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Cooler Master has a few new cases on the way, including one that may blow your socks off. There's the Silencio 600, which is built to minimise noise with high airflow, and then there's the HAF II 500, which comes with some of the biggest fans in the biz.
Let's start with the HAF. HAF stand for High Air Flow and this case lives up to the name with those two Mighty40 220 mm fans in the front. It also includes a 180 mm exhaust fan for good measure. These are all thick Liquid Crystal Polymer fans, said to be the thickest around, that can maintain high airflow at low speeds, which helps keep noise levels down.
The front of the HAF II 500 is designed to minimise any resistance those fans might face. There's also a scoop, as we've seen on cases like the Havn BF 360, which sits just above the lower fan to keep air flowing towards the graphics card and leaving some to cool off any components under the shroud, namely the PSU.
The case has lots of mounting points courtesy of the MasterRail system, which Cooler Master has offered for a little while now. It lets you move the top bracket to fit various size fans or radiators. There's no such rail in the front should you wish to remove the fans for something smaller. Cooler Master representative Brett Buren tells me you could theoretically run a metal bracket yourself, as there are rail mounting points provided.
"I feel like it would be a disservice to the case if you remove those, because you're not going to find these anywhere," Buren said.
The HAF II 500 is expected to launch in July this year, fetching a price of around $180 – $210.
Then there's the Silencio 600. This is more my speed, as it's designed to keep noise levels to a minimum. A part of that is the use of twin 180 mm fans in the front and one in the rear. Big fan, slow speed, less noise.
Though the star of the show is the front panel. Built out of a plastic fibre and reminiscent of air conditioning filtration, it's designed like it, too, using a similar principle to HVAC and AC systems to reduce noise.
"We kind of designed this to help trap and destroy the sound waves, so that they're not escaping out of your case," Buren says.
"There's these large slits in the front, which allow a lot of airflow to come through. And then on the side and on the bottom as well. So there's no airflow restriction on this case."
The front panel might not be for everyone but I quite like its practical styling. There's no estimated price for this one, however. Only a rough launch date around October this year.
There were a few other good-looking designs over at Cooler Master HQ, namely these limited edition gold finish cases and coolers. The golden mesh is one and the same with what's used on the DGX Spark, parts of which are built by Cooler Master.
Those gorgeous golden fans are actually a limited run of Cooler Master's upcoming fully-metal fans, pictured above. The standard version will be called the MasterFan A Series, and likely coming our way around June/July. Don't poke these.
1. Best overall: Havn HS 420
2. Best budget: Phanteks G400A
3. Best midrange: Lian Li O11 Vision Compact
4. Best budget compact: Thermaltake S100 TG Snow Edition
5. Best high-end: NZXT H9 Flow RGB+
6. Best Mini-ITX: Fractal Design Terra
7. Best Micro-ATX: NZXT H3 Flow
8. Best full-tower: NZXT H7 Flow
9. Best pink: Hyte Y70
10. Best looking: Phanteks Evolv X2
11. Best for beginners: Be Quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX
