With the release of the Centurion 534, CoolerMaster have continued to expand on their successful line of Centurion PC Chassis. The 534 has an aluminum front panel and two strips of steel mesh that run along both sides of the front bezel for increased airflow. The rest of the enclosure is made of coated steel (SECC).

The packaging that the case arrived in does a great job of protecting the contents by providing Styrofoam packaging that is custom fit to the top and bottom of the chassis. Then the chassis is also wrapped in protective plastic to prevent scratches to the main surfaces of the case during shipping.

In the two images above we can see the front and rear panels of the Centurion 534. The front panel is aluminum with steel mesh running up both sides. This mesh adds to the appearance as well as helping to provide superior airflow through the entire chassis. When we look at the rear panel of the chassis the layout is very straightforward. There are 7 totally tool free expansion slots available for additional cards that may be installed in your PC. Then above that you find the area designated for an additional exhaust fan. The nice thing about their design is that it allows for an 80mm, 92mm, or 120mm rear exhaust fan. We would recommend that you go with the 120mm for best cooling results and quietest operation. Directly beside the fan holder you will find the rear accessory panel. This is removable so that you can use the panel that is supplied with your motherboard if the rear configuration is anything other than the design of the panel supplied by CoolerMaster. At the top of the rear panel is the placeholder for your power supply as there is no PSU included with the Centurion 534.

Here we have a close-up view of the tool free real panel. The black plastic clips hold any add in cards in place that you may have installed in your system. This tool free card retention system works much better than some similar designs we have looked at in the past such as some of the early designs from Thermaltake.

Pictured above you can see close up views of the PSU holding area, the rear panel bracket and rear exhaust fan placement. If you look closely you can see around the PSU area that there are no rough sharp edges at all. The fan placement grill has 3 different sets of screw holes which can accommodate 80, 92, and 120mm exhaust fans. This small added feature may be one thing that attracts customers. Most low to mid priced PC chassis are only designed to hold 1 specific fan size. Many of us have spare 80mm fans lying around from prior systems so many may be content to use those instead of a larger, quieter 92mm or 120mm fan. This is all relative to your budget.

After removing the side panel we are greeted with a wide open and well laid out enclosure. There are no sharp metal edges to cut yourself on which is one of the first things we look for when reviewing a PC chassis. The hard drive bays are turned to face you when you open the case. This is becoming a common option in many cases we see today and it makes accessing a hard drive so convenient.

Directly above the hard drive bay you have storage room for an additional 2, 3.5 inch devices of your choice. As we continue up the inside of the chassis you run into the 5, 5.25 inch drive bays that are all designed for tool free operation. This makes changing out CD-Rom, DVD or any other 5.25” enclosures a snap.

On the left we can see inside the 5.25” drive bays, they provide lots of room for expansion. Directly above we have a close up view of the hard drive bays. They are tool free also and if you look at the image above right, it shows all that is required is to attach the plastic support rail to each side of your hard drive then it just slides into place with no screws at all.