Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 Gaming Case Review

To test the fit and finish I used a Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 motherboard.  This is an E-ATX motherboard measuring in at 30.5cm x 26.4cm (12 x 10.3 inches). As you can see the installation will work but at the expense of covering a large portion of the Cable slots.  I was pleasantly surprised but this is clearly stretching the intended design a bit more than expected.

Our Sandy Bridge based installation also included a Cooler Master TPC 812 Performance heatsink.  This heat sink measures in at 120 x 120 x 25mm (4.7 x 4.7 x 1 in) and represents about the largest heat sink the case will allow.

Installing a MSI R7970 confirmed the case will handle the 280 x 110 x 38mm (11 x 4.3 inch) card with the entire drive bay setup in place, though the fit is pretty tight!  Our larger MSI Lightning Edition (305 x 135.5 x 40 mm) did require the removal showing just how important it is to make sure you know what size your components are in some cases with less flexibility.

The Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 has big shoes to fill in replacing the popular Scout design.  The good news is that the Cooler Master design team has taken the feedback from that best-selling case and improved the design while staying true to the portable gaming legacy.  Not that the original Scout was a slouch to begin with, it just needed to be tweaked a bit to bring it to current standards.

The Scout 2 looks great and the installation is improved in every way.  Gone is the cramped space and limited cooling options.  In place of that is a solid mid-tower design with the potential to run with the popular full-tower cases with a attractive price.  Even my oversized G1.Sniper fit like a glove.

Sure I would love to have more cooling out of the box, or support for more than one SSD, or even an included fan controller.  But, for the price you get a great little case with a handle and support for most enthusiast builds.

Now, that is saying something.

Compact/portable design
Comfortable carry handle
Great compatibility
Outstanding build quality
"Double take" on the price tag

Limited cooling out of the box
More traditional drive support
Subdued styling