CM Storm Scout 2 Advanced Review

Up Close:  Interior Overview

Unlike the Gun Metal Exterior the inter of the Scout 2 Advanced is finished in satin black.  We don't feel this detracts from the looks, in fact the two tone nature is actually more appealing to us than had the interior had the gun metal treatment.  The Scout 2 Advanced has a good sized CPU cut out, and although the rubber grommeted cable management holes are also quite large there are only 3 of them and they do not appear to be as well placed as they could be.  We guess we'll see when we get to the build.  The 3x5.25" drive bays are of course tool-less.  If you're planning to air cool this case then coolers with a maximum height of no greater than 162mm will fit just fine.

The HDD rack is located beneath the 5.25" bay.  The rack is able to house  7x3.5" drives with a pair of 2.5" drives being mounted via one of the 3,5" bays, again, another upgrade from the original Scout 2.  The rack comes in 2 sections, the upper most 4 drive section has mounting points for a 120mm fan on it's inner surface with the whole section detaching via the removal of 6 screws.  Removing the upper section ups the available GPU card length from 287mm to 399mm.  The lower 3 drive section is riveted to the base of the case  so if you want it out you'd best get busy with that drill.  If you really wanted to you could mod a 240mm rad to fit into this area however this would also mean chopping out the bottom of the lower 5.25" bay to allow clearance for the rad end tank.

The base of the case sports two large meshed ventilation areas.  Closest to the HDD rack there's a mount for a 120mm fan while posterior to that lies the intake area for the PSU.  Small foam topped steel nipples provide mounts of the PSU while a large grommetted cut out should make it simple to guide your cables out round the back of the case even with longer PSUs installed.  In a case that's designed to be carried around it's unusual that CM have chosen not to install a PSU strap.  Mounting the rear of the case we pass the 7 unvented PCI slot covers and a 120mm fan positioned as extract as you would expect.

As we saw from the outside the roof of the case is dominated by a large meshed ventilation area.  No fans are included in this position but should you wish you could fit in 2x120mm fans.  Sadly though there's not enough room to squeeze a rad up here as well as fans.

Last but by no means least the rear of Motherboard area.  Plain and simple, with a good 25mm of space and ample cable tie points (10 to be exact) anyone should be able to make a decent fist of a tidy job back here.  Our only concern is the pacing of those management holes.  we'll have to wait and see how things pan out when we get to the build.