Size comparison

The outside dimensions of the Cosmos S are identical to its steel brother, thus our chart remains unchanged, you can reference the results of the Cosmos in the picture below.

Compared to a 1m80 human, here’s how the cases stack up in height and width:



The high end Coolermaster cases are known for their depth, the Cosmos S ranks at the top, and is ideal for use with long VGA cards (8800 GTX…)



Look Outside

There is little doubt Coolermaster means “Sport” by using “S” in the name of their new product, the Cosmos S comes with red racing stripe, black grills and brushed black aluminum side panels. The top panel is made from plastic which has piano black finish (and attracts thumbprints easily).



The “S” version does away with the front door, instead we get meshed grills over all 5.25” bays, fresh air can be pulled inside the case from the whole front panel of the case.



With the camera flash we can see the outline of the 200mm fan inside the left side panel:



The top panel has the same grill pattern as the front and side panel



The I/O panel of the Cosmos S is a sight to behold, it’s the flashiest and most sophisticated we have encountered yet, you get 4x USB 2.0 ports, HD audio in/out, firewire and eSATA for easy access at the top.



But let’s close the small sliding door and focus on the star of the show, the power button:



This isn’t your ordinary push button; in fact you can’t push it in at all. It’s touch sensitive and works by induction, if you put your thumb on the button, the system powers on. We couldn’t find any reset button, there is a hidden HDD led under the shiny surface which lights up red.

The power button is very sensitive, just casually sliding over the button will trigger it, so if you plug in your USB thumbstick or attach that eSATA device and you happen to touch the button with any part of hand/arm the system will react. Default action in Windows XP for “power button” is, you guessed it, power off! While it hasn’t happened a lot during our testing, we did experience one or two unfortunate shutdowns of the OS when we were trying to use the I/O panel.

Maybe hiding the power button deeper in the front panel will prevent these unwanted “button presses”. Also you can’t power on the system with anything but your finger/hand, a ballpoint or other objects won’t work.

If your pet touches the button with the soft spot of its Paw the system will start too, any other part and it doesn’t trigger (yes we tested this ;-)); interesting to know.

The rear of the case hasn’t changed a lot:


Cosmos S on the LEFT – Cosmos on the RIGHT

The provision for water cooling tubes is in the same spot, the plastic rims are bigger on the S with custom black grill.

Next, a look inside ->