Long-time case maker COUGAR has released its latest Mini-ITX case, the military inspired Dust 2, “born for travelling gamers and LAN Party dominance.” As stated, the case follows a rugged design with the quintessential military sand colour option.
Looking at COUGAR’s website, the Dust 2 features anodised aluminium front and rear panels with a sandblasted finish. These two panels can be switched out for different colours, allowing you to choose between Desert Sand, Iron Gray, and Space Silver.
Moving to the rest of the case, rather than the high-end cases on the market, the Dust 2 has a more rugged design to match that of the military with sharp edges, large buckles holding the side panels on. The case also has two handles allowing it to be easily moved and transported.
A big part of the product page is focusing on the performance and cooling of the case. The Dust 2 supports 330mm graphics cards and ATX power supplies. It seems that COUGAR will ship the case with a Gen3 PCIe riser cable, but this could change when it comes to shipping units.
The case goes for a sandwich-style layout, separating the GPU and CPU from each other, with the PSU being on the CPU’s side. On the topic of cooling the case supports up to a 280mm radiator allowing for custom and closed loops to be used. COUGAR has designed the case to suck cool air in from the sides and exhaust the warm air out of the top.
To ensure the case can be used for years to come, COUGAR has chosen to include a USB 3.1 Gen-2 Type-C connector along with the standard USB-A and headphone jack. The front IO also features an LED power button and reset button.
Specifications
Motherboard Type | Mini ITX |
---|---|
Exclude Handles | 175 x 299 x 403 (mm) 6.9 x 11.8 x 15.9 (in) |
Include Handles | 175 x 335 x 403 (mm) 6.9 x 13.2 x 15.9 (in) |
I/O Panel | Type C 3.1 x1, USB3.0 x1, 4 Pole Headset Audio Jack x1, Reset Button |
3.5″ Drive Bay | *1 |
2.5″ Drive Bay | 2 (2 SSD trays included) |
Expansion Slots | 2 (A PCIe 16x Gen3 high-speed riser card included) |
Cooling Fan Support | Top: 120mm x 2 / 140mm x 2 (120mm black fan x 2 pre-installed) |
Maximun Number of Fans | 2 Max. |
Water Cooling Support | Top: *280mm / *240mm / 140mm / 120mm (Max. water block height is under 55mm) |
Max. Graphics Card Length | 330 (mm) / 13 (in) (Max. graphic card height is under 60mm) |
Max. CPU Cooler Height | 70 (mm) / 2.8 (in) |
Max. PSU Length | 160 (mm) / 6.3 (in) |
*Please choose either of a 280mm/240mm radiator or a 3.5″ HDD t o install on the top panel.