FSP CMT520 Review (Page 1 of 4)

By: Ben Joubert
August 31, 2018

Sequels are a tricky business. I generally enjoy new movies continuing the story or expanding on the universe from older enjoyable movies. However, there are some truly terrible duds. I really enjoyed Ant-Man. However, the second movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, was lackluster. I will not spoil anything here, but it just did not keep my attention as much as the first movie did. Unfortunately, this is a trend throughout movies in general. If more money can be made from a second movie, then it will happen. Transformers is a great example of movies just continuing on and on. Pirates of the Caribbean has a similar issue. I enjoyed the first three movies, but the ones after that were horrible. However, not every sequel is bad. How to Train your Dragon is an excellent movie, while its second movie is just as good. Captain America: Winter Soldier is in many ways better than Captain America's first movie. In rare cases, the sequels are better than the original, and in the world of technology, it should make a lot of sense for the next iteration of a product to be much better than the original. The manufacturer has the advantage of hindsight as well as feedback from plenty of reviews and from customers. This means the next product should probably be better in many ways. Today, we have the FSP CMT520, which is building on the previous CMT510. Is the FSP CMT520 an improvement over the CMT510? Read on to find out!

The FSP CMT520 arrived in its retail box being the shipping box like all computer cases. It traveled far; all the way from Chino, California, arriving to us here in Calgary, Alberta via FedEx Ground. Overall, the box was barely damaged with just a couple of dents and the corners being a bit beat up. The retail box of the FSP CMT520 has many design changes compared to the CMT510's retail box. It ditches the colored printing, but it keeps quite a bit of artwork. There is a woman with some intense hair on the front, just next to a picture of the case itself. Similar to the FSP CMT510, there is a black bar on the left side of the box indicating the model. The rest of the box has all the technical specifications concerning the case, which will be detailed later in this page.

FSP has taken typical procedures to keep the case safe, which is especially important for a case that has tempered glass on more than one side. Two large Styrofoam blocks on the bottom and on top of the case are used to absorb any impact that might occur during transportation. There is a plastic bag to cover the rest of the case to prevent any surface scratches or dust from settling and making the glass dirty. Inside of the case are all the screws necessary for installation. There is also an instruction manual to guide the process. Overall, the packaging is sufficient to keep the case safe, as there was no damage done to the tempered glass or anything else.

Before we move on, here are the specifications as obtained from the manufacturer's website:

Specifications
Model Name: CMT520
Type: ATX Mid Tower
Color: Black
Materials: SPCC, Tempered glass x 2
Weight: 8.5KG
Dimension DxWxH (mm) / (inch): 495 x 215 x 510mm 19.49 x 8.46 x 20.08inch
Maximum CPU Cooler Height: 163mm
VGA Card Length: 423mm
Expansion Slots: 8
MotherBoard Support: E-ATX, ATX, Micro ATX, ITX
External I/O port: USB3.0 x 2, USB2.0 x 2,Audio
Power Supply Type: 200mm ATX
3.5“ HDD: 2
2.5" SSD: 4
Fans Included(pre-install) Front: 120mm RGB Fan x 3
Rear: 120mm RGB Fan x 1
Fan&Water Cooler Support Front: 120mm/140mm x 3, or 360mm Radiator x 1
Top: 120mm x 3/140mm x 2 or 360mm Radiator x 1
Rear: 120mm x1
Max Radiator Support: 360mm x 2


Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion