Cooler Master Centurion 5 vs 590 vs 690

M

Major Gains

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I'm trying to decide which case to use for my next build. I've narrowed it down to three: the ever popular CM Centurion 5, the newer 590 and the 690.

It seems that the 690 would have the best airflow since it comes with more fans and mesh top, but I imagine it's going to be louder too. The 690 is also taller. It's also more expensive than the other two.

The Centurion 5's been around a while and has near perfect reviews on Newegg, so its been proven and time tested, however, it has less fans, less space to work with and no cable management holes like the other two. The look is getting a little outdated.

The 590 is priced the same as the Centurion 5, has larger fans, also a mesh front. It's newer, but reviews look good so far. It seems large enough but not overwhelming for a simple build. It has cable management holes and a nice understated look to it.

What do you all think?
 
I think you ruled out the Centurion 5 in favor of the 590.

Now do you want to spend the extra on the 690?
 
I can't speak for the 690 but it was a toss up between the C5 vs 590 for me as well. In the end, I ended up with the "look" that I was going for, albeit I had most of the case custom powder coated. I'm extremely happy with my C5 but it's ultimately up to your individual needs and tastes in cases..


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I'd definitely go with the CM590 for the very reasons you stated.
 
The 590 also has fan vents on the top. Yep. I think I've just about talked myself into the 590. Thanks for the nudge towards that direction!
 
Having owned all three, started with a 5, moved to a 590, and then a 690, I would go for the 590. Its a very simple, yet effective design.

 
Yeah, that's what I like about it. Simple, yet effective, and it won't look crazy weird five years from now I don't think.
 
Well at first i would go for the 590 being it's so economical, but i would say the 690 has just better options for cable management and airflow. Also there's ways to control the fans, and you could get tri-cool fans from antec which come with speed adjustment those things on medium are totally inaudiable and still push a ton of air. 690 FTW!
 
Yeah I agree with everyone here too. I bought a CM C5 for my wife a couple of years ago but if the 590 is the same price as the 5, I would go for the 590 too. It has all the great features of the 5 but has evolved to the next level. If you can afford the 690 and like the larger size, that looks like one awesome case.
 
I own a Centurion 5 and a 590, and although I love both cases, the 590 is definitely better for cooling. I've got five fans in it right now, and it pushes a lot more air than my Centurion 5 can. Plus, the way the front is designed makes it very easy to customize things the way you want them. The Centurion 5 also makes it pretty much impossible to hide wires behind the mobo tray without doing any cutting, whereas the 590 has room for cables without any mods.
 
I have the good ol' C5, the 590, and a Lian Li V1000B... I recently moved everything from my V1000 into the 590... that's how much I like it :D Plus I got plans for the LiLi. I think the 590 looks more high end than the 690... just my opinion.
 
I have a 590, and as far as cooling goes, it's great. Although I wish the inside was black. It would make it that much more classy. The only thing to note would be that all the tool less options on the 590, like the purple clips for pci cards, are quite loose. I plan to replace everything with thumbscrews at some point. Otherwise it's a great case.
 
Building my i7 rig, I was going to build it in my P180, as I already had it. But looking at the cable management options, Im now ordering a 590. Thanks for the thread, as I hadnt looked into this option too much before.
 
officermartinez, that is an awesome case.

I have a 590 that is used for my HTPC server/webserver/fileserver/bittorrent box. It is keeping all the below hardware cool with one very quite 120mm fan:

2 x Hauppauge PVR500 Dual analog tuner PCI cards (4 tuners total)
1 x Hauppauge HVR1800 Digital Tuner
2 x IcyDock MB455SPF 5-in-3 Hotswap Bays
2 x 750GB Westernd Digital RE2 - Downloaded media Drives.
2 x 300GB Seagate - TV Recording drives
1 x 500GB Seagate - TV Recording drive
1 x 500GB Seagate - Backup data drive
1 x Lite-On DVD-RW
Athlon X2 4400+ 65w edition - downclocked 10% to 2ghz @ 24c right now.
Asus M2NE Motherboard
Promise 4-port Sata Raid controller
Zalman 9700 CPU fan at lowest fan speed.
2GB Corsair DDR2 800 Ram
600W Coolermaster power supply modded with low noise fan
 
nlancaster,

I had no idea multiple TV tuners were even possible. Do you just slice your cable four ways into each tuner?
 
I use an amplifed splitter to get the 2 cable inputs my system needs. The PVR-500 cards internally split that for 2 tuners. The HVR-1800 gets its signal from a desktop HDTV antenna.

As far as using multiple tuners make sure what ever mediacenter software you are using supports it. Older versions of XP media center only support 2 tuners. I believe Vista media center supports more then that.

I am using SageTV for my media center software. It is a client server system where you can have multiple systems controling tuners and playback from downloaded/ripped media.

My home system uses:

The above HTPC server, could be used as a Home theater PC as is but is a little to loud with 6 hard drives.
Hauppauge Media-MVP, standard resolution set top box client
2 Comptuers with SageTV client software
SageTV HD Media Extender, HD set top box client
And soon to be installed SageTV Cleint HTPC replacing the SageTV HD Media Extender.
 
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