Cooler master silencio s400 review in Spanish (complete analysis)

Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 is the model that, together with the S600, Cooler Master has presented after 7 years of this range of soundproof chassis. And it is that inside we have a very careful system of acoustic panels and soundproofing elements with a much more current design, but with the same quality and just as elegant as all its models. It supports ITX and mATX boards in a space with tempered glass… or without it and two pre-installed fans.

This and much more is what this chassis offers, do not trust its extremely simple external appearance, because it keeps a lot inside. But before we begin, we will thank Cooler Master for the trust that he always places in us to review his best quality products.

Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 technical characteristics

Unboxing

Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 is a tower in which the manufacturer has taken elegance and simplicity in design very seriously. This same simplicity is reflected in the box that contains your product, being nothing more than a neutral cardboard box with very compact measurements and quite easy to handle. On the outer face we only have a tremendously simple sketch of the box together with make and model.

After this, what we are going to do is open the bundle to observe in this case, not the same as always. And the reason is because we found not one, but two different cardboard boxes. In one of them, the largest, we have the chassis, tucked between two corks of expanded polystyrene and in turn in a bag.

But there is also a second box much flatter on the side and protected by a few more cork stories. Inside what we have is an extra tempered glass panel to install it on the chassis instead of the sheet that comes standard. A great detail of the brand is to bring these two elements simultaneously.

And we still have more, accessories of course, yes, already inside the chassis itself and all in a plastic bag. These are in summary all the elements and accessories we have:

• Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 chassis Tempered glass panel Extra magnetic filter for the upper face Mounting screws Plastic clips Rubber adapters for hard drives Plastic brackets for fixing 3.5 ”hard drives User guide and installation instructions

Focusing on these brackets, the guide perfectly explains how to install them. Its utility lies in being able to insert 3.5-inch mechanical hard drives into the double-sided cabinet quickly and with acoustic and vibration isolation.

Exterior design

Now we start with the exterior design of this Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 chassis, which we already warned that is not as simple as it initially seems, because the brand has put all its creativity into it and not precisely to make it striking. And it is that in the whole of it we have completely simple lines, square and painted in matt black color overflowing with elegance.

And precisely this elegance is not measured by the amount of lighting, since we do not have it installed in this chassis, nor in its fans. Its strongest point is the soundproofing capacity that it will give the user, since these sound absorbing elements have been installed practically in the entire chassis, panels, gaskets and holes for hardware.

It is a Mini Tower format, since as you have seen in the summary table it only supports ITX and Micro-ATX boards, offering total measurements of 418 high, 210 mm wide and 408 mm deep. Let us now look at it in detail.

The left side has two types of configurations, the first of them is an opaque sheet metal that installs an exquisitely placed inside, a soundproofing panel made of foam, vinyl and high-density fibers. Installation mode consists of two rear thumbscrews.

And the second configuration is a little more oriented to improve aesthetics, with a transparent tempered glass panel with the same installation method and obviously without soundproofing. We can choose the one that we like the most.

In any case, both panels do not go all the way down, since the PSU compartment let's say it is installed independently. Standing on the side of the front, there is a frame in shiny black ABS plastic that improves the aesthetics of the box.

Standing quickly on the right side, we have, this time, a sheet metal panel that completely covers this side and that we can remove and put by loosening two rear screws. Like the previous one, it features exactly the same soundproofing settings.

The front area (if we have it closed) would only consist of a black sheet panel with only the brand logo in the lower area. But of course, we are talking about Cooler Master SILENCIO S400, and this sheet metal turns into an excellent tilt-and-turn door that at the back is covered with expanded rubber foam to absorb noise.

And if we open it, we will find an excellent dust filter with a very fine mesh and perfect to stop dirt. Well, we are going to remove it too, and then we have the fan installation area with a 120mm Silent FP Cooler Master.

If we look at the top area, we do indeed have a 5.25-inch CD player compatible bay, and this is excellent news. And if we continue looking, it is possible to install the hinges both left and right and change the orientation of the door, thought that this is exactly the same below as above.

And with this we arrive at the upper area, which is also more interesting than what a priori makes us think. Initially, we have installed a metal panel also with a soundproofing layer, which is in charge of covering the large hole for ventilation in this area.

If we remove it, we will be able to see this hole that offers compatibility with a double 120mm or 140mm fan. And if what we need is an extra cooling, then we are going to take the magnetic metallic filter that we have available. A great detail of the brand, versatility and simplicity in this Cooler Master SILENCIO S400.

The manufacturer has taken advantage of the right side area at the top to locate its I / O panel here . It is a curious configuration, interesting aesthetically speaking, but that remains far from the natural position of the user, just on the opposite side where he would be hypothetically sitting.

In this panel we have the following elements:

• Power button RESET button Two USB 3.1 Gen1 ports 4- pin 3.5mm mini jack connector, audio combo + microphone SD card reader

I really liked having an SD card reader here, it is true that we do not have USB Type-C, but the manufacturer is betting on something original and different from the 95% chassis on the market.

One of the few parts that doesn't have soundproofing for obvious reasons is the rear area. We distinguish here a fan identical to the pre-installed 120mm front, and a total of four expansion slots with removable plates. Remember that it is a chassis for small boards, we do not need more than 4.

And in the lower area is the compartment for the power supply. In this case, we will have to install it through the lateral area, since we do not have a removable frame that typically distinguishes the Cooler Master chassis.

We finish with the lower part of the Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 chassis which has four small round legs, very short and that leave the chassis quite close to the ground. Likewise, a metal filter has been installed for the air inlet in the PSU which is very basic and is out of keeping in a chassis as careful as this. Then, in the front area there is a succession of holes and flanges that serve to move the hard drive bay cabinet from position.

Soundproof interior and mounting

In this case, the assembly we have made consists of the following elements:

• AMD Athlon GE 240 with stock sink MSI B350I PRO AC Board (Mini ITX) 8GB DDR4 G.SKILL SniperNvidia RTX 2060PSU Corsair AX860i

We now go inside this Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 to explore more closely the details that it will provide. We already know the excellent exterior design alongside those high-quality soundproofing panels. Like other boxes, the interior has been divided into three zones, the usual ones, main zone, PSU and cable management.

This entire area is painted black, with a thick steel chassis and very good rigidity. In it, a total of four holes have been made to pass cables, of which two have a rubber coating. There are also two of them on the PSU cover to connect the typical USB 2.0 I / O panel. There is more than enough space to work on heatsinks with the board directly installed.

And speaking of heatsinks, the chassis offers the ability to install CPU coolers up to 167mm in height, which is not bad for a 210mm wide chassis, although of course, we will lose space just behind to manage cables. Likewise, we have a capacity for a graphics card 319 mm long and a PSU from 140 to 325 mm long, this is due to how we place the hard drive cabinet, since it is completely removable and movable.

Storage capacity

Despite being quite small this chassis, Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 has many spaces to install hard drives. Let's see all of them calmly.

From the number of photos we have, you can imagine that there is a lot to explain here. And we'll start at the 5.25-inch CD-ROM drive bay. It is installed with screws, so we can perfectly remove it to install fans and radiators. But it is that just below it, we can install a 3.5-inch mechanical hard drive with its corresponding rubber couplings to eliminate vibrations.

Now we are going to move to the cover of the PSU, because here we have two holes to install two 2.5-inch SSD or HDD storage units. We can also place these anti vibration rubbers. The next trip reaches us to the cable compartment, just behind the motherboard where we can install two other 2.5-inch SSD or HDD drives.

And finally we end up in the metal cabinet installed above the PSU area that supports a total of three 3.5-inch units, two of them inside and one upstairs. It is here where the brakets available in the accessories bag make sense, since we are going to place them on the hard drive, and then we can put it in that closet. The good thing is that when we want, we can remove this cabinet or move it just by loosening a screw to fit large sources.

So as a summary we will have the capacity to:

• 4 2.5-inch hard drives (2 on PSU cover and 2 behind motherboard) 4 3.5-inch hard drives (3 in PSU cabinet and 1 under 5.25 1 bay of 5, 25 inches

Cooling capacity

After seeing the remarkable storage capacity of the Cooler Master SILENCIO S400, it is time to see if the capacity for fans and cooling is up to scratch, and we already anticipated that it is quite good.

Let's start with its capacity for fans:

• Front: 2x 120mm / 2x 140mm Top: 2x 120mm / 2x 140mm Rear: 1x 120mm

If we consider the measurements of the chassis, it is a very good capacity, although it is true that physically we would have enough space for 360 mm cooling systems and triple 120 mm fans. The problem here is that we have the 5.25 ”ODD cage and it reduces this available space even though it can be removed, and that it was simply the manufacturer's decision to omit this capacity.

Also say that we have two Cooler Master SILENCIO FP fans with PWM control between 800 and 1400 RPM pre-installed in the chassis .

And let's continue with its capacity for liquid cooling:

• Front: 120/140/240/280 mm Upper: 120/240 mm Rear: 120 mm

Exactly the same thing happens as before, physically there is space, but no compatibility with 360mm systems. It would have been quite interesting to mount high-power configurations, although a 280mm system will already support the more powerful CPUs without problem.

The factory settings are quite acceptable with these two fans, from the Cooler Master silent range. Also note in the photos that in order to install fans up in the front area we will need to previously remove the 5.25-inch ODD cage. Obviously if we are not going to use it, what we have to do is remove it from the middle.

In these images we should also note that in the two main areas we can install AIO liquid cooling systems of about 5 cm without any problem. It will be important to deduce that, if we are to improve the air flow of the chassis, we will need to open the front door, or place the magnetic filter on top. Otherwise the flow will be practically nil.

We emphasize the good quality of the front and top filter, contrasting with a fairly basic system of the bottom filter. It would have been fairly easy to fit one of these plastic-framed filters that would have been much better on a heavily worked chassis.

Installation and assembly

Looking at the interior in terms of capacity, we see the installation process that we have carried out. And in this case there is not much to say, because the interior is very well worked or and there has been no problem in compatibility.

And of course, the first will be to place the PSU, which we have not had any problem in being able to put inside. Let's look at the detail of having also incorporated a foam anti-vibration protection between PSU and chassis. We must take into account that the interior area of ​​the PSU cover does not have soundproofing.

The next aspect that we haven't talked about is the space for cable management. We have about 20 mm available that, as you can see in the assembly, are made a little insufficient to hide cables in the lower area. Above all, if we are going to install enough fans and hard drives, things will get complicated. At least we have the possibility of removing the disk cabinet, as we have space for a 3.5 ”one in the main compartment. Also, we do not have any advanced cable routing system.

Notice, something that we can miss is the possibility of installing graphics cards vertically. Physically there is also room, since the rear fan can be moved upwards a lot. Similarly, we see that when installing an ITX plate we have a large open space on the side that we can even use to pass the ATX cable to the area.

Final score

Without further ado, we will leave you with some photos of how this chassis has been with the assembly made. The truth is that the appearance is sensational, and also supports high-end hardware almost without problems as long as it is "mini". The assembly has been really clean, without compatibility problems and with all the holes very well worked.

Final words and conclusion about Cooler Master SILENCIO S400

We come to the end of this long review where we have seen, I think in a fairly in-depth way, this Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 chassis. A Mini Tower configuration of which unfortunately we do not have many in the manufacturers, much less with this quality. A very very minimalist tower in its external design with a matte black that feels great.

But within this simplicity, we have very elaborate elements, an impressive soundproofing section that works like a charm, and different options such as tempered glass or an extra magnetic filter, and the reversible door on the front. They are small details that make a product great, because what we like most about a chassis is the ability to personalize.

We also recommend our article on the best chassis of the moment

They are very compact measurements but they support high-end hardware such as 280mm cooling, 167mm heatsinks and large GPUs. Don't forget about its two pre-installed Cooler Master SILENCIO FP 120mm fans. Only 360 mm AIO capacity was lacking, too bad. And up to 8 hard drives we can install gentlemen, 4 of 3.5 "and 4 of 2.5" together with a CD-ROM reader, without a doubt of their strengths.

We only lack small details such as the ability to install vertical GPUs, a more sophisticated lower bottom filter or better level of cable management. This Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 chassis can be purchased for a price of 80 euros, an option that is located in a medium-high range of Mini Tower chassis in which elegance and silence prevail. Recall that another SILENCIO S600 version is available for 90 euros in this case Middle Tower.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ ELEGANT, MINIMALIST AND IMPECCABLE DESIGN	- DOES NOT ADMIT AIO 360 MM REFRIGERATION
+ FULL PERFORMANCE COMPLETE SOUNDPROOFING	- BASIC LOWER FILTER
+ WITH TEMPERED GLASS AND UPPER FILTER AS EXTRAS	- BASIC WIRING MANAGEMENT
+ 2 PRE-INSTALLED SILENCE FANS FP
+ HIGH CAPACITY FOR STORAGE (8 DISCS AND CD-ROM)
+ OF THE BEST “MINI TOWER” CHASSIS IN QUALITY / PRICE

The professional review team awards him the gold medal:

Cooler Master SILENCIO S400

DESIGN - 91%

MATERIALS - 90%

WIRING MANAGEMENT - 82%

PRICE - 87%

88%