COUGAR Volant Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Price... C'mon, this thing is a steal for $50. Cooling... It also has a lot of cooling options that most cases in this low price range don't usually consider. Looks... It wasn't a factor for me, but it's cool enough to pass for a low end gamer and plain enough to blend in at an office.

Cons: Not a lot of cons here. As a veteran builder, I only found 1 major complaint from what I was expecting. The top mount hot swap SATA drive is powered by a molex coming out the bottom. It's not a huge problem, but when your working in limited space, molex is not the way to go. Not to mention I had to add a molex out of my modular PS just to power it.

Overall Review: People need to look around at other similar priced units if they think this is fragile. It's a low end unit for a reason. If you want something you can pull and pry on, then go drop $150 or more and get a legit case. I've built enough machines to know you get what you pay for and this does that and a little more. If you're wanting to buy a professional gaming box with warehouse space for cable management, this is not that case. I'm happy with what I got and would recommend it and even buy another if it matched what I was doing. Just be realistic about what $50 actually gets you in a case and you will be happy.

Pros: Beautiful design, nice locations for cable management, spacious, lots of fan slots for air cooling.

Cons: Cheaply built, only comes with 1 fan, but I knew that. Single front USB 3.0 port.

Overall Review: Upon opening, there was a a relatively deep crease/indent near the lower right rear corner where the PSU mounts. it was on the side and bottom so it was like it was pinched in. I checked the box and packaging and everything was in perfect shape, so this issue happened sometime between manufacturing and packaging by Cougar. Fearful of having to deal with an RMA, I took a rubber mallet and pliers and got to work, it was easily bendable to as close as I could get without extreme distortion. The side panels are flimsy which overall makes me wonder about the build quality. It seems extremely cheap compared to my $30 no name brand case I purchased a decade ago from a now defunct computer store. I checked the case to make sure I got the right one, as I dont recall any qualms about build quality in reviews, sure enough it was the right one. I really wanted to give this 5 eggs.

Pros: For $48.00 this thing is a steal! Its very durable, roughly 95% steel, tons of room for expansion and cables, airflow is extremely efficient, Water cooling support, external 3.5"/2.5" HDD/SSD dock, looks gorgeous.

Cons: Installing an SSD in this is a royal pain. Seriously, if you plan to put an SSD in this beast, it will take you a good 5-10 minutes. The smaller drive bays as pictured above the 3.5" HDD slots aren't actually smaller, its a flex slot so you could use it for a 3.5" card read bay or another HDD. Instead, you have to install the SSD on the floor of the case. This can be a problem with modern sata and power cables, but I didn't run into any issues concerning that. Fan vents with larger system builds could get in the way, Water cooling support is a tad sketchy. I didn't use water cooling, but from the looks of it, you have to punch out some metal pieces to insert the rubber grommets. Then again, someone buying water cooling would probably be buying a higher-up case so its kind of irrelevant.

Overall Review: This is the perfect case for anyone looking to customize their machine on a budget, and still have it look good. Mine fits perfectly inside with a good amount of stuff to boot and I still have loads upon loads of room for a larger GPU or more fans (I already ordered 3 XD) I would highly recommend this case to anyone

Pros: Many locations for fans Easy to connect sata on top Look is nice and the Black is not glossy but more of a Matte finish Black and Orange internal color scheme looks nice Can fit a Hyper 212 CPU cooler Bottom mount PSU USB 3.0 front No bright and flashy LED's Quiet rear fan Simple tool-less hardware addon Not overly light or heavy (material seems solid) Wider panel behind CPU for better cable routing

Cons: When using a Hyper 212 CPU cooler you have no room for 1 of the side mount fans. (they could have made it a little wider on the intake side to accommadate a fan and aftermarket CPU cooler) Top 120mm fans are really close to Hyper 212 CPU cooler/Motherboard (Its a mid tower case so dont expect a ton of room, and I didn't so I'm not docking any eggs for that)

Overall Review: Everything is really crammed in there and a tight fit unless you do some cable routing. I needed a smaller case so it would fit in on my desk, I am coming from a CoolerMaster HAF 922 and that had a ton of space to work with and costs a lot more than this. Overall I would recommend this case to someone else for its build quality and price range. Got mine for $47 shipped with $15 off coupon. Computer Build: Cougar Volant Case Intel i5 3570k CPU Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooler MSI Z77MA-G45 (micro atx) 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 Xion PowerReal 850w OCZ Vertex 3 SSD 120GB WD 320GB 7200RPM Sata 6 HDD Asus DVD Burner Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 OC Edition 2GB 256-Bit

Pros: The case is really nicely laid out. There is plenty of airflow and it had no trouble fitting my SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 graphics card. The screwless mechanism to hold the drives in place seem to hold everything in place quite well and were really easy to use. The layout for your cables is also very nice - you can run everything behind the motherboard.

Cons: This is only a slight con in my opinion given the price of the case, but it does only come with two installed case fans. I added two additional fans.

Overall Review: All around this is a great case for the money. The layout is great with enough room for a good sized graphics card. I highly recommend this case for someone who wants a great case for a low price.

Pros: For the cost, well built machine. Has nice features like plenty of fans for ventilation, and an external SATA 2.5 or 3.5 hot swap external drive slot on top of the machine. Looks like a much more expensive case than it is. Also plenty of room to add drives, so if this is a NAS build you will love it. Power user will love the fans, although everyone should consider getting heat out of a computer. There are a lot of features here that you will use that you probably didn't know you wanted, especially in a budget price case. Whoever designed this case did an excellent job, and the people who found the components did an equally fine job. I think even a mother-in-law would have trouble finding something wrong with this case, even if her son-in-law designed it.

Cons: Really none that I have seen so far. Good documentation, packed well, arrived in excellent condition. I'm sure there are cons, but at this price point I seriously doubt you are going to find any case that doesn't have something that could have been done better. For the money I doubt there is anything better in a case that can be used for so many different computer uses.

Overall Review: I bought this guy on sale, and will probably pick up another if I see it on sale again just so that I'll have a case ready to go when I get build fever again. If it isn't on sale and I have an immediate need for a case, will probably go to this one as you can use it for pretty much everything.

Pros: -I purchased this same case approx. 2 years ago, and the build it still in use. Since then I have tried several over cases, but keep coming back to this one. -This case is simply the best bang for the buck in a mid tower case. -The top "hot swap" connections for either 2.5 or 3.5" drives is a feature that I never knew I needed so much....until I experienced it.

Cons: To date the only cons I can find with this case are the "press fit" rubber feet, that pop off fairly easily, and the "single rail" system is used when mounting add-on cards (in the rear/with screws) just kinda annoying.

Overall Review: -I have read other reviews of people complaining about this case being "noisy" because it is so "open" DUH! You can have good cooling/air flow, and of course it's going to be slightly noisier..... or you can have super quiet (which means less air flow) and overheat your rig. -In the "Pros" section I mentioned I'd tried a number of other cases, many of them much "higher end" than this one.....and by comparison was sorely disappointed. When you purchase a case that costs 4-5X as much as this one, and compare, you really realize just what a gem this case really is!

Pros: - Good Size (not gigantic, but still slightly on the large side) - Easy to work in - Decent looking for a personal case (wouldn't use these in a business setting) - Tray on top for quickly plugging in a bare SATA drive is a fantastic feature. Love this. - Black paint on back and inside is a nice touch - Front faceplate retention clips are metal rather than plastic

Cons: - Too many 3.5" bays, not enough 2.5 bays (only 1!) - Add-in card retention bracket does not hold cards in place (they each still need their own screw) - Holes tapped for motherboard standoffs are not cleanly made (you have to ream them out with the screw) - Cougar fan that comes with the case is a little noisy (I replaced it)

Overall Review: This case is showing its age with the single 2.5" mounting point, and the placement of it is clearly a complete afterthought. There could be some improvements if they want to do a refresh. I would do this: - Stop bending the baseplate to form cheap motherboard standoffs and use actual brass standoffs. - Put two of each type of USB2, and USB3.1 on the front panel, with one of them being 3.1 type c - Put a quality fan in the back and another one in the front - Replace three or four of the 3.5" bays with four 2.5" bays - Paint the faceplate glossy black instead of letting the black plastic speak for itself (it would look much better) Overall, I like this case, although it's not being used for my main system. Would buy again.