# [REVIEW] Cooler Master Scout 2 - Gunmetal Grey



## FredeGail (Nov 1, 2012)

Hello everyone.

My name is Frederik and I'm here to tell you about great products. A couple of months ago, Cooler Master Nordics ran a campaign that allowed people to write reviews about their products. If you signed up, you'd get among other people in their database, and then get a reply if you're in or not for a specific product. Now, I was lucky to get my hands on the *Cooler Master Scout 2 - Gunmetal Grey* case. Immediately I sent a PM to Mike about it, and he was excited as well.

From now on, and if I get the opportunity another time - I'm going to write reviews in this section of Tech Support Guy forums. The only thing Cooler Master requires is that I'll write an honest review, cause no product will, or ever will be, perfect. I'm sure the Tech Guy community will be satisfied with this major upgrade on writing reviews and publishing them.

Keep on reading till you find something interesting!

Best Regards,
Frederik.


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## FredeGail (Nov 1, 2012)

*Cooler Master Scout 2 Advanced - Gunmetal Grey*

Now, today we're going to talk about the brand new case within the Scout-legacy. The whole design has been upgraded to a modern greyish bulletproof surface. It's a model upon the previous Scout 2 case. I got this case a few days ago and it has been an absolute pleasure to play around with. The cable management possibilities are like never before. This mid tower case comes with a bunch of features that I'm excited to show you!

Let's dig into the unboxing itself.



















The box itself is carrying a weight of 10 kg (22 lbs). On the back you can see the basic specifications of this case. Cooler Master has always been on front when we're conversing about massive boxes and just making it total badass. Inside the box you'll obviously find the case and a manual in the bottom. The case itself is protected by two big pieces of flamingo so your local mailman won't damage it.










As you can see, the case looks really solid and really big even though it's not a full tower. The dimensions goes as this -



> Dimensions (W x H x D) 230 x 513 x 517.5mm / 9.1 x 20.2 x 20.5 inches


It's a fairly good size in my opinion. It suits my needs, even though I'm not gaming 24/7. The case will not leave space behind at certain places, as you're kind of dependent on the new features. Sometimes new features seem too irrelevant and you're not showing gratitude of the expected benefits -- with the Scout 2 Advanced, it's a different storyline.
Before we talk about all the details, let me just clarify that this case is definitely bursting on two factors, a hard drive hospitable environment, and a spacey environment. There are a few hiccups and cons here and there, but they're extremely minor compared to the price tag of this case. I did some measurements basically everywhere, and I cannot point out anything that you won't have space for. In short, there's space for your very own taste, whenever it's casual office hardware or gaming hardware.

On the front there's a dust-filter for the two 120mm fans that covers up behind the hard drives. My previous case was a CM Storm Scout, and that fact will make me eligible to point out features which has been improved or not. First off, I can confirm that the old Scout case had a 140mm fan on the front, unlike this case that has two 120mm fans. Both of them can be controlled by one button on top regarding the red LED. They do not require a standalone cable for the light -- everything is in one extension cable. The Scout 2 exhibits a lot of commonalities with the Cooler Master way of doing things, and it applies a whole new level of assembling gaming innovation.










It was actually surprisingly easy to get the front panel off. Sometimes you think that you're going to rip off the preferred hardware on the front, and break the plastic or whatever your case is made of. This case is made of steel, and therefore it can handle a few knocks and fists. You do not have to worry about bending the pins when removing the front panel, as it's very user friendly. They work like plug-in and plug-out pins, and are made of hard plastic. You're able to get the front panel off, if you pull it from the hand-sized hole on the bottom of the case. This hole doesn't only have one function - it'll reflect all the red light from the fan LEDs down on your floor and it'll give a really smooth and a cool effect.










On the top you'll see two USB 3.0 ports, which is a quite rare thing. You'll have to connect the standard 3.0 connector to the motherboard unless you don't want the front I/O board to work properly. Next to it, you'll find a microphone port and a speaker port and two normal USB 2.0 ports as usual. You also get the great opportunity to close the front I/O panel if you want to hide it. Unused ports can indeed be ugly - but the little slider can benefit your needs.










On top of the case you'll notice a very cool honeycomb patterned design. This honeycomb design recurs in a lot of places, especially around the fans. It'll give a kind of solid surface to the case, and it just looks right. You'll also notice it on the front of the case behind the dust filter as well. Every time I look at it, it just gives a great feeling that there's nothing wrong with the design and whatsoever.










Now here's a handy detail! The carrying handle is actually bendable. It's made out of some rubber - and inside there's a metal plate. This makes it extremely comfortable to carry around, even though it's very heavy when you've placed your hardware inside. It's a cool detail, and definitely worth mentioning. You'll have great benefit of this grip, especially at LAN parties. If you're transporting your case around much, I'd definitely just recommend this case cause of the price tag, and all the superior components. It's also surprisingly lightweight. 8.56 kg (18.87 lbs) seems like a lot written on paper, but with the great grip and the great built-material, it's very comfortable to move around.










On the left side of the case, you'll find a window and a place for two 120mm fans. On older cases - if you didn't place fan(s) here, it'll just sort of hide everything on the inside. What you want to do with a window and two unused fan places like this, is to see inside the case. You want to see the great cable management you've done, and it's basically just impossible as the design won't allow you to do so. However, on this case the fan places are quite transparent. For instance, have a look at this illustration above. You can see how much vision you'll get on the paper. I could easily read through the paper, and that reveals that you _ don't_ need to place fans there. It's not a must-have. Just use it as a window for your hardware.










On the back you'll see a 120mm fan. The fan is included, and it's not carrying red LED. Furthermore, you'll see a place for the I/O shield, cable holes and of course a place for your power supply. Apropos I/O shields, I had a few problems on getting my I/O shield to fit with my motherboard. The cables for my headset is actually touching the I/O shield cause it can't fit exactly with the motherboard, and it's honestly causing some noise. If I press on the shield, the noise will be reduced temporarily.

I don't know if it's the case that's having the faulty mechanism or the I/O shield. I did check if I had seated my motherboard properly, and I'm certainly sure I did. The solution to the problem is either to remove to I/O shield completely, or to cut a few holes for my headset cables to fit. I ended up removing the I/O shield, and it works as it should so far. The only problem with this idea is the general air flow. You won't be able to control the direction of the air as well as if you had the shield. I don't blame the case at all, because it'd be nonsense to build a case like that.

*While being in the subject of fans and airflow..*

There has been a huge discussing about the Scout 2 Advanced and the fans. There is currently space for 7 fans, however, the case only comes with 3 fans. Below you can see the available places for fans, and the ones that are already installed.

Top: 120mm fan x 2 (optional)
Front: 120mm red LED fan x 2 (with LED on/off function)
Rear: 120mm black fan x 1
Bottom: 120mm fan x 1 (optional)
Side: 120mm fan x 2 (optional)
HDD cage: 120mm fan x 1 (optional)










Above I made a picture of the available and already seated fans. The red squares mark the missing fans. From my point of view it's an obvious thing to seat one or two fans on the top, as it works like a default setting for most of the shipping cases today. The airflow will not take proper place on the north bridge area at all if you don't seat the fans - at least that was what I thought. After installing my hardware I didn't actually notice any major differences on the temperature scales, so for now I want start purchasing additional fans. Regarding monitoring temperatures, here are my specs.



> ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
> ASUS GTX 560 TI DirectCU II 900MHz
> Intel® Core™ i5-2500K Processor
> Kingston DDR3 HyperX 1600MHz 8GB


Running the default seated fans of the Scout 2 Advanced; here are my temperatures at idle. They're not very different from my older case, so I guess I shouldn't have to worry about anything.










The default fans are running the standard fan extensions, not the old Molex ones. It'll save you some space for your cable management, and that's satisfying. If you're a fan controller user, you'll find a spot for a fan controller unless you don't want it to run in the front panel. The unlock and lock system on the fan controller and CD-ROM bays works perfectly. If you haven't placed and seated your "whatever you're using", the lock will place it intact with the mechanism.

*Dust filter, how and why..*

Below the case you'll find honeycomb wholes for your bottom fan that aren't included, and a dust filter for your power supply. The proper type of power supple to use, is the Standard ATX PS2 which is the most common shipping one today. I did not try with other models, but feel free to comment if it fits properly or not.










The dust filter is removable and that just adds a lot of possibilities regarding the cleaning. You'll find a lot of dust in these filters within two weeks, and therefore it needs cleaning regularly. On other cases we haven't seen a lot of this feature, but it just feels much more comfortable to be able to remove this filter, and clean with a vacuum cleaner or whatever you have nearby. Be careful using water, cause it's a pain to make dry. It'd recommend some dry cloth you easily can get into corner with. Compressed air is indeed effective as well.

Your floor is probably where your computer would pick up a lot of dust, and by that a dust filter is absolutely necessary. Do your power supply a favour to clean this dust filter, cause power supplies are quite difficult to clean themselves.

*Accessories and a few musings and thoughts..*

Let's open the goodies. The first thing you'll notice around the hard drive bay area, is a little box. I found it hilarious that Cooler Master illustrated where the hard drives would be seated by placing their screws and brackets in a little box! Outside the box itself, they've placed two brackets to the box so it'd sit tight in the hard drive slot.



















Inside this box you'll find brackets and screws and a few objects to tie up your cables. I was actually quite glad that they included the motherboard screws so you're not causing problems by finding secondary solutions. For about two years ago, I did not find any installation screws, so I've been installing and running my motherboard differently than it should be. With the Scout 2 Advanced, everything is included and my motherboard is seated as it should, tight and secure.










Without further ado, let's talk about the installation manual. I did find it useful as I did not know how to install such things as my CD-ROM. Regarding Cooler Master cases, there's a few things you need to take care of, such as - "Do I need to install it from the outside or the inside". The manual covered up this matter, and that was a huge A+ from my behalf. However, when it comes to installing to motherboard, I think they could've made it a little easier.

For instance, when I wanted to seat the screws for the motherboard, I followed the manual that told me to screw the screws obviously, but it didn't show exactly where. Everything depends on the fact if you either have an ATX or a micro-ATX. In my case, I have an ATX. A while afterwards I noticed it said with clear letters on the back of the case, where I should seat my screws depending on my motherboard type. The manual could easily give a tip that'd say ".. OR just look at the back of your case". It's a minor detail, but it'd save me some time.

*Time to measure! - We're having a look inside the case*

Before we dig into the case itself, let me just let you know that this has been an experience above and beyond what I expected. It has been an absolute pleasure to assemble my hardware and cables. There are so many nifty things that'll make your "first-hand impression" much better than expected. I love throwing out pictures in this review, so why don't we go ahead and toss some!










The case itself is built with the well-known two side panels. The right panel that you probably haven't been using too much is suddenly the one you use the most. Why? Cause of the cable management. I do not recommend assembling hardware in this case without making good use of the cable management. It does look nice, and it will make you have less sleepless nights. Let's have a look into this bad boy.










On the picture above you'll see I marked an orange square near the drive bays. This panel is actually removable, so you do not have to worry about your graphics card being too long. I don't know why people haven't thought of this before; it's definitely a huge improvement within the computer case industry. I cannot think of any graphics card that'd touch the drive bay panel, besides the Radeon 6990 which is rather long. Anyhow -- the possibility is there if you'd like to remove it. Bear in mind that you'll lose a few bays if you do want to remove it, which is self-explanatory.



> Maximum Compatibility VGA card length: 287mm / 11.3 inch (with HDD cage); 399mm / 15.7 inches (without HDD cage)
> CPU cooler height: 162mm / 6.4 inches












5.25" Drive Bays 3 (exposed)
3.5" Drive Bays 7 (hidden)
2.5" Drive Bays 4 (converted from 3.5" drive bays)

You will get a lot of drive space with this case, and there has actually been some clever thinking regarding the brackets. If you'll have a quick look at the picture below, you can see that it can either run a 3.5" drive, or two 2.5" SSDs. It's really clever as you won't lose any drive space at all. I mounted my SATA-cables from the back of the case, as my cable management allowed it to remain hidden. If you're planning on hiding the power cable as well, be sure to use the cable management holes as you'll have the hard drives AND the cables facing the back.










Moving a few inches in the case, you'll notice the cable management holes. These are clever as well, cause no matter how hard you try, you can't bend the rubber - and that makes it unique to hide what's on the back of your case. The whole cable management franchise has moved a huge step with these. Keep in mind that you will not be able to see anything of the back panel while looking into the left panel, as everything is, roughly said, black.










The only problem that I ran into is that the one next to the SATA-ports. The rubber-hole itself is quite small compared to how big it actually should be. Technically, it should be a tad bigger than of one of the other ones, as it'd fulfil your requirements of cable size. The real problem is that I had a hard time mounting my SATA-cables into the motherboard, because the power supply cables were blocking it. As I was organizing it, I had it figured in the end.

















*You can easily pull off a great deal! We're doing a roundup with the price tags..*

From Newegg you can get this case for $100 bucks. It's a really good deal in my opinion, without being an advertiser for what I think is a great product -- I really do think it's worth it. If you're about to build your very own PC, this case is very hospitable when it comes to great quality and just details here and there that'll make things a tad easier.

Despite the missing fans, I think this product lives and survives the price. If you find it necessary in any given situation, you'll have your very own vista to install more. The opportunity is clear.

I sure certainly hope that you enjoyed this review! Maybe if I'll get the opportunity another time, I'll gladly ask the Tech Guy admins for permission. My name has been Frederik, signing off.

Best Regards,
Frederik.


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