Cooler Master Announces CM Elite 431 Plus ATX Mid-Tower Chassis

[btarunr]

Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, power supply, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, today announced the Elite 431 Plus. This new mid-tower case brings premium case features to a mainstream price and design.

The Elite 431 Plus focuses on a classic subdued outlook with clean and attractive lines. A large windowed side panel is included to allow others to admire your new build. In addition, accent lighting from the front 120mm blue LED fan provides an extra touch to the overall look.



The Elite 431 Plus is the perfect choice for DIY computer projects on a budget. It is constructed primarily of high quality steel that lends to its strength and long-term durability. It is engineered to make it possible to upgrade to high-end components at a later date. Long graphics cards such as the AMD Radeon HD 6990 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 will fit with ease. The Elite 431 Plus also supports larger CPU Coolers such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO. Easily configure the case as a home server or workstation with five 3.5" HDD bays. Enjoy the blazing speed of USB 3.0 included in the front I/O panel connections and a convenient 5.25" bay X-dock that allows you to dock a 3.5" HDD quickly and safely. This X-dock can be removed if all three 5.25" bays are needed for other purposes.

Properly cooling components is a high priority in the Elite 431 Plus. Despite its smaller mid-tower size, it includes support for up to a 140mm front fan, two 120mm top fans, one rear 80, 90, or 120mm fan, and one bottom 80, 90, or 120mm fan. This setup provides optimal access to fresh cool air for system components.

The Elite 431 Plus will be available for $59.99 in December 2011. For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Kantastic]

Really digging Cooler Master's new cases, especially those that have HDD docks.

 

[micropage7]

nice big side window
but the front panel looks standard

 

[hhumas]

looks nice ........

 

[jagjitnatt]

I got one...

 

[mediasorcerer]

i got the model below this one,elite 430, its an ok case.quite good.

 

[suraswami]

There's no side air intake on the clear window side, will this affect the video card temps especially in a CF or SLI config?

But nice looking case tho.

 

[jagjitnatt]

There's no side air intake on the clear window side, will this affect the video card temps especially in a CF or SLI config?

But nice looking case tho.

Not much. Temp diff would be close to 3-4 C which isn't much for GPUs.
IMO, fan on the acrylic window looks bad.

The chassis is good enough for large GPUs and large CPU coolers. The SATA dock comes in handy, but its not hot swappable. You need to restart to detect the HDD, which is a sore point IMO.

And it should have 2 USB 3.0 up front since its header takes up the space for two USB 3

Otherwise, its a great budget chassis.

 

[_JP_]

Don't know why (the looks maybe, minor details), but I still prefer the Elite 430 to this one. Not saying this is a bad product.

 

[jagjitnatt]

Don't know why (the looks maybe, minor details), but I still prefer the Elite 430 to this one. Not saying this is a bad product.

430 looks good. I was going to buy that one, but then this had USB 3 support and a SATA dock. So I bought it.

In flesh, I must say, 430 looks a little better from the front, but the 431 looks WAY better from the side. The 430 has a window with holes for the fan which look terrible.

And the led on the 430 is TOO bright, you can't look at it, I keep my PC on 24/7, so its unbearable, not to mention the top of the 430 looks cheap.

I like my 431 better.

 

[btarunr]

CM's blue LED fans in general are unbearably bright. As they eat dust they get dimmer.

 

[Spartan805]

I like it much more than my 430.. I need a usb 3.0 port up front. The SATA X-SWAP is a nice feature too, but for the price they should include a 140mm fan up front instead of a 120mm. IMO!