CM Storm Sniper Black Edition Case Review

Posted by: David Mitchelson (Mishima) on: 10/06/2009 02:20 PM [ Print | 0 comment(s) ]

Interior

One of the most striking things about the CM Storm Sniper Black is that it features so many large cooling fans. Sure enough there are cases out there with 5+ case fans installed. But I can’t recount a case ever having 3x 200mm fans, I just hope that when switching on this thing doesn’t take off! The first noticeable fan is on the inside of the side panel. As the side panel is completely covered in mesh, this is the perfect environment for such a fan. The interconnecting honeycomb design of this mesh should allow us to have a brief view of our components inside and this would be especially useful if there is an LED cod indicator on the motherboard inside. The panels have a lovely matte black finish and have plenty of depth, which will be needed with so many fans present.

From the outset this case looks rather roomy inside. For guidance CM Storm have fixed a white motherboard sheet to assist with the installation of motherboard mounting screws. Very helpful.

Moving inside the case, we are faced with another 200mm CM fan. This is placed at the top of the case, underneath the outer mesh panelling on the top side of the case. This is a good design decision as we all know, heat rises and it may well escape through the ventilation of the mesh system but by fixing a fan here also there is more of a force on the extraction of unwanted heat and because this is right next to the CPU cooler it will provide us with even lower temperatures. In fact, we not only have a dedicated fan on the heatsink cooler itself, we also have a rear 120mm fan at the rear of the case and a top 200mm fan. So from all angles there is an emphasis on removing this unnecessary heat, and I’m almost certain our hardware will be satisfied with the result of lower temperatures. All of these 200mm fans are available for purchase direct from CM Storm should anyone require a replacement.

At the very bottom of the case next to where the PSU would be installed is a compartment that allows for another 120mm fan to be installed. This fan if installed would be in rather a strange position. It might well interfere with the airflow received from the front 200mm fan underneath the drive bays. Perhaps it would be a better idea to have one or the other rather than both.

The other features within the case will be discussed in the next section, when we install all the hardware inside the CM Storm Sniper Black.