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COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

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#1 ·
COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Description:
The much anticipated HAF X arrives as the flagship of the popular HAF (High Air Flow) series. Designed for performance systems, this chassis is able to house today's latest and hottest CPUs, motherboards, graphics cards and is even compatible with USB 3.0 devices. With specialized support and cooling for graphic cards, massive airflow with the help of up to four gigantic fans and easy access to installed components, this is as close as it gets to a system builder's 'dream case'.

SATA Dock for easy installation without the need of removing side panel.
USB 3.0 on front I/O panel.
Air duct to cool the latest graphic cards.
Up to 1 x 230 mm red LED fan and 3 x 200 mm fans.
9 slots support 3-way and 4-way SLI, and Quad CrossfireX.
Adjustable VGA card holder to support heavier GPU cards.
Power supply partition to conceal cables.
Advanced cable management with rubber grommets.
Spacious interior for larger component parts.
Rugged black coated interior.
GPU air duct with fan for SLI cooling (a 150cfm fan is recommended to be installed by nVidia for cooling GTX 480 SLI ).

Model RC-942-KKN1
Material Steel + Plastic
Dimension Main unit (W x D x H): 230 x 550 x 590 mm / 9.1 x 21.7 x 23.2 inch
Weight Net: 14.35 kg / 31.6 lbs
Gross: 16.08 kg / 35.5 lbs
Motherboards Micro-ATX / ATX / E-ATX / XL-ATX
5.25" Drive Bay 6
3.5" Drive Bay 5 hidden
2.5" Drive Bay 2 (converted from 5.25" drive bay)
I/O Panel USB 3.0 x 2
USB 2.0 x 2
Audio x 1
Mic x 1
e-SATA x 1
1394a x 1
Cooling System Front: 230 x 30 mm red LED on/off fan x 1
Top: 200 x 30 mm fan x 2 (one optional)
Side: 200 x 30 mm fan x 1
Rear: 140 x 25 mm fan x 1
VGA Fan Duct: 120 x 25 mm or 120 x 38 mm fan x 1 (optional)
VGA Holder: 80 x 15 mm fan x 1 (optional)
Expansion Slots 9
Power Supply Bottom mounted / ATX PS2 (optional)
Warranty 2 years
UPC Code 884102009136
 

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#2 ·
Great, well-built full tower case but a little tacky

review by hcetech

Ordered this to replace a cheapo mid-tower case. The first obvious thing I noticed is it's flipping massive - only just fits under my desk.

Once you get building inside it, you notice immediately how well-built the chassis is. Nothing will ever fall off, and all the screws have a weighty feel to them. No sharp edges or cheapo fittings to speak of here.

The side fan is really nice. They built a little guard for it which directs air straight into your card's intake - lowered my GTX 480 temps by about 5?C straight off. It is a little bit of a pain to connect the fan up every time you want to close the door again, mind. The stock CM fans are OK, though sometimes the 120mm one at the back does get a little noisy.

Cable management is quite good. There are a couple of shrouds - one for PSU, one for general other mess - inside which you can hide a rat's nest of cabling. However, I would have liked more holes to route cables between front and back.

Installing a 360mm rad with three fans was a doddle thanks to the top which clicks off very easily. Even the double-thick RX360 was fine.

Problems? Well, it wasn't cheap, but you get what you pay for. The next best case on my list was an 800D, and that costs a hell of a lot more and lacks a side fan...

The big issue is appearance. If you can, pop down to your local electronics store and take a look at the thing in the flesh. The photos make it look really awesome, but to my mind I am not fully convinced by the pseudo-military ridging on the edges. I do think it looks a bit childish frankly, but once it's under your desk it looks better.

I would recommend the case - get it if you want to step into WCing or just powerful air-cooling as it's really good at both.

ProsCons
Huge, easy 360mm radiator mounting, very well built, expandable, awesome coolingLooks a bit childish and tacky in the flesh, expensive, fans can be noisy, plexi scratches easily

Ratings
Overall4
 
#3 ·
Good case with plent of airflow fits all my WC no problem

review by bigkahuna360

Its a nice full tower case that will fit a decent watercooling kit but don't expect to fit enough cooling in there for a CPU and SLI/CFX. You may be able to sneak by with a 200mm in the front with minimal modding or if you don't care about optical bays you can fit another 360mm rad in the front. For the average user this a perfect case for the space. Its not worth the $200 though considering the Xigmatek Elysium is so much bigger and only $20 or so more. Be careful when trying to remove the tool-less connectors they will break easily.

ProsCons
Plenty of airflow, fits a 360mm rad, 2 Hotswap BaysOnly 6 5.25" Bays

Ratings
Overall4
 
#6 ·
I Like This Case

review by samurai batgirl

I have really enjoyed this case. I've never had any major issues with it and it is very sturdy. I should know as I've hit it on the desk and hit with the chair a few times; there aren't any dents or scratches.
biggrin.gif


There are quite a few more pros I can list, but they don't fit because I used all of the allotted characters.
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It fits very big motherboards, GPU's, and CPU coolers
There's a little box/cover to hide your cables coming from the power supply
The cable management is excellent, and the side panel without the window is molded to give extra room behind the motherboard tray
Hot swap drive bays
The front filter for the 230mm fan is removable for easier cleaning
Dust plainly does not get inside this (as long as you keep the dust from breeding on the filters)
A duct for a 120mm fan on the hard drive area/bay is included
There's a sliding panel is included to hide the reset, power, and front fan LED button
Big pro I need to expand on:
The airflow and cable management are absolutely wonderful. My room is generally pretty hot, but this keeps everything nice and cool. Part of that is due to the high air flow (who'da thunk it?
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), but it's also largely due to the cable management. There aren't any cables obstructing the path of the air. HURRAY!
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It's made such an impact that even in my hot room my motherboard, HDD's, and GPU sit (whether idle or used) at about ??~5?C cooler than what they did in my previous case (NZXT Lexa Blackline). My CPU sits a little bit cooler than that.
biggrin.gif


However, ever after all of these very good things there are a few minor flaws...
The duct on the HDD bay/area does not accommodate non-reference video cards. There are some who have simply cut the duct, but kept it to keep the 120mm fan, but I think Cooler Master could have done better
redface.gif

Sometimes the thumbscrews just don't want to bloody fit
mad.gif

I think there should have been space to put one or two fans at the bottom. If the 690 II Advanced (a mid tower) has that, why doesn't the full tower?

Neutral/My fault:
While I wasn't really looking for something sleek or elegant when I found this, I think they could have done a better styling job. I understand it goes with the whole HAF theme, and this does look better than the 932/922, but maybe something slightly different or tuned would have been better. I'm not an artist or a designer so I don't know, I'm just putting that out there.
tongue.gif

AND! While it's not sleek... some of the mesh and both side panels are airbrushed urban camo. It really goes with the theme. It makes the case less "meh" and sets it apart more. IT HATH BECOME TANK.
I've never done water cooling, but I do know there is quite a bit of room for all of that jazz. It would be another pro, but I don't have any experience so I'm not sure I can say with certainty how well the water cooling would work.

I would highly recommend this case to anyone, especially those who need help with cable management. Even if you're lazy (...me...), it's incredibly easy to route the cables just the way you need them or like them. That coupled with the airflow (again...duh...I know) and even the hottest parts will end up much cooler. The few tiny flaws annoyed me juuuuuuust enough to not give this 5/5 flames, but it's darn close.
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ProsCons
Huge, ample room, quiet, high airflow (duh), USB 3.0, side window, filters included, black inside, tool-less design, very sturdy, casters includedHeavy, pricey, not exactly sleek/elegant

Ratings
Overall4
 
#10 ·
Gigantic Case, Nice Features

review by razorblade81

The case is what you pay for. Upping the price a bit from a normal full tower case gets you a ton of extras that you normally don't see. These are well worth it for people wanting the space and look.

The best thing, in my opinion is the cable management. You can run cables almost from anywhere to behind the case/motherboard to any other area of the case. You get zip ties that can be attached to loop holes in the case to keep the cables orderly (I used twist ties so it wasn't permanent).

There is a hot swap board for the bottom two 5 1/4" bays. This lets you mount hard drives in the trays and just slide them in to have them connected. Kinda nice, but I am not using them.

The fans are big and move a lot of air. The extra parts that you can add to aid in video card cooling are nice if you are using multiple cards. I planned on using the extra piece at the end with an additional 120mm fan (not included) but I had to modify the plastic to allow for the 2 8 pin power connectors needed for the EVGA GTX 690. It was an easy fix, just cutting out a bit of the plastic.

There is a spot to mount 240mm radiator for water cooling on the top under the big 200mm fan. The screws set under the blades, so it is nice I can still use that fan. It doesn't look like there are holes for a 120mm radiator though.

I like Cooler Master products, and own a HAF Advanced. This case is worth the money for the extras.

ProsCons
Huge, nice cable management options, lots of airflow with room for moreHuge, heavy, can be loud depending on your fan setup

Ratings
Overall5
 
#11 ·
Good with A Few Reservations

review by wr6133

In the main I find this a great case. It gives me good temps without sounding like a Merlin coming in too land, offers lots of space and the cable management is sound.

A few issues though are apparent on this case

- 1st and in my opinion worst is the "filters" are plastic mesh infront of the fans. This means too remove them you have to actually unscrew the fans or remove the plastic parts of the case roof or front. This is an irritation. The side fan sucks up a fair bit of dust (and my home is far from dusty). Having to actually unscrew the fan everytime I want to clean the filter is irritating. The top fans though take the prize. to remove the filters here and clean them properly you will find yourself taking apart the majority of the case roof, (and don't get me started on the PSU filter on the bottom needing you to remove the entire PSU). Maybe I demand too much but I would have thought some kind of easier to remove and clean filter system should have been developed by now on what is not a cheap case!

- 2nd is the "hotswap" bays. This doesn't bug me alot as I expected them to be junk so what happened was no shock. Twice now in under a year I have had to replace the PCB for these hotswap bays due to it killing itself in use. So use at your own risk in my experience it has issues.

All in all I would rate this case 4/5. It loses a point for the irritating filters, the hotswap issue while an issue was something I expected (I didnt expect high quality here at this price) so I don't remove a point.

ProsCons
Roomy, Airflow, Cable ManagementDUST!

Ratings
Overall4
 
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