Cooler Master HAF-X Announced

The HAF-X is built out of steel and features some polymer parts. The power button is concealed next to a reset button and another button which can enable or disable the LEDs on the included fans.


The front of the case has six optical drive bays. Each of these drive bay covers can be removed by pressing in the two latches on the side of the cover. They all feature a dust filter behind them. The bottom two optical drive bays function as hot swap bays. Each one slides out through the front of the case, revealing a dock that can hold a 3.5" drive or 2.5" drive. Furthermore, this dock can be removed so that these drive bays can store a 5.25" device. These docks can be relocated to any of the 5.25" drive bays.

The front fan cover can be pulled off from the bottom of the case, revealing a large 230mm x 30mm red LED intake fan as well as another dust filter. The fan can be replaced with a 140mm fan or 120mm fan. The entire front bezel can be removed by releasing six latches - three on each side. To do this you must first remove the top bezel, which is also secured using 3 latches on each side. The I/O panel is on the front of the case. It features two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, a firewire port, an external SATA port, headphone jack and microphone jack.



Hot swap bay being removed.


The universal docks can hold a 3.5" device or 2.5" device. Or they can be removed and a 5.25" device can be put in their place.


The top of the case features a single 200mm exhaust fan. Another 200mm top fan can be placed in front of it, however this is not suggested as such a fan setup will draw air out of the case before the air gets to cool the video card, CPU, and other components. Up to three 120mm fans can be installed here instead, or a 360mm radiator. There are dust filters for the top fan. This is unnecessary since top fans should exhaust air, and the case has a positive air pressure setup. Therefore it is recommended to place these dust filters onto the bottom of the case, where dust filters are absent.


The left side panel features a window and a 200mm x 30mm intake fan which has a dust filter. This panel is extruded so that you can use any size CPU cooler and still use the side fan.


The right side panel is also extruded.


The back of the case features three rubberized holes which allow any size water cooling tubes to pass through. Below these is a 140mm exhaust fan which can be replaced by a 120mm exhaust fan. There are nine ventilated expansion slots, therefore allowing 4-way SLI or 4-way CrossFire setups to be used. There is additional ventilation next to the expansion slots and the power supply mount is on the bottom of the case. Each side panel is secured with two thumbscrews.


The bottom of the case features four rubberized feet, that are high enough to be stable and supply ventilation to the bottom ventilation mounts. Four casters are included in with the case, two of which can be locked into place. This provides excellent mobility and stability.


The entire case is black. Like most Cooler Master cases, the HAF-X has no sharp edges. The motherboard tray features a CPU retention hole. This allows you to access the backplate of a CPU cooler without removing the motherboard. There are also four cable management cut outs - one on the top, one on the bottom, and two that are vertically stacked. The two vertical slots have rubber grommets. The motherboard tray has many notches that allow cables to be zip tied to the motherboard tray. Matched with the extruded side panels, cable management is unrivaled in this case.

There are five internal 3.5" drive bay mounts. These mounts are tool free plastic racks that slide out of the HDD cage. The device is then placed onto the plastic rack. Each rack has four rubber grommets which absorb vibrations, resulting in less noise. A device can be secured here with up to two screws if you wish, but this is unnecessary. The top plastic rack supports either a 3.5" device or a 2.5" device. So in total, up to four 2.5" devices can be installed into this case and one 1.8" device can be used. The expansion slots are secured with thumbscrews.



Above these are the optical drive bays. The top four use Cooler Master's well known button locks. Simply push the button to lock or unlock the drive. Screws can be used as well, on both sides of the drive bay, but again this is unnecessary. The bottom two optical drive bay mounts hold the hot swap bays as mentioned earlier.


A standard ATX power supply is mounted on the bottom of the case. The PSU has plenty of ventilation (but no dust filter) and rubber mounts to absorb vibrations from the power supply. An optional 120mm bottom intake fan can be installed, once again lacking a dust filter.



Notice the box that hides PSU cables, for a more clean look. This box can be installed anywhere on the bottom of the case, and easily removed.


The 200mm side intake fan has an air duct to direct air towards the video cards.


This case comes with a GPU bracket that is installed just left of the expansion slots. This bracket is meant to support heavy video cards, and provide additional airflow since it supports an 80mm fan.


Here is another interior shot showing all of the brackets installed. Notice the duct behind the internal 3.5" mounts. A 120mm fan can be mounted onto it, providing even more airflow to your video cards.


Here is the HAF-X shown with a Cooler Master V8 CPU cooler, a Cooler Master Silent Pro M 1000W power supply, and two ATI Radeon HD 5970 video cards (each measures over 12" long or over 305 millimeters long).