Cooler Master at CES 2015: Reorganization with a Surprise
by Ian Cutress on January 12, 2015 8:45 AM EST- Posted in
- PSUs
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Cooler Master
- Trade Shows
- CES 2015
When I met with Cooler Master at Computex 2014, the company at the time was discussing the fact that they had lost their focus over the past few years. A portfolio of over 2000 products was difficult to maintain, and Cooler Master had lost their roots in the PC cooling space by entering many different areas with middle of the road products. At that time the main question on the lip of Cooler Master was ‘what do you think when you hear our name?’. As a result of the feedback, there is almost a new, focused company here at CES.
The main element of the adjustment is to place all the product lines that were kept into three different market segments, with a special fourth model for cases.
These segments are Essential, Mainstream and Performance, covering low, medium and high end models. Cases also get Ultra, pointing at the extreme consumer. Each of their product ranges is split as follows:
| Keyboards (Small Form) at Cooler Master | ||
| Users | Model | MSRP |
| PERFORMANCE | NovaTouch TKL | $150-$200 |
| MAINSTREAM | QuickFire TK QuickFire Rapid-i |
$100-$150 |
| ESSENTIAL | QuickFire Rapid | $30-$90 |
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| Keyboards (Full Size) at Cooler Master | ||
| Users | Model | MSRP |
| PERFORMANCE | Trigger-Z | $150-$200 |
| MAINSTREAM | QuickFire Ultimate | $100-$150 |
| ESSENTIAL | QuickFire XT | $30-$90 |
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| Mice at Cooler Master | ||
| Users | Model | MSRP |
| PERFORMANCE | Reaper | $70-$90 |
| MAINSTREAM | Mizar | $50-$70 |
| ESSENTIAL | Xornet v2 | $30-$50 |
| Power Supplies at Cooler Master | ||||||
| Users | Model | Connector | Warranty | Efficiency | MSRP | |
| PERFORMANCE | V-Series | Fully Modular | 7 Years | 1200W @ Plat 1000W @ Gold 850W @ Gold |
$190-$300 | |
| MAINSTREAM | VSM | Modular | 5 Years | 750W @ Gold 650W @ Gold 550W @ Gold |
$100-$120 | |
| ESSENTIAL | GM | Modular | 5 Years | 750W @ Bronze 650W @ Bronze 550W @ Bronze |
$80-$100 | |
| Headsets at Cooler Master | ||
| Users | Model | MSRP |
| PERFORMANCE | Sirus C | $90-$130 |
| MAINSTREAM | Ceres 500 | $50-$90 |
| ESSENTIAL | Ceres 300 | $30-$50 |
| Cases at Cooler Master | |||
| Users | Model | Size | MSRP |
| ULTRA | Cosmos II | Ultra | $300+ |
| PERFORMANCE | Stryker | Full | $160-$200 |
| MAINSTREAM | Silencio 652S | Mid | $80-$130 |
| ESSENTIAL | HAF 912 | Mid | $50-$70 |
| Air Cooling (Top Down) at Cooler Master | |||
| Users | Model | Fan Size | MSRP |
| PERFORMANCE | Gemini S524 V2 | 120 mm, fits 140 mm | $45+ |
| MAINSTREAM | Gemini M4 | 120 mm Slim | $30-$40 |
| ESSENTIAL | Vortex Plus | 92 mm | $20-$30 |
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| Air Cooling (Tower) at Cooler Master | |||
| Users | Model | Fan Size | MSRP |
| PERFORMANCE | V8 GTS | 140 mm x2 | $80-$100 |
| MAINSTREAM | Hyper 612 v2 Hyper D92 Hyper 212 EVO |
140 mm 92 mm x2 120 mm |
$35-$50 |
| ESSENTIAL | Hyper T4 Hyper TX3 Hyper T2 |
120 mm 92 mm 92 mm |
$18-$30 |
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| AIO Liquid Cooling at Cooler Master | |||
| Users | Model | Size | MSRP |
| PERFORMANCE | Nepton | 280/140 mm | $100-$130 |
| MAINSTREAM | Nepton | 240/120 mm | $100-$130 |
| ESSENTIAL | Seidon | 120 mm | $50-$70 |
The new element to the product line is a product in development that sounds like a dream power supply for reviewers. Cooler Master are working on a system with an SoC (some ARM variant) with built in Bluetooth to connect to an app on a phone/tablet to be able to measure and/or diagnose a power supply when the PC is either on or off.
From the reviewer perspective, the best bit is the application. Here is a nice looking interface that shows the power consumption to two significant figures, with Cooler Master promising a future feature to be able to track power consumption over time, both from the wall and going through the power supply given losses or the power factor.
The app currently has a segment which, with the right price per kWh, will let you know how much money is being used on electricity.
Cooler Master has said that this is still a very early prototype right now, but it will be a premium feature for their high end (1000W plus models). Ideally I would like something around the 500W Platinum mark or less for testing, and the opportunity to track multiple power supplies given that I usually have three test beds on the go. Nevertheless, it is something slightly different to the other power supply manufacturers, and has potential uses in office environments in order to diagnose faults if enough functionality is built into the app.
There is no clear expectations about when this product would hit the shelves (Q4 ?), or the extra pricing on the top. Hopefully we will see an update at Computex in June.
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Barilla - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
I've never been a huge fan of CoolerMaster, but i have to say I really like what they are doing right now. Keep it simple, focused and with little to no bloat and you're sure to get my attention when I'm picking the parts. The last thing I want is to have to dig through 20 pages of spec sheets and marketing babble to find out what is the actual difference between two sets of RAM, except for different fancy color on the completely unnecessary heatsink of course.Thumbs up from me, CM.
Murloc - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
the product names are still unrelated though.I've always bought CM cases, you just can't beat their price-quality-features balance and their availability in online shops.
Samus - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Coolermaster does have some excellent, affordable, well-designed SECC cases, that's for sure. My issue with Coolermaster has always been at the high-end. They're kind of like an "Acer" in that the brand doesn't justify high costs, but they're the best at what they do in the low-end.I remember a decade ago having a Coolermaster 'Pretorean' which was one of their first aluminum cases to compete with Lian Li, and it was priced like a Lian Li without the Lian Li quality or refinement.
Then came along Silverstone, who priced most of their products above Lian Li while appropriately surpassing Lian Li quality.
GokieKS - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
The Praetorian wasn't one of the first CM all-aluminum cases at all - it was actually one of the later models once they were trying to bring them down-market. Though it used the same basic design as most of the ATCS line-up that had been around since the very early 2000s. Though it may have been getting a bit long in the tooth at that point, when those first full-aluminum cases (like the ATC-201) were introduced, they actually were better than Lian-Li in both design (which is admittedly subjective) and build quality (which is objective - they were thicker and stronger aluminum panels).Later on, most of the ATCS team went on to Silverstone, which is why the high-end Silverstone cases like the Temjin series really feel like the spiritual successor to those early ATCS cases.
romrunning - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
Hmm... I don't see any mini-ITX cases in that list. Does that mean they are getting out of the small-case market? I hope not - I liked their Cooler Master 120 & 130 min-ITX cases.Thesysadmin4T - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
This, so much this. The 120 is perfect in my mind for small m itx cases. Just a bit of better component arrangement and better cooler support(140mm or 120mm aio cooler), more usb 3.0 and two 80mm slim fan on the side( Mitx board is 170x170mm, why not put two 80mm fan on the side or one 140mm fan?)I'm using an 120 elite for my current build and for the price, I can't complain. Just some recommendations.
Bob Todd - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
The 120/130 are still my favorite cases for HTPC use that are intended for some gaming as well. They are decent looking, big enough without the 'holy hell this thing is MATX tower size' aspect that some ITX cases have evolved into, and they've been dirt cheap forever (if you're paying more than mid $30 range you are paying too much). It looks like they were both replaced by the HAF 915 Stacker?tshen2 - Monday, January 12, 2015 - link
'Two significant figures'.. did you mean two decimal places?