Cooler Master CM 690 is the most popular case from Cooler Master and because of its popularity the manufacturer decided to revamp it. The new version, called CM 690 II, will be available on stores this month and is available in two versions, “regular” (USD 80, a.k.a. RC-692-KKN3-GP) and “Advanced” (USD 100, a.k.a. RC-692-KKN2-GP). Let’s see what is new and the differences between the two versions.

The overall aspect of the new CM 690 II follows the same design of the original CM 690, as you can see on Figures 1 and 2. The overall aspect of both “regular” and “advanced” versions is the same, the difference between them is on certain features that we will be covering throughout the review.

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Figure 1: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced case.

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Figure 2: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced case.

The front panel of CM 690 II is practically identical to the CM 690’s, with the difference that the previous model has five 5 ¼” bays while the new model has four. The bay covers are meshed for improving ventilation, featuring air filters. There is a 140 mm fan on the front panel (1,200 rpm, 19 dBA, glows blue when turned on with an on/off switch for the LED’s, using a three-pin fan connector and coming with an adapter if you want to connect the fan directly on the power supply), whereas on the original CM 690 this fan was a 120 mm model. You can remove this 140 mm fan to either install a 120 mm fan or two 80 mm fans. You can also adjust where exactly you want this fan. It comes installed on the upper part of the frame (see Figure 4) but you can move it to the bottom part, in order to better match where you have your hard disk drives installed. An air filter is available on the front panel for the front fan(s).

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Figure 3: Front panel.

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Figure 4: Front fan.