External appearance – sides
The left side of the RC1100 is very different from that of its forerunner. Sound proofing is removed and replaced with a Stacker-esque mesh panel aiding the heat dissipation from inside the chassis. A simple COSMOS S badge finishes off the black brushed aluminium side panel nicely, though it's not without its faults.
Behind the mesh of the left-hand panel is another new addition - a 200mm low-noise (900rpm) "high-performance" cooling fan, that connects to a motherboard power header or Molex plug. The mesh and fan are nice in theory but the fan is attached to a plastic frame that spans the entire panel, causing vibrations and excess noise in use. Cooler Master says that it will address this problem in the future but didn't tell us when.
In contrast, the right side panel is a simple black brushed aluminium affair carrying a grey Cooler Master logo in its top front corner.
We had no problem removing the right-hand panel but the lack of spring in the mechanism of the left panel made removal difficult at first - but the task got easier over time.
We were disappointed by the removal of soundproofing from the right-hand panel, not just the left, and can't quite understand Cooler Master's thinking. Having it there would have helped keep down the noise, even if only a little.