Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 Review

Cooler Master is one of those companies that encourage their customers to build an ideal PC. It knows what your computer needs to reach the acme of perfection and offers plenty of products that can help you create something really powerful and unique.

Bring your ideas to life – that’s the main aim of Cooler Master. The sense of joy, freedom and achievement – that’s what this company takes care of. During its 25 years on the market Cool master has surprised technological world by its first aluminum computer chassis and toolless motherboard heatsinks, and proved that airflow inside the case is also as much important for cooling system as fans and heatsinks.

So, you can guess that PC cases are also one of those products which have been constantly improved and updated. Cool Master provides a number of cases to choose from which vary in their size, options and price, and this review is namely about one of them – CM Storm Scout 2.

First impression

Before you open a side panel of any case you can already decide whether you like it or not just looking at its design. Obviously, that first impression may not coincide with your final verdict but it can affect your further actions towards the case.

CM Storm Scout 2 has a round futuristic theme, so if you prefer stuff like that then this case is definitely worth your attention. This mid-tower computer chassis has stylish steel reinforced carrying handles bolted to support beams of the core structure. Note that they have rubber coating and are rather strong (can handle up to 30 kg), what makes transportation easy and convenient. In fact, you will experience this from the very first second of case unpacking.

What is more, the corpus itself is quite flexible and thanks to this Scout 2 is very durable. This chassis takes into account all possible pitfalls, so its front I/O panel is fully steel and hidden behind the extra panel. By the by, except for front I/O there are power/reset switches as well as control for LED.

There is also a side panel window, which shows only the best part of the case inside. There you won’t see any optical or hard drives. Instead, you will enjoy a great view of CPU, memory and graphics cards. Behind the window there are also metal fan drills as a part of advanced cooling system.

Cooling System

Looking at CM Storm Scout 2 you will see that there are enough fan mounts to keep all PC elements cooled. This computer can support up to 9 fans including enlarged vents what plays a great part in cooling performance.

Now let’s have a closer look at Scout 2 cooling system. First of all, there are two 120 red LED fans, which can be controlled with a light push of the button on the front panel. Keep in mind that front panel can have either two 120mm fans or just one 140mm fan.

There is 120mm fan in the bottom of the case as well as one more fan on its top to release heat. By the by, you can also add two more CM fans as Scout 2 has optional dual 120mm fan mounts on the acrylic side panel window with mesh design for optimized airflow. Besides, you can place one more fan in HDD cage.

To keep your case always clean CM Storm Scout 2 has a convenient slide-out dust filter under PSU. There are also some more additional filters at the top, front and bottom of the case. But bear in mind, that if you involve all fans and fan mounts into your PC performance you can be annoyed by the noise they produce.

Well, CM Storm Scout isn’t as super quiet as Antec Sonata IV, but its cooling options are more than just impressive. Still, if you need silence you can either choose a pre-cited Sonata product or wait for the release of the newest Cooler Master models such as Cosmos C700P or MasterCase H500P.

By the way, choosing a CPU cooler for Scout 2, keep in mind that this chassis can host only those with 6.4-inch size.

Drive Bays and HDDs

This CM mid-tower case has 7 HDD bays including one 2.5-inch bracket. There are seven internal 3.5-inch bays, three of which are removable, and three external 5.25-inch bays placed on the front of the case behind the filtered layer. Note that you can also convert one 3.5-inch bay into two 2.5-inch bays.

By the by, Scout 2 has a removable HDD cage for long graphics card installation and supports up to 3 ODD tool-free bays. Furthermore, this computer chassis is SDD compatible and can host up to two SDDs.

Ports and Expansion Slots

Scout 2 has two USB 3.0 ports for fast smartphone and tablet charging, and file transfer. Besides, there are two USB 2.0 ports. As a typical PC case, this chassis has also got audio in/out ports. As to the expansion slots, there are seven of them.

PSU, Motherboards and Graphics Cards

As to the PSU, Scout 2 supports PS2 placed on the bottom mount of the case. This CM case is not only made of flexible material, it has also got a flexible inside build. The point is that this computer chassis can host any high-grade hardware of any size. Thanks to the removable HDD cage Scout 2 can support any NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards.

All you have to do to add a longer card is to remove the first HDD cage. Note that the maximum length of the card with HDD cage is 11.3 inches, and 15.7 inches without it. Scout 2 can also host micro-ATX as well as ATX motherboards.

Cable management and tool-free installation

Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 is one of those cases which are simple and easy to use. Choosing this chassis you will experience nice cable management, which includes plenty of rubber grommets to prevent any cable damages. Besides, this case presupposes tool-free installation as well.

Summary

Cooler Master knows what it does and Scout 2 can prove this. The case itself is good-looking without any sharp edges. There are great handles, so you can easily transport it wherever you want.

Choosing this PC case you can count on top-notch cooling performance and select any graphics card you like as there are no strict size limits. Still, remember that if you are looking for silence then this case won’t be the best choice.