Want your PC case with a serving of screen on the side? Cougar, best known for its gaming peripherals and radical PC cases, has plated an unusual new chassis series, the CFV235, that’s defined by two features: face-panel type (glass, or mesh?), and whether the case has a monitor on the side. This unusual case line also features a twin-chamber design that isolates airflow into upper (motherboard) and lower (power supply) cavities. This manifests as a two-part design, with one chamber mounted above the other, separated by an air gap. All in all, Cougar tries something new here and pulls it off creditably; we’ve not seen another case like it for some time.

Design: Cuttin’ a New Groove

If you’re shopping this case, know that it comes in eight mix-and-match combinations. While you’d expect to pay a bit extra for its versions with a tempered-glass face, here it’s Cougar’s freer-airflow “Mesh” version that costs $10 more; that’s because you get twin 160mm ARGB fans up front that you don’t with the glass version. The “Vision” version is what I tested; it has a 462-by-1,920-pixel digital display on the face of the lower chamber, on the left side, and that bit of bling adds $80.

Got all that? The four cases are represented as the CFV235 ($139.99, glass front, no display), CFV235 Mesh ($149.99, mesh front, no display), CFV235 Vision ($219.99, glass front, with display, my test model), and CFV235 Mesh Vision ($229.99, mesh front, with display). Not enough variety? Cougar serves up all four configurations in a choice of black or white. That makes for the eight.

Now, as for that funky two-part design. Cougar separates the motherboard chamber from the power supply chamber of the CFV235 with an air gap, using what would have been the power supply shroud to cap the bottom of the upper section, and adding something that resembles a bottom panel to the top of the lower section. The power supply mounts upside-down in this chassis, with its cover fan drawing air from vents in that top cover.

While most of the face in my Vision model consists of two glass pieces, a sheet-metal portion boxes in the space between the CFV235’s motherboard tray and the right side panel. From that perspective, the motherboard chamber is cantilevered from this structure.

The design puts the “front” ports in an unusual spot: on the lower chamber’s left side, near the front, to the right of the display panel. Up there are two Type-A USB ports and one Type-C, plus a headset combo jack and two buttons. The Type-A ports are Gen 1; the Type-C port connects via Gen 2x2 (20Gbps max); and the combo jack supports both standard headphones and single-connector headsets with integrated microphones. As for the buttons, the smaller one flips through the built-in ARGB controller’s 18 lighting modes, while the larger is the power button. It shows its power-on indicator LED through a small hole.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The cut-out gap between the two chambers is more evident when you view the case from the rear, where a single rear panel covers both chambers’ backs. A 120mm ARGB fan is fitted to height-adjustable slots up top, the upside-down power supply bay is inset deeply down below, and the twin 120mm ARGB intake fans are faintly visible off to the side through perforations in the right panel.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A removable dust filter is accessible via the plastic tab seen protruding from the back of the gap.

Remember what I said about the power supply being deeply inset? This extra distance adds around an inch to the required PSU power-cable length to reach your 4-pin or 8-pin CPU power connector(s) and the 24-pin main connector, and the air gap between chambers adds roughly another inch, compared with traditional tower designs. Some power supplies may not have long enough cables, and you may need to source an extension cable or cables, especially for the CPU power connector(s) on your motherboard. That would have been a thoughtful addition to the accessory kit.

A removable dual 2.5-inch drive tray is also visible near the top of the motherboard tray, viewed from the back. It covers the usual hole placed to allow access to the support plates required by some CPU coolers.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

You can mount two more 2.5-inch drives (or 3.5-inch drives) above and inside the power supply bay’s removable drive cage, but be aware that getting screws up through the top of the cage (for the second drive) requires removing the screws from the bottom of the case that hold the cage in place.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A circuit board at the top of the case, behind the motherboard tray in a hidden spot, serves as both a six-device ARGB controller and a powered PWM six-fan hub. It passes through the PWM signal of an input cable (typically connected to a motherboard fan output), and it can also use an input signal to hand off ARGB controller functionality to another device (typically from a motherboard ARGB header).

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Though its top panel snaps off without tools, and both side panels lift off the bottom edge after unsnapping them from the top, the CFV235’s front panel is redundantly secured with screws at its outer two corners. Given here, it’s glass, probably not a bad idea.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The top panel has dual fan-mounting patterns to position up to three 120mm fans or two 140mm fans within an approximately 440mm space. That’s enough to fit any 360mm-format radiator I can think of, but not enough for any 420mm-format unit, since the end caps of radiators usually require 30mm to 50mm of space beyond the ends of the radiator core.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The motherboard chamber’s lower panel supports a second trio of 120mm fans on threaded (#6-32) mounting holes.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

In the middle, a knurled screw and bracket support a horizontal tab that acts as a miniature graphics card brace. You simply loosen the screw to drop it out of the way, install a card, and slide the bracket up until the rubber strip makes firm contact with the GPU cooler’s frame. A second slot allows the unit to be moved to accommodate various GPU exterior shapes and designs.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Holes around the edge of the motherboard mounting area support rear-facing motherboard connectors used in cable-hiding ATX or MicroATX boards from Asus’ Back to the Future (BTF) and MSI’s Project Zero motherboard series.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Painted black on its back side, the lower front glass pops away from four snaps to expose two screws that secure the lower side glass. The plate will slide forward for removal after those screws are out, but be aware that the port cables that feed the panel’s ports are zip-tied to the underside of the power supply chamber’s lid and to the lower edge of the motherboard tray’s back.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

A removable frame holds the side panel’s digital display against the side glass; the display’s controller is mounted to the back of that frame. Not that you have any reason to take it apart, but if you do remove the lower side glass, be aware that the display panel could fall out if handled carelessly.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Building With the Cougar CFV235 Vision

The basic M3 and #6-32 thread screws that are needed to install the motherboard, any 2.5-inch/3.5-inch drives, and the power supply are packed with three additional standoffs in a single tear-open bag. A second bag includes the 12 long shoulder screws needed to attach 25mm-thick fans to the motherboard chamber’s bottom panel, along with a Phillips-drive motherboard-standoff socket and a few replacement screws for the case’s panel hardware. The included manual is fairly useful, but the available online version might be easier for some to read.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Also in the main box is a flat box that contains an ARGB lighting strip that sticks under the motherboard chamber. It’s bundled with a somewhat reflective sheet that sticks to the top of the power supply chamber. Both attach magnetically and are shown below the motherboard chamber’s factory-installed dust filter.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

The four cables to the left in the photo below connect the CFV235’s power button and indicator LED, headset combo jack, twin USB 3.x Type-A ports, and a single USB Type-C port. Its ARGB/fan controller/hub is powered by and connected to the motherboard through the SATA-power, PWM, and ARGB input cables seen on the right. The USB 2.0 internal header cable in the center is exclusive to the family’s Vision models; it powers and transmits data to the side digital display.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Our standard-tester 12-inch graphics card and ATX (12-by-9.6-inch) motherboard fit easily, and Cougar points out that there’s even enough room at the front edge to mount an SSI-CEB (12-by-10.5-inch) board if you’d like. That latter label will cause new builders some semantic confusion, as most manufacturers refer to their 12-by-10.5-inch motherboards as “EATX” (a form factor that technically extends up to 13 inches deep). 

I found that while a 10.5-inch-deep SSI-CEB motherboard partially covers the CFV235’s front cable passage, the same is true of any motherboard between 10.4 and 10.8 inches deep. Since that range covers every EATX-tagged enthusiast-class motherboard I’ve seen over the past decade, you’ll want to check the actual dimensions of any EATX board you might use before excluding any version of the CFV235.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

One thing that the above photo didn’t show was that my standard test power supply’s cables were too short to reach the top of the test motherboard in the CFV235 Vision, and that’s something I had not yet experienced with this power supply, which I use for all PCMag case tests that require an ATX power supply. My workaround was to unscrew the motherboard, run the cables over the top of the board through the case’s upper rear-facing connector access holes, and then screw the board back into place. That gave me just enough cable run. Removing a motherboard to install PSU cables is exactly as troublesome as it sounds.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

After adding the included light strip to the bottom of the motherboard chamber and the reflective mat to the top of the power supply chamber, this finished system looked like this. Well, almost...

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

You see, before you can fire up the side panel to display time, CPU temps, and GPU temps against a space-themed background, you’ll first need to download and install Cougar LCD Editor from the case’s webpage. Without it, the display will show the Cougar logo for a few minutes before turning off.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Vision Editor lets you add a range of things to the screen. I experimented, for a while, with images I found by simply searching my loaded hard drive. You can also use Vision Editor to display different layouts of system vital signs.

(Credit: Cougar)

After deciding that I didn’t like any of my changes, I reverted to LCD Editor’s original settings. The default is pretty nifty.

(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)

Testing the Cougar CFV235 Vision

Case evaluation is all about heat and noise: I'm carrying our 2024 case test component loadout into its second year, as it still produces similar heat and noise to a current build while allowing me to compare a wide range of previously collected data.

Regarding previously collected data, it would make sense to compare the CFV235 Vision to a few other triple-fan-equipped, LCD-panel cases. Alas, though, the only LCD-panel case I’ve tested in the past two years didn’t have fans, so I’ve also added glass-faced cases of similar fan configuration to today’s charts.

The other display-panel case, from Hyte, trails in all thermal measurements here due to its lack of fans, while the CFV235 ties for fourth place in CPU temperature and third in both VR MOS and GPU temperatures.

The CFV235 is also the third quietest (optimist), or third noisiest (pessimist) in this six-way comparison. Its third-place cooling makes sense, as improved airflow is often achieved by installing more powerful, noisier fans.