Coolermaster Centurion 530 and 531

The Centurion 530 is mean, black monster. It has a grille front and stealthed 5.25" drive capability.

It's pretty heavy, but certainly not as heavy as an all-steel chassis The aluminium side panels really make a difference in this respect. There are two plastic-metal bars at the side which give it a fairly distinctive look, and also make for great carry handles (if you don't mind carrying your PC on its side!)


The little Centurion badge is alu, and purely for decoration.


The stealthed drives, however, are far more useful. The top two bays have "auto-stealth", meaning they come pre-fitted with flip-down panels for tray-loading DVD drives, and the buttons are sufficiently chunky and usable. On the top of the case are the ports and switches. Whether you like them on top will depend on how you like your tower case - if you have it on the floor, then great; if you have it on your desk, it'll be a pain in the butt. However, since the reverse is true with ports at the bottom of the case, it's horses for courses.


The front of the case comes off via some interior clips, allowing full access to the front. On the right, you can see the levers that operate the buttons on your optical drives.


A nice touch is that this case includes air filters for the grille. Drive bays and the air intake have a thin layer of foam to prevent too much dust getting in. This doesn't make a huge difference to the airflow of the 120mm, which is impressive.