Today we'll take a closer look at one of the latest full tower cases coming from the widely known Coolermaster farm. The Praetorian product line has been around for some time now, providing a high quality finish with easy installation features and good case cooling. Does the new "731" continue this tradition? Let's find out.

The Case and the specs:

The Praetorian line of cases was based on Coolermaster earlier ATC-20x models, they looked practically the same except for the different name tag. The new 731 model features a new front and comes with an extremely classy hole in its side panel.



Here are the official specifications:



As you can see, there is enough room in there to build a small file server, and with 4x80mm fans divided evenly front/back promises to keep the innards cool.

Coolermaster lists the following advantages of the "731" Praetorian, seeing as it is based on a well known and popular case, it's no surprise to see some familiar claims:



The first point in this list claims that an Aluminum case will keep your components cooler then a Steel case; however our friends at Systemcooling.com proved that there is actually no difference, the Praetorian 731, if made out of Steel would cool exactly the same.



To justify the other statements there is only one we can do: get some hardware inside the "731" ->

What shall we install, how about a nicely overclocked P4 Prescott to stress the case's heat dissipation capability.

Test Setup

petervandamned Test Setup
CPU	Intel P4 3.2E @ 3.9Ghz
Cooling	Swiftech MCX478-V + 80mm fan
Mainboard	Abit IC7-Max3
Memory	2* 256Mb G.Skill PC4800 (DDR600) CL2.5-4-4-8
Video	Sapphire 9800 Pro @ XT speeds
Other	Western Digital 36GB Hard Drive OCZ Powerstream 520W

Additionally we installed a "Noise Isolator" fan controller and a 4-sensor Digidoc into the case to control fans speeds and monitor the temperature from different components inside.

System stability at 3.9Ghz was tested by looping Memtest86 v 1.40 for several hours;



We then proceeded by installing Windows 2000 SP4 and Speedfan, a system monitoring applications which allows you to log CPU, motherboard and HDD temperatures. With everything installed the we obtained temperatures under load with the help of Prime95 and Sisoft Sandra.

Let's take a look inside the case which is sealed by 2 side panels which can be easily removed thanks to the use of thumbscrews ->

Outside/Inside/Cooling

Before we present you with the performance results of this case, we have to install our test system in it, of course! The side panel can easily be removed as Coolermaster uses thumbscrews to fasten both side panels, the removable motherboard tray and PCI cards.

The outside of the case features excellent finishing; no sharp edges could be detected, this makes handling the case a hazardless experience.



The inside however is not that child proof; sharper edges are present along the 5¼ and 3½ drive bays. But without any quick uncontrolled movements you will not wind up with cuts.

The Praetorian 731 comes with 4x80mm fans installed by default, 2 in the back and 2 in the front providing excellent airflow; dust filters are present on the front in-takes.



At the top is an I/O panel with connections for USB, microphone, headphone and fire wire.



Coolermaster provided a blue led fan for replacing the I/O unit for those who want the best thermal performance. This fan comes with a good looking grill which integrates nicely into the case.

The internal design of the 731 does not differ much from the Coolermaster Praetorian PAC T01, mounting your hardware inside is pretty much the same.

This case comes without PSU leaving you the choice to install the appropriate one to power your system, the installation process is straightforward, the picture below is taken from our PAC T01 review:



The motherboard tray is removable which helps installation quite a bit, and comes in handy when you change your hardware a lot


(Note: this is not the 731 tray! The 731 tray has 2 fans with blue leds)

Installing optical storage and hard drives is done by the old fashion way, 4 screws for each unit. This will unfortunately scratch the aluminium. Behind the motherboard tray is enough room to store the cables and connectors, clearing the CPU area to allow "fresh" air to pass through.




Time for something Blue :

Let me show you what those nice led fans can do in this case:



Sorry for that bit of green there, but I did not want to modify our used OCZ PSU,


The side panel hole allows you to look into the heart of the beast

Let's do some stress testing ->

Temperatures and Decibels :

As mentioned on the test setup details page, we are using a Pentium 4 Prescott CPU overclock to almost 4ghz, turning it into a true baking oven, the ability to keep the CPU and the other components cool makes or brakes a case. You can have the fanciest looking case on the block, but if it's not up to job of removing heat efficiently it will fail.

To increase the challenge, and the heat, we also overclocked the 9800 Pro ATI card to XT speeds, with all 5x80mm fans running our dBA meter measured 54 decibel at 58cm from the case, not really a silent system; with all the fans off and the HSF fan at its lowest setting the dBA reading dropped to 52, a bit better, but unfortunately the different component temperatures crept up to dangerous levels after only a couple of minutes, indicating overheating problems.

So it's time to find the perfect balance between noise and temperature. With a room temperature of 20°C (64F) we started out battery of stress applications, 2 sessions of Prime95 produced 100% CPU load. Here are the temperature numbers.



And our noise readings:



The front fans on the Praetorian 731 make sure that your hard drives do not overheat, but at the same time these fan cause quite a bit of overhead noise. Finding the balance between noise/temperature was a challenge, the top fan proved to be of little use, while the back fans impacted the CPU temp quite a bit.

Conclusion:

With the new Praetorian Coolermaster stepped away from their tried and proven front bezel design, the new front is more interesting and in combination with the provided LED fans make the case stand out versus its older brothers. The side panel further accentuates the "show-off" nature of the 731, with a cut-out and fancy grill it allows you to admire the blue glow inside (and provide "fresh" air to the CPU), coloured ATA cables and motherboard would make an ideal combination with the 731.

The case comes packed with fans, and it is shame not to see one of Coolermaster excellent fan controllers installed in this case by default, running all fans constantly at full speed does not make this case a "silent" solution. If you like to keep the aluminium theme look of the case you'll be forced to buy Coolermaster's own drive bezels for your CD/DVDrom drives and floppy, this can drive the cost upwards quite a bit (€11/bezel).

The internals of the Praetorian series has not changed much, a 2nd fan at the back and the possibility to swap the top fan with an I/O panel sums it up. All the other quality properties of the Praetorian are retained, removable motherboard, easy PSU installation, thumbscrews used all-over. The only downside to the internal case design is the need for screwing in your HDD/CD/DVD drives, the screws scratch the aluminium quite easily and it increases installation time a lot; let's hope drive rails or a snap-in system will find its way in one of the further incarnations.

The thermal performance of this case is excellent, but only if enough case fans are used, again, a built-in fan controller would come in very handy.



In the end it's clear that the Praetorian 731 basically puts the older generation in a new jacket, while keeping the internal design almost the same. With a target price close to or over €100 this case will not fall in the budget category. But those who decide to buy it won't be disappointed by its excellent construction, sturdiness and looks. You might need to add a few extra's to make it shine, but there are few cases out there which can be a better base to build system in.

We like to thank Joost from Coolermaster NL for lending us this case for review.

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