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After the success of the original Cooler Master CM 690 II it is no great surprise that they have released a new and improved version. The reason for the success of the 690 II is that Cooler Master were able to fit full tower features into a mid tower chassis while maintaining a reasonable price point. They now claim to have raised the bar even higher, improving the colour of the interior, increasing the capacity, creating a superior cooling system and making the case more user-friendly.
The Cooler Master 690 II Advanced USB 3.0 version incorporates an external HDD Dock, as well as a 1.8″/2.5″ cage for the hard drives and a graphics card retention bracket for those of you who are luckily enough to have up to three discrete solutions.
The improvements to the cooling system are fairly extensive, you can now fit up to 10 fans as well as two locations to fit large radiators. On top of this there is more steel mesh, and lots of dust-filters to protect the fans and other components.
Features
- Front, top an bottom mesh including dustfilters
- Accommodates 120*240mm radiator on top or bottom
- Up top 10 casefans
- External SATA X-dock
- Front blue led fan on/off
- Includes 1.8 and 2.5” HDD and SSD adapter
- Good cable management
- CPU retaining hole for easy maintaince
- Includes VGA card bracket up to triple GPU cards
- 2 Year warranty
Specifications:
| Available Color | Black |
| Material | Steel body/ Plastic + mesh bezel |
| Dimension | 214.5*511.8*528.8mm |
| Weight | Net weight: 9.56 KG Gross weight: 11.56 KG |
| Motherboards | Micro ATX / ATX / Mini ITX |
| 5.25″ Drive Bay | 4 |
| 3.5″ Drive Bay | 6 hidden 1 exposed |
| I/O Panel | USB 2.0*2 / USB 3.0 *2 (or eSATA *1)/ MIC*1 / Audio*1 |
| Expansion Slots | 7+1 |
| Power Supply | Standard ATX PS2 / EPS 12V |
The CM 690 II Advanced Chassis is shipped in a striking box, highlighting the USB 3.0 support.
The back depicts three images of the product while labeling all the key features.
The case is protected between two large Styrofoam blocks as well as a plastic cover.
The seductive curves are appealing.
The top of the case has many key features, including 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 2 x USB 2.0 ports, microphone and headphone sockets as well as the main power and reset buttons. There is also a front fan LED on/off button and an external SATA X-dock with a protective cover.
The left-hand side of the case has space for 2 x 120mm fans, and they support fans from 80mm upwards.
The rear is traditionally designed, with the power supply mounted at the bottom. There are 7 PCI slots.
Along the bottom of the case, we can see Cooler Master have opted for very large rubber feet, which will keep the case very stable on a variety of surfaces.
Cooler Master do include a wide selection of accessories. They include screws, cable ties, a speaker as well as 3.5″ front plate, some mounts and a mesh dust filter. They also include a comprehensive Installation Guide.
Taking off the side panel we can see just how spacious the case is on the inside. There are many holes for cable management, and each have a rubber insert to keep it looking tidy – especially when you don't use one of the holes.
Interestingly, Cooler Master have not only only cut a rather large hole in the motherboard tray to aid in CPU cooler installation, but they have also added enough space for you to mount a small fan behind the CPU backplate. Useful for heavily overclocked situations.
They have opted to use a very simple locking mechanism for the 5.25″ bays, and we know from past experience that this works well.
The hard drive bays mount at 90 degrees to the 5.25″ bays.
At the top of the case we can see a quality 140mm fan, as well as a 120mm fan at the rear of the case. There is still plenty of space for a water-cooling radiator.
Removing the other side panel shows the back of the motherboard tray with a wide selection of cables routed into the top of the case for the I/O panel. There is a lot of space behind the motherboard tray, meaning braided power supply cables will fit with ease.
Stripping down to the bare chassis highlights the elegant design, as well as the huge cooling potential. The top of the chassis can also be removed to install fans or a radiator.
Installing a power supply is straightforward, requiring four screws to hold it in place.
There is plenty of space around the outside of the motherboard, although the space above the Antec Kuhler 920 is a bit limiting. This is the only place where the Antec 920 fits, as there is not enough physical room above the motherboard.
Installing an SSD is straightforward. Above, an OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD screwed into the 3.5 inch tray.
Installing 3.5″ drives is simple although it was a little fiddly as it involved twisting the bracket around the hard drive so each pin in turn pushed into the normal hard drive holes. Not the best solution we've seen for mounting 3.5″ drives.
The drives then slide into the relevant slot and just clip in place using the front of the tray as a lever.
The installation was painfree although we did experience a few issues with the 3.5″ Hard Drive mounting system. It is easy to end up with the pins protruding too far and catching on the inside of the 3.5″ bays.
Today’s test system will give us a good idea of how well this case works in terms of thermal and acoustic performance.
Processor: AMD Phenom X4 965 Black Edition @ 4.0 GHz.
Motherboard: ASUS M4A785TD- M Evo
Cooler: Antec Kuhler 920
Memory: 4GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1800MHz
Graphics Cards: AMD Radeon 6450 HD (GPU @ 850 MHZ, Memory Clock @ 1000 MHz)
Power Supply: Antec TruePower 650W
Boot Drive: OCZ Vertex II 60GB SSD (OS only)
OS: Windows 7 Home Edition 64bit
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2
This case can accommodate up to ten fans, so there are plenty of upgrade options available.
For the thermal tests we used the case in its stock configuration, containing 2 x 140 mm fans, and 1 x 120mm fans.
If we were to add a further intake fan we would expect this case could handle a range of high end components. If you are thinking about a simple but effective custom-built water-cooled rig then this might be one of the best value for money cases with space for two radiators.
Today to test this chassis we have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the case. The room rates as 23dBa before powering on the system.
We then removed the discrete graphics card, and temporarily turned the Antec 920 fans off. This leaves us with only the included case fans and some noise from the power supply fan.
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
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
Thankfully Cooler Master have used high quality fans which ensure that noise emissions never become a concern.
The Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced USB 3.0 is an update to one of the most popular cases released in recent years and this enhanced version will assuredly prove popular with the enthusiast audience.
There is plenty of physical space inside for water cooling and the chassis can accept up to ten fans, all within the confines of a mid tower chassis design. Cooler Master have also incorporated locking mechanisms for the 5.25″ bays as well as an easy to use tray system for 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch drives. The upgrade capabilities ensure that the more demanding enthusiast user will find the case a viable proposition.
The cooling potential ‘out of the box' isn't that impressive, but with the addition of another intake fan, it could easily accommodate highly overclocked system configurations. It wouldn't cost much to add another intake fan, or even re-arrange the stock configuration.
There are many areas which deserve a positive mention. The inclusion of the external SATA dock is a very useful feature, as well as two USB 3.0 ports that are easily accessible for high speed external devices.
Personally I have never enjoyed chassis with complex lighting configurations however the CM 690 II exudes class, with only the gentle, reassuring glow of a blue fan at the front. The fact that Cooler Master have included a power switch for this light is inspired because they are aware that some people will prefer to turn this off, permanently. We also appreciated the choice of oversized rubber feet on the underside… this really does help to provide stability and reduce vibrations on a variety of surfaces.
When we look back to our original review of the CM 690 II Advanced in October 2010, we find that actually the changes are minor. They have added two USB 3.0 ports and removed the eSATA port and the graphics card holder. That said if it's not broke, why fix it?
Originally when we reviewed the case it scored 8 out of 10, with the updated feature list we still feel this case offers the same balance of quality build, comprehensive upgradeability and solid performance.
Aria stock two versions of the chassis, a black and a white version. They are available now for £83.99 and £86.39 respectively.
Pros:
- Can fit 10 fans of varying sizes.
- Has an external SATA dock.
- Large space behind motherboard tray.
- Easy to use HDD mounting system, includes 2* 2.5″.
- Lots of mesh to aid cooling performance.
- 2*USB 3.0 ports.
- Good cable management.
Cons:
- Limited cooling performance in stock configuration.
- Tray covering SATA dock easily slides off.
- No real improvements have been made.
Kitguru says: An updated version of a very popular chassis.
Its a lovely looking case, I like their more subdued designs. some of their more expensive cases could do with copying this style rather than the weird front panels etc.
Finish and mechanisms lack finesse in my honest opinion.
Can it take a CEB motherboard?