Cooler Master Silencio 550 review

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.

Its shiny front door has been honed to a near mirror finish, although the plastic construction doesn’t feel as sturdy as we’d like it to be. Two USB3 ports (which use a pass-through cable instead of a motherboard header), audio I/O jacks and an SD card reader are all located on the top panel of the case, within easy reach.

Inside, there’s a decent amount of room in which you can build your system, although the pre-cut cable routing holes are a little on the small side. The 3.5in drive cages are removable, but you’ll have to attach the provided rails to any hard disks you install. At least there’s a single 2.5in caddy for anyone planning to install an SSD. The seven internal 3.5in and the three external 5.25in drive bays should be enough for most systems, but you’ll have to remove the preinstalled hot-swap hard disk caddy to free up the third external drive bay.

High-end components might start to feel the heat due to the case only having two preinstalled 120mm fans, and although there’s room for another 120mm intake fan there are no more fan mounts at the back of the case. Our test equipment coped well, but if your PC runs very hot you may want to look elsewhere.

At £65, the Silencio is decent value for money. It’s quiet and it looks reasonably stylish, but if you care more about cooling the Sharkoon T9 Value may be a better buy.