The Case and Power Supply - Coolermaster!

Since we are starting from scratch, and we have no budget the case, the research project began. The CM690 immediately stood out as a real winner. I had been previously impressed with Coolermaster's ability to create quality cases with intelligent design features, as my last build took advanatge of one of the old Centurion models. The CM690 is a mid-sized ATX box but is definately on the larger side, with plenty of room for upgrades and proper air flow. I also liked the bottom placement of the power supply which improves access to cool air and helps with cabling behind the box since the big heavy power cable is now at the bottom.

The only negatives for the CM690 were the steel frame (which is strong but heavy), and a flimsy button implementation which requires pretty significant pressure to turn the machine on and off. But the negatives were easily outweighed by the great layout, top mounted usb/firewire/esata/headphone connectors, and a cool holder for motherboard and hard drive screws built into the frame of the case. The drive and card installation is also screwless and a cable management system helps organize the wires. There are plenty of great reviews on the case, just make sure you get a powersupply with cables long enough to handle being place at the bottom of the case.

The powersupply was also easy to find since Coolermaster was sponsoring awesome rebates during the holidays on the 650 and 500 watt units. The 650w was chosen since clean power and high speeds were anticipated at the beginning of the project. The 650w PCAR unit is also SLI ready although the P35 and x38 chip-sets are not .. what are Intel and Nvidia thinking on that one? Come on guys, work with each other!