Coolermaster Ammo 533

You wanna see the case? I don't think you can handle the case!

Looking for all the world like something out of Alien, the CoolerMaster Ammo 533 mid tower hefts into this month’s Labs at 10kg. The militaristic styling may not be to everyone’s taste – however it fits its purpose perfectly as a rig to impress at LANs. Contributing to this image is the large moulded rubber handle, attached at the top via nylon straps and Allen-keyed screws and the large plasticcovered power and reset buttons mounted on top of the case in red and blue. We only wish these had been flanged out into gigantic stopper buttons that could be mashed with your fist during times of frustration, or to make a big scene as your machine powers up and the lights down the street dim.

While the removable fascia is a mixture of plastic and aluminium, the rest of the case is rolled steel. CoolerMaster has focused on screwless access, with thumbscrews used to enter the case, quick release catches for your expansion cards and quick secure plastic brackets used for the 5.25in and 3.5in external bays. Unfortunately these are a pain to use thanks to the amount of force required to push the bracket into place.

Similarly, regular optical and floppy drives are a hassle to insert into their racks due to extremely tight fits. While both of these will no doubt become easier with age and use, we can’t help but feel a better solution is needed. Conversely hard drives were a pleasure to insert, with two brackets needing to be attached to the drive before entering it into the tray – simply clip them on, slide it in, and you’re done. Sadly there’s no removable motherboard tray.

Two USB ports and one port each for FireWire, headphones and microphone adorn the front right hand side, allowing easy access. For ventilation, everything that looks like mesh is just that, and a 120mm blue LED fan is mounted in front of the undersized three-drive HDD bay, providing much needed cooling. There is also a space under the PSU for another 120mm, should you chose to mount one. Overall a decent effort from CoolerMaster, and mean enough looking to represent our budget machine for Kitlog.