Cooler Master COSMOS S Chassis

Installing our components into the Cooler Master COSMOS S was quick and easy thanks to its innovative design, but there were a few areas that could use a little improvement.

Mounting the motherboard went off without a hitch.  There is so much room in the case, and it includes a template that outlines where stand offs should be installed for every type of compatible motherboard, that there's almost no way to make a mistake.  Mounting optical drives was also easy thanks to the push button locking mechanisms, but we felt they didn't hold the drives in place tight enough.  With a disc inserted and spinning at full speed, the drives would most certainly vibrate, so we opted to install standard mounting screws as well.

     
Cooler Master COSMOS S with Intel's Skulltrail Platform

The PSU installation was also a snap and didn't pose any problems whatsoever.  The 4-in-3 hard drive dock took a little effort to remove, however.  Once removed, mounting drives is painless, but the cage does need to be perfectly lined up and jostled a bit to get back into place.  As far as installation goes, the COSMOS S is one of the better chassis we have ever worked with.  There is just so much room and things are laid out so well, it's hard not to like it.  Even with a full Skulltrail system complete with a GeForce 8800 Ultra, three hard drives, and two optical drives, the COSMOS S seems almost empty.

Once everything was installed and assembled, using the COSMOS S was generally a very good experience.  The top-mounted ports are in an excellent position and easy to access.  The cooling fans are very quiet and unobtrusive, and all of the system's components ran cool.  The only issues we have are related to the power buttons and LEDs.  After a few days, the LEDs lighting the USB ports died for no apparent reason.  And the power button is so sensitive that it's easy to accidentally touch it when plugging in a USB or other device into the top ports, which will shut down the system.  It definitely takes some getting used to.  We also would prefer the case include a reset switch, which it unfortunately does not.