Date: May 14th, 2010
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited By: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Cooler Master
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PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH (cont'd)
Potential performance issues aside, the window and dragon appliqué are very well done and look great. The detail of the graphic and the application technique really make it pop.
On the inside, the AMD edition is unchanged from the original. I was really hoping to see a painted interior since we have a nice big window to view what's inside. The rear and right side of the chassis is unchanged as well, retaining the nice cable management features of the original HAF 932.
Living up to its name the HAF incorporates a lot of metal mesh into the front panel design for, well…High Air Flow. The bay covers are plastic with mesh inserts and utilize an ingenious mechanism to release the covers without removing the front panel. The HAF ships with a very full-featured I/O panel with four USB 2.0 ports flanking a FireWire port followed by an e-SATA slot. The customary microphone and headphone jacks share the right side of the panel with the power and HDD activity LEDs. The only thing that would make this better is if there was more space around the USB/FireWire ports to make room for bulky devices. The color matched plastic power and reset buttons are located on the top of the front panel, and just behind them is a recessed storage tray with a soft rubber-like liner. The small circular detail on the left of the tray liner can be cut out to give access to a fill port for a liquid cooling system reservoir or T-line. This is just one of the features that make the HAF a good choice for members of the water cooling community. Even if this feature isn't used, the tray makes a handy place to store flash drives, small cameras, cell phones and the like. Behind the tray is more metal mesh. This time there is a 230x30mm exhaust fan lurking behind the mesh. Turning at 700 RPM, this fan is rated at a quiet 19dBA and Cooler Master has given us some configuration options here, allowing the user to place a couple of 120mm fans, or a double radiator up here in lieu of the bigger fan provided.
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