nad_masters's Full Review: Master Heaters RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Full Tower Case
My friend finally bowed to the dark side after being an advid AMD fanboy. I showed him how much he can overclock a cheap $70 Intel Pentium Dual-Core CPU when he was about to upgrade his Athlon 64 X2 4800+. Upgrading piece by piece, his final system consists of a a Pentium Dual-Core E5200 (2.5 GHz), 4GB of DDR2 RAM, and the same motherboard I currently used for my Q9550 4GHz system, the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R. He also informed me of the deal when he bought his nVidia GeForce GTX 260 video card and the Antec Super Lanboy case.
After looking around Fry's Electronics, he was immediately drawn to the Cooler Master HAF 932. Right next to it, I was eyeing the smaller, but similar HAF 922. I eventually bought a HAF 922 after a few days he bought his HAF 932 - both at NewEgg.com.
Both cases use large 200mm fans, and both have mesh grills on the entire front part of the case (yes, mesh grill on every 5.25" blanking panels!). Both are wider than usual to accomidate wires hidden under the motherboard tray, and both are screwless in design (hard drives, optical drives, card slots, etc). There are slight differences between the two, however.
The HAF 932 is a full tower case, offering two additional 5.25" bays. The HAF 922 is shorter because of this, but not by much. The HAF 922 also have the ability to turn off the front fan's LED light. This is great news for me, since as most of my readers know, I hate bright LEDs.
Then there is the large front intake fan - the HAF 922 comes with a front filter, while the HAF 932 does not. In fact, each of the blanking panels have a washable filter on the HAF 922. The HAF 932 does not. However, unlike the HAF 922, there is a panel that comes off if you pull it in front of the intake fan. This lets you add a filter yourself between the fan and the front panel grill.
A huge difference is the side panel - while the larger HAF 932 comes with a 200mm side panel fan, the smaller HAF 922 does not. However, both allow the owner to optionally place 2x 120mm fans if they wish. There are mounting holes for such a thing. Since the 200mm fans are hard to come by (you must purchase direct from Cooler Master's own store), this is a good thing.
My friend bought the HAF 932 on NewEgg.com for just under $150 with shipping. When it came, the box was unbelievably huge! It was taller than my friend's waist, and he's a 6 footer!
Cooler Master HAF 932 Just like the HAF 922 mid-tower case, the full-tower HAF 932 is spacious and very easy to work with. It comes with 6 accessible bays. However, unlike the HAF 922, there is no place to put an externally accesible 3.5" drive.
The HAF 932 have a very utilitarian look, almost military-like. The entire case is black, which makes it look very intimidating. The sides of the case buldge out, giving that muscular look, but does service a function (mainly more space for wires to hide underneath the motherboard tray). There is also a small side window near the top of the side panel with a criss-cross pattern embeded into it like a security window. There is also a single large 200mm fan installed on the panel. Unfortunately, there is no filter for this intake fan.
The top houses the power and reset button, as well as a rubberized mat for you to place things on. If you remove the rubber mat, you see that there is a hole for filling or topping off a water tank for those who will be using a water cooling kit.
In the front, you get four USB ports, an eSATA port, firewire port, a headphone and mic jack. The smaller HAF 922 is missing the two USB ports and a firewire port. The power and HDD activity lights are on the same panel. Unlike the HAF 922's red LEDs, the 932 uses very bright blue LEDs. It is so bright, my friend was complaining that he could not leave it on in the dark! The remedy was that I removed the top plastic panel, and inserted a small piece of paper between the LED and the front lens. This dimmed the light considerably, but even with two layers of paper, it was still pretty bright!
The feet are heavy duty in nature, and comes rubberized on the bottom. The HAF 932 also comes with caster wheels, but my friend decided not to use them. If it was my case, I would have put those on, since it would make transporting it easier! Case is made of steel making it a very heavy. You won't want to haul this around for LAN parties, though I know some will do it anyways. It just looks mean, and some would lug it around just to show it off. My friend actually lug this thing to my house to play a few games! The textured black paint seem to be made for a bit of abuse, unlike those with glossy automotive paint jobs.
I do wish Cooler Master painted the inside of the case black as well. Currently, it has that silver steel look inside, which doesn't match the outside. While you don't see much of the exposed steel after everything is installed, having any exposed bright steel shown through the small window kind of suck. Again, it's not a huge deal, though.
Like the HAF 922, the HAF 932 have holes with rubber grommets made for porting tubes if you have a water cooling set up. In fact, the holes are on a steel plate that can be removed so you can place your PSU on top instead of on the bottom! You can then put this steel plate on the bottom, if you wish to have your tubes come from below. However, I suggest you leave it at the top, since the large exhaust opening for the top was made for a dual 120mm fan set up as well, giving you a perfect spot for a heat exchange (radiator).
When you put the power supply on the bottom, the case have an opening for the PSU fan to intake fresh air for itself. Basically, the PSU's fan won't be helping with exhausting air from inside the case.
Fans and Cooling The HAF 932 comes with three large 200mm fans - one red LED-lit on the front, one non-lit on the top, and another non-lit on the side panel. The fan on the front is installed for intaking air over the well-spaced hard drive cage, while the top is installed to exhaust air out the top. The side panel fan is installed by the factory to also intake air. A single 140mm case fan is installed on the back to exhaust air out as well. As arranged, the case should give you possitive pressure inside of the case. However, because it is very open (lots of grills), air getting pressurized into the case is spread throughout. A positive pressure inside the case is good when it comes to dust reduction, since there's less of a chance of dust getting in as long as the intake fans are well filtered.
But of course, there's the problem. Both of the large intake fans (front and side) do not have any filters at all. People have been known to make filters with pantyhoses or fabric softeners. Fabric softeners may be okay in the front, since the front grill can cover the white color, but does not look so hot exposed on the side. This is where dark colored pantyhoses comes in handy. Of course, it's a bit funny to shop for it yourself if you're a guy. Hope you have a woman in your life who can buy a pair for you! Then again, she'd be looking at you just as funny.
You'd think this case would be loud with all these fans, but it is not! I was pleasantly surprised to hear almost nothing at all once everything was turned on! In fact, the loudest thing you'd hear are the hard drives and the CPU heatsink fan, which my friend cranked up to the highest speed.
Just like the HAF 922, there is an optional 120mm fan mount on the bottom of the case. Not sure if it's a good idea to place a fan there or not. If sucking air in, you will be basically using this case as a vacuum cleaner! He decided to leave that alone.
All in all, there are huge fans that spin slowly for a quiet system that have high air flow.
Motherboard Installation Because of the spacious size, motherboard installation was a breeze, even though the HAF 932 does not come with a dedicated removable motherboard tray. Cooler Master puts a paper template on the tray for easy installation for the first timer. However, I still say it is best to match up the posts yourself since every motherboard is slightly different. One motherboard may need a post in a certain spot, while another may not. Placing a post where one isn't needed may cause an electrical short.
For those who use large aftermarket heat sinks that require a bracket installed on the underside of the motherboard, you'll love the fact that Cooler Master have you in mind! The motherboard tray have a gaping hole where the CPU is usually located, which allows for you to remove and install these kind of CPU coolers without needing to take the motherboard out of the case! This is an excellent feature, since removing a motherboard entails removing every cable connected to the motherboard, every expansion card, as well as every screw that is holding it down. This is why system builders hate heatsinks that require a bracket on the underside. However, with this case, it won't matter any more!
Wire Management Also nice are holes that allow you to pass wires behind the motherboard tray, leaving a clean-looking area. This also helps with air flow as well. Areas for zip ties to tie down your wires are also available throughout the case.
Cooler Master understands that with a PSU down below, it may be hard to pass the auxillary 12v cable behind the motherboard tray, and still make it to the motherboard. Because of this, they include an extention cable for it! I do wish that they included an extension cable for the full 24-pin power connector for the motherboard. Mine barely reached when I try to pass it from underneath. Of course, your experience may vary, since every motherboard places their connectors in different spots, as well as different PSUs have different lengths for their cables.
I'm happy to say my friend's build looks clean thanks to the thoughtful design. Underneath the motherboard tray, however, is a different story. :) Thankfully, those bulges on the side panels aren't just for looks. They allow clearance for all those hidden cables and wires.
Drive Bays and Expansion Slots Being a tool-less case, I find that Cooler Master have a very thoughtful design in this area.
The 5.25" drive bays are all screw-less. You just remove the front blanking plate, which is also a grill, and slide in your 5.25" device through the front. With a bit of aligning, you can then push in a locking mechanism to lock the device in place.
Unlike the HAF 922, if you have a 3.5" device, such as a memory card reader or floppy drive, you will need to use a different plate, which is included. The 3.5" to 5.25" adapter is also included, which requires 4 screws, though. However, once your device is adapted, you can slide it in the case as usual, and lock it in as if it was just another 5.25" device. You can now place the 3.5" plate on., taking up a full 5.25" drive bay.
For hard drives, Cooler Master gives you 5 plastic trays. In fact, I believe they are the exact same trays used in the HAF 922, making them interchangable. They are installed by 4 push pins on both sides of the drive. I found them a bit hard to use, since they have to be aligned just right. However, once installed, it's easy to just slide them in and out. The back side of the drive should face the rear so the wires can be hidden. Removing the drives can be pretty hard though. You'll need to pry the pins out, or bend the tray. Either way, it doesn't give me a very good feeling.
The drives are spaced out very well, though, giving the 200mm front intake fan a chance to cool the drives as well as pass the air to the hot expansion cards.
The card slots are also tool-less. The HAF 932 uses plastic latches to lock your expansion cards in place. However, we found that it didn't do a good job of holding his dual-slot GTX260 in place. Also, there was a eSATA bracket that wasn't really a card. It allows for eSATA devices to plug directly onto the motherboard from outside the case. Without being plugged into the motherboard's slot, there was even less to hold the bracket in place. It was relying too much on the latch to hold on. Because of this, these cards forced us to use traditional screws. Thankfully, Cooler Master allowed us to do so. Unfortunately, this mean the latches to the coorisponding cards are just left dangling, making noises as we move the case around. If Cooler Master allowed us to lock the latches in place even with screws present, that would be ideal.
The Upshot The Cooler Master HAF 932 is a very well thought-out and designed case. It is not made out of aluminium, so weight can be an issue if you use it for LAN parties. However, if you don't plan on moving it around a lot, it is a great case for both air and water cooled systems.
My friend was able to keep his Pentium Dual Core E5200 overclocked to 3.8 GHz using a Cooler Master Hyper 212 heatsink/fan (yeah, we copy each other!). Temperatures were hitting around 60c while in the case with an ambient temperature of 76F with both cores loaded with Prime95.
I absolutely love this case for the CPU heatsink mounting hole, tool-less drive bays and expansion slot, and a very good airflow design. The large fans keep air flow high while keeping noise very low.
Not everything is great, though. The plastic latches for expansion cards feel a bit flimsy, and will not hold a bracket down made for cable insertion. Also, heavy video cards such as the GTX 260 will need screws to feel secure. Lastly, if you do go with screws, the latches are left dangling.
Just as well, there are no filters at all for any of their intake fans! That's unacceptable for a high air flowing case! It'd be a very messy affair after a few weeks in a dusty room like mine
The blue LEDs are just way too bright, and of course, unlike the HAF 922, the HAF 932's front fan's LEDs do not have an option to turn off! The red LED on the front fan isn't that bright though, so that's okay.
It's not perfect, but nothing ever is. I still really like this case, but it's way too big for me! Even though it is only one drive bay less than my smaller HAF 922, it's quite a bit larger due to the fact that it has room for another PSU on the top.
It's not for everyone, but if you want a large case to house everything you need in a thoughtful design, you should consider the Cooler Master HAF 932.
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