Print this article

Cooler Master Cavalier 1


Date
: 11/12/04 – 08:56:27 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer:
Cooler Master

Price:
NA

There are many cases to choose from, as most of you know. The great difficulty in choosing a case however is finding one that suits your functional needs as well as your personal tastes. Cooler Master, supplier of the case we look at today, has built a reputation for making some of the sleekest and most high quality of cases.

For some time, buying a Cooler Master case also meant paying double or more the cost of mainstream cases. With efforts to deliver their quality and appeal to a lower price point, Cooler Master has begun doing what we've seen SilverStone and others do – delivering chassis that have the same design principles, but are built from steel rather than aluminum to reduce cost.

While aluminum's main advantage over steel is weight, unless you plan on moving your system around often then this should be less of a factor. Today we're taking a look at the
Cooler Master Cavalier 1
, a steel case with an aluminum bezel.

Page 2 : Package

The retail box that the case comes in was shipped to us from Cooler Master and in good shape. Molded foam and a plastic bag protected the Cavalier 1 from harm.

Once removed from it's protective surroundings, the Cavalier 1 was opened up and inside were a bag of screws and studs, VU cable, a PCI bracket, one expansion slot cover, power cord, manual, and a Cooler Master case badge.

The PCI bracket is included so that you can run the audio from your soundcard through the VU meter and back out to your speakers. Here's a closer shot of this piece:

The manual is a very thick booklet approximately 64 pages in length. There are actually only about 8 pages of reading to do, but that's because the manual comes in English, French, German, Itanlian, Portuguesse, Spanish, Japanesse and another Asian language (I don't know for sure which). The manual covers features, specifications, installation procedure, VU meter hookup, front IO installation, case fan installation and replacement, and finally changing the direction of the chassis door. Overall, the manual covers all bases and proves to be a useful resource for product information.

Page 3 : Specifications

Gathered from Cooler Master's manual and website are these specifications:

The case weighes in less than the SilverStone Temjin 6 recently looked at. In terms of room to move, this case has enough expansion room for most. The only limiting thing that I can see from these specifications is the single external 3.5" bay. While one could get 5.25" to 3.25" bay adapters, they tend to look less appealing, cost you more money, and take up one of the 5.25" external bays. Not a major issue for most, but for some this could be a turn-off.

The case comes with nice cooling capabilities in the form of 120mm and 80mm fans. It also comes with a standard 350W power supply. Generally we don't get too excited about bundled power supplies, but in the case of the Cavalier I was surprised to find a solid and featured model. More on that later.

Page 4 : Exterior

If we look at the front first, the Cavalier 1 has something unique on it called a VU meter that measures sound pressure in decibals. It's not hard to miss, as you can see in this first picture, the VU meter can be hooked up to move with the audio from your system's sound card. With power connected, it's lit up with a blue LED and 'dances' with your music. It's somewhat neat to see, but the usefulness and placement are questionable. Otherwise, the VU meter is shipped with a protecting film on it to keep from being scratched.

Still looking at the front bezel, the overall design is a curvy one similar to another popular Cooler Master design. It's quite attractive overall and my only complaints are with how low the power/reset switches are placed and with the seemingly random placement and identical look of the power/activity LEDs. These LEDs are both blue and are the two black dots you see above the power button along the blue toned portion of the bezel.

Opening the bezel door reveals the 5 external 5.25" bays and single external 3.5" bay. The bay covers and surrounding mold are made from plastic. The bezel door is held shut by four magnetic strips that come in contact with the heads of four hex screws.

One nice thing about the bezel door is the ease of removing and switching which side it hinges on. While this process is tool-less, it certainly helps to have a pen to catch the arm of the spring in this tight space.

On the left side of the case is where we find the first set of front input/output connections. Here we have two USB 2.0 and one IEEE 1394 FireWire ports. The convenience of having these at the front of the computer is great with the advent of USB flash drives, MP3 players, and digital cameras.

The rest of the left side of the case is dominated by a view inside the case through a window. This window is printed with the Cooler Master and Cavalier logos. The case is shipped with a protecting film over the window much like the VU meter.

On the right side is where the other set of front input/output connections reside. Here is an adjustable volume knob and the speaker/mic ports; also convenient to have placed near the front of the computer.

The rest of this side of the case is plain. The only noticable features on the panel are some venting slots and a handle indentation to make the panel easier to grasp and remove.

At the back we see there are two thumb screws on the left panel for easy removal. There is one large 120mm grill; behind that a 120mm fan for exhaust. Towards the bottom we have the 7 tool-less expansion slots, though all slot covers are not reusable; something I hate to see. Also we can see the included power supply that comes installed. The gray slit on the right panel is where a piece can be attached so that the case can be locked with a padlock (padlock not included of course).

Page 5 : Interior

Inside the case, shown below, there are the IO wires for the front panel, molex connections for the two fans and VU meter, and VU meter cable (black) that will connect to the PCI bracket. The most striking feature of this view is probably the 10 tool-less drive bays along the right side of this image. Aside from that everything looks like your typical case.

Peering into the front we can see the metal sheilds in front of each bay excluding the top one. While not always necessary for installations, removing the front panel can be done by releasing a total of six plastic latches along each side of the front bezel. In this picture, three are shown along the edge of the front panel next to the drive bays.

Mounted in the middle of the 3.5" internal bays is where we have the 80mm Cooler Master intake fan. Those installing hard drives should logically put their drives in front of the fan to keep them cool and prolong their life.

At the back we have a clearer view of the 120mm Cooler Master labeled fan. Below the fan are the easy to use tool-less expansion slots. Again, the slot covers are not removable and only one reusable slot cover is included with the case.

The last component that makes up the interior of this case is the power supply. This 350W Cooler Master power supply has many features that I didn't expect to find in a bundled solution.

First, we have the 20-pin motherboard connector and cable that comes sleeved, though not fully into the power supply enclosure which would have been preferred.

Next we have four 4-pin molex connectors and two 3-pin molex connectors spread evenly across two rails and two Serial-ATA connectors along a single rail. These connections and the inclusion of two Serial-ATA connections should be enough for most user's needs.

Last are the 12V fan connectors, similar to the 5V fan connectors that were featured on the RaidMax RX-520XPW looked at earlier this month. The differences are that these run at a full 12V and, unfortunately, do not continue running an additional few minutes after system shutdown. Still a nice inclusion that provides the user with more connections along more rails.

Page 6 : Installation & Testing

Doing a system install is relatively simple, especially when the case is designed to be mostly tool-less. With a power supply already installed for me, I first put on some mounting studs for an ATX motherboard. These come in that baggy of screws Cooler Master included and were tightened with a pair of needle nose pliers.

Once the mounting studs were in, I removed the expansion slot covers I needed access to and the IO shield that came installed. I replaced the IO shield with the one that came with my motherboard and placed the motherboard into position then screwed it into place with the included screws. With the motherboard installed I then put in the graphics card, sound card, and PCI bracket. Next up, I slide my optical and storage drives into their bays and lock them into place by pushing the beige rail all the way forward and locking it into place.

Last thing to do is install a processor and cooling solution before hooking up all the wires. The final product is what we have here:

With the system turned on and the VU meter hooked up you can see how the front LEDs look:

System Specs:
Intel Pentium 4C 2.4GHz @ 3.2GHz Processor
Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu HSF
1 GB PDP Systems PC4000 CAS 3 DDR RAM
Maxtor 60 GB 7200 RPM 2 MB Hard Drive
Abit IC7-G Motherboard
Hercules 8500LE Video Card
Cooler Master 350W Power Supply
Nu Tech DDW-082 DVD Burner
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Sound Card

Cooler Master Cavalier 1

The case performed very well with system temperatures at 30°C load and 28°C idle in a 23°C environment. While not filled to the brim, these results represent a typical user install. Looking at the included power supplies performance, I tested with the same system specifications except I replaced the Hercules 8500LE with an ATi Radeon 9700 Pro. The results:

Only the 12V rail showed some drop, but keep in mind the system is overclocked and the 12V rail, in particular, is under extra strain. Overall I'd say this power supply is much better than most bundled power supplies in both performance and features. The true test will of course be longevity of the supply, and so far the PSU has stayed just as strong in one months use.

The noise levels of this system are nice and quiet. Because the power supply only uses a single fan it contributes little to the noise level of the system. The 120mm fan, because of a slower rotation speed, is almost inaudible as well as the 80mm fan at the front of the case. With a Zalman cooler running inside, the entire system was quiet and comparible to the Temjin 6's levels.

Page 7 : Conclusion

The
Cooler Master Cavalier 1
is a good case. While it has some minor flaws and nitpicks there are some great features such as the tool-less bays and expansion slots, the included power supply, and included cooling that make it a great solution for beginners and seasoned veterans alike. The really great thing about all this is that the included cooling and power supply perform great and operate silently. The VU meter, for me, detracts from the design of the case and luckily those who share my opinion can look at the Cavalier 3 for such an option. Otherwise, those who want a little something extra on the front panel will find that the VU meter is certainly capable of delivering a unique look day or night.

Unfortunately the price of a Cooler Master is still much higher, ~$134 shipped from Newegg, than what I consider to be mainstream. Overall though, the Cavalier 1 gets my recommendation for those who can afford it and find that this case's style appeals to them as it offers much in return.

Advantages

Quality build and design
Expansion room
Quiet and featured PSU included
Good cooling included
Quiet operation

Disadvantages

No removable motherboard tray
Only one reusable expansion slot cover
VU meter serves little purpose
Not entirely tool-less

I'd like to thank Cooler Master for making this review possible.