| Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |
| Written by David Ramsey | |
| Tuesday, 11 September 2012 | |
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Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Computer Case Review
Manufacturer: Cooler Master Full Disclosure: Cooler Master provided the product sample used in this article. The last Cooler Master case I reviewed was the enormous (and enormously expensive) Cosmos II. This case is so huge that Cooler Master felt obliged to define a new category for it: the "ultra tower". It was so big it wouldn't fit under my desk, and so heavy, even empty, that it's very difficult for one person to lift it to the top of their desk The Elite 120 Advanced is about as far from the Cosmos II as you can get and still be considered a "computer case". Since it's designed to use a standard ATX power supply and has a full-sized 5.25" bay, some might argue that it's on the large end of the mini-ITX case spectrum, and while they'd be right, it's still pretty tiny in absolute terms.
While Cooler Master has a broad line of cases, the Elite 120 Advanced is currently their only mini-ITX case. Since it can accommodate a full-sized ATX power supply and video card, there doesn't seem to be any reason you couldn't build a killer small gaming system in it.
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Comments
Besides the enormously wide fan mounts, the pitifully tiny front-fan intake ports can't possibly help anything. At all. CoolerMaster is known for poor performing fans supplied in their cases that are regularly tossed and replaced by any conscientous builder. Myself included. CM should just keep the fans and lower the case price commensurately.
You should've mentioned that Ivybridge cpu's are strictly verboten due to practically zero cooling. There's really no mention of the loud, high-pitched whine from the side fan, either.
This case definitely needs an 80mm. top exhaust fan, but then it wouldn't work since there's no air intake source, so this point is rendered moot. I seriously doubt intake filters would be worthwhile since there's so little air intake to begin with.
On the other hand, this case is a prime example of what the consumer should NOT buy. Congratulations on proving this very point! Thanks for the heads up! I generously give this case an overall rating of 6.5. It is quite cute, though it is rather unusable for even a very slightly warm-running system.
BTW, what does the above post have to do with this case review?
If you don't like the "loud, high-pitched whine" (certainly not what I heard) from the side fan, then remove it. Just four screws.
The case design leaves no space for an 80mm top exhaust fan, so I don't know where you'd put one.
I've been running my personal Hackintosh in this case since I received it, using the hardware mentioned in the article, and haven't had any overheating problems at all.
The first comment has nothing whatsoever to do with the review. Perhaps Olin can remove it.
I've been building air-cooled PC's since Win3.x, and I've certainly never seen 1 or 2 fans perform well at such small sizes. I certainly won't be using any fans under 120mm ever again. As to CM not making any fans that perform well, I'll rebuke that with the fans that came in my game rigs current case, the Storm Sniper Black Edition. These 3 great big honking 200mm fans are whisper quiet at full speed and move more than enough air to keep my OC'ed 4GHz AMD Phenom 2 X6 rig supplied with enough cool air that my Noctua NH-D14 doesn't even hiccup when they are set at the lowest speed.
Frankly, the fans on the review case don't perform to your standards simply because they are small. To perform better they would need to be faster, which means they would be louder, also. Seeing that your already complaining about the noise, I doubt you'd appreciate it.
When I get a chance to pull out the motherboard I'll have another look. Might be a few days though. Thank you for the quick reply David.
If I've missed something please let me know. With the exception of this one issue everything installed fine. Although, I do fine the front & side fans a little noisy (emiting a buzzing sound from both fans) so I expect to swap them out soon.
Thanks for the detailed review David.
I'm using an ASUS P8Z77-I motherboard; is that what you're using?
Here is a pic of my kit showing the rubber pads (lower portion of pic), #prohardver.hu/dl/cnt/2012-05/85571/cm_geminii_m4_2.jpg, and although it's tough to judge the hight of the pads from this pic, they add apprx. 1/8" to 3/16" (guessing, don't have them in front of me). Add this to the already raised back plate and that's why it comes into contact with the bottom of the case -- interesting that you didn't experience this.
Thanks for continuing to stick with me on this issue David.
Dave, I misspoke when I said I was using the rubber padding (that turned out to be on another machine; I have lots of 'em around here). I'm using the large multipurpose bracket shown in your image. The four black Intel "feet" face down on the motherboard, with the raised center section sitting slightly about the backing plate on the motherboard.
Where, exactly, are you having component clearing problems?
Although he is using a different CM cooler the back plate appears to be the same as the Geminii M4. The MoBo is also different but it shows alsmost exactly what I'm experiencing with the P8Z77-I.
Wish I had more time to remove the board from my system and take a few pic's but I'm Currently out of town working long hours -- just enough time to type this then hitting the sack.