Cooler Master Announces Elite 431 Plus Case; Low Price and Premium Features

Cooler Master has announced a new case in its Elite lineup, dubbed the Elite 431 Plus. With a price tag of only $59.99, most would quickly think of a case with a cramped interior and thin aluminium construction, but Cooler Master wants to change our minds. The Elite 431 boasts a sturdier steel frame and offers loads of room on the inside for expensive hardware, along with enough cooling to keep temperatures in check.

There's room for up to five fans in the 431 Plus: two 120mm units at the top, one 120mm at the back, one 120mm on the bottom, and either a 120mm or 140mm up front. Cooler Master says that the case can handle long graphics cards, such as the AMD Radeon HD 6990, without a sweat, and there are five 3.5” hard drive bays.

On the front panel is a USB 3.0 port, surely attached using a motherboard header instead of with a dongle, and some sort of 3.5” hard drive dock in one of the 5.25” drive bays, which Cooler Master calls the X-Dock. This can be removed if necessary.

Like most newer cases, the standard ATX power supply mounts at the bottom of the case, and Cooler Master tells us that large CPU coolers, such as the company's own Hyper 212 EVO, can be installed without any space issues. The side panel is also windowed, if you're into that sort of thing. We should see the Elite 431 Plus on store shelves by the end of the month. The rest of the specifications can be seen here and you can now purchase it here