The Cooler MasterCM 690 was released into the market in 2007 and has since become one of Cooler Master's more successful cases. The reason for this success was due to it being a case designed with enthusiasts in mind, but at the same time offer features, simplicity, and a low enough price to make it a good fit for users regardless of their computing needs. Even though it was commercially successful, the case was not without some criticism. Many did not like the cable management system, flimsy feeling power and reset switches, or the awkward placement of the front I/O ports. On top of this, the sub $100 dollar case market has become quite crowded in the last year and you really need to push the envelope to stand out in it and stay competitive. So, in the development of the CM 690 II Cooler Master not only turned to their development team, but also focus groups and end-user suggestions, to create a case that keeps the best aspects of its predecessor, but also adds features and innovations that will improve upon the original design.Cooler Master is releasing the case as both the CM 690 II and CM 690 II Advanced. Each case will be a mid-sized steel chassis that is visually the same and have most of the same features, but the advanced model will include a few additional goodies and a higher price tag than the non-advanced model. The additional features of the Advanced version are a GPU retention bracket, 2-1 SSD bay and an external hard drive dock. These features will make it more appealing and should really increase the demand for the case in the enthusiast market. Also, there is no need for fans of original to worry about the CM 690 as it not going anywhere soon. The reason being is that the release of the CM 690 II will not phase it out, instead the new cases will become part of the existing CM line-up.