Installation
I mounted a full size ATX motherboard and power supply without problems. The Centurion 530 does not have a removable motherboard tray, but that is the norm for many lower cost enclosures. Cooler Master uses threaded brass standoffs to securely mount the motherboard to the chassis. The power supply, motherboard and AGP/PCI cards lined up perfectly in their respective openings.
The Centurion 530 uses tool-less PCI slot retention clips that were literally a snap to use. Push and rotate them one way to unlock; rotate and snap them into position to hold the card in place. While easy enough to use, they didn’t seem to lock all cards in position as securely as I would like.
Luckily, Cooler Master also provided tapped holes at the top of each expansion slot, so AGP/PCI cards can alternately be securely locked in position with standard machine screws.
The Centurion 530 uses a removable hard disc drive (HDD) cage, which can mount up to three drives using the provided plastic rails.
The rails incorporate metal pins that engage the mounting holes in the sides of standard 3.5′ HDDs. The rails made installing and removing drives very easy and securely held each drive in place. The front edge of the HDD cage unfortunately blocks some of the air being drawn in by the front case fan but still allows air to provide cooling to the drives.
For users who really want to increase the overall flow of air thru the Centurion case, Cooler Master offers their 4-in-3 Device Module that can be mounted in three of the 5.25′ drive bays.
The optional cooling module is designed to house up to four HDD but can be left empty so the included 120mm fan draws cool room air in thru the front of the case and sends it straight across the motherboard area to the rear exhaust fan.
The optical drive bays do not incorporate a rail system and instead rely on standard screws to mount all 5.25 devices. This was made necessary by the design of the stealth drive bay covers. Note: Cooler Master has recently released a new version of the Centurion case (Centurion 532) that does not include stealth drive bay covers and uses tool-less rails on the optical drive bays.
I had a few minor problems installing a pair of optical drives in the upper two bays. The dimensions of the optical drive cage seemed a little tight on my case but with a little work they settled in. Both drives operated properly with the stealth faceplate hinged doors and only required minor adjustments to align the eject button mechanisms properly.
