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Coolermaster were possibly the pioneers of the whole "stylish computing" genre. It might be hard to believe for some of you but back in the day we used coffee and/or cigarette smoke stained beige desktop cases with 14" monitors perched on top, and clunky keyboards alongside mice with 2 buttons and no wheel. We knew no better, that to us was computing. Nowadays everyone seems to have a silver case with perspex windows wherever there's space, neon lights, illuminated fans and a sound sensitive strobe light. But let's take a step back to the earlier days of this new breed of computer enclosures at one of the early models from Coolermaster, the ATCS 710 enclosure. This is the first of three coolermaster case reviews, so watch this space.

Firstly, a definition. ATCS prefixes most if not all of the cases in Coolermasters range and stands for Active Thermal Convective System according to the most recent Coolermaster boxes. The name stems from Coolermasters early decision to use aluminium as the basis for (most of) its cases. Aluminium, as many of you may know, is a pretty good material for dissipating heat. The idea was, therefore, that building the case out of aluminium would aid system cooling and make for more efficiently cooled computers. What really happened was that a new breed of beautiful cases was born. Early coolermasters such as the ATCS-201 sparked quite a reaction and despite price tags of over £200 a piece they were lapped up by the enthusiast market. New models came out but prices remained high until Coolermaster released the 710 series. Available in either "black" (more of a gun metal grey) or silver finishes and with a much more accessible although still high price tag of around £100, often dipping under, these cases represented an entry into the Coolermaster world for those less willing to part with 200 notes. There is one big difference with this case however... it's made of steel.

The 710-GX1 (the GX1 denoting this is the gun metal version) is based upon a steel chassis identical to that used in many chieftec cases. The front panel however is lovingly carved from a slab of aluminium by the people at Coolermaster, so effectively this is a Chieftec case with a bit of Coolermaster stuck to the front. However, don't think that's a bad thing. It certainly is not - chieftec have a good pedigree in case production and Coolermaster certainly have the skills when it comes to styling. How about some pictures, all this text is starting to hurt...

Much better. Now for some closer looks.

Frontin'

The front design is not dis-similar to previous Coolermaster cases, only with the addition of the top door (which can also be found on the 110 series). This door is lockable by a standard keylock type key and could be useful to keep prying hands away from optical drives (good for a shared system or to keep the kiddies/pets from destroying your CDs). Below the door is the rather attractive fan vent in the form of a perforated metal sheet behind which lies a layer of foam. This is fairly easy to get at to clean - either just stick a hoover up to it, or it can be removed by unscrewing 2 bolts on the bottom half of the case (which also opens like the top door) and removing the filter to clean thoroughly.

Behind the top door are, rather unsurprising, the optical drive bays and also, perhaps more surprisingly, the power button. This means you can also lock away the power button, but with soft shutdowns on today's systems (and of course the power lead 'round the back) there's not much point in trying to lock it away.

The method for securing the optical drives is somewhat different to most cases (although this is a trait of the chieftec cases), using a rather cunning set of sliding rails to effectively make the drives hot swappable (although not in the true sense). I really quite like this system, and since rails are provided for all 4 bays you could have a few drives ready to slide in if you don't use all the bays at once.

Look ma, no screwdriver!

Inside man

Now to the inside... to get there we will obviously need to get the side panel off which is where we meet the next nice feature - the side door handle. This rather natty little handle means you don't really need to use screws on the back of the panel as simply pushing it on with latch the side panel to the case. There's also a handy lock although not a particularly secure one. Once the panels off we get a look at the chassis, which is instantly very obviously a cheiftec built one. Let's see what we have inside the case.

First, the 5 1/4" drive bays. There's 4 of them which is fairly standard for midi-tower cases (although some will only support 3) and should give you plenty of scope for drives, breakout boxes, fan controllers and other such-like devices. As mentioned, the drives are not attached by screws but by rails. Of course the rails are attached to the drives with screws.. but.. errrr, anyway let's look at some more of the inside.

Beneath the large drive bays are these 2 caddies for 3 1/2" devices. These are a nice feature - you can install the drives into the caddies outside of the case then simply slide the caddies into place. The 2 caddies mean one can install a total of 6 hard disks - more than plenty for most people. If you don't want to use both caddies you could simply leave one out - this leaves the area in front of the caddie clearer for airflow from the two usable fan mounts. The case makes use of quite clever plastic clips for it's 80mm fan mounts meaning you don't need to lean in with a screwdriver. Handy.

Baby got back

Next to the rear of the case, where we have a further two 80mm fan mounts again using the convenient plastic fan holders. Next to these is the standard I/O port hole which happily takes standard clip-in I/O port shields - many motherboards these days have differing I/O panel designs so the case needs to be able to adapt. We can also see the motherboard stray with standoffs installed - the tray is not removable which is a pity but there's plenty of room to get things installed especially with the hard disk caddies removed. This isn't a big problem but a removable tray would still have been a nice extra.

Finally for our tour of the case internals, the power supply area. As can be seen in this picture, the power supply is spoilt for room. The area is far bigger than it needs to be, which doesn't really have any benefit other than making it quite easy to tuck unwanted power cables out of the way. The power supply is installed from the inside, but can be slid in from the side so is easy to install (unlike the old days of having to cram it in and slide up from below whilst trying not to break anything, who else remembers that?). A removable plate holds the psu in place from the back - more screws than needed really but not a big bother. It should mean different standards of power supplies could be installed if so needed.

Installation

Due to the quite large capacity of this case (clearly evident from the outside as well as the inside, this is a big case...) the installation of the various components is really rather easy. Sliding the power supply in is a doddle, the hard disk caddies make that aspect a sinch, and with all the space in the case getting the motherboard into position is very simple. The one thing I didn't like when installing my system were the blanking plates for the 5.25" drives.

The system used for retaining these is rather odd and frankly poor. They are held in by two protuding rubber nipples (for want of a better word) that grip once in position. These don't hold the plates all that securely and are a pain in the arse to get in properly. I haven't seen this on any other case before or since so hopefully it was a one off mistake. It's no end of the world situation, just a minor annoyance.

Powering up

After all that it's time to power up. This was the first case with a door I had used, and I found it a little odd having to swing the door open to hit the power button. There's no denying it keeps the front panel very clean and sleek looking, and isn't a problem. What is more of a problem is the lack of a reset button... I know computers these days are more stable than ever, but I still find the need for a reset button on occasion. This case simply doesn't have one, so you'll have to hold the power button to turn off and on or reach around the back of the case. Those of a modding disposition could install your own reset switch of course, but I don't see why coolermaster saw fit to omit it from the case design. The subtle front LED was a nice touch - my model had a blue LED installed, I think this is fit as standard.

The case unfortately does not share it's coolermaster cousins' use of thumbscrews - it's bog standard old hex-headed phillips head screws abound. I whipped those out straight away and installed sunbeam thumbscrews wherever possible. It would have been nice to have these used as standard, as with most of the other cases in the coolermaster range. Granted this is the budget model, but how much can a few thumbscrews cost - the sunbeam screws I used cost me just £1 for a pack of 10!

This is the end...

It seems this review is drawing to an end. A case is not as easily quantified as something like a heatsink or processor, a lot of it comes down to personal preference. What I can say is that the ATCS-710 is a very roomy case allowing for easy installation of components and plenty of space for expansion. The construction is solid (if a little heavy) and the internals are very well laid out and designed. Features like the hard disk caddies, drive rails and fan mounts are all nice plus points.

The rather strange drive bezels are a bit of a let down (and the inclusion of only three bezels is hugely annoying, get your act together coolermaster!) and the lack of thumbscrews is a slight disappointment. The case might be a little too big for some - it dwarfs my lian li PC60, which is a much more manageable size I feel.

Finally the looks... obviously completely down to personal tastes. I find the case very attractive, it's plain sleek lines are a lovely diversion from the tacky neon ridden plastic fronted cases of late. The rest of the case isn't quite up to the style of the front panel but I guess the front panel is the important part anyway.

Fin.

+ Classy design
+ Roomy internals
+ Solid construction
+ "I've got a coolermaster" bragging rights

- It's not a "proper" coolermaster
- Steel - it's heavy
- Rather on the large side

Related:
Coolermaster UK.