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Cooler Master Ammo 533


Date
: 10/17/05 – 01:04:37 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Introduction

Cooler Master has long been considered one of the top manufacturers of computer cases for quality, class and style. Over the years, Cooler Master has built a reputation on quality producing power supplies, cooling products, lighting, and multi- function panels. Today, we are going to look at a new radical design from Cooler Master, completely breaking away from the clean professional look meet the
Ammo 533
.

The Ammo 533 is built for LAN parties and as we all know, LAN cases go through a lot of abuse. Size, weight, durability, aesthetics, and cooling are all extremely important in these types of cases.

Page 2 : Package

The Ammo 533 is packed within a double- corrugated cardboard box with thick Styrofoam insulation to ensure it arrives safely and free of defects.

The front proudly displays an angled shot of the Ammo 533 case with an introduction that reads:

One of the sides sports a smaller version of the picture displayed at the front, while the other provides a list of specifications.

The back displays the case disassembled, and also focuses on specific features such as front I/O, screwless design, handle, mesh and 120mm cooling.

Page 3 : Specifications

Specifications from Cooler Masters website:

The Ammo 533 features:

The Ammo 533 is definitely a tough case built with the body built entirely built with SECC, bezel plastic and trimmed with brushed aluminum for design, but all this adds up; the Ammo 533 weighs in at 10kg!

Page 4 : Exterior

The exterior of a case is very important; after all, first impressions are extremely important. The Ammo 533 is definitely a bold case with its brushed metal trimmed edges, oversized military-styled push buttons, rugged handle, mesh side panel and intake rimmed with silver colored plastic, it really demands attention. Aesthetically speaking, the Ammo 533 certainly is different from the rest of the Cooler Master line because it does not fit into the clean or professional category, but rather the pre-modified category.

The bezel; the face of the case is well made, but a metal bezel would have been much preferred.

In order to remove the drive covers, one must first remove the bezel by depressing four tab-like pins. With the bezel removed, the drive covers can be removed by lightly pushing them out of place.

The bottom portion of the bezel is meshed for ventilation with filters to keep the insides of your case clean.

The filter is held by a plastic frame which attaches the back of the bezel.

Moving onto the left side panel; the most predominant feature on the side panel is the two large mesh covered openings to enhance cooling and to act as a window. The border is rimmed with silver colored plastic to highlight the mesh and to contrast with the black paint.

The right side panel is not too special but still it deserves mentioning. I was very pleased to see that the right side panel was also removable which will help when organizing wires. Printed on the side panel is HD, PSU, an arrow pointing upwards and a radioactive sign.

The top of the Ammo 533 is truly unique with a rugged handle design, power and reset switch and top ventilation. The switches have plastic covers on them not only to give it the military feel, but so one does not accidentally press one.

The vent on the top would definitely help cool down the computer by allowing warm rising air to escape. It would have been nice to see an optional fan mount there, though you can always drill the holes yourself.

The handle really adds to convenience, anyone who has been lucky enough to have to drag a steel case around knows how painful it is, especially on stairs. These handles support up to 25 kg.

The rear has a 80mm/90mm/120mm fan grill, 7 expansion slots, a I/O shield and a opening for the power supply.

On the bottom, there are four rubber feet to prevent slipping.

To increase functionality, Cooler Master has implemented front I/O connectors; these are located on the bottom- right side of the bezel.

Page 5 : Interior

Removing the two thumb screws on the rear exposes the internals of the case.

The internals of the case are laid out quite well. This case supports five 5.25 external drives, two 3.5 external drives and three 3.5 internal drives, 120mm intake and an option of 80mm, 90mm or 120mm exhaust. The screwless design allows the user to install, remove or swap parts without even having to pick up a screw driver!

The internal 3.5 drive bay is removable to increase work space inside the case. There are six holes on each side to allow the airflow from the intake fan to pass through the drive rack, though airflow will significantly decrease due to restrictions. The hard drive rack can be removed by first removing four screws, two on the bottom and two on the side.

Installing 5.25 and 3.5 external drives can be done relatively quickly, push the drive into place, slide the slider forward and lock it.

The rail system used for hard drive installation is very well designed and allows the user to install hard drives in only a couple seconds- push a rail into each side of the hard drive and slide it into place.

Cooler Master has also implemented a screwless expansion card clip, one per expansion slot, which allows the user to install expansion slots quickly and easily. Though the idea is great, the clips are not exactly secure and thumb screws would have been a much better idea.

Page 6 : Installation

Installing a system into the Ammo 533 is relatively straight forward, and the screwless design really helped. We will start by installing the hard drive. To install a hard drive into the hard drive rack, attach a rail on each side of the hard drive and then push it into the hard drive rack until it snaps in. Not only is this system fast but it is also very secure.

Next, let us move onto the external drives; the 5.25 and 3.5 drives. Again, we encountered no problems at all and the screwless design could not possible make the process any easier. One must first remove the bezel and remove the drive bay covers, then slide the drive in place and secure with the sliding mechanism and then lock it.

Now, with the drives done, the motherboard and power supply must be installed. The power supply installation went smoothly but the motherboard installation could have been better. Because the Ammo 533 is a mid tower case, it does not provide a lot of room for the user to work with. A removable motherboard tray would have definitely been a huge plus here. But, with that said, the process still went relatively well- screw in stand offs, install I/O shield and finally line up the motherboard and secure with screws. I installed the motherboard with the CPU, memory and heatsink already attached.

With that all done, only thing left to do is to connect all the wires and install expansion cards! As stated before, the clip mechanism used to secure expansion cards is far from secure, I would recommend using screws instead.

Now in all its glory, though my wire management could definitely be better.

Page 7 : Testing

Today, we will put the Ammo 533 against a renown and established LAN case, the Antec Lanboy.

The Ammo 533 is cooled with two 120mm fans, the stock 120mm as intake (unrated CFM) and a Thermaltake 120mm as exhaust (55 CFM).

The Lanboy is cooled with two 80mm fans, a Vantec Stealth rated at 27 CFM as intake an a generic 35 CFM as exhaust.

The test system is as follows:

Idle temperatures were achieved running the system under idle conditions for an hour and load temperatures were achieved running the system with Prime 95: Torture Test, OCCT Torture Test, and 3D Mark 2003 for another hour. All temperatures are measured with a CompuNurse thermal probe.

The results speak for themselves; the Ammo 533s cooling features really put it ahead of the Lanboy. Remarkably, the side mesh helped a lot! One would expect with side vents that the airflow would be undirected and raise temperatures, but with almost no intake because of the restrictions caused by the hard drive rack, the mesh allowed the exhaust and CPU heatsink fan to pull fresh air from out side of the case. The acoustic properties of the Ammo 533 would vary depending on the types of fans used, but would definitely be much quieter than running 80mm fans that push the same amount of air.

Page 8 : Conclusion

The Ammo 533 is definitely one of those cases that you would either buy or turn away because of its looks. Internally though, the Ammo 533 is well designed; has decent airflow, and excellent drive mounting, but a removable motherboard tray would have really been a great feature. The exterior, on the other hand, would either be loved or hated. The design may be too bold for many peoples tastes. As for LAN parties, this case can really take quite a few hits but is also very heavy. With a complete system inside, moving long distances or walking up or down stairs would be rather painful, even when using the handle.

Ultimately, the Ammo 533 is a unique case and definitely a good LAN case. The screwless design, handle, meshed side panel and oversized buttons really set it apart from other cases on the market today.

Advantages

• Strong
• Screwless
• Good airflow

  Disadvantages

• Heavy
• Looks, depending on personal style

  Overclockers Online would like to thank Cooler Master for providing this sample for review.

  We would like to point out that Cooler Master has a promotion going involving the Ammo 533, if you purchase this case, you can get a free dogtag courtesy of CM!

  Don't forget to check out our latest contest where you could win one of many prizes!