CM Storm Sniper

Packaging & Up-Close

Although packaging may not seem an obvious one when reviewing a case, due to their large size, packaging plays an important role in getting the case to your door in one piece.

CoolerMaster Sniper packaging CoolerMaster Sniper Packaging

As you can see, the front of the box has an image of the case, which is in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle. Round the back there is a CGI man with a sniper rifle, along with a list of case features. It has four images, which show the key selling points of the case and a cooling diagram. The whole box is coloured in a dark blue/black night effect gradient.
 
 CoolerMaster Sniper Packaging CoolerMaster Sniper Whole case

The case came wedged between two pieces of foam, holding it nice and secure within the box. Around the case is a thick plastic bag, which will help to prevent scratches. Once out of the bag, you can see the case in all its glory. It’s fairly symmetrical, with a large grill up top for expelling hot air and the side is almost entirely grilling.
 
CoolerMaster Sniper Front CoolerMaster Sniper Control Panel

The front of the casing is also dominated by massive grills; you get the impression that airflow probably won’t be a problem with this case. At the bottom, the big grill is for the mammoth 200mm fan, which should certainly keep things circulating inside.

Up top we have CM Storm’s revolutionary control panel. The big dial controls the speed of all the internal fans, and you push it in to activate/deactivate the LED’s on the fans. To the right we have the usual array of ports; 4x USB, Firewire, E-Sata, Headphone + Mic, HDD and Power LED’s.
 

CoolerMaster Sniper Side CoolerMaster Sniper Back

Surprsingly, the rear side of the case doesn’t feature any grills, but is sculptured in the same way as the front side of the case. The side panel is thick steel and has a solid, weighty feel to it. Round the back, the case follows a fairly standard layout. The PSU is mounted at the bottom, while there are two tubing holes up top for watercooling and a 120mm fan mount. Unusually, there is an eighth expansion slot cover. We can only assume this is so that you don’t waste precious motherboard slots when using back panel USB etc.
 
CoolerMaster Sniper Case Feet
The case has 4 fairly large feet, each coated in thick rubber. This gives the case excellent stability and grip on the surface it is put upon. Like many others, they also twist around so you can get optimise them for your desk setup.