The side panel on the Cosmos S has been opened up for tons of airflow by using the same open mesh found on the front. Gone is the sound-deadening foam inserts of the 1000. The panel is backed by more of the fine screen filter material and an over sized 200mm fan draws air directly into the graphics card / chipset area of the motherboard. The panels feel heavy compared to the rest of the case. Although they appear to be made of brushed aluminum from the outside, my guess is they're steel. The majority of the case interior is made of aluminum however, with exception of the support bar/side panel latch. We find the same push-button drive locks used in the front bays and thumbscrews for the riser slots. Looks like they've moved the filter for the power supply intake to the inside of the case, rather than on the bottom as with the previous model. While it easily slides out for cleaning, if you opt to install a fan in the secondary bottom intake, it will prevent the filter from being removed. The second intake also has a filter but it is accessed from the bottom.


Rather than stamping identifying marks in the motherboard tray, Cooler Master places a sheet of paper there to label standoff locations for your board type. They also recommend which openings to use for cable routing and wire management. Since the tray is aluminum, they have added ridges to give it some support, keeping the panel thin and cutting down on weight. They've also used threaded inserts for the standoffs, a great idea to prevent the holes from being stripped due to over tightening. The front panel cabling is bundled together coming from one of the top holes, although I opted to relocate many of these to one of the other slots in the side or bottom. Something unusual is the ATX power extension cable tied in with the rest of the wires - more on that later. Unlike the Cosmos 1000, the S model uses a more traditional hard drive mounting cage. Although it does give up two slots to the other configuration, drive cooling should be much improved.


There are several slots at the top, side and bottom of the motherboard tray for routing cables, however the back of the case leaves very little room between the tray and side panel. Because the design of the side panel uses a frame on the inside of the flush-mount sheet, with the latching support bar also in the way things can get a little tight back here. There is a bit more room towards the front in the area behind the 5¼" bays. The accessory box contains plenty of stick-on wire management clips and zip ties to use to hold cables in place, and slits are cut in the tray just for this purpose. There is also a 3½" to 5¼" bay adapter and a wide assortment of mounting hardware, as well as an 8-pin +12v motherboard power extension cable. The case manual has many detailed diagrams to assist users with installation.


The top panel comes off by removing one thumbscrew at the rear of the case. Although the Cosmos S only comes with one fan here, up to three can be installed either inside the case or between the top of the case and the mesh panel. This would be perfect for mounting a single, dual or three-position radiator at the top of the case with fans above it pulling air up through. The hard drive cage is removable and can be relocated to any of the available drive bays. Getting the cage out of the rails takes some effort; it is a tight fit and scrapes against the sides of the bays. The cage is designed with rubber grommets between the mounting plates and cage itself, which should help reduce noise and vibration.



Next let's get some hardware installed!