Cooler Master Mystique 632 Case Review

[Beermaster]

Cooler Master Mystique 632 Case Review

Well after purchasing a case and getting it in really rough shape I was on the hunt for a new case, I wanted something in the mid sized range, stylish and functional. After I searched the web and my local retailers I stumbled across the Cooler Master Mystique 632, and thought that was the case for me, I did hum and hah a little because it didn’t have a window (I like windows) but I figured the window doesn’t add any real functionality so what the hell I bought it.

I purchased the case at my local retailer (Bcom Computers) for the steep price of $169.99 + 6% tax for a total of $180.19 a bit more then the online places, but as I said I wanted a case NOW lol.

So after getting home with the box I was first very impressed by the weight of this case, even with all the packaging. Total weight was in the box was 12.5 lbs. The box was beautiful and well labeled with all the specs and features of the case.

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The case was packaged okay with the Styrofoam ends and just wrapped in a clear plastic bag. Now most higher end cases are packed a little nicer with a more cloth like wrapper that is anti static, but this still served its purpose.

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Now with the Case unpacked I finally get to take my first good look at it, to my surprise it has a window, now the box doesn’t show it having a window, none of the features written on the box says it has a window, but it has a window YAY.

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This case is a thing of beauty, it has a black anodized brushed aluminum finish - the finish appears to be up to Cooler Master's typical high standards. While this finish looks superb, it needs to be taken care of because it is incredibly easy to mark the case with greasy finger prints.

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At first, looking at the case, you see how clean the design is and how well it flows through out the whole case, with this new design from Cooler Master it features a pair of gear driven sliding doors that hide a full mesh front to the chassis. Now I have always loved the look of doors on cases, but they are always cheaply designed and built. Cooler Master has one up everyone on this feature; these doors are of great quality, constructed of pure aluminum with the only exception being the center strip featuring the Cooler Master logo etched into bright orange plastic that lights up when powered on.There are three pieces to its construction - the front plate and two hinges, one top and one bottom. The doors open in unison (meaning they open together evenly). The doors open very smoothly with little resistance, and when they close, they are held together with magnets. The clearance between the front of the case and the doors is outstanding, I personally think you could fit anything your heart desires behind these doors.

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Okay lets move on to the rest of the exterior. As stated earlier there is a window, this is a nice window as it is a thicker lexan then most cases you see, it is beveled outside of the case and rived in place, there is a mesh grill in the CPU location of the side, and has mounting for a 120mm fan, the opposite side is just a typical side with no features. The top of the case is a different story all together.

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On the Top side of the case there is the gear housing for the front door panels, but within the housing is the power and reset switches as well as the power and HDD activity lights.

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Now the easy access panel (I/O panel) is in a weird and awkward position for me, it is on the top right hand side of the case, I have my case on my desk not under it so this is something that I am personally not happy with, and if I ever wanted to mount a Rad or venting up top, this would make things a little harder to achieve. I will get into the actual I/O panel location later on the internal end of this review.

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With the Doors open you can see the mesh front chassis, to remove the front it was just a little tug at the bottom of the case and voila it was free, as you can see there is nothing really new here on the front of the case, but the front panel is designed nicely, the front is made of a aluminum mesh that looks like it will move air quite nicely, but what about the dust? Well Cooler Master thought of that too, behind every piece of mesh are foam filters which is a really nice touch.

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Now on to the interior of the case, at first look the case is like any other, with 4 5.25” drive bays, 2 3.5” Bays and 4 hard drive bays rotated 90 degrees. But upon closer inspection we see a few little features that make this stand out, first of all the construction of the case is wonderful every little attention to detail, from tool-less bays, stamped screw holes labeling different form factors to little braces to make sure the case is sturdy and strong. There is a channel behind the drive bays for all your cabling needs, which is a wonderful feature for hiding all them nasty cables. The only thing I see missing is a removable motherboard tray, now this is a little disappointing, with the price range of this case. The PCI expansion cards are kept in place with a single bar that is locked into place; there is a little purple tab that is quite easy to hold all your PCI cards in place.

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The only real issue with the inside of this case is the little I/O Board for your USB, Audio and Firewire ports. If you had a bigger PSU you would have to remove it to get the unit in, the wires hang down right in the middle of the case, and if you’re fussy about cable management like I am, that is wrong! But thankfully Cooler Master made the channel behind the drives to help with this.

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One other thing I noticed stamped in the case was a serial number, well this number is stamped all over the place inside this case.

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One other feature I should speak on is the liquid cooling considerations in this case, beside the PSU are two grommets to run your liquid cooling lines, I feel this is a nice feature that we are starting to see on a few cases out there.

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On the cooling aspect of this case, there is a 120mm in the lower front of the case, and a 120mm at the rear. At the time of this review I don’t have temps of using the case.

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All and all I would have to say I like this case, the looks and design really appeal to me, the functionality of the swinging doors impressed me very much.

Pros
Great Quality in the Build of the Case
Nice lines and symmetry through-out the case design
The split doors are an awesome feature and built to last
Tool-less design
Cable channels for the cable management

Cons
No removable motherboard Tray
Low CFM fans

[Patriote]

Great review there! Thanks for it Beermaster!

[sswilson]

Cool!

Nice to see that there is enough room for fan controllers or live drives between the doors and the bezels.

I like the look of doors, but too often they close flush with the bezels so you can't fit any after-market 5 1/4 bay bling.

How's it working out for you? Is the build done or are you still working on it?

[Forge]

Usefull review with lots of pictures and comments. Thank you.

[slugbug]

I do like how the front panels swing out to both sides, but as you said the front panel usb/audio/firewire connections are in an awkward place.

[Supergrover]

Nice Review Beer

Looking @ the front doors and how they are hinged to the top like that, I wonder if you could mod it to open and close via a servo.

[Beermaster]

Originally Posted by Supergrover

Nice Review Beer

Looking @ the front doors and how they are hinged to the top like that, I wonder if you could mod it to open and close via a servo.

That is exactly what i am trying to workout with a small stepper motor, have to figure out the gearing to slow things down alot

Originally Posted by sswilson

How's it working out for you? Is the build done or are you still working on it?

The build is done (finally) the comp is working great, i will finish up my build post and hopfully post it today with some OC numbers as well

[enaberif]

I like the review tho I don't agree with a CON being a non-removable tray. I find these days there are very few cases unless you spend big money that come with one and its not exactly a fair judgement in saying a cheaper case doesn't come with it.

[Delavan]

Very professional review, good work.

[BALISTX]

Awesome review. Interesting case. I'm not a huge fan of doors on cases.