Cooler Master Cosmos II 25th Anniversary Edition Review - Product Showcase - Exterior

 
The front panel features a rather rich utility / IO panel on the top that includes two USB 3.0 ports with standard motherboard headerslike USB 2.0 x 4, Audio In and Out. the older eSATA port has been removed. The top cover "covers" it up. But you can push that top cover backwards, have a peek at the next photo.

 
So the top latch can be pushed backwards after which you'll notice a variety of feather-touch buttons and LEDs. This actually is a fully fledged fan controller or, as Cooler Master call it, an Advanced Control Panel.
 

 
It comes with 4 channel fan speed control, power and a fan LED on/off switches. This little panel can be used for up to 10 fans and their respective LED lights in three zones. The panel is powered by a SATA power connector and then feeds the fans from the fan controller. For a fan controller, it really is a gorgeous one. Also, Coolermaster is including a LED strip which you can connect. We'll show you that in the final build photos though.
 

 
We quickly move back to the top, as the upper side can be removed. You loosen a thumbscrew, pull it out and you can access the dust filter or the fans / radiator or whatever you'd like to do there. Very handy.
 

 
Okay, back to the front side of the Cosmos II. If we move downwards a notch then we can see a sliding door covering some of the external drive bays, push it gently at the top and it will slide down slowly all by itself. Quite cool to see actually.
 

 
Once the door has been moved in the downwards position three 5.25" and two 3.5" bays are exposed, the bays have tool-free covers and dust filters. That might look a little on the skinny side, but on the inside you can house another massive eleven 3.5" devices !! Storage wise you may mount:

• 5.25" Drive Bay x 3
• 3.5" Drive Bay - 13 
• and/or 2.5" Drive Bay - 11 (these will be converted and inserted in the lower 3.5" cages)

Each of the bays takes 3.5" drives, the tool-free drive trays can accommodate 2.5" drives such as SSDs too. The lower group of bays is compartmentalized with a lid that can hold two 120 mm fans, while the upper group relies on the front-intake fans.

 
Included in the package are the standards like stand-off screws, cable-ties, extension CPU power connector (not in all black though?!) but as you can see, also a nice LED strip. We'll look at that in the system build though.