Cougar Volant Case Review – Astounding Midi-Tower Chassis At A Modest Price

FINAL WORDS AND CONCLUSION

The Volant is a great midi-tower case for its $50 price tag, certainly worth recommending if you’re new to midi-towers and want to take a dip before diving into this new chassis design. It’s simple and looks great in any space. It also has many of the features one would expect to see out of higher-end, larger chassis, so Cougar is definitely on the right track. A prime example of this is the HDD/SSD dock at the top, which is usually never implemented on cases as small and as wallet-friendly as the Volant.

With that said, while the price of this Volant makes it a great choice, it comes a few caveats. Firstly one case fan, while being the all-important rear exhaust fan and from Cougar’s own Vortex series to boot, is not enough for a gaming build. Even for a smaller HTPC build two fans would have been appreciated –  one rear and one top, or front. On the same topic, the two front panel USB ports should both be USB 3.0 instead of one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0. Secondly, due to the size of the midi-tower Volant, the distance between the motherboard tray and side-panel is tight.  Again, we can’t fault Cougar too much as it is due to size restrictions of midi-tower cases, but keep in mind that if you are installing anything that protrudes outward from the motherboard (most notably huge aftermarket air-coolers), the chances of it fitting and allowing the slide-panel to close the case are slim.

Aside from those negatives, the Volant is a great leap by Cougar into midi designs. It does show flashes of brilliance, but also falls short in a few aspects, which isn’t bad at all for a first attempt. The Cougar Volant is a very well done case and Cougar should feel proud with the quality. Therefore, like Cougar’s Spike, the Volant wins our ‘Top Value’ award:

Either a gamer who wants to get every dollar out of their hardware and save a few on a great case and still feel rewarded, or just a budget conscious consumer who knows a fantastic deal when he/she sees one, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain with this Cougar line.

Check Out Cougar Volant Pricing at Amazon!