Went from Antec 900 to CM Cosmos

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xp3nd4bl3

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
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I liked my Antec Nine Hundred. The case looked good and it moved a ton of air. Unfortunately the more stuff I put in my system the harder it was to work with. The case was just too damn small and it was way to hard to work with. The other thing that pissed me off was that all my HDD heat went straight onto my GPUs. I finally decided to try out the Cosmos and I have to say, I love this case. As others have said the build quality is excellent. What I like most about it is the damn size. The case is MONSTROUS! As you can see here it clearly dwarfs my Mac which I previously thought to be large.

cosmos%20external.JPG


But what I really like is the space and layout INSIDE the case. Here's what my old case looked like

Antec900.jpg


It's hard to tell from the lighting but the cabling was a mess and there was no good way to do it. It really bothered me. Here's the same hardware in my new Cosmos.

Cosmos.jpg


Much better. Clean and easy to work with. I'm really happy with it.

One of my main concerns with this case was all the bad reviews saying it does a poor job with air cooling. I found this to be true. My normal overclocks became unstable in the Cosmos. When I looked around I saw that the fans that came with the system barely moved any air at all. It's clear that they sacrificed performance by shooting for silence. I took my Scythe SFDB fans out of my old Nine Hundred and swapped them into the Cosmos and it immediately made a HUGE difference. I'm stable again and I can't really tell a huge difference in temps between the Nine Hundred and the Cosmos.

Fans.jpg


With the same fans that were in my Antec Nine Hundred the Cosmos is significantly quieter. The noise is now barely noticable vs. slightly obstructive.

Overall I'm really happy with this case choice. If you're on the fence on this one do it, just put better fans in it.
 
Wow very nice post! Me love the pics :D
Do you know exactly how much the Cosmos case weighs?
 
BX_TECH_GOD said:
Wow very nice post! Me love the pics :D
Do you know exactly how much the Cosmos case weighs?
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Unfortunately I didn't weight it before I loaded it up. UPS said 46 LBS and there wasn't much in the box but the case. Loaded with all my stuff (including 4 HDD's and 1 CDROM) it weighs in at 61.8 LBS.

LAN partiers need not apply, apparently.
 
Awesome wiring job, and awesome review!

LOL.. now I want to replace my 900 with a Cosmos. Been itching to find a new case, I wanted to get the new Tt SopranoFX, but I have not heard anything when the release date is. Also, Antech announced the new 1200 which looks alot better, with fan filters, but who knows when thats released either.

hmmm... onto find a Cosmos on newegg. What'd you pay?
 
Also, it doesn't have a clear side window, which I like, any way to order a side window for the Cosmos?
 
Beautiful interior! What is that fan type thing right in front of the power supply?
 
skadebo said:
Beautiful interior! What is that fan type thing right in front of the power supply?
Click to expand...

It's a bottom mount intake fan. Seems to work pretty well, and includes a fan filter that can easily be taken out for cleaning.
 
patlo said:
Can you post some more pictures?
Click to expand...

Here you go, this should give a better idea of how much space is in this thing. There's tons of room for both a reservoir and a pump in here, as well as a lot of space above the GPUs for water blocks. It tempts me to go back to h2o.

Cosmos%20001.jpg


Cosmos%20003.jpg


Here's what the side panels look like.

Cosmos%20008.jpg
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
Here you go, this should give a better idea of how much space is in this thing. There's tons of room for both a reservoir and a pump in here, as well as a lot of space above the GPUs for water blocks. It tempts me to go back to h2o.

First Pic
Click to expand...

Whoa! Never seen that perspective in an interior shot, haha!
 
Nice job wiring. That case is HUGE! I mean I thought the Antec 900 was big but I guess I'm mistaken.
 
what a gorgeous case, the Cosmos is the only thing I would ever ditch my stacker t01 for
 
kelim said:
Could people with this case post some temperatures? Thanks.
Click to expand...

in an ambient of 18c my temps are

idle=35-34-28-28

load=50-49-43-43

thats with the CPU running at 3ghz and its a B3 Quad.

GPU temps(8800GT)

idle=44c

load=64c load

NB

idle=25c
load=30c

SB
its a very good case for cooling, and people who say otherwise are either a) not using the case flow properly(bad cabling etc) or looking for a miracle.

hope that helps, it really is an amazing case! and looks sh!t hot:cool:
 
Nice case, definitely more room than my A900. Is the cosmos still around $200?


p.s. I love computer pr0n!
 
squares said:
How do the temps compare to your antec 900?
Click to expand...

I can't speak for the hard drives as they're not seeing any air flowing. There's an optional fan bracket for the HDDs but I'm not really worried with that. The rest of the system is seeing temps about on par with the 900 after I replaced the fans. The bottom-mount fan is pretty cool, it's intaking directly from underneath the case and it's somewhat directional so it's pointing straight to the back of the GPUs.
 
Tiberius said:
Nice case, definitely more room than my A900. Is the cosmos still around $200?
Click to expand...

iirc they had the cosmos for around 100 after rebate a few weeks back. i was tempted to jump on it, but i had bought a new case during the summer, and am broke :(
 
I'm in the same boat, I bought the A900 during black Friday. Cant justify spending money on a case so soon afterwards.


cesium666 said:
iirc they had the cosmos for around 100 after rebate a few weeks back. i was tempted to jump on it, but i had bought a new case during the summer, and am broke :(
Click to expand...
 
Ru7hl355 said:
in an ambient of 18c my temps are

idle=35-34-28-28

load=50-49-43-43

thats with the CPU running at 3ghz and its a B3 Quad.

GPU temps(8800GT)

idle=44c

load=64c load

NB

idle=25c
load=30c

SB
its a very good case for cooling, and people who say otherwise are either a) not using the case flow properly(bad cabling etc) or looking for a miracle.

hope that helps, it really is an amazing case! and looks sh!t hot:cool:
Click to expand...

umm those temps seem average to me but overal not bad. my main concern with the case is where the PSU is located right next to your gfx card. doesnt the psu draw alot of heat and doesnt heat generely rises?

with the p182. it had a divider that seperates the psu from the rest of the components inside.so your getting around 30c indle inside your case? i get around 27-30 on my old chieftec matrix tower and i only have 4 80mm fans. two on my custom made side panel and two at the back of the case
 
Nice case, you think the Antec 900 was small. Im still useing a Super lanboy. But upgrading to a Thermaltake armor soon.;)
 
jonneymendoza said:
umm those temps seem average to me but overal not bad. my main concern with the case is where the PSU is located right next to your gfx card. doesnt the psu draw alot of heat and doesnt heat generely rises?

with the p182. it had a divider that seperates the psu from the rest of the components inside.so your getting around 30c indle inside your case? i get around 27-30 on my old chieftec matrix tower and i only have 4 80mm fans. two on my custom made side panel and two at the back of the case
Click to expand...

average! what you running? B3's run hotter than g0 quads.

and the GPU temps are at 29% fan speed. if i crank it up top 100%(loud!!!) id drops below 40c and load never goes above 55c.


psu has its own dedicated airflow, and i dont feel any heat on the top of it at all.:rolleyes:
 
Ru7hl355 said:
average! what you running? B3's run hotter than g0 quads.

and the GPU temps are at 29% fan speed. if i crank it up top 100%(loud!!!) id drops below 40c and load never goes above 55c.


psu has its own dedicated airflow, and i dont feel any heat on the top of it at all.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

im running a old p4 northwood. maybe that cpu is cooler but i doubt it has im sure norhwood's generate more heat? i could be wrong but on my case i get roughly the same temps has u and if u see my case. my cables are all over the place restricting air flow even more. take into the fact that im using 4 80MM fans which pulls and push less air then your 120mm fans
 
<---Hugs his Cosmos.

I need to get better fans for my case as well. I had to drop my OC from 3.6 to 3.0 to keep it stable. Does anyone have suggestions for really good, relatively quiet, variable speed 120mm fans?

I though about going back to my old case but this one is so roomy, it's a joy to work in and to be honest, I don't think I lost any real performance going from 3.6 down to 3.0 except in win rar.
 
jonneymendoza said:
im running a old p4 northwood. maybe that cpu is cooler but i doubt it has im sure norhwood's generate more heat? i could be wrong but on my case i get roughly the same temps has u and if u see my case. my cables are all over the place restricting air flow even more. take into the fact that im using 4 80MM fans which pulls and push less air then your 120mm fans
Click to expand...

it running @ 1.325v and 3ghz? im not saying its the best case for cooling, but those temps are exactly the same as they were in my Cm690.

B3 - 105w
G0 - 95w
p4 northwood - sure if its 0.13micron its 75-90w

25w difrrence minimum

the presotts ran hot, but you said its a northwood.

so i would say your temps are bad if your running same temps as me ;)
 
Ru7hl355 said:
it running @ 1.325v and 3ghz? im not saying its the best case for cooling, but those temps are exactly the same as they were in my Cm690.

B3 - 105w
G0 - 95w
p4 northwood - sure if its 0.13micron its 75-90w

25w difrrence minimum

the presotts ran hot, but you said its a northwood.

so i would say your temps are bad if your running same temps as me ;)
Click to expand...

hehe yea i wont be surprised if my temps are bad. my stock heatsink is full of dust :D. im planning on building a new rig anyway but with my current rig, i will use it has a htpc and may get rid of all the fans and just WATERCOOL THE bitch.

my cpu is not oc'ed at all and runs maybe at 50c idle and can reach around 60/70 on load :D its a 3.2ghz one
 
hehe nice, watercoolin is over rated now, thats why majority of people just air cool, including myself. dont see the need for it anymores.
 
so you think putting that heatsink on its side is helping with temps??
 
Excellent post. I finally found a good cosmos thread. I was immediately in awe at the case's looks and space, but once the hardware was in the temps were hot. At stock "everything," temps were idling at:

CPU / GPU / System
50 / 58 / 28

I know, I know. I reseated the heatsink (Zalman, 9500) with some arctic silver 5 and directed exhaust towards the top, instead of rear. CPU temp dropped to ~42 C. I installed an extra 80 mm fan pointed at the VGA card which lowered the GPU to ~52. Also removed the sound-proof foam, but not sure if that helped performance (it's definitely louder).

Im really not happy with the temps so far. I plan to replace two of my stock fans. Which fans should I replace...intake plus exhaust? or both exhaust? I think the former since I don't subscribe entirely to the negative pressure concept. I remove the side panel and the temps drop over 5 degrees.

Btw, I'm running a Q6600.
 
rnaplus said:
Excellent post. I finally found a good cosmos thread. I was immediately in awe at the case's looks and space, but once the hardware was in the temps were hot. At stock "everything," temps were idling at:

CPU / GPU / System
50 / 58 / 28

I know, I know. I reseated the heatsink (Zalman, 9500) with some arctic silver 5 and directed exhaust towards the top, instead of rear. CPU temp dropped to ~42 C. I installed an extra 80 mm fan pointed at the VGA card which lowered the GPU to ~52. Also removed the sound-proof foam, but not sure if that helped performance (it's definitely louder).

Im really not happy with the temps so far. I plan to replace two of my stock fans. Which fans should I replace...intake plus exhaust? or both exhaust? I think the former since I don't subscribe entirely to the negative pressure concept. I remove the side panel and the temps drop over 5 degrees.

Btw, I'm running a Q6600.
Click to expand...
thats why im a bit iffy in getting this case. most people say the cooling is bad
 
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