| Cooler Master Elite 371 RC-371-KKN1 |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cases | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Austin Downing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 08 May 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cooler Master Elite 371 Case Review
Manufacturer: Cooler Master Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Cooler Master. Not too long ago all custom computer builds where done using beige boxes. Unlike their mass-built cousins, these cases had very few externally defining features. In the last five years, this has changed with many cases having very useful features or being very showy. Sadly, this has come at price, and with each year the costs of computer enclosures have risen. Cooler Master has addressed these rising costs with the Elite series of cases and with its newest addition the Elite 371. Priced for only $49.99, Benchmark Reviews determines if the Elite 371 has everything that is needed in cases or if too many corners have been cut for the sake of cost. Many people like me have built a multitude of computer systems for different purposes. Depending on a user's budget or the intended purposes, users do not always need an innovative case. For many people a basic case that will hold all of their components and stay out of the way is all they need. Cooler Master has designed the Elite 371 just for this. With the ability to hold even the largest of video cards, and comfortably provide future expandability at a reasonable price the Elite 371 fulfills many builders' needs without breaking the bank.
When reviewing a case you have four major things you need to look at. First, you need to look at build quality because no one wants to spend hours putting hardware in a case only to find defects or to have parts that will fail months later. Secondly, you need to look at cooling because as the heat output of components goes up, so do cooling needs. Third, you need to look at the acoustics of your new case because as anyone who has worked on or near servers knows adequate cooling can come at an acoustic cost unless a company put expenses into preventing this. Lastly, you need to look at the ease of build, which depending on your system may or may not play a big role in your choice of case. If you like, I spend lots of time inside of your case modifying parts then you want a system that you can easily move around in while making modifications. On the other hand if you want to setup your system and leave it then this becomes less of an importance and therefore can be moved lower on the requirements for your case. Computer Case Features
Elite 371 Specifications
Closer Look: ExteriorThe exterior of any case is the first thing everyone notices. This translates into many companies attempting to create cases that stand out. Many times those cases either end up being a love/hate affair or have a major price increases in order to fit all of the features into them. Cooler Master has forgone many of these extra features and instead has made a sleek black and silver exterior for its Elite 371.
The front of the Elite 371 is for a majority made of a black mesh that gives the system a very nice look while at the same time keeping the weight of the system down. The three externally accessible 5.25" drives have covers that can be removed very easily using the clips on back of the faceplate. Sadly the internally the 5.25" drive bays have their covers held in place using small pieces of metal which means once removed they are unable to be replaced.
Cooler Master has added the ability to expand the cooling ability of the Elite 371 greatly. No where is this more apparent then the top of the Elite 371 where to empty spots for optional 120mm fans are containted. These also have a smaller mesh cover under them to help keep dust out of a users newly built system.
The rear of the Elite 371 contains seven expansion slots so that most setups will work beautifully inside of this case. Sadly, the expansion slots are of a breakaway type, which can lead to some complications. The 120mm fan in the rear is the only fan that is included. It is a Cooler Master design rated at 1200RPM, with 44CFM and 19.8dBa.
Inside of the Cooler Master 371 you can see that there is plenty of room for placing large ATX motherboards and extra-long video cards. Sadly there is little cable management built into the Elite 371. The only way to keep cables out of the way is to run the longer cables through the drive bay first in order to shorten them a bit.
The backside of the Elite 371 is fairly unremarkable with very little in the way of useful traits. The opening to access the rear of a motherboard is large enough to use with even large coolers backplates. Closer Look: InteriorEven more important than the exterior is the interior of a case. A well designed case will help support a user's components, helping them perform their best by keeping them cool. At the same time a well-designed case will include features that will allow for future growth. This means they should have support for a multitude of components. Lastly, a well-designed case should be able to easily be built into and upgraded. No one wants a cases where adding a new hard drive requires removing half the system.
Cooler Master has provided plenty of room around the power supply. This translates into being able to fit an extra-long power supply into the Elite 371 easily. If a shorter power supply is used the extra space can be used for a fan to provide extra cooling. The vents under the power supply also feature a removable filter that can help keep some of the dust out of a system.
The Elite 371 hold five 3.5" hard drives internally. The two primary drives are held in place using a tools-free locking system. Cooler Master has also alleviated one of my biggest pet peeves by including locking mechanisms for both sides of the drives. Sadly Cooler Master only included two sets of the locks and therefore any more hard drives a user may want to use either need to be screwed in or will require buying more tool less mechanisms.
The 5.25" bays have a very simple locking mechanism that provides a study grip on your Optical Drives. Sadly, yet again Cooler Master has left part of the 5.25" bays without a locking mechanism.
I have found that in the past some tool less mechanism feel like they could easily be broken or would not hold my drive in place if I were to pick the case up. I found the mechanism used in the Elite 371 3.5" and accessory slot lacked this fragile or ineffective feeling, and was very impressed with the simple yet effective solution that Cooler Master had provided.
As previously stated there is little in way of cable management. Even if any openings where provided, with only a little over a 1/4" behind the motherboard there is no room to actually store leftover cables from a power supply. Cooler Master Elite 371 Final ThoughtsOverall I found building inside of the Cooler Master Elite 371 to be an enjoyable experience. For $49.99 Cooler Master has provided a very open design that can molded to a user's need based on the equipment that they have on hand. Theoretically the Elite 371 can hold even the highest end of video card and coolers including the AMD Radeon 6990, and the Scythe Mugen 2 Cooler. Cooler Master has also provided plenty of room for cooling expansion with room for up to six more fans of the 120mm or 140mm flavor. However everything is not perfect for the Elite 371 and there are some improvements that could be made. My biggest gripe with the Elite 371 is the lack of cable management that was given. Not only are there no openings through which to route cabling, the problem is further exacerbated by there only being 1/4" of room behind the motherboard. This means that not only will users be unable to route their cables, they will also be unable to merely hide their excess cabling. Secondly I feel that it would have been appropriate for Cooler Master to include enough tool less locking mechanisms for all of the 5.25" and 3.5" bays. Lastly, although this is a budget oriented case it would have been nice to include a intake fan in the front. This may add to the price but I feel in the end it will provide overall better experience for users.
Cooler Master Elite 371 ConclusionPerformance for a case is all about being able to run cool and quiet. I found that one fan provided adequate cooling for the relatively low powered parts I used. Nonetheless I would not feel comfortable putting higher end parts in the Elite 371 without first augmenting the cooling ability of the Elite 371. Although the only fan included is quiet, the light nature of the case means that much of the noise that my hard drives made was reverberated to the outside. Appearance is a subjective thing but I found that the appearance of the Elite 371 was something that I appreciated. With the matte black finish and simple exterior help the Elite 371 blend with many different environments. This is in contrast to the rather than the plastic, bright colored, visually obnoxious cases that many manufactures make. The Elite 371 for the most part was built very well. The only two areas where I had a problem with the build quality were both the expansion slots and the 5.25" bays. These areas use break away covers that in some cases can either leave sharp parts behind or bend the case entirely. Functionally the case was wonderful to build in and could easily accomidate the home NAS that was built into it. At the same time the ability of the Elite 371 to be able to take the largest of CPU coolers and video card makes this an ideal mainstream case in which to build a gaming machine. There are some areas that I would like Cooler Master to improve on. Most importantly I would like to see some form of cable managment to be included in the next interation of the Elite 371. At the same time it would be nice for Cooler Master to include enough tool less mechanisms to fill all of the 5.25" and 3.5" bays. Priced at $49.99 the Cooler Master Elite 371 brings many features to the table while not breaking the bank and at the same time leave lots of room for expansion. This means that a user can start with a cheaper case and slowly upgrade it with new hardware and fans as needed. At last we have a final verdict on the Elite 371. Overall the Elite 371 provides great space for a user to grow, allowing users to adding more cooling, bigger video cards, and the biggest of CPU coolers without breaking the bank. At the same time it is priced well at $49.99 providing all of these great features while staying within many users budget. There are some flaws with the Elite 371 though, the biggest being that the Elite 371 lacks any type of cable management meaning that user will quickly have rats nest of cables at the bottom of the case even with a modular power supply. None the less the Elite 371 is a wonderful mainstream case and that is why it has been awarded the Benchmark Reviews recommend product badge. Pros:
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Comments
It looks like Coolermaster is trying to fill every niche and void in their line-up.
Nice review Austin. Thanks.
I am really new to building computers and am starting one that includes this case. You seem to be really smart at this sort of stuff so I want to build my own computer for recording but I'm not sure what type of components that I want to go into this case. If it's possible could you please enlighten me with your knowledge and maybe make some suggestions?
Thanks