The case is actually far more attractive than it appears in the library pictures on the website. (total opposite of my ex-wife it has to be said). Quality of the build the features are great and the noise reduction systems is excellent, on par with my Fractal Design R4. Grab yourself a bargain.

There is foam padding on the front and side panels of the case, not the top or bottom. I'm really happy with this case. It's much quieter and roomier than my previous Lian-Li case I bought in 2007 during college.

Well laid out case with a lot of room to work in; The large hard-drive cage is removable for those extra long GPUs but my Sapphire 6870 fit with room to spare (eventually, I'd like to get one more for CrossFire).

The foam padding on the side panel behind the mother board makes it a bit tight routing cables behind there; I had to make the cables pretty snug; If I had a modular power-supply it might have been easier.

I reviewed the HAF 912 Advanced Case from Cooler Master a few months ago and I must admit that this chassis left me gobsmacked. Even today, the HAF 912 is still doing a marvellous job, especially at catching dust and being rather quiet when in use.

1 Flares 1 Flares × Enthusiast users with a constrained budget often have to make compromises in regards to quality, building a PC around a chassis that emits a lot of fan noise due to thin panel design and the inclusion of low quality fans.

I'm always skeptical of marketing hype, so my first stop was the factory specs, and I found something refreshing: detailed factory measurements! I hope this becomes a standard, at least with non-budget cases.

Sleek; elegant look; Sound insulated; Roomy internal spaces; Lots of video card room; Hot Swap hard drive bay; SD card reader; USB 3.0 front panel I/O port; Filters on both air intakes; Built solid; Almost a full inch of back panel cable space; Internal removable hard drive cage; Comes with two...

SD card reader instead of more I/O USB ports; USB 3.0 from front panel has to be run outside the case; Larger video cards requiere removing the internal drive cage; Only two 5.25" bays -Door is not removable and only opens right to left

Cooler Master's Silencio 500 midi tower certainly lives up to its name. Because its side panels are covered in sound-isolating foam and it has two very quiet 120mm fans, it's the ideal case for anyone who wants to build a PC that doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner.

This is a big ATX case, but not insanely big like some of the alternatives are. Plenty of drive bays with quick release mechanisms, and the modern standard layout for air movement (PSU at bottom). Fans are large & slow, for minimal noise - for me, silence is everything.

This new chassis from Cooler Master aims to keep your components quiet

Dust filter; Decent internal space; Nice understated design

Cables difficult to install; Back panel fixing is difficult; Not that quiet

The Silencio is a nicely thought through chassis, it's nothing new in terms of new technologies though. That's said, it's by far sufficient enough for what it needs to accomplish. You can house a fairly high-end selection of PC components inside the chassis whilst keeping the noise levels down.

When I mention the Cooler Master Silencio 550, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the movie "Mulholland Drive". In the film, there is an eerie theater by the name of Club Silencio.