Hardware Cooler Master HAF X Review

welcome to the dark side of the case, together we will rule the case as father and son.

 

Thats where the Hot Swap drives go. There aren't missing mounts

Doh, didn't realise there were forums. I'm so used to Kotaku and other sites. Only signed up to point out the few minor things they missed on the review

 

I think it's ok (looks wise)

 

No place for a 2nd psu for those that need It for water cooling 5-7 video cards for number crunching, So I'll stay with the Superior HAF-932.

 

Some nice ideas, but I personaly would not go for the styling (even if way better then the DF cases). It would be nice to see a new ATCS as the 840 is getting quite old now (and mostly based on the 932 anyway).

I dont understand why no one has just taken the basic layout of the TJ07 and slightly streched it to make the ultimate easy highend watercooling case. The 800D was a good try but not quite there.

 

Pics as promised. Cable management is a bit sloppy, but it's so hard to be sloppy with this case. Everything is a temp build until I get all my stuff in for my i7 build... then it's time to find a mid-ATX for the wife so she can have the guts of this one. Anyway...

As you can see in a full build with the side panel on, it looks a lot better. IMO all the review sites with the empty side or open side pics ruin the look. Unfortunately the flash brightens things up a bit. If it weren't cloudy out without flash it's fairly dark through the window with only Copper and whites standing out.


For this cabling I just ran the I/O stuff and the 8800 GTS power through the cover, it's all temp so I wanted to play around. Final build will have all GPU power coming from the bottom over the GPU duct.


Hot Swap Bay








I wanted to play around with drive placement. This was the easiest since I wanted to minimize zip ties on a temp system.

 

This is just a rushed review.

 

The bottom two are hot swap bays. I believe they have their own mechanism for securing drives in caddies which do not require the tool less mechanism on the other drives. See the image below for a view of the hot swap caddies from the outside.

The large hex pattern behind that fan looks awesome beyond reason.

 

Sloth, the hot swaps require 4 screws into the bottom of the HDD. Some are complaining, but honestly I don't mind. It's still faster than opening the case and fiddling with wires.

 

Pfft! Try a 22kg TT Kandalf to put you off steel cases for the rest of your life...


Anyways, I continue to struggle to see the point in these kind of cases (huge, ugly with loads of obscenely large fans). Anyone who has the kind of hardware that requires so much space and air cooling should have the money for a watercooling setup surely?

 

The case is designed for water cooling, it has triple rad mounts in the top and multiple predrilled areas through the case for res's or rad's. The other reason is that if you got a XLATX MoBo NOT for quad SLI or Crossfire, but so you can space your dual GPUs out it's a bit more air friendly.

It's kinda like asking why people build racecars out of whimpy little engines... at the end of the game you pay about the same as those starting out with a beefy motor, it's modifying on a budget in installments or the thrill of being the underdog. Air is budget and an underdog, yet some people get impressive numbers out of non-water/phase rigs.

I didn't buy the HAF X for the air cooling, I bought it to last me a few years in whichever direction I decide to go. It's got front panel USB 3.0 support as well as plenty of space for whatever the (near)future holds.

 

@mpr
they some times forget to put the link in the last page that links to the forum Thread where this msg is been posted to (website and the forums are interlinked)

 

Why do the designers/fabricators continuously produce these boring rectangular cases? This just show the lack of creativity with the case manufactures.

How about try thinking out side the box, rather than continue shoving this garbage down our throats!

 

Personally I hate side panel intake fan. What is it with all these manufacture obsession with side panel intake fan? Just give me a large side panel transparent windows after all is a gaming case.

 

Cooling for hot graphics cards.

Windows were really ~2003.

 

After much much back and forth between the HaF X and the DF-85 I chose the HaF X.

Durable steel painted inside and out this case can take a mortar round or be a hot girl's chair
Deeper, taller, and wider than the DF-85 means more pci slots, better cable management, can hold any GPU
Wheels are what won me over as the case is heavy and I go from bedroom to living room to LAN parties
Gpu bracket is nice as it will hold my SLI or CF config
Haf X will support ATX, Ultra ATX, XL-ATX motherboards
Comes with side panel fan for GPU cooling.
No front bars to obscure my digital touch screen Fan Controller.

The Antec DF-85 is a brilliant case but the HaF X just won me over as it offered a "Bit more Tech".

 

The Wheels on the HAF and the rest of the Coolermaster were always something I liked. Although not an entire selling point, it was always cool to have em.

 

Actually I completely agree! It' makes building (spin it around etc) and moving it about SO much easier.

 

still ugly as a dog with rabis if you ask me