Q4 has just begun and we have yet to see the final products for the end of this year, overall we’ve seen so many hardware products expanding into our markets this year and coming to a close for 2011. Just around the corner comes the rainy cold season once again, it was a very short summer we all can agree on. Throughout the whole year UMLan has received so many cooling and storage products. Today I have received a cooling product or should I say a super hot product?! Today we would like to thank and mark the release day of the Cooler Master: CM Storm Trooper Full Tower Case.

The CM Storm Trooper has a fairly large bite for the end of Q4 because of its monstrous design and versatile engineering. Despite the large sizing, it is fairly considerable to a gamer’s dreams come true which offers multiple benefactors to this monstrous case and I will be taking the time explaining additional details in how to put this tower to good multiple uses. I believe Cooler Master has released an epic case which most of us PC enthusiasts would love to have, simple because of its unique designed appearance and multi configured specifications.

The monster tower comes packed with two modular hard drive cages and can be converted between a workstation/server including an ultimate high end gaming solution for the extreme enthusiasts. There are multiple unique factors for this full tower based on multi bay slots including drive cooling fans for multiple HDD or SSD. The CM Storm Trooper is readily prepared for a water/liquid cooled system with perfect amount of air flow ventilation throughout the whole case, each wall either uses meshed ventilation or ventilated ducts for proper air flow.

Until now, most mid and full sized towers lack the I/O panel connectivity only because of compatibility issues. Temporarily, the CM Storm Trooper has just about every type of interface connections for storage devices including the X Dock station right in between the I/O panel and Multi Bay Slots for an additional 2.5” External HDD/SSD adapter. The I/O Panel consists of two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, and one eSATA connection for multiple devices. What is nice about the unit is that in comes with an factory built in Fan Controller with three red LED indicators, it indicates low, medium, and high power. Beneath these bay covers, there is a slide in compartment to hide away all the tooling’s, screws, and additional stuff you wish to put away. If all these bays are not being used, guess what?! This space doesn’t go to waste but easily prepared for the water cooling radiator instead of outside the tower or dead center causing lack of air flow ventilation.

Setup:

• Cooler Master CM Storm Trooper
• Intel i5 2500K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core Processor Unlocked
• Cooler Master Gemin II S524 CPU Cooler
• MSI P67A-G45 (B3) LGA1155 SATA 6GB/s USB 3.0
• Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W Continuous
• Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 3.5” 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s
• OCZ Vertex 3 Series MI 120GB
• Icy Dock 2.5” SSD Xpander Hybrid Adapter

About the Product

The following information was provided by Cooler Master web site and used for general specifications.

Product Specs:

• Model: SGC-5000-KKN1
• Available color: All Black
• Dimension: 250 x 605.6 x 578.5 mm (9.8 x 23.8 x 22.8 in)
• Net Weight: 14.4 KG / 31.7 lbs
• Motherboard Type: Micro-ATX, ATX, XL-ATX
• Case material: Steel body, Front Mesh / Plastic bezel
• 5.25” Drive Bay: 9
• 3.5” Drive Bay: 8 (converted from 5.25” bay by two 4-in 3 HDD modules)
• Expansion Slot: 9+1
• Maximum: CPU cooler height: 186 mm / 7.3 in
• Compatibility: GPU card length: 322 mm / 12.7 in
• I/O panel: USB 3.0 x 2 (internal), USB 2.0 x 2, e-SATA x 1, Audio In and Out ( Supports HD audio)
• Cooling System:

Front : 120 mm LED fan x2, 1200 RPM, 17 dBA
Top: 200 mm fan x 1, 1000 RPM, 23 dBA (converted to 2 x 120/140 mm fan)
Rear: 140 mm fan x1, 1200 RPM, 19 dBA (converted to 120 mm fan)
Side: 120 mm fan x 2 (optional)
Bottom: 120 mm fan x 2 (optional)

Key Features:

• Damage resistant rubberized outer surfaces with a built-in digital fan controller
• Supports high-end hardware such as XL-ATX motherboards, multiple GPUs in SLI or Crossfire
• Room for future upgrades with support for up to 14 HDD or SSD
• Dust filters on every intake that are removable to allow easy cleaning
• Support for several 240mm radiators (some larger radiators supported; see content for details)
• 6 fan speed settings and fan LED control via fan controller
• Front I/O panel with 2 internal USB 3.0 connectors
• Easy transport with handles and a hidden tool box for carrying accessories
• Easy cable management and routing
• Two 90 degree removable and rotatable HDD cages each with an attached
• 120mm red LED fan

Now that we got basic information out of the way, lets take a closer look at the CM Storm Trooper.

Closer look

Front		Rear

Right Side		Left Shot

Top opening of the box		Out of the Box

The packaging from Cooler Master was very simple and nicely designed for extreme gamers to spot out in Retail stores and e-Tailers. The full tower is packed up by thick quality cardboard material not recycled as usual now a day’s including a thin Styrofoam film cover to prevent from slight usual scratches with full side Styrofoam supports which is about 3-4 inches protecting the product from physical shipping damages. It is box taped with very thick tape to prevent from falling out since it has a solid weight of 31 lbs. The box design displays the CM initials with its CM Logo representing a gaming product line, the box sides and rear contain product description and features for knowledgeable facts.

Front Exposed		Rear Exposed

Right Exposed		Left Exposed

Internal Right		Internal Left

Opening for Installation

The CM Storm Trooper stands at 24" high which is almost as tall as my desk and 23" deep which is also close to my desk depth which is made to fit up to 14 Drives of choice, perfectly fit to where my power sources have been placed. The front consists of 9 total bays which is easily accessible with fast installation engineering, squeeze the clip and unclip to clean the mesh dust covers as well. The rear also consists of 3 open sources for external liquid cooling systems and 9 PCI slots which can easily handle up to 3 video cards and extra slots for PCI RAID cards including OCZ's RevoDrive. Air flow ventilation consists stand of 3 x 120mm fans and a 200mm fan, additional case fans can also be implemented into both sides of the case fan which will allow up to three more 120mm. The aesthetic design seriously looks like it was influenced from Aliens or Predators movie, definitely is a killer case for 2011 Q4 closing market which we will all enjoy to have for the season.

Close Up Rear Left		Close up Front Left

Close up Front Right		Close up Rear Right

Looking at the CM Storm Troopers internal setup, there is plenty of spacing with the proper slots for creating a nice and organized display of cables and less clean up after installation. As we can see, HDD’s/SSD’s are now acquiring their own cooling setup with is definitely a nice addition for creating a worry free temperature environment.

I/O Panel		Rear Top of 200mm Fan and Dust Filter

Rear 120mm Fan and MOBO Slot Panel		Rear PCI slots

Close up Top Rear		Close up Front Top

CLose up Solid Rubber Handle		Close up 120mm Fan

Close up 2 x 120mm Fan for Drives		Close up 200mm Top Fan

Close up Rear Shot PSU Slot		Close up Hidden Compartment

The front I/O Panel created simply to get the most out of data storage technology and acquiring speed technology or choice. The I/O panel consists of two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 Ports, 1 eSATA port, and jacks for Microphone and Headphones. Right above all that is the large center power button and LED Control, the bottom left and right button is decrease and increase system fan speeds. Included underneath the panel, there is a slot called the X Dock for 2.5" External HDD which is hot swappable. If we look closely at the embossed design, it has a filtered mesh ribcage design for the rear top and a very nice thick solid handle which is super sturdy for carrying, not to mention a very nice smooth and soft rubber handle. Here is a closer look at the silent cooling fans, two 120mm connected to the drive chassis, one intake, one exhaust, and additional three more case fans can be installed if needed. The front last bottom CM Storm bay has a small hidden compartment for the tooling or even a possibly water cooling placement which is a very nice feature to be included. 

Multi Bays Removed		Bottom Case

Instruction Manual		Drive Rack Mount

Close up Drive Mount Rack		Close up front shot of each bay clip

Close up rear shot of each bay clip		Close up front shot of hidden bay

In the package we can find an instruction manual for the CM Storm Trooper and additional bay mount racks for all drives, the positive benefit is that it is flexible for fast installation as well, no screws or tooling necessary.  The bottom of the CM Storm Trooper has two additional slide out dust filters for front and back easy cleaning, the bays are just clips so squeeze the clips and pop it off to adjust or clean the system.

Testing

Transplanting my computer was successfully very simple because of utilized space provided as a full tower, any future adjustments and cleaning is easy as well. Removing all the parts without any necessary tooling makes if comfortably relaxing because of time and energy we go through with most main towers now. I have rechecked temperature settings after installation and notice it has dropped by about 1-2° lower, not a heck of a lot of difference but simply an improvement only because of additional air flow and more mesh ventilation around the full case. I’ve tested all the I/O panel ports to ensure connection’s which are perfectly normal and normal for all data storage transfers.

Conclusion

Overall opinion points to one answer, I highly recommend the CM Storm Trooper to any game enthusiasts as well as a customizable workstation. I stuck another 2 x 2TB HDD into this unit and tried installing FreeNas but noticed it was not compatible to Windows 7, so I couldn’t show the full potential for additional bays. Once I do figure this out, I will definitely repost up an updated continuation review with new photo’s to show the extended potential for full multi bay towers. The MSRP for the CM Storm Trooper is currently at $189.99 since it releases today! As Cooler Master kicks off this monster into 2011 Q4, we can’t wait to see what Cooler Master has to offer this holiday seasons!!! UMLan would like to provide an overall score of 10/10 for the following pros and cons listed below, we thank Cooler Master and the CM Storm Trooper for a great kick off for the coming holiday season.

Some pros we found:

Embossed Aesthetic Design

Multi Bay Slots

CPU Fan and Drive Fans

Versatile multi directional drive chassis cage

All around mesh air flow design

Up to XL-Full ATX motherboards

Available placement for liquid/water cooling system

Built in LED and Fan Controller

Full I/O Panel ports for most common storage devices

X Dock for hot swap 2.5” external HDD

Additional compartment for tooling supplies

Some cons we found:

Price