Considering a new CM Storm Scout

I

Icejon

PC Club Mkt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 22, 2006
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I found information about the new Storm Scout I saw at CEBIT. It looks pretty rad, especially being a small case with a side window and support for dual fans. So I did a survey of Cooler Master's USA site and found a dead microsite. It looks like they did not go live yet. Looks like from the counter I found this site 46 days early!:D

I put the link on the picture below...


I love that CM Storm is bringing red LEDs which is pretty hardcore and original since my friends 900 has only blue LEDs.
 
Hmm, top of my list for my next build right now is the Sniper. Probably still is but that Scout looks pretty nice.

Good find!

Steve
 
Looks like one of the best mid-towers for lan parties.

My only concern is the cable management. It's doesn''t look like they provide enough holes to route cables behind the mobo tray.
 
It looks like a pimped-out CM690 (thats not a compliment). Internally, its very similar with some minor changes. Externally, they made it even uglier than a 690 and added a handle. Just my opinion, but I think Coolermaster is taking ugly case tips from Thermaltake and NZXT.
 
jedolley said:
It looks like a pimped-out CM690 (thats not a compliment).
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Maybe you have a point, however the 690 is much larger if you compare the specs in dimensions, its also narrower. CM Storm is a whole new brand from Cooler Master, and I think they are forging their own image from scratch. I've always liked CM cases, but none really seemed designed completely for gaming until Storm came out.

I think its pretty compact and designed for portability, not to stuff lotsa hardware into it. It would make a good 2nd computer. A guy who owns a retail store said they released pricing on the Scout, it will be $109.99. I think I will definately buy it compared to the $159 900 2 and the $129 Antec 900.
 
Icejon said:
I've always liked CM cases, but none really seemed designed completely for gaming until Storm came out.
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When it comes to cases, "to each his own" hold true. However, IMO a case cannot be designed specifically for gaming. The industry has this whacked-out idea that all gamers want their cases to look like robots and glow (mostly blue, but there have been other colors). In reality, the only thing you can do to a case to help gaming is too allow for decent air flow or make it WC friendly, and you can do that with out making the case look like a bad Paul Walker movie.

Like I mentioned in the beginning, "to each his own" and many people like this look for their case. I just really wish they would stop labeling this look, a "gaming" case.
 
jedolley said:
Like I mentioned in the beginning, "to each his own" and many people like this look for their case. I just really wish they would stop labeling this look, a "gaming" case.
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I agree with you man! For me gaming doesn't mean watercooling since I have to often ride public transit if I want to go to a LAN with my nephews and friends. A decent Antec 1200 or HAF 932 might be considered a gaming case by some because it is awesome to WC, but just might kill me to bring to a LAN party every week. Thats why I am partial to the handles and window.
 
OP, you do realize you can buy a couple Antec fan colors. Red/Green/Blue/
 
Newegg has this in stock now. Almost a week ahead of the advertised release date.

Steve
 
I'm a little interested in this case but definitely not for $20 over MSRP plus shipping. Come on Newegg you can do better than that!
 
i also haven't been able to find the storm scout or sniper on the CM site, but my mate just bought the sniper for his new rig, and its awesome. not the quietest case around (my other mates CM690 is way quieter) but looks awesome, and you can turn the blue LED's in the front and top 200mm fans off and on with the button on the fan controller. he was thinking about the scout, but decided to splurge on the sniper, and it was well worth it imo.
 
Damn, this is going to make deciding on a case difficult now. I actually really like the look of it vs. the Antec 900.

Anyone know why Newegg only has the single 120 exhaust fan listed and not the two 140's (intake and exhaust) that are supposed to come with it?
 
soundguy said:
i also haven't been able to find the storm scout or sniper on the CM site, but my mate just bought the sniper for his new rig, and its awesome. not the quietest case around (my other mates CM690 is way quieter) but looks awesome, and you can turn the blue LED's in the front and top 200mm fans off and on with the button on the fan controller. he was thinking about the scout, but decided to splurge on the sniper, and it was well worth it imo.
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I was set on getting the Sniper until I worked on my cousin's new computer. It's a wonderful case for cable management and stuff but it's just way too damn big.

Now I'm just waiting for the Scout to come down in price a bit and I'll be set.

Steve
 
I finally pulled the trigger on the Scout. It's definately sexy and my favorite part is the top handle. On the inside, it isn't much roomier than the Antec 900, but on the outside they are both about the same mass. $109.99 on newegg now!
 
saw this case at fry's. The picture does it better than in person.
 
I have this case and I like it. I am coming from a Lian Li v1200 Plus. The reason why I switched is because the LL v1200 is BTX form and I wasn't able to fit my True 120E the way I wanted to and due to that, I wasn't able to OC my CPU up to 3.6 for extended amount of time.

My pro's & con's are based on personal preferences.

Pro's:
Small
Light weight
Great Design
Easy to install & remove HDD's & Media drives
Opening underneath the CPU/HS area to allow you to change the HS w/o taking out the tray
Price

Con's:
Cable Management isn't that great but decent for a case this sized
Video Cards fits very tightly
PSU vent area in bottom needs to be moved to the right more
I would of preferred of having the option of mounting the side panel fans horizontally instead of vertically.
Had to remove top fan or I wouldn't of been able to use my True 120E.
Weak fans

The reason I wasn't able to mount two fans vertically is due to my True 120E. I would of been able to to do it, if I were to use a different HS. PSU area is awesome if you have a small non-modular PS, but if its longer. I would recommend a modular or you will have excess cable bundled up in a ball. I had to replace the fans that came with it because they didn't draw in enough air. Quiet they are but I'm willing to sacrifice a little noise to be able to get good airflow. When I had 260's in SLI, the temp's rose up compared to only having one card in there.

All in all, this is a great case if you like to lug your PC from place to place, designed nicely & its cheap. The only fixes I would like to see is a little more clearance on top to be able to use the top fan, maybe having 1" or 2" longer in length & better cable management. If I had to do it all over again, I should of went with the Storm Sniper. Since, I only paid $110, I'm a happy camper.
 
yeh, my mate is really happy that he went with the sniper, but i may well be going with the scout myself, just because of the size constraints of my desk...
 
M4rk said:
What do you mean by that? Curious. The picture does look good. It doesn't in-person?
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I'm not the one that said it first, but I do agree. I saw the case on display at the microcenter (yay for i7 sale) and I spent a few minutes to check it out as I had considered it at one point. The case isn't as black as it looks in the picture, it catches the light and turns a dark gray type color. Inside it looks small though I suppose it's normal.
 
in my opinion the dark grey is kinda a bonus i would prefer that black to be honest and what do you mean by looks small like my sniper case looks pretty big to me then again i have never owned a full tower.
 
I didn't look into the specs much since I already have my rocketfish, but it is a midtower correct? The Scout looked like it would snugly fit an ATX mobo with very little extra room, almost looked like the drive bays hang over the edge of the mobo actually. I'm not saying it's a bad or poorly constructed case by any means, it just wasn't quite what I expected. I'm a fan of metal cases and the outside was mostly plastic--I stopped considering it there.
 
the sniper is enourmous, especially compared to an antec 900 for example, but i dunno about the scout, and thats what i'm worried about, especially when mounting my NH-U12P...
 
The Scout is now even cheaper on Amazon! Below $100, forgot the exact price. Free shipping too!

So I bought one. :D
 
I am so close to getting one. I will be upgrading from an Antec Super Lanboy. I had an Antec 300 which I started modding for h2o, had everything done except for the painting and got too frustraded so I threw it out. That was an excellent case.
 
I am actually in the process of building a new system and had the option of re-using my old CM ATC 201-B for the build. While it was a very good case for its time, it does not have many of the features that are common in cases today. Instead I have selected the CM Scout to house my new build.

Probably the thing that impressed me most about the Scout when I saw it was its layout. I really like the placement of all the fans and overall I think I am going to have a great cooling setup with this case. Even though the front panel is made out of plastic, it looks well built with good filters. The whole panel pops off very easily for cleaning purposes (you can just soak the whole thing in warm water with dish soap and then rinse it). The only things I do not like about the layout is that it would be nice to have an extra 1/2" or so in some areas to give you a little more room to work with and tuck cables, I do like that fact that all the space is used very efficiently.

Probably the most noticeable shortcoming of the case is that there is a huge discrepancy in the quality of some of the parts used in its construction. In particular the rear expansion slot covers seem to be made out of a very cheap and seemingly brittle plastic, the 5.25" bay locks do not seem much better. It would have been nice if Coolermaster had given some of the smaller parts a little extra TLC in quality. Personally I would not mind paying the extra money for it as the layout is the major selling point of the case for me.

Overall am very happy with it, will post some pics when I finish my build.
 
great, i'd love to see pics of that. i do agree, even on the sniper, the drive locks were pretty flimsy... i'm pretty sure that my mate added screws into his optical drives as well as the holders, just in case...
 
Most parts have not arrived yet, but I am planning on making the Scout into a beast. Adding a Scythe Kama 5.25" bay fan since I am only currently going to be using one of the 5 slots and probably never more than 2 total. Also going to see about adding 1-2 more intake fans+filters on the clear panel section as well.

The only thing I am a bit torn on is adding some sort of filter to the 140mm blowhole fan. Will reduce airflow by a bit, but when the computer is not running it will help keep some dust out. If I did that, I would either have to fit a 120mm filter there or just essentially make my own out of another material. I've heard several suggestions ranging from dryer sheets to buying and cutting a section out of bug screening to pantyhose. The top area that the fan blows through already has two layers of grating (1 slotted plastic and the other large holes and 3mm or so metal holes in the layer beneath that), so I am worried about not having enough exhaust on the case if I add a filter. Would definitely appreciate some advice on the matter.
 
Exhaust doesn't matter, ever (to an extent, of course).

Let me repeat that: exhaust fans don't matter. As long as you have some, you're good to go.

Why? Because having more intake than exhaust fans normally creates a "positive pressure" effect. When this happens, air inside the case finds ANY way out of the case, even tiny cracks. This is a good thing!

Again, why? Because when air is exiting everything BUT the intake fans, then all you have to do to keep dust out of your system is put filters on the intakes!

As for your top fan, just put a piece of paper over your PC when it's off or something. That's what I do for my current CM590...which has two 140mm fans on top. ;)
 
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