Let’s face it, the days of the plain-jane beige computer case are long gone.  Over the last several years, modding has gained immense popularity in the power user community, resulting in a slew of new cases and styles to come into the market.  While adding windows and lighting were one of the major additions to ordinary beige cases, colors have changed widely as well.  It is no longer beige, but black, blue, green, red, yellow – you name it – that can be found on today’s computer cases.  Among these colors, black has caught on in particular, and is probably as popular today as beige once was.

For today’s review, I’ll be taking a closer a look at one such black case that’s geared towards PC enthusiasts and modders, but still looks classy enough to be considered by the average user.  That case is the Centurion 5, manufactured by Coolermaster, a company well known in the PC world for creating high-quality cooling products.  Before I start looking at this case in detail, a special thanks goes out to the folks at Directron.com / AxionTech.com for supplying us with this case for review together with a 350Watt Coolermaster branded power supply.

First Impressions, Features & Specifications
After unpacking the case, I was immediately impressed with the clean, elegant design of the Centurion 5.  Edges were smooth with the silver trim adding a nice touch, and resulting in an overall classy design.  Coolermaster elaborates a little as to why the name Centurion was chosen for the case:

Centurion, an honorable name, represents quality of Discipline, Integrity & Loyalty. With the Centurion besides you, now you can concord the world feeling safe and proud without having to be a Caesar.

One can assume that with a name like Centurion, this must be a fairly high quality case loaded with goodies.  Having said that, what other features does the case have to offer?  According to Coolermaster, the Centurion 5 case possesses:

• Discipline Asymmetrical shape layout.


• Royal Appearance Equipped with detailed high gloss front Alloy Shield.


• Protection Proactive heat resistant design for abusive ambient environment


• Integrity World famous solid assembly.


• Unique Armor Unique side panel mechanism provides great accessibility for installation & upgrade.


• Loyalty – Long lasting ownership.


• Tool-free assembly/disassembly for quick and maintenance or upgrade


• Special perforated screen design provides the superior airflow and maximum cooling  performance; easy to clean and maintain

Sounds all pretty nice, but by now you are probably getting anxious and wondering what sort of specifications this case has to offer.  Without much further ado, here they are:

• Dimensions: 480 mm x 202 mm x 435 mm (L x W x H)


• Material: Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis


• Main Board: ATX; 12″x 9.6″(30.5cm x 24.5cm)


• 5.25″ Drive Bay: 5 (Exposed)


• 3.5″ Drive Bay: 1 (Exposed), 4 (Hidden)


• Power Supply: Standard ATX PS2


• Front I/O: USB 2.0 x 2, IEEE 1394 (FireWire) x1, MIC x1, SPK x 1


• Cooling fan: One 80 x 80 x 25 mm Front Fan (intake)


• One 120 x 120 x 25 mm Rear Fan (exhaust)

These sound like pretty common features for most of today’s cases.  Does the Centurion 5 manage to stand out from the rest of the competition?  Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the outside construction and features of the case.

Outside Features
One thing that becomes apparent immediately when examining the case closer is the beatiful black aluminum finish of the Centurion 5.  The front bezel is patterned with a streel mesh to allow for maximum airflow through the case.  It is removed quite easily by grabbing a hold of the top and gently pulling it forward.  Behind the bezel’s steel mesh is a  a foam layer to prevent dust from entering the case.  The Centurion 5 has five external 5.25” bays and below that one external 3.5” bay for a floppy drive.  The covers for these bays are easily removed by unscrewing them from the bezel instead of just  popping them out.  The power button, as well as the power and hard drive LED’s, follow down on the front below are embossed on a nice silver plague.  Below these one will find another plus: plenty of front I/O ports, including two USB 2.0 ports, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), as well a microphone input and speaker output. 

Moving around the case now, the window on the left side of the case is nice and big and proudly displays the Centurion logo.  The right of the case looks rather bland compared to the rest of the case, but also has openings in the cover to allow for great airflow throughout the case.  Looking at the back of the case, I was immediately impressed to see that Coolermaster opted for a 120mm fan as opposed to the standard 80mm still found on most of today’s cases.  This again shows that Coolermaster indeed had exceptional cooling capability in mind while designing the Centurion 5, allowing it to be marketed not only to average PC users, but overclockers as well. 

A 350W Coolermaster-branded power supply is included and will be looked at more in the power supply section.  For now, let’s pop the hood on this case and see what the inside has to offer.