After the case comes out of its box and you've had a
moment to marvel at its appearance the true test comes when you set out to
install components and actually build your new PC system. The Coolermaster
ACS-410 may look great from the outside, but falls flat on the user friendly
front with a utter lack of ease of use. Drives are difficult to install, the
kind of screws you must use in certain locations are fairly critical, and moving
the big case when loaded up with weighty parts is uncomfortable because of the
sharp aluminum handles. In short, it's a bit of a disaster.
Conclusions: Nice but a Difficult to Install
Case?
These days computer cases can be modified and
personalized like never before. Only a few years ago, the only colour a computer
came in was beige, the only metal, heavy steel. High end case design and
case modding is big business and unfortunately it's quickly moving out of the realm
of the average PC builder. When it comes to high end cases CoolerMaster is right up there with the big
boys. I'm sure that anyone who has played with their cases will agree,
CoolerMaster's quality is generally
top notch.
The front of the Coolermaster ATC-410 case looks very elegant. Beyond that the stunning look starts to fall
short once you begin installing a PC system into this heap
of aluminum sheet metal. The screws to access the drive bays are tiny and
you must use and allen key, the drive bays don't come out easily and if you
install an optical drive with the wrong kind of screw the whole bay won't slide
back into place! The motherboard tray does use steel thread inserts, which
is good, but other high traffic areas like the power supply are tricky to
install.
On the inside, the Coolermaster ATC-410 case is cramped, which is
surprising for such a large case. There are sharp edges if you're not
careful, but mostly it's the tiny space allotted to the motherboard that makes
it difficult to rapidly build a system or troubleshoot it down
the road. Internal temperatures may be kept nice and cool thanks to
the ATC-410's five cooling fans, but that adds up to a heck of a lot of noise.
There are two 80mm intake fans in the front, two 80mm rear exhaust
fans and one 120mm drive bay fan.
There's not much to complain about the look of the
Coolermaster ATC-410 case - we really liked it at first glance. The problems pop
up one after the other when using it, and that's where the case starts to lose
it lustre.
With a
retail price of $340CDN ($340USD there is just too much to compromise
going on with the CoolerMaster ATC-410 case. It pains us to say this, but you'll
be better of spending your hard earned money on another case that's easier
to install, upgrade, fix and in any respect just live with
than a pretty piece of aluminum that totally lacks user friendliness.
Sorry Coolermaster, this time we're taking a pass on the ATC-410 aluminum
case.
RSS Newsletter
