Discussion Cooler Master NR200 - Almost perfect, but has flaws

[digitalgriffin]

Well I just built my cooler master NR200.

Conclusion: The build quality is high with excellent finish and sturdy panels. But there's room for improvement. I would not use it for a showy gaming or HTPC piece however.

Configuration:
ASRock B450 mITX Fatal1ty motherboard
2x8 Group Team Digital 3200MHz memory
Ryzen 3400g with Wraith Spire
WD SN750 NVME storage
4x 120mm Cooler Master Master Fans
2x 140mm Cooler Master Master Fans RGB
Seasonic Focus SFX 550 Watt power supply
Removed the 92MM CM Rear Fan.

This is to serve as a personal experimental platform for web programming and services and as a net appliance.

Cooling was excellent and with the stock cooler running stock, I never exceeded 75C on small fft Prime 95

My main concern with the is cable length, and wire routing.

There is NO room for hiding cables what so ever behind the tray. This means just about all your cabling is exposed. You can hide some in the front panel, but not for bulky wires like the motherboard power header. This means you need to bundle up the wires tightly beneath the PSU or between the PSU and the board and it looks "sloppy" I would have preferred a gap from which to at least run the motherboard headers from behind. But if you do this, you'll have to reverse the PSU orientation so that intake is coming from the inside the case, instead of the outside. With the PSU in the side orientation, there is little to no room between the MB and PSU side to mount wires.

You do have the option of moving the PSU up front. Again you have the same issue of hiding cables. But it does give you a little bit more room. But you fast the same problem of sucking air for the PSU in from the case instead of the outside.

The front panel connectors were really tight because the front panel cable was short. ASRock put the HD Audio towards the rear of the board, so I really had to pull at the HD Audio cable to get it to fit. I had to snake it between the PCIe slot and the chipset to fit neatly. For whatever reason Cooler Master created a group plastic case to hold the Power, Power Led, HDD, and Reset buttons together. While this is a nice convivence feature, it's not compatible with all motherboards headers. You might have to remove the group header to get the pins to slip over the motherboard pins.

Another issue I had was the Seasonic Focus SFX power supply's CPU 8 pin header was short. It would fit in the back corner IF the PSU was on the side and IF I didn't mind the cable running straight over the CPU fan and straight over the memory. I bought a white sleeved extension cable from Silverstone to take care of this. It gave me the extra foot I needed to run it along the top. That BARELY fit and required some fidgeting behind the fans to route it.

I would have also liked if they included some thin rubber grommits for their friction pins which hold the fans in place. None were included and I can see these being a source of noise in the future especially if the optional grills are used. The top fan friction pins did hold the fans in place well. But I can see a fan coming lose during shipment. Definitely not suitable for fans + radiator up top. That would be too much weight.

Fan noise was low. A weights it was below 35dB even with all six case fans running. But I don't ramp case fans until 65C. As I'm mostly idle, this makes this case mostly inaudible. Idle temps are in low 30's (30.3/30.7) with Wriath Spire on open desktop. Two bottom fans are intake, two side fans to keep the MB cool and 2 exhaust fans to vent like a chimney up top.

As always I would have liked a little more in accessory parts. Grommets for noise/vibration control was mentioned. It's annoying to find your short a couple FAN screw when trying to assemble a case. If it has 7 potential fan slots, give us 7x4 fan screws!

I do recommend this case for a compact, externally classy looking build. But I do not recommend it for travel (lan parties) or for showy game pieces with the glass panel.

Pics will be incoming.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Standard side mount psu.
Note how cable management is a mess with the psu and motherboard. Cold air for psu comes from back side (right side of case). Sfx psu can be reversed to take air from inside case.

Note tight hd audio connector running between southbridge and pcie slot. Would have like an extra 3" or so. Same with cpu aux 8 pin power cable up top (white). I had to buy an extension. It barely fit behind fan. No room behind motherboard.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Much cleaner wiring setup here with psu up front.

However the psu side ways prevents 2 side 140mm fans easily fitting in. You can fit two but they have to be slim profile.

280mm Aio is out of question in this config. You cant place it up top, and there's not enough space for fan and radiator on side. Bottom mount is a no go due to air floating up to pump. 240mm side mount aio is tight in this config. A 240mm might not fit.

Open custom loop is possible IF you mount pump on backside and radiator on bottom. Mounting points for pump are blocked with front psu config. Two 240mm rads can be used this way. (One bottom one side) But again it will be tight on the side. Not all rads will fit.

That said wire management is a ton easier in this config. It just looks neater.

I do not recommend this config with sata drives hanging off the psu as the psu fan sits right beneath them.

Edit 11/19/20: I retested the configuration with a front mount PSU. 240mm/280mm AIO will NOT work in this configuration. The radiator header will clank up again the bracket. Also only a single 240/280mm fan will fit. IF YOU MUST HAVE AIO, use the side mount PSU.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Almost buttoned up with a single rgb fan. Second fan 140mm will not fit with front mount psu unless you use slim profile. Dual side 120mm will be tight in this config with slim fans. Two side 120mm regular thickness fans will NOT fit in configuration. The fan shroud will hit the psu casing by a couple mm.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Backside shot. Note how cpu 8 pin cable barely fits behind top fan. Only flattest of cables will fit back here. Certainly no plastic headers. You can't jam it in either as the cover will just pop off.

That said all corners, even on the backside are wonderfully rolled and finished. Not one sharp edge. The cpu access hole is large and even allows me direct access to the backside nvme slot. (No drive installed.)

Note how psu fan is partially blocked. This is another reason to consider a reverse position.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Finally the money shot. Fully assembled to compare size and show how it looks on a work station.

Not trying to be a toms or steve. Just trying to give you guys a head up on what to expect.

I will give it an A-. Again I wouldnt use it for LAN box (panels pop off too easy) or a show piece with glass side (limited cooling and bad cable hiding)

But as a high quality, good airflow, easy to assemble, classy, and diminutive box, it fits the bill.

Time to setup that iot ai webserver now.