Cooler Master 690 - A Closer Look continued
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The top is very interesting too. We have another big mesh area with some places for some fans. This looks like a very nice place to put a radiator for your water-cooling system. We also have our front panel of goodies. We have USB, firewire, audio in and out, and also an eSATA. eSATA is a new way of connecting external hard drives to your computer. The performance is on the same path as regular SATA. Very few cases have these; even some higher end Cooler Master cases do not have these. I think it's a bit premature for this, but in the coming years I think it will become the new standard for external hard drives.
In the white box we find a manual, motherboard standoffs, and a 2.5" adapter for a floppy drive. Where are the screws? Did Cooler Master not ship screws with their cases?
Here they are! They are actually screwed inside the case. This makes access to the screws easier and more convenient. It's hard to lose screws when you have spots for them on the case.
The back of the case is uneventful. This is where people typically hide the extra cables. There is a mesh hole where the CPU underside would be to help create airflow around this area and on the underside of the motherboard.
The drive bays were built with a lot of thought. The bay covers are all covered with filters to keep the dust out. Even the little 3.5" drive adapter has the filter around it.
Installing optical drives is very simple and tool free. Lift up the hands-free mounting device, insert the drive, and then pop down the harness and you're done.
Installing hard drives is very simple too. They supply you with cages that can be easily removed and reinstalled with a hard drive. It did throw me a little at first; I was looking to put the hard drive in connectors closest to the side panel, but it wouldn't fit. You have to install the drive with the connectors facing the other way. This is the first I have seen of this, but it makes sense. You can hide all the cables for the hard drives on the other side of the case.
Next: Installation >>
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