Introduction

Quick Look
Cooler Master ATC-201A	The Good
	+ 1.0mm Aluminum Chassis + Slick Finish + Front Panel USB + Thumbscrews + 100mm Air Guide
	The Bad
	- Expensive - Some sharp edges

Quite recently computers have started looking as good as the equipment in them. Aluminum dominates the high end case industry as the predominate material for production. Cooler Master recently sent us a case as an update to their ATCS value series enthusiast cases. The ATC-201A is the product of the Cooler Master adaptation of an Intel reference design, hence the P4 3.2+ GHz rating.  With this joint venture there are several additions to the original ATC-201, which make this case distinguish itself from its predecessor.

The ATC-201A is Cooler Master's latest addition to their Active Thermal Convective System line of cases, which basically Cooler Master's denotation of heat dissipation through the entire aluminum structure.  Two days ago we took a look at the Ahanix dBox, a case known for its innovative LED panel.  Today we are taking a look at a different approach to high end case design with Cooler Master’s high performance chasis.

Construction

From the front, the first impression we got from the ATC-201A was that the case looked like a regular aluminum with the addition of a meshed fan grill.  From the side, however, the ATC-201A really demonstrates a lush paneling job that really looks like it belongs on a car.  Just for a little piece of mind, the panels are also scratch and dent resistant.  The front bezel of the case is made out of thicker brushed aluminum, with matching drive bay covers.  Interesting to see on a value case were similar home audio feet which we also noted on the Lian Li PC-9300 we reviewed last month.  Unfortunately, since this is a much bigger case than the PC-9300, these feet can be damaged fairly easily, so some care should be taken while handling the unit.

Click to Enlarge

The striking feature of this case is the side mounted heat duct. It also has a 100mm air guide, which supposedly allows the heatsink fan to take in air much more quietly and efficiently. Our benchmark should prove or disprove if Cooler Master can in fact hold true to this claim. 

The entire case is almost tool-free; the only need for screwdrivers include drive mounting and the power supply. The peripheral cards are also installed with the assistance of thumbscrews.  The tray is attached to the case by 4 thumbscrews. The tray comes out with the motherboard portion, and the peripheral slots, similar to the Kingwin KT-463. Another feature that helps out greatly is the motherboard tray, which makes motherboard installation quite easy.

All of the edges on the inside of the case are smoothed out to get rid of the chance of cuts.  There are a couple of small spots in which cuts can happen around the 5.25” drive bays, but they are small and should not pose a problem during typical construction.

Click to Enlarge

The case came with only one rear exhaust fan, and one top mounted exhaust. The hard drive bays are positioned in front of the 3.5" drive bays, which should help keep the hard drives cool. The placement of the rear exhaust is right next to the CPU duct, which blocks air for exhaust, and this should affect its performance negatively.

Click to Enlarge

The ATC-201 takes up a mid-tower ATX footprint at 196 mm x 452 mm x 497mm (WHD), and should be able to fit any ATX motherboards.

Breakdown

Click to Enlarge

1 No power supply 2 Drive bays x 4 4 x 5.25” External Drive Bay 2 x 3.5” External Drive Bays 4 x 3.5” Internal Drive Bays   3 80x80x25mm, 1 x Rear Exhaust fan 4 80x80x25mm, 1 x Top Exhaust fan 5 80x80x25mm, 2 x Front Intake fan 6 Side Duct with 100mm Air Guide 7 Forward USB inputs 8 Removable motherboard tray

Features

The Air Guide is the most interesting feature of this case, and it should pay a large part on the deciding factor on its performance. Air Guide is a product which Cooler Master has created in partnership with Intel, the Air Guide is a 100mm plastic frame around a fan or in our case, the duct. The purpose of the Air Guide is the allow air to flow into the duct with less turbulence and therefore reducing the noise that is created. It also allows the fan to get a steadier flow into the heatsink fan. We will talk more about the Air Guide later in this article.

Almost every quality case these days has forward USB ports. The ATC-201 is no exception. Two small, forward adaptors are present in the lower corner of the unit, which is covered by a spring hinged cover, which adds show to the case. Almost everything on the case was removable by thumbscrews, which we have also come to accept as the standard for high end cases.

The top exhaust fan is present with a filter over it. Even though the filter is removable, it requires work to do so. The front intake fans are also covered by a filter, but just like the top exhaust, it is difficult to remove. The effectiveness of both of these filters are questionable because they are made out of metal and fairly open. They are not going to catch most of the dust that usually collects inside a computer.

Click to Enlarge

The ATC-201A features a removable motherboard tray which we know assists greatly in the installation of a motherboard. Unfortunately, the tray catches on the rails on which it slides, so it doesn't glide as well on the rails as hoped. Fortunately, this is only a minor annoyance rather than a severe problem. On the positive side, all of the peripheral cards can be left in place while removing and installing the motherboard tray, similar to the previously reviewed Kingwin case. Even though their removable tray design isn't perfect, Cooler Master still deserves credit for designing a fairly elegant tray setup without knocking off someone else's removable tray setup.

Click to Enlarge

This case did not have any fan controls which many cases of this caliber have started offering. It would have been a welcomed addition if it was included. With the recent flood of fan controls on the market, you may want to invest an additional few dollars to turn down the case fans at night or other times when they are not needed. Since this is a "high performance" chasis, we really would have liked to have seen Cooler Master offer some fan control option.

Benchmark

We have a few heat and sound intensive tests lined up for the Cooler Master ATC 201A.  The Heatsink reading is actually the temperature inside the heatsink.  CPU temperature is also recorded.  All temperature is recorded in degrees Celsius.  The heat tests were each performed inside the closed case with the external temperature of 23.0 degrees Celsius, during a full system load.  Our test bed consists of:

The thermal readings for the different components during operation were as followed:

Cooler Master 201A

Kingwin KT-436-WM

We can see that the temperature reduction claims that Cooler Master makes are indeed true. The internal temperature of the unit suffers a little because of the poor placement of the sole rear exhaust fan.  However, we can see that the CPU temperature is dramatically lower.  Even though the ATC-201A was collaboration between Intel and Cooler Master, there is no reason why it should not provide full functionality to an AMD CPU as well.

Sound is recorded in decibels from 12” away from the closed case to most accurately replicate a production system.

The ATC-201A demonstrated itself fairly competitive to the KT-463 case, but at the sacrifice of internal temperature and sound.  The lower performance in noise is obviously due to the near exposed HSF, which is only separated from the outside by a thin fan grille. Since we use a very loud HSF combo to test our units, a Zalman or Swiftech unit would significantly lower the total noise of the case.

Closing Thoughts

Cooler Master has come up with a high end solution, with mixed results. The ATC-201A features are excellent for a value oriented enthusiast case, but the price is fairly high at approximately 180USD.  If the ATC-201A retailed for approximately the same price as the KT-463 we previously reviewed, we would give it a much higher recommendation.

The ATC-201A is useful for any enthusiast, as it provides ample amount of drive bays, good performance, and pretty much any of the bells and whistles we have come to expect in a high end case. The case is easy to use and it just as easy to setup and get running.  There was a noticeable advantage of the Air Guide during our benchmark, and that really helped our overall impression of the unit.  If you do not mind the additional noise, the Air Guide is really a good feature for an aspiring overclocker.

We would have liked to see additional exhaust capabilities of the unit, especially since we got great performance out on the CPU and HSF.  The case does not have provisions for extra exhaust fans, but the rear fan could be easily replaced with a more powerful unit. Other than that, the unit has a great sleek feel, and the craftsmanship is on par with anything we could expect from Cooler Master. This case will definately hurt your wallet, but we have to acknowledge that it is an excellent piece of craftsmanship.

Cooler Master has demonstrated itself as one of the premier high end cases manufactures time and time again.  The tradeoff to premier performance is a premier price.  You are going to pay a lot for this case, but because of the level of quality, this case will definitely last a long time.