Introduction
In today’s market, HTPC & Mini desktop are as popular as that of a Gaming PC or a Workstation. In recent past we have seen a considerable growth in Mini, ITX & HTPC computer chassis due to the fact that “why not use the computer as an entertainment device as well rather than just sticking to everyday computingâ€. Well today we are going a take a look at a Mini Tower offering by Cooler Master “Elite 360â€. The speciality of this chassis is that although it falls under the ‘MINI TOWER†category, however it can pretty much house a powerful workstation inside it which usually comprise of an ATX form factor motherboard.
Features & specifications
The highlighted features of the offering are as follows
• Top I/O panel provides easy access for users
• Front panel PSU vent provides superior ventilation to maintain constant cooling
• Compatible with ATX and micro ATX motherboards in a compact enclosure
• Tool-free drive bays for quick and easy setup
• Rotatable Cooler Master logo to present in different aspects
• Able to place vertically and horizontally for users to manage the space in different way
Product Specifications
And the first proof is the specification sheet itself that clearly states the compatible form factors being ATX & Micro-ATX.
Let’s move on and unpack the chassis and see what comes OOB.
Packaging & Content
The cabinet comes in a regular cardboard box stating the name and specifications of the product contained. At the right bottom of the box we see the Model Marker stating the product and whether it comes with or without a PSU.
Either sides of the box states the serial number and other necessary details.
Right out of the box, the cabinet is wraped in a plastic sheet supported by styrofoam peices at the top and the bottom. This should enshure a safe delivery of the product. Another thing that we need to take into account is the weight of the cabinet. Although its catagorised as MINI TOWER, however the 4.4Kg of weight clearly indicates a tough & rigid structure.
And the side View
The Bundle
Inside the cabinet we found a Zip-Lock pouch with the following tools & accessories.
• Cooler Master Elite 360 chassis Installation Guide
• 9 Stand-offs
• 12 Regular Screws
• 4 Special PSU Mounting Screws
• 1 Lock Buckle
• 1 Buzzer 1
• 10 Fixed Sliding Rail
• 4 Rubber Foot stand
We noticed that the size of the Stand-Off which is provided with the Elite 360 is smaller than the regular stand-off. This clearly states the Cooler Master has done everything possible in engineering limits to have as much as possible space inside the cabinet.
And definitely, the PSU Installation needs special screws as Cooler Master has provided a Plastic Bracket for the installation, so that we may have space to put in the Power Plug for the PSU. We will show this special bracket when we talk about the interiors and do test-bed installation in this cabinet.
The Exteriors : An Engineering Masterpiece
At the very first look, anyone will fall for this beautifully crafted ‘Small Wonder’. The front bezel is made of plastic with an awesome combination of Gloss & Matt finish. Looking closely we see that all the borders are gloss finished and rest is matt finished. The front also houses the exhaust vents for the Power supply unit, which happens to be one of its kind & nicely engineered for maximum compaction possible.
Now the surprise that this cabinet comes with is the ability to choose the orientation of the cabinet. Yes, you may keep the cabinet vertically or horizontally oriented as per your need. Above all, you can even flip the Cooler Master logo as per the orientation, something that everyone would love as a feature of the product.
At the side we see a perfectly crafted panel that suffices all the cooling need of the component housed inside this cabinet. At the top-left we have the air inlet for CPU & motherboard cooling need, with fan mounting holes for 80mm, 92mm & 120mm side fans. This will directly blow cool air on the CPU and motherboard heat-sink. Later in this review you will notice the positive effect that it has on the overall temperatures on the system.
At the Left-bottom, we have the air inlet for GPU, now you cannot install a huge Graphics card like an ATI Radeon 4870, however anything that equals the size of an 8800GT/GTS can very well be mounted inside this cabinet.
At the Right-bottom we see the air-inlet for the PSU, this will provide fresh air inlet for the PSU, something which all the manufacturers are now following as a bottom-line to cabinet design. However to incorporate this Best-Practice in such a miniature cabinet, is an engineering marvel.
The top of the case comes with pre installed 120mm exhaust fan. To notice that this vent is also designed to incorporate 80mm, 92mm & 120mm case fans.
The bottom of the cabinet has a provision of installing an 80mm exhaust fan for maximum GPU cooling. We also see the engraved marking for installation of Rubber Foot Stands bundled with the cabinet. At the bottom of the front bezel, we see ventilation holes for the PSU.
The Exteriors Cont....
The back of the cabinet is very sleek, not something that we usually see at most of the mini cabinets, it has installation holes for 2x80mm fan installation and has 7 expansion bays for incorporating a fully loaded ATX motherboard.
The only thing extra here is the PSU connector at the back panel. This PSU connector is an expansion wire (female to male, 3 pin connection) for providing the power connection to front mount PSU. We will see a detailed socket connection when we’ll have a look inside the cabinet.
The other side-panel of the cabinet comes with engraved markings for installation of Rubber Foot Stand, in case you decide to go for horizontal orientation.
Front Bezel
Power button, Reset button, Power LED & HDD activity LED, is located at the top of the Plastic Bezel. The look & feel of the buttons is rather rigid and are of Matt finish to go with the tone of the front Bezel.
Moving ahead, we have the necessary expansion ports at the bottom of the Bezel. They are as follows
• 1 x Headphone Jack.
• 1 x MIC Jack.
• 2 x USB Ports
• 1 x 1394 Firewire Port (Optional).
Right above the expansion ports we see the vent for PSU exhaust, pretty smart place to craft the exhaust.
This image clearly shows the exhaust mechanism designed for PSU in the front Bezel of the cabinet.
The interiors
First thing first, the Motherboard installation tray, considering the size of the cabinet, we do have space for installation of an ATX motherboard. One thing to notice that Cooler Master has compensated the Small Heighted Stand-offs with ventilation holes on the motherboard tray.
What basically have they done to compact the cabinet?
Well the engineers at Cooler Master have shifted the PSU installation from BACK to the front part of the cabinet, sacrificing the HDD installation area. Which not only made the height of the Cabinet much smaller but by vertically mounting the Optical Drive-bay & PSU, they have made the width of the cabinet much thinner as well. Which eventually ended up in Cooler Master Elite 360 Mini Computer Case.
We see that all the front panel connecters have ribbon cable; this will allow maximum air flow at the same time will save a lot of space and cable clutter.
As discussed earlier, the PSU installation comes with a Plastic Bracket. This plastic bracket allow the PSU to be housed at-least 8-10 mm from the front of the Bezel, so that we may have enough space to plug the power cable in the PSU after mounting it in the cabinet. We do see the power cable as well, which is provided with the Cabinet, so that we may have all the cables connected at the back.
Right at the back of PSU Installation area we see a Hidden 3.5†Drive-bay. However to install any device in this drive-bay we need to reroute the front panel connection cables through any other drive-bay. Even after doing that, we cannot remove the power cable, hence the hidden 3.5†bay is useless.
The next thing to notice is the vertical mount of the Optical drive-bay. We may incorporate 2 x 5.25†devices in this cabinet. At the top we have the HDD installation drive-bay, and behind the 5.25†drive-bay we have the 3.5†drive-bay.
Looking at the left-top of the cabinet, we see the 120mm exhaust fan and we see the power cable expansion.
Elite 360 Vs. Elite 330
So we wanted to compare the two offerings from Cooler Master, as both fall under the same price range, let us see if Elite 360 Really does the trick.
Here we clearly see the difference of height in the two systems and the Elite 360 certainly looks a lot thinner and has appealing looks.
Looking at from the side, we see the actual difference of depth and height between the two computer cabinets.
And let’s have a look inside these two cabinets. The installation.
Elite 330
Elite 360
Installation Pictures
In the beginning we talked about the Graphics Card installation issue. Here is a little proof of the same.
However as stated earlier, anything equal to the dimension of an 8800GTS/GT would fit into the cabinet without any issue at all.
Now to have a detailed look at the HDD, Optical drive installation. As stated earlier the installation is tool free and we need to use the plastic attachments for sliding in the HDD, FDD & Optical drives in their respected drive-bays. A closer look.
And let’s look it from the front.
That is all about the installation. Now let us move ahead and do some benchmark of this computer case.
Testing & Analysis
Firstly Our Configuration
Testing Methodology
We ran an OCCT 1 hour Stress test on both of our test systems to find out the Performance. We simply noted the idle and load temperatures when the Room Temperature was at 18 degree Celsius.
CPU Temperatures
Motherboard Temperatures
First we were surprised to see the temperature difference in favor of Elite 360, considering its compact size; However the use of the Side Panel Fan explained everything.
The Conclusion
In today’s world where the demand of a powerful but compact computer is ever increasing, the Cooler Master’s Elite 360 computer case bangs right on time. It is a perfect blend of performance cabinet mixed with compact size and look. However the only drawback that we see in the cabinet’s design is lack of space for HDD installation. I will not state is as lack of space cause if Cooler Master would have used a general 3 x 5.25†drive-bay with a 3.5†(Refer to HAF 932 & HAF 922 Drive Converter) adapter then we would have easily used a 4-in-3 device and hence could have installed 5 HDD in all. However if we look at today’s scenario where a 1TB of HDD is available under 4K, we can forget about extra storage need and praise this beautifully crafted cabinet. So let’s look at the pro’s and con’s of this product.
PROS
• Compact design acquiring less space on your desk hence a perfect MINI Tower HTPC Case.
• Can easily incorporate an ATX form factor cabinet.
• Tool free drive bays.
• Freedom from orientation, can use keep in vertically or horizontally oriented.
• Rotational Cooler Master Logo supporting your orientation likes
• Better air inlet and ventilation for a cooler & quieter system.
• Perfect interior & exterior finish.
CONS
• Not so usable Hidden 3.5†Drive Bay.
• Could have incorporated a 3 x 5.25†Drive Bay so that we may use 4-IN-3 Device for more HDD Installation Space.
Apart from the above, we do not see anything else as a drawback to this cabinet. As the targeted price of this product is between Rs. 1800-2000, which makes it a perfect bang for the buck, as other HTPC offering in the market are at least Rs. 3000 and above.
As an Author & reviewer of this product, I rate it 4/5 considering the design, efficiency, performance & price of the product.
