As you can see the results speak volumes. CoolerMaster has captured full tower cooling in a portable mid tower chassis. The change from a mesh side panel to a Lexan panel helped out in the cooling department. On average I saw a 2° C drop in temperatures across the board. The MCP temperatures pretty much stayed the same, but the 780i runs hot pretty much no matter what. The fans were a slight bit louder than the Sniper, but again that's to be expected as there's  not a way to control the fans with this case.

Overall the case is solidly build. With both side panels off, I did not feel any flex in the case. the interior of the case was well thought out. A mixture of tool-less and tooled components are used in the construction and I view it as a plus, gone are the tool-less PCI card retention mechanisms. Running my hands in, around, and through the case yielded no cuts or scrapes as all the potentially sharp objects' edges have been rolled, which is expected of a top tier case manufacture such as CoolerMaster. Sadly the case doesn't have any water cooling options built in but with a few mods here and there I am sure that it can be added with relative ease.

I like the design of the Scout and the overall design of the whole Storm series. I feel that CoolerMaster has risen above the level of the average case by using the design ideas of people who actually use these type of cases. The carrying handle allows the consumer to lug it around with ease. Weighing in just shy of 20lbs, and with a moderate build on the inside, means that you won't rip your arm from it's socket carrying it around to all the LAN parties. The side window shows off the goods, as well as showing off the color matches inside. There's nothing that I dislike more than a case that shows off what's going on under the hood, only to have that nasty unfinished surface of the case distract from the overall appearance. Paint the dang thing! CoolerMaster has taken care of this for you. The window will allow you to mount two additional 120 mm fans of your choosing for that extra boost in cooling. The top I/O panel offers plenty of connections for all but the most demanding user. Sadly neither 5.1 nor 7.1 surround sound is included up top, but with a lot of headphone manufactures moving to USB this may be a problem of the past. There isn't a fan bus up top either, so controlling the speed of the fans is left to the aftermarket, but this shouldn't bother most users as the overall case noise isn't that noticeable, but it is louder than others in the same class. I think that it's pretty sad when dust becomes a major issue in the use of ones PC, but as I have said before, dust where I live is absolutely horrible and  can choke out a power supply in a matter of months instead of years. I appreciate the fact that CoolerMaster choose to take the extra steps needed to help protect the other investments that may reside in one of their cases. Removable filters similar to the ATCS 840 would have been an added bonus, but the included filters to the job well.

CoolerMaster has done well with reducing the cost of the case without reducing the quality or performance. Retailing at just under 120.00 this case is a good buy and most users would be happy with it. 

I want to thank CoolerMaster for sending us the Scout to review.