ExteriorThe most noticeable thing that you will find about the HAF X is it’s sheer size coming in at 230 x 599 x 550 mm and weighing a quite remarkable 14.35kg. The chassis is made from a combination of steel and plastic which adds to the styling and rigidity of the case.
The right side of the case is pretty simple featuring an embossed area to give room for cable management and a good amount of airflow. The styling is pretty simple but does look very much like a vent but sadly is a solid design and not ventilation is present here.
The left side of the case has a clear window so that you can admire your components inside.
Just next to this is a 200mm 19dBA fan which operates at 700 RPM.
The top of the case towards the front has a panel which slides across so you don’t accidently hit the rest button but reveals a power button, reset button and also a button for enabling or disabling the LEDs on the front fan. When enabled the fan glows red and really adds to the styling on the case.
Just behind this panel is a set of ventilation grilles of which once includes a pre-supplied 200mm.
Moving towards the front of the case sees a panel devoted to front panel connectors. There are two USB 3.0 ports which are colour coded using the patented blue connectors, an eSATA port, FireWire (grrr), two USB 2.0 ports and microphone and headphone 3.5mm jack ports.
Below this is a set of ventilated drive bay covers. This case has the ability to house six 5.25″ drives of which two are a fantastic tray docking system which pulls out as a 5.25″ tray and features a SATA data and power connector fixed to the inside of the bay.
Just below the drive bay panels for optical drives is another ventilated area which has a Cooler Master badge on the front of it and behind is where we find a huge 230mm red LED fan which is connected to the LED button at the top of the case for turning on and off. The fan runs at 700 RPM with a quoted 19dBA sound level.
The rear of the case includes three watercooling pass through holes of which one is made for use with the USB 3.0 cables which branch out into the front panel connectors. You can pass them through and loop back into your motherboards rear I/O panel. There is also a pre-installed 140mm fan which operates at a slightly faster 1200 RPM with a 19dBA sound level.
Just below this is where you will find the NINE expansion slots which all include ventilation holes for the most efficient cooling.
Towards the bottom we see the cut-out for installing your power supply into.
On the bottom of the case is where we see plenty of ventilation holes for the power supply as well as the location of the four areas for installing the caster wheels onto.
It is not expensive when you look at the price for some other full tower cases
Some people would consider paying £125 is very expensive for a case. For us uber geeks, maybe not 😉
my 932 cost me about £125 from new
well as you know andy i have this very case and the only thing i can say is <span style="font-size: 15px;">I like big cases and i cannot lie U other geeks can't deny[SIZE=1][SIZE=2]the only thing i dont understand is why make it all tool less apart from the card ports </span>[/SIZE][/SIZE]thats my only gripe other than that i love it
It is a brilliant case considering its perfect for cable management + airflow, but the price does seem fairly steep, considering i got the CM scout + 700W Modular PSU for £130, this was my second choice. Its the only reason why i didn't get the HAF X the price, although i sorta regret it because of the space.
I am not one for paying to much on Pc components, but I do feel that you get what you pay for, and in this case, no pun intended I feel that you do. A gold award speaks for it's self. Ample cooling and I like the PSU cover and cable management over all great case for me.
You guy have to remember this is a full tower case which you can put the longest motherboards inside (Gigabyte X58 G1 Assassin and MSI P67 Big Bang Marshal) and you still have room for a push/pull 360 (6x 120mm fans) radiator for watercooling This is the cheapest full tower chassis on the market at the moment. I don't count the HAF 932 because it is the same chassis but with a different look :confused:
it would be good if review web sites were more critical about the usb 3.0 cables supplied. any case costing more than 100 and that does not connect to the 20 pin internal usb 3.0 header on all the new motherboards is not worth the money. connecting front usb ports to the back of the motherboard is from the middle ages.
Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower Chassis Review–Bundle – eTeknix.comSecond picture down on the left hand side. They cater for both.Some people will buy this and not have the header so they appeal to both.