Product Listing

Cooler Master CM 690 III - Never Judge A Book by Its Cover

By Wong Chung Wee - 2 Oct 2013
Launch SRP: S$139

Interior Design (Part II)

Interior Design (Part II)

Installation of the 3.5-inch drive was a tool free affair. All we had to do was to get a 3.5-inch drive tray to install our 3.5-inch HDD, and slide the tray into its allocated slot at the 3.5-inch drive enclosure.

 

For the motherboard's installation, we had to refer to the etched guide inside the chassis to install additional standoffs.

The guide for installing the motherboard standoffs.

There are four rubber pads at the option to install the PSU. Next to it, it is the option to mount a 2.5-inch drive with its anti-vibration pads. Instead of the drive, users are also able to mount a 120mm exhaust fan. However, note that doing so reduces the space available for the PSU, causing a problem for users with larger PSUs that are usually associated with high power PSUs.

From this view (referring to the below photo), we are able to see the seven expansion slots, as well as the additional side slot that is located below the rear 120mm outlet fan.

We are able to see the seven expansions slots, as well as the additional one located below the rear 120mm outlet fan.

The installation of our components proceeded without any hitch. We also proceeded to install an additional header at the side expansion slot and this is how the case appears to look like after a typical installation without tidying up how the cables are routed:-

The installation went along without any hitches and even without much cable management, the casing appears to cope well and has reasonable spacing throughout.

The rear view of the chassis after we have installed all our components.

We found the allowance for cables at the rear of the motherboard tray rather limited; however, it dawned upon us the extra headroom created by the stamped side panel arrests any of our concerns.

The allowance for cables at the rear of the motherboard tray is adequate but we do foresee things may get a little tight with more components installed.

Fortunately, the stamped side panel provides some extra headroom for the cables that are routed to the rear of the motherboard tray.The cable management system of the CM 690 III is adequate and the cut outs of the motherboard tray are sufficient for our cable management needs.

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8.5
  • Aesthetics 7.5
  • Functionality 9
  • Usability 8.5
  • Value 8.5
The Good
Drive enclosures and trays able to accommodate either 2.5 or 3.5-inch drives
Excellent ventilation options
The Bad
Flexible drive trays do not make installing SSDs any easier
Drive trays feel a bit flimsy
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