal noise levels, Solid support with 2mm Aluminum throughout, Ample internal space in a Mid-Tower design, High performance low noise (and Blue LED) fans included
Cons: HD Audio connectors only to lead to R-L audio out, Internal drive mounts to riser - no brackets etc, PSU Bracket could pose a problem to some
Bottom Line: If your PC enclosure says something about you, then with the Cooler Master Praetorian 730 you are bursting with confidence, have class while not overly flaunting it and you will not settle for anything not made properly for its task. The design is crisp and entertaining, but that doesn't stop at the surface, dig deeper and you find a case that is not only built well, but exudes style and functionality at nearly every corner.
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