Cooler Master Silencio 550 - Whisper Quiet
Cooler Master is reviving their Silent series of computer chassis with two new Silencio models. We check out the flagship Silencio 550 to see if it is really a smooth and quiet operator.
Reviving the Silent Series
If you are shopping for a new computer chassis right now, you’ll find that there’s a bewildering number of options from many manufacturers. And one name that keeps popping up wherever you look is Cooler Master.
Ever since its inception, Cooler Master has always been one of the foremost players in the computer chassis market, offering a wide array of chassis in different sizes for different users. And recently, they are reviving their Silent series by offering the new Silencio 550 and 450, which have been specially designed to reduce noise and ensure quiet operation.
The two new Silencio chassis were recently introduced in light of the fact that modern day computer systems can get pretty noisy thanks to all the noise made by the various coolers and fans. High-end graphics cards, especially, can get almost ridiculously loud when they are being heavily taxed. Perhaps if you're getting the latest in cutting edge technology like the GeForce GTX 680, you might be spared from the racket. In any case, it never hurts to have a quiet casing to give you a piece of mind no matter if you're got an assignment, a rendering task at hand or want to enjoy some online gaming without needing to resort to ear mufflers.
To satisfy users who demand a chassis that is whisper quiet, Cooler Master has revived their Silent series. This is the all-new Silencio 550.
To see if Cooler Master new Silencio chassis and its sound dampening design are any good, we’ll be taking a look at the higher-end Silencio 550. But first, here are its basic specifications:
Casing Dimensions &Specifications |
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Drive Bays &Expansion Slots / Ports |
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Case Cooling |
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Power Supply |
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Exterior Design
The first thing about the Silencio 550 that caught our eyes was the mirror finish front panel, which gives the chassis a polished and classy look. Other than that, the rest of the exterior is decked in all black and the overall theme here can best be described as minimalistic. It’s not the prettiest chassis around, but at least it’s not gaudy or overbearing.
The front panel is held in place by hidden magnets. Note the thick sound dampening foam. Opening it reveals the two 5.25-inch external drive bays and hot swappable X-dock. Lastly, the dust filters for the front fans can be easily removed for cleaning.
Functionally speaking, the case seems soundly designed as it has necessary front-panel ports and buttons that are easily accessible, while the front panel swings open elegantly to reveal it's easily accessible front fans. Unlike most casing that require the need to rip out the entire front, the Siliencio 550 only requires you to release latch to unmount the fans and it filters for easy maintenance. On the drive bay area, you would notice that our specs list had a feature called the X-dock. It's basically a feature that allows you to hot-plug in loose 3.5-inch internal hard drives if required. We show you how it functions from the interior photo shots on the following page.
On the top panel we have a USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 port, a SD memory card reader, and the usual power and reset buttons and a headphone and microphone jack.
The left and right panels are devoid of any vents or windows, but they are padded with noise dampening foam to insulate noise.
The rear of the chassis is standard fare. There’s a 120mm rear exhaust fan - limited to 800rpm - to keep noise down and three grommets for liquid cooling setups.
Interior Design
Looking inside, the Silencio 550 is everything you’d expect from a decent and competent computer chassis. There are seven 3.5-inch drive bays, and the good thing about them is that they are loaded from the sides. This means your drives won’t be intruding into the motherboard tray area. Of the seven 3.5-inch drives, four can be removed by means of a HDD cage should you need extra space to accommodate ultra-large graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 6990.
Installation of components was a straightforward and tool-less affair. Optical drives are installed simply by sliding them into the optical drive bay and using the locking mechanism to hold them in place. Hard drives, on the other, require users to only attach the mounting racks and then sliding them into the respective drive bay. Finally, the expansion bay slots employ the use of large thumbscrews that can be easily undone using bare hands.
And there’s also sufficient space within the case, especially round the back of the motherboard tray, for cable management.
The motherboard tray isn’t the largest, but thankfully the drives are loaded from the sides so at least the space remains undisturbed. The HDD cage is also removable to allow users to install larger graphics cards. With the HDD drive cage in place, the Silencio 550 can accommodate graphics card up to 11 inches in length.
To accommodate larger graphics cards, the HDD cage is removable.
Installing hard drives was easy thanks to the squeeze and pull racks. Simply attach the racks to the hard drive and push it into the drive bay until you hear a click sound. The Silencio 550 also comes with a special adapter for installing 2.5-inch devices such as SSDs.
Optical drives are equally easy to install too, if not easier. Slide the drive into the drive bay and slide the lever to lock.
This PCB is for the X-Dock. Connect a Molex and SATA cable to it on the reverse side to have a hot-swappable HDD bay for 3.5-inch devices. It will be better if Cooler Master provided an ejection mechanism because while it is easy to install a 3.5-inch drive into the X-Dock, removing it proved to be more tricky.
Here's a look with an 11-inch Radeon HD 3870 X2 installed, and it barely fits. Larger cards such as the Radeon HD 6990 would require the HDD cage to be removed.
The Quiet One
Overall, the Silencio 550 is a solid casing and a worthy flagship of the Silent series. It looks classy; is sufficiently spacious for a chassis of its size and price; and lastly, we also appreciate its tool-free design, which made it very easy to install components.
And while we don’t have a sound-proof room to get an accurate decibel meter reading to precisely ascertain the effectiveness of the Silencio 550’s sound insulation, the Silencio 550 did run slightly quieter than other comparable chassis. This is in no small part due to the generous helping of sound dampening foam that Cooler Master used in this chassis and the fact that its fans are limited to a leisurely 800rpm.
However, the Silencio 550 is not perfect and we were disappointed that it only has two USB ports. Also, the USB 3.0 port can only be enabled by routing a cable to the motherboard’s rear-side connectors. A more elegant solution would be having a connector that connects to the motherboard’s USB 3.0 header. Finally, it accommodates only up to three fans and considering the amount of sound dampening foam used, heat could be a problem if you are running powerful rig.
The Cooler Master Silencio 550 is an interesting proposition for users who cannot stand the incessant droning noises made by coolers and blowers.
At S$129, Cooler Master is positioning the Silencio 550 as a mid to high-end entry level chassis, and in this tightly contested segment of the market, the Silencio 550 has no shortage of competitors. While there are other chassis out there packed with more features, the Silencio 550 stands out thanks to its use of sound dampening foam and its promise of a whisper quiet computing experience.
To end, if the incessant droning from your CPU and graphics card cooler really get your nerves, the Cooler Master Silencio 550 is definitely worth taking a look.
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