Cooler Master’s HAF X

Well for the second time I’ve come off of my usual name brand company items. First I left Intel to go with Gigabyte’s X58A-UD5 motherboard, now I’ve left Antec to go with Cooler Masters’ HAF X PC Case.

Quick story, I’ve been using Antec cases since 2000 and recently grew tired of my P182 since the case temps were getting out of hand. At any rate I was going to get the Antec P193 but was put off by its styling, and then I saw the HAF X… I was sold!

This is one HUGE rock solid case nice looking case; and I can’t stress this enough…. This case is ridiculously quiet as is; that’s with the stock 4 fans running at full speed. The 4 fans are….

1 Front bottom 230mm 700RPM 19dBA (Red LED), 1 Top 200mm 7000RPM 19dBA, 1 Rear 140mm 1200RPM 19dBA, 1 Side 200mm 700RPM 19dBA. There’s also a spot at the top of the case for another 200mm fan if needed.

Add to this my 860-1200RPM Noctua CPU Cooler fan , my ATI 4890’s fan running at 27 percent idle, and ultra quiet power supply, this makes for one quiet system.

I’ve heard people say they wish they could turn off the LED of the front fan on the Cooler Master HAF 932, well Cooler Master provides an on/off button for the HAF X at the top of the case, just above the reset button, left of the Power On button. Cool.

In addition to the standard ports… USB 2.0, FireWire, e-SATA, there’s also two USB 3.0 ports. However the current method of connecting the 3.0 ports to the mother board is to route the included USB 3.0 cables out the back of the case through one of the water cooling holes (Cooler Master provides 3 instead of two for this very reason) and connecting them directly to the 3.0 ports on the back panel.




If you have no need for the 3.0 ports you can convert them to 2.0 by replacing the 3.0 cables with the 2.0 supplied adapter cable and connect it directly to the motherboard like a standard 2.0 connector.

And speaking of supplied cables, you also get a 6 inch 8-pin extension cable for the ATX 12V power connector, should the power supply’s cable fall short. They didn’t miss a beat here!

Another thing that’s nice about this case is the fact that it comes with two hot-swappable bays with the connections interface built into the slots. Just hook up your Molex connector and SATA cables to the PCB board, add a drive to the drive tray and slide it into a slot… wholla! You’re connected!




I did find a quirk though I’m not sure if it’s my board or what, but when I connected two hot swap drives, one canceled out the other out. In short, when I had hot swap A installed, then installed hot swap B, A disappeared; When I removed B, A reappeared. Hmmm…. Some more research is in order here.

The cable management on this case is a dream; there’s plenty of room on the other side of the case for wire management, and in fact the side panel is bulged to give extra room for cables. There’s also plenty of tie down spots to hold cables. The case even comes with a cover to hide the cables coming out the back of power supply. Well played Cooler Master! Here's my cable management...




Please note the dimensions on the box are backwards. They state that the (H) height is 21.7 inches, and the (D) depth is 23.2. It’s actually the other way around, the height is 23.2 inches and the depth is 21.7




This mistake kind of messed me and I subsequently had to remove a support shelf from my computer desk. Ironically it was the height concern that made me pass on the Corsair 700D.

At any rate since I had to remove the shelf that meant installing the wheels that came with the case as I clearly didn’t want it sitting on my carpeted floor. Adding the wheels raises the case about an inch and a half off the floor. However unlike the rest of the case, top, front, side, the bottom vents do not have dust screens. So….

To those familiar with the HAF 932, this improves upon (added dust screens) and adds (Hot Swap bays) to its success. This is an enthusiast’s case that’s ready to accommodate any setup out there to date, including very tall CPU heat sinks, extra large motherboards, and multiple double slotted long GPU setups.

At this point in time I have no complaints as it more than suits my needs. I wanted something to help control my temps while keeping silent about it; this case does me just fine in both areas.

With its improved air flow over my Antec P182 my overall temps have been lowered by 3 degrees while being far quieter. Here's my system.... I’m quite pleased :)



BTW for those considering Corsair’s 800D, do yourself a favor and at least look at this case! And it’s price :)

Review… Cooler Master HAF-X review

Peace.

It's funny, when I first saw the pics, without reading anything, I would have sworn that was a Thermaltake case. The power button and front slots look almost identical to my V9 Black Edition, and it has almost the same fans.

Nothing like a great case, is there sygnus? :)

Yeah I lovin this case. For me cable management and air flow are the biggest factors I look for in a case now; obvioulsy looks and functionality factor in as well. This case has it all :)

I've been drooling over this case for a while now... hoping the price will come down some.

I really love that the connection interfaces are built into the slots...if I hadn't just bought a new case, I would totally go after this one.

Yeah the connection slots are a real convenience, which has allowed me to retire the powered sata baracket that Gigabyte sent me



I just can't believe how quiet this case is. It's definitely quieter than my Antec P182 with the stock fans removed in favor of a couple of 120mm S-FLEX SFF21E’s and 2 120mm Enermax Magma fans installed. It's also cooler.