Cooler Master Storm Sniper Review

Exterior

The first thing I noticed when I lifted the case out of the box is how easy it was to lift it with the provided handles.  I also noticed how light the case felt although it weighs in at 23 lbs.  Although Sniper is sold as a mid-tower case, I was surprised at its size.  The size is nearly identical to the HAF 932 which is a full-tower case.  Still the Sniper is an inch wider than HAF 932.

The feet can be turned so that they face perpendicular to the case direction, which in turn gives the case extra stability to “stay on its feet”.

The materials used to make this case are steel and plastic.  The plastic Cooler Master used seems to be of good quality.  The paint feels textured and it appears to be scratch resistant.

Control Center

The front of the case has a Control Center at the top, as Cooler Master likes to call it.  To the left is a small reset button.  It’s small because hopefully your system will be free from any instability and you won’t have to access this button as much as other buttons.  To the right, you see the Power button. Right next to it is the most eye-catching feature of the case for me.  It’s the fan controller which controls the speed of the fans included in Sniper. This control center also features a button which can be used to turn off the LEDs in these fans.  This is a nifty little feature because if you like to sleep in the same room as your PC, you don’t have to worry about the light coming from the Sniper.  The rest of this area includes an eSATA port, four USB 2.0 ports, an additional FireWire port and a microphone input and a headphone jack.  Extra points go to to Cooler Master for the Control Center. You will find the USB connections in this area on Sniper really useful if your case is below your desk and it is hard for you to reach the back of it.

Below the control center are the 5 external drive bays.  The bottom one can be used as a 3.5 inch with the included 5.25 inch to 3.5 inch converter supplied with the case. Just below that is the 200mm Intake fan which features a Blue LED.

At the bottom of the front side is a large 200mm intake fan. The fan cover can be removed and it has a dust filter lining to stop the dust from entering the system.

The front is made mostly of wire and mesh and you can see through the to back of the case. This should make a few heads turn at LAN Parties as you hardware will be almost visible, especially if you have some lights in there.  The dust might be a problem here.

We now move on to the back of the case.  The power supply is mounted at the bottom in this case. This is another useful features as the power supply would draw in the cold air from the outside of the case, rather than drawing in the hot air spit out by other components inside the case.

A 120mm fan is charged with hot air exhausting duty here.  This hasn’t changed much from other cases on the market.  I wonder how long will it be before we see a large fan on the back of cases too.  Most other fans in cases today are often 200mm or 230mm, but the exhaust fan at the back is smaller, usually 92mm to 140mm size.

The expansion slots covers are vented so that it allows air to move in or out through them.  This also prevents excessive dust from entering the case.

To the right is what Cooler Master like to call the Storm Guard.  This is the security feature of Storm Tactics marketing.  Basically this is just a way to route your peripheral wires through through this piece of metal. With the side panel locked, this can deter thieves from walking away with your peripherals at LAN Parties.

Two water cooling grommets can be found above the 120mm exhaust fan.  Another set of these is located to the right of the power supply opening.  These two are punch-out holes that can be used for additional water cooling tube access and Cooler Master  includes two grommets in the accessory bundle.

The right side of this case is different from other enthusiast cases. It does not feature an acrylic see through window. Instead we have a metallic mesh with dust filter lining inside covering most of this side. This has its advantages and disadvantages. Although it will allow air to pass through and keep the components inside cool, some dust will also pass through this mesh. Some noise will also escape through the mesh which may make the case louder than it would have been with an acrylic window.

The left side is simple in design, but it is extruded which should allow some extra space for the cables that will be routed behind the motherboard tray.