Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced review

The sturdy front panel is easily removed, on the picture below you can see the 140mm blue LED fan and the drive bays.



You may want to take it off every once in a while to clean the dust filters.



The case ships with one 140mm top fan and if desired you can mount an additional 120mm or 140mm fan. Alternatively, it's also possible to use this area to mount a 240mm radiator for your watercooling kit. The CM 690 II is one of the only mid-tower cases that supports two 240mm radiators out of the box!



Conclusion
Cooler Master has done a great job at revising the aging CM 690 into an exciting new product. The new case doesn't only look a lot better but also adds great new features like the external HDD docking station and a bracket for installing solid state disk. The spacious CM 690 II Advanced will satisfy you, it provides enough working room and enables you to tuck away cables to create a clean look.

The stock cooling fans are very quiet and the case offers plenty of options to enhance cooling. There's support for a total of 10 fans and it's not often that we come across a case that supports two 240mm radiators without having to make any modifications, water cooling users have the option to install a 240mm radiator in the top and bottom of the case! Despite some minor details the overall build quality of the CM 690 II Advanced is excellent, it's a very capable case that will please you for many years to come.

The Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced ships for around $100 (80EUR), which is a right price for such a feature-rich case. If you don't require the X-Dock, GPU retention bracket and SSD adapter you can get the standard CM 690 II, that model should be available for around $80.



The Good Stuff

Lots of working room

Good tool-free installation options

Plenty of cooling options

External HDD bay

Stylish design with all-black interior

Enough cable management features

No sharp edges inside

Support for 240mm radiator in top and/or bottom

Overall build quality is very good

Stock fans are very quiet

Bottom half of HDD cage can be removed

LED fan light can be turned off

The Bad Stuff

The 1200RPM stock cooling may be a bit lacking for more demanding users

You can't use standard 80mm fans in the right-side panel and VGA bracket, they have to be slim 15mm models.

Side panels require a lot of force to be removed

Not enough dust filters

I give the Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced a rating of 9/10 and our Seal of Approval award.