After removing the styrofoam and plastic covering, we get our first look at the HAF X. The CoolerMaster HAF X is definitely a full tower chassis and weighs in at around 30lbs, not exactly light weight. Carried over from it’s previous versions, the HAF X comes with a slightly textured matte black finish and a rugged military / industrial styled design. Unlike the previous versions of the HAF, the HAF X comes with a side window.
Looking at the front of the HAF X we see that it has six 5.25″ bays, four to hold optical drives and the bottom two being for hot swap hdds. More on this a bit further into the review. I find it kind of neat how the sides of the front panel look similar to heavy truck tire side treads, just adds a bit more to the rugged look.
Looking at the back of the HAF X we can see first off that there are three water cooling passage holes. However, one of these holes is actually for routing the USB 3.0 cables to the rear of the motherboard, the USB 3.0 ports work by using the motherboard’s rear I/O ports as few motherboards have been released with USB 3.0 headers on them.
It is also worth noting here that; a USB 2.0 replacement cable has been included so that you may switch out the blue USB 3.0 cables and utilize the (backward compatible) ports on the front panel for USB 2.0 ports, by simply attaching them to existing USB 2.0 headers on your board if so desired. Also that Cooler Master will make direct header connection cables available as more motherboards come with USB 3.0 headers standard.
Moving below the water passage holes we find a 120mm/140mm rear exhaust fan mount, with a 140mm fan included.
One of the big features of this case is just below the rear exhaust fan, it is that there are nine expansion slots available. This will provide more room not only for extended ATX motherboards, but for more double slot video cards as well … triple SLI anyone?
Of course last, but no least we have the bottom mounted PSU area. Bottom mounted PSU’s have become very popular, especially for those who have the massive 1200 watt PSU’s and don’t want it weighing heavy upon the back panel.
Looking at the front power header panel we can see that it has a small sliding panel. Once you slide the panel to the left, the Power button, Reset button and a Fan LED button can accessed. The Fan LED button is simply for those who would at some point like to turn off the Red LED lights on the front fan.
Dropping down from the power header on the front we find the front I/O panel. The front I/O panel includes from left to right; 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x E-SATA, 1 x Firewire, 2 x USB 2.0, Mic and Head phone ports, as well as the power LED and HDD LED lights.
Now, as I mentioned earlier there are six 5.25″ vented front bays, 4 x optical and the last 2 x hot swap HDD bays. Here you can see the last hot swap bay pulled out a tad, it is pre-stamped with 2.5″ and 3.5″ markings to identify where to mount the corresponding HDD/SSD of 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives.
At the bottom of the front panel we find a removable panel that has a washable filter. Behind this panel is a 230mm Red LED intake fan. Again the Red LED’s can be turned off via the Fan LED switch in the power panel up top.
At the top of the case we find two 200mm fan mounts, one of which has a 200mm fan included as exhaust already and one which can have a fan added as an option at a later date. The two fan grilles look as if they are access panels to some military / industrial container or transport.
Looking to the bottom we see the PSU area is well ventilated for even the longest of PSUs. In fact it would not take much to make the front of this area capable of supporting a 120/140mm intake fan. You can also see while looking at the bottom of the chassis four square indention with four screw mounting holes each, one near each corner of the chassis bottom. These indention are for the included wheels Cooler Master added to the HAF X accessories as an option. Just to the inside of each of those indention you will find four rectangular rubber pads to be utilized as case feet if you would rather not use the wheel option. Personally I used the rubber pad route, as I did not want the case to slide around or move once on my desk.
Interior:
Moving to the inside of the case the first thing that catches our attention is the huge 230mm fan and vga air duct surrounding it. My first thought was wow this is taking up some room, however, looking closer at the duct you can see that it is cut out so that the video cards will be somewhat enshrouded by the duct as well. This should help take hot air away from the video cards more efficiently, especially on sli set ups.
As we look at the interior of the HAF X we not only can see that it is huge, but we can see a couple of new design features that should come in handy, as well as a few cool features Cooler Master is known for. First the mass of cables before you is nothing to worry about, as you will have plenty of room to hide these as you make your connections.
A short word about the new additions to the inside of the case; the second split picture shows the case with it’s removable sections. First the VGA bracket was included in the accessories for those heavy video cards used in Sli / Crossfire, it is heavy made and easy to install if desired. Also this VGA bracket can have an 80mm fan mounted to it (optional). Second we have the VGA Air Duct, this air duct can house a 120mm x 25mm/38mm fan installed in it and is designed to help cool today’s modern video cards. Thirdly we have the PSU cover, this cover will make hiding the PSU cables etc very easy right out of the PSU. Trust me this may seem a small thing, but it will make a huge difference in how clean your build looks.
Next we have the usual Cooler Master coolness; we have the totally tool free push button optical drive bay locks. Second we have the totally tool free HDD bays, there are 5 of these internal bays with the top one of these made for 2.5″ HDD or SSD drives, the last four made for 3.5″ drives.
Another option that is becoming extremely popular is hot swappable bays. Here we have the hot swappable power connection header on the left and the drive connection header on the right. A very simple, yet very effective setup and fast becoming a must have with computer enthusiasts.
