Getting a Cooler Master Centurion 5

martinlk · Post by **martinlk** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:32 am

Hi all

So I'm thinking of getting the Cooler Master Centurion 5 (in silver of course, not that ugly blue one),

First of all I have an Asus P4B266 motherboard and I'm concerned about the amount of available space in the centurion 5. I'm planning on getting the Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu and since the CPU socket is at the very top of my MB, I think it might not fit. What do you think? Also I just saw that a new Zalman, the CNPS7700-AlCu, at zalmanusa.com, but that one is even larger.

Also, the Centurion 5 is delivered without a PSU where I live (in Denmark). So I probably need a new PSU as well, as I currently have a standard 300W Antec PSU. To all the Danes reading this: which one should I get if I'm on a budget?

Oh, and by the way: I heard that the LEDs in the case are VERY BRIGHT blue. I usually prefer the standard green/yellow scheme as that's what all my other components use. Anyone know if the LEDs are easily replaced in this case?

Digitizers · Post by **Digitizers** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:28 am

martinlk,

I find it really really difficult to tell weither your setup fits or not but I'll try to help. Recently I built a computer in a centurion 5 (asus a7n8x-e deluxe, thermalright SP97) also with the socket at the very top of the motherboard. I must say that there's a lot of clearance between the motherboard and the PSU. At least more then my own centurion 1.
If you ask me it's a fit! But I'm not 100% sure. I'm about 75% sure.

Have a look at this:

http://home.iprimus.com.au/maslovsky/zalmanP4.htm
scroll down and you'll see a couple of reviews.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.c ... 359&page=1

martinlk · Post by **martinlk** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 3:29 am

If it won't fit it's not that big a deal. I'm sure there are other alternatives that'll fit. Maybe someone here could recommend one?

A new motherboard with a different layout would solve the problem, but then I would have to get a new CPU and new RAM, so that's out of the question.

So I guess my remaining questions are:

What PSU to get in Denmark? (I'm on a budget)
Are the blue LEDs in the centurion 5 easily replaced with ones that are green/orange?

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:31 am

Swapping the LED's is not going to be real easy. Of course, "easy" means different things to different people, but swapping the LED's on the Cent 5 will require some use of a soldering iron, and you'll have to find exactly the right size/type of LED to make the swap with. Of course, you could just not plug the LED's in at all.

Figuring out whether the 7000 will work with your mobo in the case is pretty simple:

1. Measure how far it is from the center of your CPU socket to the edge of the motherboard.
2. Add the 18mm space that is shown in the review.
3. Look up the size of the 7000 on Zalman's website: 109mm.
4. Divide the size of the 7000 by 2 (since its is centered on the center of the socket), and see if that number is smaller than the sum of the distance from center of socket to edge plus 18mm, then it'll fit.

And the blue is not that ugly.

martinlk · Post by **martinlk** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 7:58 am

Yeah, I'll measure it as soon as I get the chance. Thanks.

Rusty075 wrote:And the blue is not that ugly.

Heh. Well.. Guess that depends on who's watching. Actually, the silver/black is best for me since my TFT is silver/black and so is my keyboard. And I'll never get why some people like those blue LEDs since most other products use green and orange LEDs. Mixing all those colors just looks wrong. Plus the blue LEDs are typically WAY too bright for me. They almost hurt my eyes.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 10:14 am

If you really want to see UGLY blue leds, go take a look at a running Sonata case

martinlk · Post by **martinlk** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:44 am

hear hear!

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 1:00 pm

burcakb wrote:If you really want to see UGLY blue leds, go take a look at a running Sonata case

At least that one serves no useful purpose whatsoever and is easily removed.

I was using a desktop Coolermaster case once, and the blue power light was so bright and shining right into my eye, I finally had to put a couple of layers of masking tape over it so that I would not go blind.

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:46 pm

Somewhere, someone decided that blue LED's were "cool" (or was that "kewl"?) and now the damn things will not go away.

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 3:20 pm

I like them. My little ATC-600 looks kewl

I turned off/unplugged all of the lights in the Sonata case I had.