Cougar Challenger Mid Tower Case Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging & Bundle3. Cougar Challenger: Exterior4. Cougar Challenger: Interior5. System Installation6. Testing Methodology and Thermal Performance7. Acoustic Performance8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

Cougar is on the prowl for glory in the mid-range case market with the feature-heavy Challenger. Employing thoughtful amenities generally associated with up-market cases, can Cougar use the Challenger to attack a price vs performance sweet-spot?

A trio of 5.25” tool-less drive bays, an external 3.5” compartment and 7x 2.5/3.5” storage drive slots proves that functionality hasn’t been overlooked by Cougar. Another convenient feature is the external hot-swap SATA port that makes transferring data a quick and simple task.

With 7 fan mounting locations, support for large CPU coolers and up to 410mm graphics cards, conveniently-positioned cable management cut-outs and a truly unique ‘pilot unlock missile’ power button, is the Challenger a weapon destined to force its way to the mid-range cases’ top-spot?

Specifications:

• Motherboard support: Micro ATX / ATX.
• Expansion slots: 7.
• Included fans: 1x 120mm (rear) & 1x 200mm (front).
• Fan mounts: 2x 120/140 or 1x 200 (Front), 2x 120/140 or 1x 180/200 (Top), 1x 120(Rear), 1x 120/140 (Bottom + side)
• 5.25″ drive bays: 3.
• Internal drive bays: 7x 2.5/3.5″ or 4x 2.5/3.5″ & 3x 2.5″.
• External drive bays: 1x 3.5″ (Front panel), 1x SATA hot-swap bay.
• Dimensions: 268(W) x 514(H) x 523(D).

Cougar supplies the Challenger in a box that is styled around the case's unique appearance.

Detailed specifications and a break-down of the key features are located on the rear side of the box.

3 separate 2.5″ HDD/SSD trays are supplied for use with the 2.5″-only drive cage configuration. Cougar chooses to supply the magnetic dust filter that fits onto the side panel as part of the bundle, rather than with the case itself. Perhaps this is an indication that the company doesn't have faith in the security of its magnetic mount? A trio of rubber tubing grommets, installation screws and a product manual form the rest of the Challenger's bundle.

As the left side panel's primary feature, the large and angular acrylic window is positioned to allow it to show off a system's main components, when viewed from an angle, without displaying the ugly drives and wires.

The magnetic dust filter can be (loosely) attached to the side panel to prevent the entrance of dirt and grime. Even if you aren't using a fan in this mount, we would still recommend using the filter to act as a dust barrier.

A pair of thumbscrews holds the basic right side panel in position.

Unique is definitely a word to be associated with the Challenger's head-on appearance. Full-length, high-gloss borders surround the dust-filtered fan mount and drive bays, creating a seemingly enclosed area for external 3.5″ and 5.25″ devices.

It is clear that Cougar has opted to design the aesthetic appearance with gamers in mind.

7 recessed PCI slots are adjacent to a large mesh area that will help to promote effective airflow. The orange blades of Cougar's 120mm Turbine fan are apparent, from the rear.

With the Challenger's gaming style continuing to the top panel, Cougar extends the front IO area above the non-filtered roof fan mounts. This design choice creates an angular drop-off point.

Conveniently located front IO ports include a pair of USB 3 connections and 3.5mm audio jacks.

Possibly one of the coolest features ever to be incorporated on a computer case (in my opinion), lifting the cover of the ‘missile' style power button made me feel like the F-15 pilot I never was. The only disappointment was the absence of an AIM-9 Sidewinder tearing off the missile rail after an adrenaline-pumping push.

Perhaps I'm too much of a military aircraft aficionado, but, in reality, the novelty factor of this unique feature is evident and will certainly spark conversations.

Any SATA device up to 3.5″ in form factor can be connected to the external hot swap HDD port for quick and easy data transferal. No need to worry about your drive being bumped and falling; Cougar angles the hot-swap area's tray by a large degree to prevent such accidents.

4 feet raise the Challenger by a few centimetres, allowing cool air to reach the power supply and bottom fan, should you choose to install one. The magnetic theme continues with the bottom dust filter being held in position by the force of attraction. This isn't the most secure of mounts, but, on the other hand, it does allow quick and easy removal of the filter when embarking upon the cleaning mission.

The Challenger's all-black interior features well-positioned cable management cut-outs, although the lack of rubber grommets is disappointing. Cougar opts to create the stand-offs which as part of the case's sheet of material.

Using the default HDD cage configuration, graphics card clearance stretches to 295mm – not bad for a mid-range chassis.

A very large CPU cooler backplate cut-out gives users easy access to the rear side of an installed motherboard.

22mm of cable management clearance is allocated directly behind the motherboard tray. Only 25mm of space is available behind the 3.5″ HDD trays. When using the 2.5″ drive cage configuration, up to 67mm of cable management clearance is available.

Cougar includes its high-quality 3-pin, 120mm Turbine fan for use with the Challenger. The orange blades are attractive at first glance, but are likely to cause interference issues for colour-coordinated users.

Disappointingly, none of the 7 removable PCI slot covers are tool-less so make sure you have a screwdriver handy.

A number of fan configurations can be housed in the roof area. Users have the choice of up 2x 120/140mm fans or a single 180/200mm unit. The exclusion of a dust filter will cause dirt and grime to enter your system at an alarming pace.

Cougar has cut some corners with the top panel's material selection; the thin metal flexes under the application of very little force.

After battling the tricky alteration procedure, switching the upper 3.5″ drive cage to 2.5″ duties opens up an extra 20mm of clearance for large graphics cards. It also increases cable management clearance directly behind the upper cage to 67mm, due to 2.5″ drives' less imposing length.

For users with a graphics card that is greater than 315mm long, you need not worry as the upper HDD cage is entirely removable, opening up 420mm of clearance.

Removing the front panel provides access to Cougar's 200mm red LED fan. The unit's translucent orange blades reside directly in front of a series of air-restriction reducing holes cut into the HDD cages.

Installing 2.5/3.5″ drives into the sturdy trays was a straightforward process. Each method is tool-less, with the exception of installing a 2.5″ drive into the 3.5″ tray, and perfectly secure.

Building a system in the Cougar Challenger was very easy, ignoring the form-factor-related constrictions. A centralised ‘guidance' stand-off helped us position the motherboard over the correct area. Cougar uses an excellent tool-less 5.25″ drive installation method which was simple to operate and resulted in a secure mount.

With 44mm of clearance above the motherboard's upper edge, 240mm radiators such as the Corsair H100 will fit perfectly in the roof. If you prefer the high-end air cooler route, an enthusiast-friendly 169mm of clearance can be used to house the market's largest coolers such as Noctua's NH-D14 and Phanteks' PH-TC14PE.

In terms of our build's cable tidiness, we had to settle for mediocrity. 22mm of clearance behind the motherboard tray and only 25mm of space behind 3.5″ drives made routing cables a difficult task. The omission of tie-down points didn't help our efforts of securing a routed cable in place, meaning that, as soon as we stopped holding it, the lead would fall and disturb its neighbouring wire.

Granted, part of the issue can be put down to our 670W power supply's thick cables, but their diameter is no greater than that of your average mid-range PSU's leads. The fact of the matter is, Cougar simply overlooked the cable clearance requirements for a mid-range system comprised of a power-hungry graphics card and multiple storage drives.

Large power supplies up to 160mm in length can be installed in conjunction with a bottom-mounted 140mm fan. If a 120mm fan is used, the PSU's length can extend to 180mm without any problems being caused.

Black front panel cables are easily camouflaged against the Challenger's dark interior.

It's worth noting that the obscenely large USB 3.0/2.0 header caused issues during our installation procedure. Due to its immense thickness, a pair of neighbouring fan headers was rendered inaccessible, forcing us to route 3-pin cables to a less-than-ideal location. If your motherboard's internal USB 3.0 header is in a different location to that of our Asus P8Z77-V board, make sure that interference issues aren't going to be encountered.

The recessed PCI and motherboard IO areas eliminate any issues that may arise due to protruding cables.

An optical drive which utilises a black bezel is highly recommended to maintain effective colour-coordination.

The 200mm front fan's red LEDs emit a warming glow when in use. Subtleness is a key factor that ensures LED-lovers will find the intensity of glow sufficient, whereas LED-haters won't condemn it for being too overpowering.

To put this case through its cooling paces we will be using an enthusiast-grade test system comprised of an Intel Core i7 2600K, Radeon HD 4870 and multiple storage drives. This system allows us to produce a substantial amount of heat and effectively test the Cougar Challenger‘s cooling capabilities.

For stress testing we use a mixture of Prime95 and MSI Kombustor to create the maximum heat output. Prime95′s ‘Small FFTs’ setting allows us to stress our CPU. MSI Kombustor’s ‘GPU Burn-in’ mode creates the maximum amount of load our GPU is ever likely to see.

Test System:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 2600k.
• Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V.
• Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems CPU cooler with 1x Noctua NF-F12 fan.
• Memory: 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR3 2133MHz.
• Graphics card: Radeon HD 4870 1GB with Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro.
• Power supply: Hiper Type-M 670W.
• Storage drives: 128GB Kingston V100 (OS), 1TB Samsung F3, 320GB Seagate 7200.12.
• OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Thermal Performance Test Procedures:

• The case’s default fan configuration is used to give an accurate interpretation of the out-of-the-box performance.
• The Cougar Challenger‘s default fan configuration is 1x 200mm front intake fan and 1x 120mm rear exhaust fan.
• The fans are operating at full speed.
• We allow the system to idle for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures.
• We allow the system to operate under extreme stress for 15 minutes and record the stable temperatures.

The Cougar Challenger′s default cooling configuration of 1x 200mm front intake fan and 1x 120mm rear exhaust fan was used. Room temperature was maintained at 21°C.

When our system was idling, cooling was a good trait for the Cougar Challenger. The large 200mm front intake fan treated our drives and graphics card to a substantial amount of cool air.

With an extreme load applied and higher amount of heat being expelled by our components, temperatures began to increase more rapidly than we would have liked. The single 120mm exhaust fan had a hard time trying to flush the greater capacity of heated air away from our system. Purchasing an extra 120/140mm exhaust fan to install in the roof would provide a cheap and simple method of decreasing component temperatures.

Acoustic Performance Test Procedures:

• We placed our Digital Sound Level Meter one metre away from the front of the case.
• Only the case fans and our power supply are active to accurately isolate the acoustic performance of the case fans.
• The case fans are set to maximum speed (connected to the 12V molex connectors of our PSU).
• The Cougar Challenger‘s default fan configuration is 1x 200mm front intake fan and 1x 120mm rear exhaust fan.

Please refer to our KitGuru noise guide for a comparison between the noise levels of this case and everyday scenarios.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

Acoustic levels for the Challenger are average. A 40.1 dbA noise output isn't bad, but an inexpensive fan controller would have helped reduce the acoustic value.

The Cougar Challenger is a decent mid-range case that incorporates some unique and useful features.

Cougar has styled the Challenger to appeal to a gaming-orientated market. The angular front panel, sharp side panel window and enjoyable ‘pilot missile unlock' power button allow gamers to choose a chassis that is fun to use on a daily basis. Subtle hints of orange and the front fan's red LEDs also help to promote the sense of a gamer-intended case.

Overall, cooling capabilities of the Challenger are no better than mediocre. A single 120mm exhaust simply lacks the might to eject the heat created by a power-hungry graphics card and processor. The 200mm intake fan does its best to force cool air into the chassis, but this is of little use if the hot air isn't being ousted.

On the positive side of cooling, Cougar equips the Challenger with a vast quantity of fan mounts, giving users the freedom to upgrade the case's heat-removing potential, as they desire.

Expansion is a very good aspect for the Challenger. Plenty of HDD/SSD mounts and the freedom to install large hardware means that a powerful system can be built inside this case, provided you make good use of its internal capacity. An external 3.5″ drive bay is a less common feature amongst today's cases, but one that this editor is overjoyed to see. Not everybody has migrated away from 3.5″ card readers, USB hubs or fan controllers. The hot-swap drive bay is another convenient and time-saving attribute.

A good degree of component clearance gives users the flexibility to regularly change their hardware without having to worry about dimension constraints. Graphics card up to 410mm in length and 169mm CPU coolers are right at home in the Cougar Challenger.

Due to the limited amount of clearance behind the Challenger's motherboard tray and 3.5″ HDD cage, cable management can be rather difficult. For a basic system consisting of a modular power supply, graphics card and single storage drive, the cable management space is adequate.

To a mid-range target audience that is likely to use more than a single storage drive, a power-hungry graphics card and a large power supply, space constrictions quickly become an aggravating problem.

The Cougar Challenger is priced at $65.99 at Newegg. Given the case's limited cable management, mediocre cooling abilities and current lack of (realistically priced) availability in the UK and Europe, it is impossible to make the Challenger an unambiguous recommendation. Good expansion options, a unique gaming style and some exclusive features have saved the Cougar Challenger from eluding an award completely, making it worthy of consideration.

Pros:

• Amusing missile-style power button.
• Hot-swap HDD tray.
• External 3.5″ bay.
• Good expansion options.
• Plenty of fan mounts.
• Large CPU cooler backplate cut-out.

Cons:

• Non-existent availability in the UK and Europe.
• Limited cable management clearance.
• Appearance is an acquired taste.
• No fan controller.

KitGuru says: If you are looking for a gamer-styled case that offers good expansion options, the Cougar Challenger is worthy of consideration.

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