Cooler Master ATCS 840

[Gonzo]

Is it still necessary to submit Cooler Master.Active in cooling, power supplies and enclosures, the brand is part of the furniture from the small world of hardware and their products are often key to quality.The range is very broad and now includes no fewer than 40 different models divided between full tower, mid tower chassis and the HTPC.Cooler Master net wide in affecting both players, fans of high-end configurations, those in search of a case combining features and discretion or assemblers who want a quality housing at low prices.In a nutshell, Cooler Master has become a value in the chassis and is one of those rare actors who are not content to copy or follow the fashion.

There are nearly 10 years, Cooler Master launched a range of packages ATCS, which means Active Thermal Convection System. In plain English, this system provides active convection heat, a system responsible to evacuate the heat.Beyond this acronym marketing, it followed a series of aluminum with a design most predominantly recognized as classy and elegant.With its ATCS 840, Cooler Master looks this "old" range it is clearly announced as the cabinet is to revive the ATSC and is designated as a "Full Tower Classic.

There’s no hiding it, the first thing you’ll notice about the ATCS 840 is it’s bloody huge! It looks like it could probably eat a standard ATX case for breakfast and still have room for a small form factor chassis or two. Measuring in at 243mm (w) x 580mm (h) x 630mm (d) it dwarfs even extra large EATX cases like the Antec P190 or Lian Li V1100 in terms of sheer size. Needless to say the ATCS 840 will utterly dominate a desk or workstation and will likely struggle to even fit under smaller desks – you’ll need some serious work space real estate to accommodate this beast.

The front is milled from a single piece of precision cut aluminium and houses six 5.25” drive bays (one of which comes with a 3.5” drive bay adapter), with a removable plate at the bottom covering the front ventilation intake. The plate is easily removed with a bit of force, revealing the large easily removable dust filter in front of the 230mm intake fan, but there’s also a smaller dust filter built into the bottom of the fascia – a great example of attention to detail and demonstrating just how well thought out the ATCS 840 is.

[Gonzo]

External presentation


Upon receipt of the board and at the unpacking, we can not ignore the size of this case. This is indeed a box-type "grand tour" and not a mid tower. It is high, it is deep and it is wide. Its depth allows it to accept the passage of large motherboards Extended-ATX and any graphics card market, regardless of its length. To give you an idea of its width, it suffices to mention that the front fan is not a single 120 mm or 140 but a 230 mm! Its height allows it to provide 6 bays 5 ¼ inches which is scheduled to host a device 3 ½ inches. If however you want to change this location by 5 ¼ inches, it is possible simply by unscrewing the adapter internal 3 ½ inches.




This "beauty" is reinforced by the quality of manufacturing and finishing impressive enjoyed the ATCS 840. The pieces are thick brushed aluminum, perfectly adjusted to handle with ease and are of excellent quality. Very beautiful work, we would insist. When we handled a case Ikonik to 130 euros in a previous test and if it passes this Cooler Master ATCS 840.

The case will be available in both black and silver brushed aluminium when it’s launched in a few days and the material is wonderfully machined to a smooth finish, not sticky or rough like other aluminium cases can be. The build quality throughout the exterior is also top notch and every panel fits together perfectly; even the 5.25” blanking plates have only the tiniest of gaps between them, a real sign of excellent build quality considering the tolerances required in the manufacturing process to achieve it.

The guide rails for the tray are, quite brilliantly, lined with tiny ball bearings that make sliding the tray in and out a breeze and to ensure the strength and rigidity of the whole assembly Cooler Master has fitted braces at 45° between the tray and rear panel. The pre-cut hole behind the CPU on the motherboard tray also makes a very welcome reappearance; it makes fitting back plate mounted heatsinks a much easier experience.

The sides of the case are no longer conventional, without openings or door. The panels are maintained by hand screws are aluminum, and withdraw and go back up very easily. The rear is less conventional, with two possible locations for food: top or bottom. Depending on your choice, you can screw a cache of aluminum in the slot left empty cache that has a hole to get any pipes Watercooling. The grid of 120 mm fan adopts a honeycomb, as well as prepared over maps girls. Note also the space over the expansion slots to accommodate cables. This box is very open to the rear since caches maps girls take the form of a grid also venting. A report to the handle to the left that can extract the set of the motherboard.

[Gonzo]

Specification of Cooler Master ATCS 840

Available in black or gray steel, the case is fully made of aluminum. For the choice of color, we can only advise the gray since our copy test was black, quite logically, sensitive to fingerprints. In addition, micro-scratches that may occur during handling are now more visible as a lighter color. Now consider the specifications of the camera more closely:

The presence of 4 fans in the cabinet with 3 models including 230 mm is already in itself a cost. We must not forget that this case is full aluminum front doors and understood. If we add to that a motherboard tray removable mounting food at the top or bottom, compatibility with cards Extended-ATX, the presence of 6 bays 3 ½ inches and 6 bays 5 ¼ inches, without count of generous dimensions, we begin seriously to say that the price is worth on paper.

[Gonzo]

Cooling, noise

The least we can say is that Cooler Master ATCS 840 is a credit to his name. As a reminder, means ATCS Active Thermal Convection System. This box comes with 3 fans and a 230x230x30 mm 120x120x25 mm fan. The latter takes place at the rear of the casing extraction. Two of 230 mm are positioned at the top of the box while the last of this size is placed at the front before the hard disk bay. Optionally, you can replace the two 230 mm at the top of the box by 3 models of 120 mm. It is also possible to place a 120 mm in the bottom of the case and two other 120 mm on the hard disk bay. Finally, the bundle includes a airduct place outside the box at the expansion slots. It can accommodate a 120 mm and is supposed to evacuate hot air from the graphics card more quickly. Cooler Master announces an increase of 3 to 5 ° C on the temperature of the GPU. In practice, we found a little less than that and this accessory is not necessarily useful view of the cooling capacity of the ATCS 840. This will allow owners of CrossFireX or SLI configurations that want a cool small onions.


Conclusion


With its ATCS 840 case, Cooler Master strikes a blow. The firm has managed to combine classicism in good taste, elegance, refinement without sacrificing features and performance. As a big fan of cars, it makes us think of a Bentley Arnage and Brooklands which retains a classic look, timeless but is full of the latest mechanical and electronic technologies. The ATCS 840 is a bit that is the Bentley boxes. Her fashion line is, timeless and ignores all fireworks available to counter the modern boxes that either large side air vents, fans, lights, Plexiglas walls, etc.. None of that here but rather a box full unicolore brushed aluminum of the highest quality. Only two discreet blue LEDs at the top of the box break this elegant monotony. The integration of input / output front is also indicative of the care was provided to the Cooler Master ATCS 840.