A Closer Look - Outside

Upon a first look, the Cosmos II 25th Anniversary Edition looks very similar to the last generation of the chassis in terms of design. However, unlike the Cosmos II from 2012, the handles and feet, which are made out of aluminum, are not protected out of the box, though the movable panels in the front and top are.


Taking a look at the front of the chassis, it essentially looks identical to the Cosmos II. A sliding mechanism, held in place by magnets, covers the top drive bays once again. In the rear, you will find the chassis exterior to extend beyond the frame and interior, along with a bottom-mounted PSU bay. From this angle, the updated Cosmos II also looks identical to the original from 2012, aside from the different color combination.


Looking at the side panels, these are made out of tempered, tinted glass, which is actually bent to give the updated Cosmos II that bulky, menacing look. While many manufacturers are going for glass panels these days, Cooler Master is taking it a step further as the bend is quite the hard aspect to achieve.


The bottom half of the front is covered by metal mesh, which you may remove for cleaning and to gain access to the fans in the front. Right out of the box, there is a 200 mm, LED-equipped unit here, set to pull air inside and across the hard drives.


In the top, you will find three 5.25-inch drive bays and two 3.5-inch hot-swap ones. The latter can be locked and Cooler Master provides a pair of keys for each of these. Four USB 2.0, a pair of USB 3.0, and audio connectors have been placed at the very top of the front. In the original Cosmos II, there was also an eSATA port, which is now extinct. Instead, it would have been nice to have an HDMI port here, for example. Sure, it is is quite niche, but the updated Cosmos II presents 25 years of innovation from Cooler Master, so it would have been a befitting addition. On top of that, Cooler Master should have made all six USB ports of the 3.0 variety and with dual connectors at their other ends, as that would be a step up from the five-year-old Cosmos II.


Turning this heavy case around, we have the PSU bay, which extends outward of the chassis a bit, on the very bottom. Above that are ten motherboard expansion bays, each protected by a separate cover in addition to a single vertical one off to the side. In the very top is a 140 mm exhaust fan. This shows how wide the chassis is, as there are very few cases that can hold a cooling unit of this size in this spot. There are no screws holding the side panels in place. Instead, the doors are held in place by spring-loaded hooks that can be pushed down to release each panel, with the plastic parts visible to both sides of the expansion slots.


Looking at the top panel brings you right back to the original Cosmos II. A sliding cover reveals the control panel, which features the same button layout and type as many of you may remember from the Motorola Razer phones back in the day. This was already pretty cool five years ago and still is today. Here, you may control the speeds of various fans within the chassis separately, or toggle the LED-equipped fan lighting on/off.


Behind that is a plastic/mesh cover which reveals quite some free space. This should allow you to equip the Cosmos II with fans above the case frame and a radiator below it. Due to the construction, you may place a 240 mm or 360 mm radiator here.