Cooler Master N600 Case Review
Overview
Many Cooler Master cases have been reviewed here at pcGameware most made by CM Storm but today we look at Cooler Master’s newest case from the ‘N’ series, the N600. This version of the N600 comes with an optional glass window. It features 7 HDD bays and 5 SSD bays, so there should be no problems on storage despite the compact design. The case is designed to contain both ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards. There are 3 designated radiator locations within the case, 2 of which (the top and right side) support a 240mm radiator and in the rear there is support for a 120mm radiator. Also at the bottom of the case there is a 120mm fan slot should you want extra cooling.
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The Cooler Master N600 came well packaged in a predominantly white box with a large picture of the case itself on the front. Inside the box was the N600 case surrounded by polystyrene and covered with a clear plastic bag. The front of the box features an overview of the case and the back of the box highlights various features of the N600.
Inside the box we get our first peek at the N600 case, let’s see what else is inside the box…
Within the box there is a Quick Start Guide in numerous languages and an accessories box. Inside the accessories box are the following:
- x7 Drive Rails
- Bag of Assorted screws etc.
- Molex to 2-pin fan adapter
- x18 MBD/HDD screws
- x12 ODD/SSD screws
- x6 Cable ties
- Cooler Master’s most useful tool; the Stand-off Socket
At the time of writing the Cooler Master N600 retails at around £60.00 and comes with a 1 year warranty.
Specifications/Features
courtesy of Cooler Master
| Model | NSE-600-KKN1|KWN1|KKN2|KWN2 |
| Available Color | Midnight Black |
| Materials | Polymer, mesh front bezel |
| Dimensions | 207 x 455 x 520 mm / 8.1 x 17.9 x 18.9 inch |
| Net Weight | 8.1 kg / 17.8 lbs |
| M/B Type | microATX, ATX |
| 5.25″ Drive Bays | 3 (exposed, with new tool-less design “EZ Tray”) |
| 3.5″ Drive Bays | 7 (hidden) |
| 2.5″ Drive Bays | 5 (hidden; 4 in the SSD cage, 1 behind the M/B tray) |
| I/O Panel | USB 3.0 x 2, USB 2.0 x 2, Audio In & Out (supports AC97 / HD Audio) |
| Expansion Slots | 7 |
| Cooling System | Top: 120/140mm fan x 2 (optional) Front: 120mm fan x 2 (one white LED XtraFlo installed, one optional), or 140mm fan x 1 (optional) – for KKN1/KWN1; with no LED XtraFlo – KKN2/KWN2 Rear: 120mm XtraFlo fan (no LED) x 1 (installed) Left Side: 120mm fan x 2 or 180/200mm fan x 1 (optional) – for KKN1/KKN2 only Right Side: 120mm fan x 1 (optional) Bottom: 120mm fan x 1 (optional) HDD cage: 120mm fan x 1 (optional) |
| Power Supply Type | Standard ATX PS2 |
| Maximum Compatibility | VGA card length: 430mm / 16.9 inch CPU cooler height: 167mm / 6.6 inch |
* Additional details available here
First Impressions
Although I do not think that the N600 is a particularly interesting looking case for gamers, there is no doubt that the case itself has a smart and sleek design.
The N600 is designed for optimum cooling and expandability and it supports up to 10 fans. There are 3 designated radiator positions within the case; to fit a radiator at the top of the case it has to be cooled by exterior fans! Another position (at the back) supports a 120mm radiator and the final position is a 240mm radiator in the back of the case. This means that if you have a 240mm fan you can only place it in the top of the case with the fans on the exterior (which will just look odd), or you have to place it at the back of the case. The N600 comes equipped with 2x120mm fans one in the front and one at the back.
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The front of the case features an in-built fan which can be seen at the top of the case behind the mesh. To make things easier whilst building into the case the front panel can be removed. The front panel also can be removed to change the location of the front fan, however in order to change the location of the fan you must remove the front panel first. Controls consist of the Power button, Disk Activity LED, Headphone port, Microphone port, x2 USB 3.0 ports, x2 USB 2.0 ports and a Reset button.
At the back of the case in the top left corner is a basic fan controller with Low/High settings. Also at the back of the case there is a single 120mm exhaust fan fitted as standard, just above this there are 2 water cooling holes. To the side of the 120mm exhaust fan is the main motherboard I/O Panel Shield cut-out. Underneath the I/O you will see 7 expansions slots, allowing the N600 to support both Quad SLI and Quad CrossFire, below this is the cut-out for the bottom mounted power supply.
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The left side of the case features a steel panel however, there is no window with this version of the N600. The back half of the left side supports an additional x2 120mm or x1 180mm fan, ideally placed for graphics card cooling. The panel is held by the usual thumb screws which I like as it gives easy accessibility to the case.
The right side panel is an all steel panel with little flexibility and is once again held in place by thumb screws.
At the top of the N600 there are mounting holes for a 240mm radiator, however, it states in the Installation Guide that in order to mount a radiator in this position the fans must be on the outside of the case. This seemed to be rather unusual and it was not something I was willing to do as I thought it would look a little stupid on top of the case. Only a small matter of a few extra millimetres here and there would make enough room inside the case to fit the fans. If you want to fit a 240mm radiator is seems the only real place to fit it is in the side, this was tested and a 240mm AIO Cooler (Cooler Master Seidon 240M) did indeed fit fine. Also, at the top of the case is a filter which can be removed for easy cleaning.
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The bottom of the N600 features 4 large feet which keep the case at roughly 10 mm above the floor. In addition to this, there is another filter that not only covers the PSU area but also covers an optional 120mm fan mount, although PSU cabling is likely to be an issue here.
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With the left side panel removed you get to see the interior within the N600 which I think is surprisingly roomy compared to the small looking exterior of the case. As there is lots of room in the case the cabling looked like it would be simple enough which is good. In the top right corner of the case, you can see that there are 3 Cooler Master’s ‘EZ-trays’ which are designed for holding up to 3 ODDs and no tool is required to remove these ODDs so that is always useful :). Just below the ‘EZ-tray’, we see the removable HDD/SDD combo cage which can contain up to 5 SSDs. During our installation this was deliberately removed to achieve optimum cooling for the case. The last tray at the very bottom can contain up to 3 HDDs.
With the right side panel removed you can see that the N600 is relatively roomy for cable management, and additionally there is an extra slot behind the Motherboard tray for an additional SSD.
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The picture on the left above shows the removed HDD/SSD combo cage and the repositioning of the 120mm intake fan from the bottom of the case to ensure optimum cooling of the graphics card. The picture on the right above shows a close up of Cooler Master’s ‘EZ-trays’.
The front panel can be easily removed just by giving a firm pull at the underneath of the bottom of the case. After removing all the panels of the case it was time to get on with the installation…
Hardware Installation
Installation of the components from theIntel Test Rig was relatively easy with the N600, despite its somewhat confused layout.
First the Corsair AX760i Power Supply was fitted, there’s plenty of space for it to fit and the upper case lip also helps hold it tightly in position. The ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional motherboard assembly (MB, CPU & RAM) was then installed inside the case, using both the stand-offs provided and Cooler Master’s useful stand-off socket (supplied).
Next a Raijintek Themis CPU Cooler was installed, this is a medium sized Air Cooler with a single 1800RPM fan. We found that the CPU cut-out at the back of the case is not big enough to have CPU Cooler back-plates fitted from the rear for our Ivy Bridge setup, which is a little frustrating to say the least, meaning a motherboard removal is the order of the day.
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The Graphics Card (EVGA GEFORCE GTX 780 SC) was added and finally the SSD. The SSD was fitted in a special position designed into the back of the motherboard tray, nice! Everything was wired up to the Motherboard with relative ease and the cable ties supplied came in handy when dealing with cables at the back of the case, overall the cabling of the case was simple and there was plenty of room to manoeuvre the cables around.
With all the components installed it was time to fire up the PC and start testing…
Testing Methodology/Setup
I will be using Prime95 and Core Temp to evaluate CPU temperatures.CPU performance testing was carried out using Prime95 to stress the CPU. Each run was timed at 15 mins and the max temperature reading for each core was noted. Testing was carried out at 4.3GHz to ensure we give the case some real work to do.
Hardware Performance
From a performance point of view the main area that we want to focus on is cooling. Let us take a look at the thermal statistics for the Cooler Master N600.
- CPU Cooling Results – (Intel Core i7-3770K @4.3GHz – 1.130 volts)
| Case | Ambient Temperature | CPU Temp (avg cores) | Delta Temperature |
| Cooler Master HAF XB | 24.00 | 81.00 | 57.00 |
| Cooler Master N600 | 23.00 | 87.50 | 64.50 |
* All case fans & CPU Cooler fans set to high
The default cooling for the N600 is relatively poor, when stress testing temperatures were almost too high to be comfortable (approaching 90 degrees). But this is to be expected as there is only two pre-installed fans within the case (x1 intake and x1 exhaust), however, the N600 is capable of holding up to 10 fans! Should you feel that the cooling performance is not adequate it is always possible to fit additional fans to the case. Out of the box performance may not be cool, but it is quiet…
The acoustic performance of the N600 is good and was practically inaudible (the noisiest thing being the CPU Cooler fan), perfect for both Gaming and general work. Overall the case is one of the quieter cases that I have come across but I don’t really find the sound of cases important unless, of course, it interrupts my gaming! ;).
Final Thoughts
Overall the Cooler Master N600
However, there were numerous issues with the design of the case. For instance, if you wanted to fit a 240mm radiator (the N600 apparently supports up to three) it has to be fitted in a rather unusual position in the side of the case; because according to the Installation Guide the fans have to be fitted on the exterior of the case to enable the radiator to take its usual position inside the top of the case! Also the backplate for the CPU Cooler can’t be fitted or removed without removing the entire motherboard due to the simple fact that the CPU cut-out is badly positioned. Unfortunately small things like this got noted down and effected the design score.
I felt like the case tried to be too clever for it’s own good in terms of storage and design, being a mismatch of many design ideas, due to this I think that the overall case design has been compromised.
Overall, I thought the case was adequate. But, if you’re looking for a smart looking case where you do not have high-end/overclocked components resulting in relatively low temperatures then maybe the Cooler Master N600 is the right case for you.
Verdict
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