Cooler Master HAF Stacker 935 - Greater than the Sum of its Parts
Design, Features and Installation (HAF 925)
Design and Features (HAF 925)
The larger part of the HAF Stacker 935 is the mid-tower 925 component. We call it a component as it isn't available for sale, unlike the HAF 915R chassis reviewed earlier. The HAF 925 is bundled with the HAF 915R, to make up the modular, full tower HAF Stacker 935. For the purpose of dissecting the mid-tower portion of this chassis system, we'll be assessing the HAF 925 aspect from the point of view of a HAF Stacker 935 purchaser who's interested in modular expansion, but would like to start off with the mid-tower portion and slowly expand to occupy what the HAF 935 offers in its entirety.
Casing Dimensions & Specifications |
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Drive Bays & Expansions Slots / Ports |
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Case Cooling (Air) |
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Case Cooling (Liquid) |
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Power Supply |
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From this angle above the case, we can see the openings to mount a trio of 120mm outlet fans. Though there are three openings, the casing's official specifications state that it fits up to a pair of such fans.
Note that the fan openings are flanked by a pair of rails, which allow the HAF 915R to slide into place. Since the HAF 935 is made to pair both the HAF 925 and HAF 915R components, the top of the mid-tower is left open by default. We'll show you how the HAF 915R slides into place in the following section of our article.
The rear of the mid-tower section reveals eight expansion slots, a 140mm rear outlet fan, and a triplet of rubber grommets for the cooling pipes of external radiators. There is also an additional expansion slot for mounting extra USB/eSATA ports from your motherboard's expansion header(s).
The bottom of the HAF 925 has a removable dust filter for its intake vents. The large rubber grommets cover openings that allow accessories to be extended from a bottom-mounted HAF 915 chassis. The feet of the mid-tower HAF 925 have to be removed first, in order to expose its mounting rails, which are identical to the ones found at the top of the HAF 925.
Interior Design (HAF 925)
The case is able to accommodate motherboards of the following forms factors; EAXT, ATX and mATX. The motherboard tray has a large cut-out for mounting aftermarket CPU coolers. There are also rubber grommets for cable management.
From this perspective (below photo), we have a clearer view of the bundled, 140mm outlet fan. At the bottom, you'll notice there are four rubber pads for the power supply unit (PSU) to sit on.
To the front, there are two removable 3.5-inch drive enclosures. Each enclosure has three drive adapters that allow for mounting of 2.5-inch drives. Above the enclosures, there are three 5.25-inch drive bays, each with a self-locking mechanism. The options for installation of such drives are identical to the HAF 915R mini-ITX counterpart.
With its front panel removed, we see the options for installing a pair of 120mm intake fans; with the two HDD enclosures removed, there is space to fit a single 240mm radiator. We also see the I/O module at the top of the facade. There is a power switch next to the audio jacks. A pair of USB 3.0 ports (in blue) break the succession of a pair of USB 2.0 ports. The I/O module has a grounding cable, but a reset button is sadly absent in its lineup.
The motherboard tray has an option to mount a 2.5-inch drive below its CPU cooler cut-out. At a glance, we do find the cable clearance at the tray's rear a little limited.
Installation
For the installation procedure, we used an additional graphics card, the Sapphire Vapor-X R9 270X. The installation went without a hitch. With the cable management cut-outs through the help of rubber grommets, our power and data cables were neatly tucked away.
After our cable management efforts, we measured a cable clearance of 16mm (0.6 inches) between the rear tray and the side panel; as such we felt that an additional allowance of 2mm would have made cable management easier to tackle.
The top panel was cannibalized from the HAF 915R mini-ITX chassis as the HAF 925 doesn't come with a top panel. Additional cooling fans can be added to the front or to the top of the chassis. Hence, the facade of the case, as well as the top panel, features the black metal mesh for ventilation.
The tinted windows added a nice touch of mystery to what powerful PC components laid beyond.
The other side panel has a matte finish that doesn't attract fingerprint smudges. The removable feet of the chassis added stature to the entire chassis, and we found the mid-tower 925 to be an imposing one, with a height of 508mm (20 inches).
Our Thoughts on the HAF 925
The mid-tower HAF 925 case is well-ventilated with a simple front to rear airflow system. Hot air can also be expelled from the top when additional cooling fans are mounted. It also presents many options for liquid cooling kits. Unlike the mini-ITX HAF 915R, the HAF 925 didn't face the same CPU cooler height constraints, and according to the manual, the larger chassis is able to fit coolers as tall as 180mm (7.08 inches). There was only one main area of improvement and that's to create more allowance for cables at the back of the motherboard tray. Perhaps the designers can take a leaf out of Cooler Master CM 690 III's book as it features a stamped side panel that allows just that.