Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Case Review

1. Introduction2. CM Elite 120 Advanced: Packaging and Bundle3. CM Elite 120 Advanced: Exterior Design4. CM Elite 120 Advanced: Interior and Installation5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

Accessing the inside of the case is very simple indeed.  Rather than having separate side panels, the top and sides of the case are made from a single sheet of steel which is bent into an U-shape.  This is secured into place with three thumbscrews.

At the front of the chassis there are three 3.5″ hard drive bays and a single 5.25″ drive bay.  Two of the 3.5″ bays have 2.5″ drive adapters pre-installed for solid state drives.

The floor of the case also acts as the motherboard tray.  We have to install the four stand-offs before screwing the motherboard down into place.

If the CPU cooler features a backplate you'll need to attach it to the motherboard before installing it into the system as there isn't a cut out in the bottom of the case.  You will also need to consider that the case has very limited headroom for CPU coolers.  The only suitable model we had available at the time of review was the Intel Reference cooler.

After installing the motherboard into the system we set about getting the graphics card into place.  The case has plenty of room for performance graphics cards, providing they only occupy two slots.  There is a large vent in the side of the case which provides airflow to the graphics card.

Next we installed the power supply into the system.  We decided to challenge the case a little and see how it coped with a non-modular power supply.

We installed the Corsair GS800 which is highly regarded among gamers.  We no longer install optical drives into our test systems which was quite handy as we were able to use the 5.25″ bay to stow all the surplus cables. We managed to achieve a net build without restricting airflow too much.

Finally we installed our solid state drive into the system.  There are 2.5″ drive adapters are pre-installed into two of the 3.5″ bays which makes it easier to secure the drives into place.

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