Daily Reviews Summary 02/24/08

Cooler Master expands the COSMOS series with a new gaming variant of the popular chassis launch at CeBIT last year. So does the extreme edition bring in better performance and exciting new features? Find out as we push the new chassis kicking and screaming through the HEXUS labs.

The Cooler Master Cosmos S is an attractive and sleek case that looks even better than the standard Cosmos, holding its own in the higher end of the market when it comes to look. If the Antec P182 is just a little too plain for your tastes then the Cosmos S is an acceptable compromise between that and a Cooler Master Stacker 830 Custom.

Looking at the Cosmos as a whole, it’s clear to see that the re-design has mainly focused on improving the look and accessibility of the chassis rather than making the fan cooling capabilities more powerful. That’s a mixed blessing obviously, but to us the benefits of this door-less and funkier design (that looks great in champagne grey) outweighs the unimproved fan cooling. It's also worth bearing in mind that the Cosmos S seems more aimed at watercoolers too – there’s room for a self contained radiator and so forth in the top.

Simply put, the Cosmos S isn’t the best case we’ve ever seen and there are other chassis’ out there that can outpunch it in most areas – but we like the overall aesthetic and, if you’re a watercooler, it could be seen as great value for money (especially compared to the Silverstone TJ-07). However, when you consider that the Cosmos S is 25 percent more than the original Cosmos and doesn’t improve cooling performance, you have to ask whether that extra cost is worth it. We love the thought that has gone into the case’s design and some will definitely see value in the improvements made—especially on the watercooling front—but it’s not for every man and his dog.

The side panels of the Cooler Master Cosmos S are easy to remove and require no tools. To remove either side panel all you need to do is press an eject button on the back of the case. The panels pop off the sides and are easy to remove. Inside the case the drive bays are tool less as well. The same locking rails are used in the Cooler Master Cosmos S that owners of the Cosmos are familiar with.

Looking at the back of the cooler reveals the several different ports that power the cooler and provide the USB hub ability of the cooler. The farthest left USB port is used to connect to the computer while the other four USB ports can be used to plug in your USB accessories. The DC power connector seems like it might be used with a wall plug and a power inverter brick (like most laptops use as well as other electronics that use DC power). However, the way that the Cryo LX works is that you use a provided cable that goes from USB to the DC connector. This pulls a lot of power, however, and might not work with every laptop.

Today for review I've got what is probably the world's smallest Bluetooth USB adapter, it's not much bigger than a dime, and that's only because of the USB part of it, the actual Bluetooth chip is a fraction of the overall size. It's called the Super Mini Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR USB Adapter, but don't let it's diminutive size fool you, it's fully loaded, being Bluetooth v2.0with Enhanced Data Rate it allows for longer range and faster file transfers.

Many companies are now offering cases with a lot of clever features, but few are complete. Some are too far out, some could've used some more work, some are simply hideous. Some are just way too expensive, and some are simply lacking quality or distinguishing features. Hiper has attempted to avoid all of these traps, and here we will see if they've succeeded in doing so.