Cooler Master CM 690 III - Never Judge A Book by Its Cover
The Cooler Master CM 690 III promises to be a worthy update to the popular CM 690 series. It is positioned as the direct successor of mid-tower casings from the CM 690 II series. Bearing a strong resemblance to the older series, join us as we delve deeper to find out if its differences are truly skin deep.
Cooler Master CM 690 III: Never Judge A Book by Its Cover
The Cooler Master CM 690 III mid-tower chassis is positioned as a successor to the popular CM 690 II series. We reviewed the older Cooler Master CM 690 II Plus and found it a decent mid-tower casing, with options to mount up to 10 cooling fans. Some may find that it's an overkill; while others may like the abundance of choices.
The CM 690 III sports a very similar look as the older CM 690 II and CM 690 chassis. However, we find the newer chassis' facade appears smoother as the mesh drive covers are pushed out, rather than set into the recess of the front cover.
Speaking of cooling fans, the model of the CM 690 III that we will be reviewing is the CMS-693-KKN1. This new successor supports 9 cooling fans, one less than the CM 690 II Plus. At the same time, the company claims that the new chassis sports an interior that has been completed redesigned. One of its unique selling points is the presence of a drive enclosure that has the flexibility to install 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives. Let us delve deeper to see if the claims of the company hold true.
Exterior Design
On first looks, the facade of the CM 690 III strongly resembles the CM 690 II because the front panel consists mostly entirely of mesh for air intake. However, unlike the older chassis, the mesh of the CM 690 III has been pushed forward, instead of residing in the recesses of the front panel. From its facade, we can see that there are three options to mount 5.25-inch drives.
From the front panel, we can see the options to mount up to three 5.25-inch drives.
The front panel is easily removed by a quick tug at its bottom. It houses a dust filter and 5.25-inch drive bay covers that are easily removed.
The rear of the front panel; there is a dust filter that is held in place by plastic tabs. The 5.25-inch drive bay covers are easily removed by pushing on their retaining tabs.
The top of the CM 690 III bears semblance to its predecessor. There is a top compartment for storage, and the I/O ports line the edge of the compartment. The storage compartment has a removable plastic sliding lid. The I/O ports consist of a pair of US B 3.0 ports, a microphone and earphone jack, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports. The reset button is located just below the larger power button.
The I/O ports and onboard buttons line the edge of the storage space. The storage compartment has a removable sliding plastic cover, which can protect the ports too.
Moving beyond the storage space, there is a removable top cover that's secured to the chassis by a rear thumbscrew, but it doesn't house any fan filters. The perforated cover allows mounting the optional top fans where the user has options to install a pair of 120- or 140mm fans, or a single 200mm one. According to the manual, it also supports up to a 240mm radiator for liquid cooling systems.
The top removable perforated cover allows mounting additional fans or a radiator at the top of the chassis.
The top cover doesn't house any fan filters.
A top-down view of the CM 690 III, with its top cover removed.
This side panel has the option to mount a single 180- or 200mm intake fan, or a pair of 120mm intake fans.
On the flip side, we see a stamped steel panel. Besides adding some aesthetic effect of breaking the otherwise flushed side profile of the CM 690 III, we will discover its practical usage during our installation experience later.
The stamped side panel offers some practical usage; however, on first impressions, we thought that it was purely for aesthetics.
The bottom of the CM 690 III houses a dust filter that is easily removable.
From the rear of the chassis, we see there is a bundled 120mm outlet cooling fan. It can be removed to install a 120mm radiator of a liquid cooling system. There are a total of seven expansion slots; in addition, like the CM 690 II Plus, there is one lone expansion slot below the rear outlet fan. Also visible are three rubber grommets to accommodate the pipes of liquid cooling systems. Such rubber fittings may be on the wane with the popularity of closed liquid cooling systems that are able to fit entirely within the chassis, but the options are there if required.
There are three rubber grommets to fit the water pipes of liquid cooling systems. But with the advent of closed liquid cooling systems, we do see little use for these rubber fittings.
Interior Design
With all the panels removed, we were able to view the bundled 200m front intake fan. At the same time, we were able to have a clearer view of the redesigned interior of the CM 690 III.
With the covers removed, the 200mm front intake fan dominates the front face of the case.
From the side of the chassis, we see the 5.25-inch drive enclosure, as well as those for 2.5- and 3.5-inch drives. It is worth noting at this point that the 2.5-inch drive enclosure can be converted to fit 3.5-inch drives. Intrigued? We'll get to those details later in this page.
Let's start with installation aspects of each drive enclosure type. Mounting an optical disc drive is a tool-free affair as the user will only have to insert the drive and it will lock itself into place. Releasing the drive only requires a push of a button on the side of the drive cage.
The interior of the chassis reveals the presence of a 2.5-inch drive cage that fits up to four such drives. Located below, there is a 2.5-/3.5 inch drive enclosure that fits up to three drives.
The user needs to push the button of the self-locking latch in order to release the inserted 5.25-inch drive.
As we have mentioned earlier, the 2.5-inch drive enclosure has a nifty feature that is not immediately apparent. Unlike the bottom HDD enclosure, the top enclosure is actually comprised of two panels which are independent. As such, the panel deeper in the casing can actually be moved to fit either 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives. Additionally, there is the option to also mount a 120mm fan on its side, although doing so would reduce the amount of space for long graphics card.
Since they are independent panels, it also means that the 2.5-inch drive enclosure can be removed entirely to accommodate larger graphics card to fit into the chassis. This will also allow the user to fit a 240mm radiator at the front if required.
A closer view of the drive bays. There is an option to mount a 120mm fan on the side of the 2.5-inch drive enclosure.
The 2.5-inch drive enclosure can be easily transformed into a 3.5-inch one by moving its side panel to be flush with the fixed 3.5-inch drive enclosure below.
One of the interesting features of the chassis is the ability to fit up to ten 2.5-inch drives or up to seven 3.5-inch drives, without requiring any adapters of any kind to be purchased thanks to the flexibility of the drive cage configuration shown above. We examine how this is possible on the mid-tower chassis. There are a total of seven bundled drive trays that have the flexibility to fit either 2.5-and 3.5-inch drives. The tray that is pictured below was removed from the 2.5-inch drive enclosure. It has a pair of flaps that can be lowered in order to accommodate the 2.5-inch drive. Once the drive is in place, we used four M3 8mm screws to secure the drive.
The tray that was removed from the 2.5-inch drive enclosure.
This is one of the flaps that is used to support the installed 2.5-inch drive.
We installed our SSD and secured it with four M3 8mm screws. After that, the installed SSD can be inserted into any of the four slots of the 2.5-inch drive enclosure.
In order to install the 2.5-inch drive into the 3.5-inch drive enclosure, the drive tray is able to be expand to fit into one of its three 3.5-inch drive bays. One the drive tray is expanded, you'll notice there are four mounting screw holes so that the 2.5-inch drive can be fastened to the bottom of the drive 3.5-inch drive tray. Therefore, both the 2.5- and 3.5-inch drive enclosures combined can accommodate up to a seven 2.5-inch drives.
There are four mounting screw points to secure a 2.5-inch drive onto the drive tray.
There are three additional mounting options for 2.5-inch drives that enable the CM 690 III to fit up to ten such drives in total. However, before installing the 2.5-inch drive into the any of the three additional options, the drive has to be installed with four bundled anti-vibration pads.
Following which, we are able to install this drive at the following options; at the bottom of the optical disk drive (ODD) bay, at the bottom of the chassis, and behind the motherboard tray. Therefore, this allows the user to install up to a grand total of ten 2.5-inch drives. We had to slide the 2.5-inch drive with the four pads into their places provided by the four mounting holes, available at each aforementioned position of the chassis.
There are four mounting holes at the bottom of the ODD bay.
There are also four mounting holes at the bottom of the chassis, near the option to fit the power supply unit. Once the 2.5-inch drive is installed, the user will have to forgo installing a 120mm cooling fan.
And finally at the rear of the motherboard tray, there is an option to mount the SSD with the attached anti-vibration pads.
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.
Conclusion
The Cooler Master CM 690 III is an impressive mid-tower chassis. It has generous options for mounting up to nine cooling fans. For its top, rear and front options, the chassis is able to fit radiators of liquid cooling systems. However, the user needs to consult the manual in order to determine the specifications of the liquid cooling system so that it will fit into the casing.
The casing also has options to install up to ten 2.5-inch drives. This is partly due to the bundled expandable drive trays that are able to fit both 2.5 and 3.5-inch drives. At the same time, with a little ingenuity in the form of rubber pads and extra mounting holes, the CM 690 III is able to fit another three 2.5-inch drives in addition to the seven that the drive cages will allow. As such, the engineers at Cooler Master have managed good efficiency in the space planning of the casing. For 3.5-inch HDDs, the CM 690 III is able to fit up to seven such drives by shifting one of the panels of the 2.5-inch drive enclosure to ensure it accommodates 3.5-inch HDDs. Again, careful consultation of the manual is needed so that the user doesn't miss out on such details.
While this is one of the refreshing new features of this new casing, the fact is that while it offers flexibility, it does not actually make it any easier to install 2.5-inch drives. This is because after converting the drive tray to a 2.5-inch one, you would still need to use screws to secure the drive in place - no different if you were to leave the drive tray as it is in "3.5-inch mode". Nevertheless, we welcome this flexibility and the ingenuity behind this design.
When compared to its predecessor, the CM 690 II Plus, the newer chassis has improved upon the ventilation system by being able to support multiple radiators of liquid cooling systems. There are also dust filters provided to keep the interior clean (though not in all locations). At the same time, the CM 690 III has reduced its weight slightly to 8.9kg. Last but not least, the CM 690 III has a lower SRP - S$139 vs the CM 690 II Plus' launch price of S$169.
In terms of pricing, compared to other mid-tower casings like the Cooler Master Storm Enforcer (SRP: S$169) or the Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2 (SRP:S$144), the CM 690 III is actually quite competitively priced, even if it costs substantially more than entry-level mid-tower casings like the Enermax Ostrog (SRP: S$69) and the Cooler Master CM Force 500 (SRP: S$69). Compared to these entry-level offerings, the price premium can be justified due to its unique features mentioned earlier.
True to the words of the company, the CM 690 III does indeed have an improved interior. We are clearly impressed by its flexibility to accommodate both 2.5 and 3.5-inch drives. Despite the strong similarity in outward appearance to the older 690 II series, the CM 690 III is a worthy successor and we are glad that we weren't hasty to judge a book by its covers.
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