COOLER MASTER CM Storm Scout 2
Interior Impressions part 2:
Taking closer look at the inside of the chassis we can see that the Cooler Master CM Storm Scout 2, has three good sized pre-grommeted cable management holes. It also has a large cut out behind the motherboard tray for cpu cooler screws access. I like the fact that the Scout uses thumb screws for the expansion slots, this makes things so much easier when you have big fingers and are trying to start a screw into the expansion slot holes once you install your video card.
Speaking of Video cards, with the HDD cage in it’s factory configuration you will be limited to only slightly over 11″ of a video card. Now, if you want to install one of the latest monster cards, you will have to remove the top HDD cage side panel.
To remove the HDD cage to make it possible to use a longer video card, you must remove the five screws holding the HDD’s side panel on. There are four scews on the side of the HDD cage and one more on the rear of the HDD cage. I have pointed out the first screws above in the left pic (but do not forget the one in the rear). Note: In doing this you will loose the four upper HDD slots, and you will also loose a 120mm fan mounting location.
With that said, you will also gain a tad over 4″ in potential video card length. My tape measure body equals 3″, add that to the 12 3/4″ showing on the tape and you now have roughly 15 3/4″ in which to install a monster video card.
Looking at the bottom inside of the case you can see where an optional 120mm fan would go, as well as the psu mounting area. Keep in mind when installing your psu, that a long psu may not allow you to install the optional 120mm fan.
We can also see the cable bundle that comes with the CM Scout 2, included cables and wires are as follows:
- power switch wires
- reset switch wires
- HDD and Power LED wires bundled into one cable
- USB 3.0 20 pin connector
- USB 2.0 connector
- Hd / AC97 Audio connector
Looking at the rear of the motherboard tray, we see that the CM Storm Scout 2 has a a total of eight cable tie off spots. In the right picture we see one of the cable tie offs up close and we can also see that at the bottom of the case we have right at 1″ of cable clearance, which is good, but don’t forget the bulged out side panel that will give even more room for cable management.
