3-Way Budget Case Roundup - PAGE 9

To be fully honest, going into this review I wasn't expecting much from these cases and assumed they would be more or less your average budget case, with average budget features. However, after spending just a few minutes examining the cases and looking at the included features, design and aesthetics, my preconceptions did a complete 180.

The first case we looked at in this roundup was the Cooler Master Centurion 5 II Red Edition, which besides having an extremely long name, was a decent and well round case. The plain, yet elegant black metal chassis with a perforated plastic front panel added to the visual appeal and also aids in thermal performance. What really made the case stand out was the red interior and exterior accents. This makes a nice contrast between the red and black, giving the case a unique look.

The Centurion 5 can accommodate up to five 3.5" hard drive and four 5.25" optical drives, and it also supports dual 2.5" SSDs. This gives the case plenty of expansion options for a budget chassis, but we did run into a space issue with larger graphics cards. While we were installing our components inside the case, we discovered the Centurion 5 II didn't have enough clearance to support a 10.5 inch graphics card. This reduces the expansion options available to gamers, as there won't be enough clearance for graphics cards such as the GTX 570, GTX 580, HD 6950 and even some older cards such as the GTX 260.

Even with the limited graphics card support, the Centurion 5 is a well rounded case that could nicely accommodate any decent entry to mid-level rig. Currently the MSRP of the case is $59.99, which is quite good considering the custom paint job and feature set.