Coolermaster Cosmos or NZXT Zero?

Unixlord · June 1st, 2008, 09:57 PM

I'm changing my case due to increasing demands for space/expansion.
I have to decide between the Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos and the NZXT Zero (Too bad I can't get the tempest). These are my only options so even though there are better cases out there, they're not available to me.
For a case which will only use air cooling (I'm never going for watercooling). What's your opinion on this? (Disregarding the rather large price difference)

The things I like about the zero:
Aluminum construction (light weight)
Massive side intake
Proper HDD cooling
Lower price

The things I don't like:
The useless 80mm fan at the top (due to my large psu)
Some aspects of the design are flimsy/cheap
PSU is at the top (I prefer them at the bottom)

As for the cosmos it's a top quality case with only 3 flaws:
1)The price
2)It's heavy as heck
3)Airflow. The HDD cooling is a joke. It's like the HDD are placed in coffins with nowhere near enough airflow. This can be fixed but only after a good deal of modding.

**Regeneration** · June 1st, 2008, 10:22 PM

I never saw the NZXT Zero, but I wouldn’t go for the Cosmos - the price is too high. Actually, I today ordered a new case for myself as well, but I picked NZXT Lexa Redline.

Unixlord · June 1st, 2008, 10:51 PM

So have you owned NZXT cases before? Why did you pick the Lexa?

**Regeneration** · June 1st, 2008, 10:56 PM

Nope, I never had the chance to check NZXT's stuff, this is the first time. I picked it because of the price, look, design, positive reviews, etc..

Unixlord · June 1st, 2008, 11:11 PM

It's too small for my needs.

IModIntel · June 2nd, 2008, 01:46 PM

Well if you have the money I would definitely go with the Cosmos. Even though HDD cooling is bad (I agree I've seen it), if you HDDs don't get too hot it really doesn't matter. And if they do well like you said there is always a mod that can be done.

Unixlord · June 2nd, 2008, 05:46 PM

Yes I'll go for the Cosmos.
I've got the money and the required knowledge to mod it. All I need is a forklift for moving the case around.

Varroa · June 3rd, 2008, 01:42 PM

The cosmos is a large case and very quiet but overall cooling isn't very good. You can get around the HDD thing with some additional fans but case temps are higher than normal. Here is how I got the entire thing working for me:

Unixlord · June 3rd, 2008, 03:25 PM

Thank you for your post. Nice photo. Neat piece of wood to stop carpet dust insta-clogging the filters. Are those Noctua fans? Also have you done anything with the front? I'll enjoy modding this beast.

Mine will be place in open space and on tiles (I might have to put something under it to prevent accidental scratching of the tiles).

I'll be adding 3 additional 120mm intake fans. One on the bottom, one on the grilling to the left of the hard drives (blowing at the gpu) and one in the bottom 3 drive bays blowing across the motherboard, through my zalman cpu cooler and northbridge heatsink and out the 120mm exhaust.

About the extra bottom 120mm intake. I'm considering drilling and adding it outside (yeah sounds crazy but should be doable due to the raised bars) and removing the 2 HDD trays in the middle rather then getting rid of the bottom 3. This way I won't lose any future capacity.

I might change both bottom dust filter because my power supply pulls air from the back not the bottom (I'll block this one) and the other dust filter greatly reduces airflow in favor of better noise prevention (I'll make one that allows better airflow). There's also room for another 120mm on top of HDD enclosure but I haven't decided on that vs a horizontal intake or both.

Varroa · June 3rd, 2008, 04:36 PM

Yep, Noctua fans on the rads. The front is stock but there is a fan ontop of the HDD rack that you cannot see. I have two open bays (with the filtered covers) just above the HDD rack so that provides some air intake along with the 2 fans on the bottom. Here is a pick of the fan: