The camp is still reeling from the cost of our crushing legal defeat. We have raised £128.63 through a number of probably illegal methods and need another million to pay off our debts or go back to do some porridge. We have had our electricity cut off but the all important gas is still on (now we are cooking). There is little to smile about at the moment, or so we thought.

The boys over at Coolermaster have attempted to lift our spirits by offering us the chance to get our grubby little mitts on one of their premium cases. Today, the Parcel Force guy brought down a large cardboard box for us to sign for. At first, we suspected the review monkey of his usual trick of sending some bricks that we would have to pay the postage for but after a quick inspection, the weight of said box was well below either a single breeze block or pair of house bricks. Safe. There was also no postage to pay so we were extra happy.

Like small children, we bounded back into the office and set about unwrapping our newest toy. We sat around beaming for about 10 mins once we found out they had shipped us their latest ATC 201 server case. The unit came in a cardboard box, wrapped in plastic and was tightly packed with special foam cut-outs to hold it in place and also protect it. There looks like no chance that your delivery guy could damage this one but I do not underestimate the destructive powers of those boys.

First impressions are fantastic. We have been subjected to run-of-the-mill cases that retail around £50, they are all midi towers and come in that most elegant of colours - beige. This baby is totally different. It is tall, sleek grey and genuinly looks stunning. The front is brushed aluminium and the sides are a sort of gun metal grey colour. They do not feel like metal but the Coolermaster site states that the whole case is made from aluminium alloys so....

The case is 497 mm x 196 mm x 452 mm and weighs in at a surprisingly light 5 kg. There are 4 Y. S. Tech 80mm x 80mm x 25 mm fans that act as part of the ATC's "Active Thermal Convective System". The other part of the ATCS is the case itself which is meant to act as a type of radiator for the heat. It has 4 x 5.25" Bays (exposed), 2 x 3.5' Bays (exposed) and 4 x 3.5' Bays (hidden). It takes standard ATX motherboards. Right, that's enough copy and paste, time for more Chillblast ramblings.

Check out the facia look.

The grill hides two of the cases four fans sucking air in directly onto the motherboard but there is no dust filter which would have been nice. The power button is large but it does not have enough resistance for my liking, it is a small point but as ever the details are everything. The next little complaint is the reset button. It is tiny and you need to use the tip of your nail to depress it fully. I assume that it is so small to avoid any accidental resets but we are all adults here (well obviously not HERE but you guys must be). Coolermaster have helpfully added two USB ports onto the front of the case which, for us at least, is invaluable. It is a real pain to keep ferreting around the back, plugging and unplugging mice, scanners, microscope, digital camera, video camera etc.

Round the back it's more fun. The obvious points here are the thumb screws, so beloved by those who spend any time inside their rig. They are easy to manipulate and reduce the time taken to open or close the case. They are also handy as their size negates their being used in any other part of the PC and therefore you will not be left a couple of screws short as always happens when re-assembling. There are five more thumbies which when undone allow the whole tray to be removed but more about that later kids. One more Y. S. Tech fan which is an extractor and a grill bottom left, whose purpose is circulation enhancement (I would guess).

The top is pretty mundane but you can remove it (and need to in order to insert PSU), the last fan is situated here and is also an extractor, taking away the hot air that has risen to the top of the case. Sides? Well they are on the side and the bottom has four non-slip feet with a perforation for the speaker.

OK, let's get our hands dirty (dirtier). Off with the thumbscrews, slide off the sides and lo, admire the shiny interior.

DOH! Printed material, that means thought is required, luckily it is only a warning regarding the wiring of the USB lead. There does not seem to be an industry standard for this so you do need to verify with your mobo guide to see if the wiring is the same.. Other than that there is the mandatory bag of assorted metal thingies (screws and mobo retention clips). More thumbies for attaching cards and the USB lead.

Mandatory comparative shots against our old war horse.

Taller, longer and thinner.

Installation

The bane of our lives is the constant irritation associated with attaching new cpu coolers for testing. The process is slow and tricky, with the sides needing unscrewing, remove power chord, unscrew cards and pull out drive ribbons. The ATCS 201 has the superb pull out tray design which let's you keep the cards in place and remove pretty much the whole rig. The tray is guided along plastic runners that are easy to guide the tray into. Smashing. To put the rig in the new case was a doddle. Attach the little mobo lifter clips, screw on mobo and then attach cards using their divine thumb screws.

The problems that I encountered where two fold. I spent 10 mins trying to insert the PSU. It wouldn't fit through the front or the back. There weren't any screws to detach the frame and I was becoming desperate. After a few minutes of worrying I noticed the cut-out in the ceiling of the inner frame and so realised that you are meant to put it in through the top. Damn I'm stoooopid. Second problem was far more manufacture orientated. I was only able to remove one of the floppy covers as the screws on the other were just turning but not moving. Not a big thing as you could probably remove them using a bit more force but you shouldn't need to. Apart from those two things I found the whole process very simple. The only damage I sustained was a nasty finger gash, caused by the mobo retainer on the old case. There were no lacerating edges in the case.

Test Rig

Duron 700

Abit KT7A-RAID

2*128 Mb PC133 CL2

Voodoo 3 3000 PCI

Maxtor 6 Gig HD

Enermax EG 365P-VE

The PC is the same one used for all the cooler reviews.

The ambient room temperature was kept at 22C +/- 1C (ta BlitZ), if this changed we stopped testing until it had returned to this base level.

Noise

As our old case had no fans in it, the level of noise it produced was zero. Tricky calculation that. We took the sound level from 15 and 150 cm away from the side of the case, going on the assumtion that you would be seated to one side of it.

The fans are all low speed and therefore emit low noise levels. I am quite sensitive to noise levels but was completely at ease with the 201 beside me.

Performance

The case is called ATCS, so we need to test if the system has any effect upon the actual temperature inside it. In order to do this, we ran the system in both cases for 1hr doing loops of 3D Mark 2000. Then we measured the system temp using the hardware monitor. The only air flow in our old case was caused by the cpu cooler and the Enermax PSU dual fans.

Well, what can you say? A clear 4C difference between these two contenders is a great result. The 201 does have 4 fans working for it but that's what it is all about. I can't vouch for the sides "radiating" more heat than a normal case.

Conclusion

The Coolermaster is an amazingly beautiful case. It is a luxury item and should be judged accordingly. The ATCS system is very effective and the noise level is so low as to be called unobtrusive.

If a case is just a receptacle for your rig then you will be happy with a cardboard box so how come you have got to this part of the review?

For hardcore overclockers, buy a £40 case, cut holes in it, stick in some noisier fans and you may have a slightly more effective cooling system but there will still be a mundane looking beige case with dremel scrapes on it. For the rest of us, save some pennies, splash the cash and you'll spend a lot of time just admiring your new lifetime friend.

Forgot the crap that some people write about the "value" of cases. As we all know, something's value is the amount people are willing to pay for it. There are a number of cheaper imitations in the market but in our opinion, Coolermaster's quality shines through and is second to none. We have no reservations in awarding the ATCS 201, the Chillblast case crown. Respect.

The final Chillblast rating is *********

Coolermaster's site can be found at www.coolermaster.com

BUY ME! £219.99 / $317.89 from our Online Store

Once again, we send a dove of thanks to the Coolermaster crew who give so much yet ask for nothing..

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