CoolerMaster CM 690 III Review

 

Up Close:  Base, Rear, Roof and Reverse

Circular mesh ventilation runs practically the full length of the base of the cae, stopping only when it reaches the drive bay area.  Inlaid into this myriad of ventilation holes can be found mounts for a 120mm fan as well as a 2.5″ drive. 

     

 

Four rubber pad topped dimples provide a secure mount for the PSU, with an elongated non grommeted cut out enabling the cables to exit to the rear.

     

 

The 690 II has room for 7 expansion cards in addition to an eighth that sits vertically alongside for non mobo PCI devices such as fan and lighting controllers.  Up in the top corner we find a CoolerMaster branded 120mm fan on extract duty.

     

 

Looking now at the roof from the inside we can see that the rectangular mesh is supported by a plastic elongated honeycomb pattern mesh.  The mounting holes for 120mm and 240mm fans can also be seen, as well as those for the optional 200mm fan off-set into the metal of the chassis in the image below right.  The holes for the 240mm fans are elongated allowing for varying inter hole pitch on radiators, and although  there are 140mm holes, you’re not going to be getting a 280 rad up here without a bit of modding.  But more of the water cooling options when we come to the build.

       

 

The reverse side of the 690 III is very well laid out  with 13 well distributed cable tie points, for example the row of tie points that run down the side of the vertical management holes and the sets of tie points around the slots for the rear mounted SSD. 

    

 

At first the 19mm of space back here seems a little worrying, and it would be were it not for the bulged side panel which will bring the total space available up to a more than adequate 27mm

    

 

There’s also plenty of room for managing what could be a multitude of power and SATA cables, should you choose to populate all the drive bays.