14 DAY TRIAL // It's one thing to say that a desktop PC case is a bit wider than usual (DeepCool Pangu ATX) and another to stumble upon one that has more fan space and storage support than is strictly legal, like Cooler Master's Cosmos SE. Well, that sounds really dramatic put that way, but the company does emphasize those two points in its press release. And more than a little bit too.
The Cosmos SE is based on the user feedback from the Cosmos and Cosmos II enclosures that have been on the market for a long time already.
It shares the same “supercar design origins” and “comes loaded as a more aggressive and more nimble sports car in a decidedly more compact form.”
Yet despite that compact form, the newcomer has enough space for up to 8 fans, four of them already installed. Two of them, with diameters of 120 mm, have blue LEDs and lie behind the front panel, while a 140 mm spinner is at the top. The fourth is a 120 mm propeller at the back, for exhaust.
More importantly, despite the claims of “compactness,” the Cooler Master Cosmos SE can hold up to 8 3.5-inch hard disk drives and 18 2.5-inch SSDs (solid-state drives).
The HDD/SSD cages are removable, and they have all the necessary accessories needed to switch from 3.5-inch to 2.5-inch trays wherever necessary.
Basically, if there is any upper limit to the number of storage devices in your computer, it will come from the motherboard (the number of SATA ports), not from the case.
That said, depending on the presence or absence of some of the cages, the maximum graphics card length is of 385 mm / 15.5 inches. On that note, the top CPU height is of 175 mm / 6.9 inches.
Needless to say, various cable/hose management holes and cutouts litter the interior of the newcomer. Just in case people go all out and buy 120, 240, 280, or 360mm radiators, or full water cooling systems (two of those three 5.25-inch bays can hold the water reservoir easily enough.
Cooler Master is selling the Cosmos SE in Europe, for €159 / $214. That includes the 19% VAT.