Cooler Master Oracle Air NVME M.2 SSD Enclosure Review

Cooler Master isn't a brand I would normally associate with storage products. Sure, they've got a mighty portfolio already, with some of the best cases, coolers, power supplies, and monitors on the market today. So why are they playing around in the storage market? Well, it seems this idea is one of those ideas born out of lockdown of all things! With the work-from-home culture taking over due to Covid, Cooler Master staff needed a storage solution that would allow them to work from home, but also deal with a sporadic office schedule too. This spawned the idea that they should create their own branded external drive dock, and from that little idea, we now have the Oracle! This is a really interesting external NVMe dock too, most notably because of the design, as it's by far one of the coolest and most interesting I've seen, ever. That's not an easy task either, as storage is for the most part, about as exciting as a trip to the dentist. The awesome design is set to offer impressive cooling performance, easy maintenance, portability, and durability. I love that it has a unique design that can allow for 3D printed customization (more on that later), and it even supports MOLLE to hook it onto various backpacks and similar products. It's meant for people on the go, not just to sit at your desk all day. Features Blistering Speed, On-The-Go - Whether you're gaming, editing, or creating on the fly, the Oracle Air easily transfers data at speeds up to 1000mbps by utilizing the latest NVME interface paired with USB 3.2.Dual Layer Cooling - The inner core consists of a large heatsink built in for highly effective heat distribution and rapid cooling even under extended use. A sleek, protective outer layer allows for maximum ventilation while keeping Oracle Air cool to the touch.Install In Seconds - Turn your NVME M.2 SSD into a portable storage drive in just four steps! Engineered for intuitive use, Oracle Air keeps things simple for the user by completely omitting the need for screws or tools during its installation process.Painless Upgrades, Future-Proof - Oracle Air accommodates NVME M.2 SSD drives of all sizes to satisfy various needs. Fuel your passion with reliable, easily upgradable storage or rapidly switch between multiple SSDs for quick access.Plug and Play, MOLLE Compatible - Bring your creative space with you wherever you go. Built-in MOLLE compatibility allows you to easily attach Oracle Air onto backpacks and more, facilitating instant, secure access to countless games and files.Multi-Platform and Device Support - Enjoy out-of-the-box support for PlayStation, Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, and iOS whether you choose to use Oracle Air for work or play. What Cooler Master Had to Say "Oracle Air features a unique dual-layer design that allows for advanced heat dissipation that still keeps the device cool to the touch. Full tool-less installation allows for easy upgrades and quick access between multiple SSDs, so users can work and play on the go." - Cooler Master Packaging & Accessories The box is nice and compact, but plenty durable, and it features a nice stylised image of the heatsink design on the front. Around the back, there's a quick breakdown of the main features, such as the easy-open design and aluminium construction. For clarity, the Oracle Air is NOT a hard drive, it is an enclosure, so you have to add your own. Cooler Master was kind enough to supply us with a WD Blue 1TB for the purposes of testing, but again, you'll need to source your own drive of choice. The outer box opens out revealing a cardboard tray with folded and air gapped cardboard, giving you three layers of card between the drive and the outside world. There's also a protective plastic cover over the drive. And if you lift that out, you'll also find another small box with all your accessories (Type-C cable and some documents). What We Use Processor: Intel Core i7 13700KFGraphics Card: Gainward RTX 4090 24GBMotherboard: Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AXRAM: Kingston Fury Beast 5600Mhz 32GBStorageSeagate FireCuda 530 PCIe Gen 4 2TB M.2 Primary DriveSeagate FireCuda 530 PCIe Gen 4 2TB M.2 Secondary DrivePower Supply: be quiet 800W PlatinumCase: Fractal Design NorthCooling6 x Noctua 140mm ULN Fans1 x Noctua 120mm ULN Fan1 x Noctua NH-D15S CPU CoolerDesk: ThunderX3 ED7 Adjustable Gaming DeskChair: noblechair HERO Java EditionKeyboard: JamesDonkey RS2Mouse: Glorious Model D Minus WirelessHeadset: Audeze LCD-2 Cloased Back ControllersSteam ControllerPlayStation 5 DualSense Xbox One Controller ThrustMaster TCA Sidestick X Airbus EditionCharging: UGREEN Nexode USB C 100W Charger With the Intel Core i7 13700KF, Gainward RTX 4090 24GB and Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX powering the heart of this gaming setup, there's virtually no compromise on performance, allowing me to the latest peripherals, games, software, and much more at their absolute best. The Fractal Design North is a lovely PC case, and I've taken its cooling to the next level with seven Noctua ULN fans (Ultra Low Noise), and the iconic king of cooling that is the NH-D15S, meaning I get big airflow throughout the build, but with barely a noise from the system that could compromise any other testing. Thanks to Kingston for some fast DDR5 memory, and the PCIe Gen 4.0 speeds of the Seagate FireCuda 530 PCIe Gen 4 2TB M.2 SSDs, ultra-fast response times and loading mean there are no compromises in our software testing. The ThunderX3 ED7 Adjustable Gaming Desk and noblechair HERO Java Edition make for great productivity, ergonomics and comfort for those long hours working, and longer nights gaming. I practically live at my desk, so the lumbar support and the standing desk option are real game-changers I couldn't live without these days. Thank you to my friends at Cooler Master, Seagate, Noctua, Thunder X3, noblechair, Kingston, Thrustmaster, and Audeze, for their support in putting this setup together. A Closer Look Taking the Oracle Air out of the box, it's by far one of the coolest external drives I've ever seen. It looks like some kind of futuristic aluminium-forged harmonica, and I absolutely love that about it. It's pretty big too, not so big that I couldn't put it in my pocket, but big enough that I'm confident it'll deliver some serious heat dissipation and protection for my NVMe of choice. It's actually a multi-part construction too, with the outer exoskeleton being mostly aesthetic and removable. It's also going to allow for a lot of customisation, keeping in line with the "make it yours" philosophy that Cooler Master has been building on for many years now. Not that it doesn't look great as it is. But Cooler Master will make 3D model templates available so you can make your own external shells for the internal drive mount, which I think is really awesome. Should something happen to any part of this though, Cooler Master was eager to point out that spare parts would be made available on their online store. Not only that, but this is just the first part of their new Oracle ecosystem of products, so expect all kinds of stuff to hit the market to support this range. What's really cool is that while this is the USB Type-C, they're already working on a beta test of USB4 units, so it's clear they're taking this thing pretty seriously. It's a durable bit of kit though, and it has a weight of quality about it that isn't going to be a burden to carry around, but heavy enough to give you confidence in its abilities to protect and cool your drive. On one end there's MOLLE compatible clip, the same standard used in the military to attach things to other things. Cooler Master even added a sort of gun magazine reload release clip to open this up too. They say it was to create a sort of "fidget-toy" experience, and well, it kinda works. It's a very satisfying thing to handle, the button has a nice action, and it does slide back in with a pleasing click and lock. On the other side, it's a Type-C header, and a good-quality cable is included. However, being Type-C, you can use your own aftermarket cables too, they're easily replaced these days. Slide the exoskeleton off, and you'll find a very robust chunk of aluminium with deep fins to provide a huge surface area for heat dissipation. This opens out, revealing the NVME M.2 SSD mount, which comes with support for 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280-sized drives. It's fully compatible with PCIe 3 and 4 drives, but of course, limited to the bandwidth of the Type-C connector you're using, but they do use the very good quality JMS583 bridge, which gives the Oracle Air impressive support overall. The little orange bit is a tool-free lock for the drive, so no need for those tiny screws. Plus, there's a spare one should you lose it. There's also an extra thermal pad included too, should you ever feel the need to replace it. The included USB Type-C cable is super chunky but still surprisingly flexible, so it should withstand quite a lot of punishment throughout its life. Pop the drive in the bay, easy enough. Slap on the thermal pad, simple again. Close it up. Slide it into the outer casing, and bam, you're good to go. As I said before, the drive you chose and the system and its I/O capabilities will vary your performance. That being said, the WD Blue drive we're using is delivering really consistent read and write speeds here, and for those who need fast storage on the go, this is a big step up from those cheap promotional flash drives you've got kicking around the office. Cooler Master claimed this drive will run at 1000 MB/s using the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface, and as you can see, we actually exceeded that. I ran this test over and over, trying to throw off the result, but the external enclosure was only slightly warm after a bunch of benchmark runs, and showed no sign of getting any warmed. It made light work of running this SSD and delivered consistent benchmarks all day long. Again, we can see great overall performance here, and the interface they've used allows the drive to get up to good speed nice and quickly, and it's clear that are no issues with performance at all. How Much Does it Cost? The Cooler Master Oracle Air is launching today with an MSRP of just £59.99 but can be bought for just £49.99 if you're purchasing the WD Blue 1TB drive along with it. This means you can get both the drive and the enclosure for just £104.99, which I think is a pretty fantastic deal given the overall performance and build quality on offer. It's currently available on OCUK with a range of prices from £59.99 to £204.94 with a choice of 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB NVMe SSDs. However, there's also a small discount on the bundles too, so well worth checking out! Overview Cooler Master may be a new player in the portable storage enclosure market, but if this is what they can do on their first attempt, then sign me up for their future products. Even before the release of this enclosure today, Cooler Master furnished me with an impressive array of documentation and presentations about how this enclosure will be supported. There are going to be open-sourced 3D printable components, and replacement parts available from their store, they're already testing a USB4 version of it to push the performance even higher, and they've already put in place a deal with Western Digital to provide customers with a great starting point too. When it comes to the build quality, it's a 10/10 product all day long. There's something very tactile about it too, it has a really nice weight that you can play with. I suspect you could comfortably juggle a few of them, as they just move right and feel good in your hand. Maybe that's a silly detail, but it does just feel like a nice product. Even the release clip and the way the drive mount sort of reloads into the external shell, it's all very satisfying, and shows a lot of care went into the user experience. As for performance, I really can't fault it. Cooler Master said it'll deliver 1000 MB/s read and write, and I got 1048.48 MB/s read and 1006.42 MB/s write, which is obviously superb. I ran the benchmarks over and over again, trying to get it to throttle, but it was having none of it, the benchmarks were exceptionally consistent. Should I Buy One? This is one of the best-looking, most durable, stylish, well-supported and versatile NVMe enclosers on the market, it's just that good. The price, design, and practicality of it are absolutely spot on. Highly recommended.