CoolerMaster HAF 932 High Air Flow Case Evaluation

It was not that long ago that the name CoolerMaster elicited sniggers from the enthusiast community.
It did not seem to matter if it was cases, PSUs, or cooling equipment they really did not have much to offer the hard core enthusiast. Then along came the Stacker, this case was the one shining light in the otherwise dim line up from CoolerMaster. The only problem was that the Stacker was all they had. True there were refinements and even a complete redesign, but if you were talking about CoolerMaster you were talking about the Stacker. Then about a year ago someone lit a fire under the design team again. This time it was the Cosmos, possibly one of the nicest cases I have ever worked with (also the only case I own that my wife actually likes) again we saw spin-offs on the Cosmos’ success. Now it seems that someone has gotten the whole company to get into line, CoolerMaster has not only released another promising case but their other products are coming into line also. We have managed to get our hands on the newest case out of the CoolerMaster shops, the HAF (High Air Flow) 932. This heavy duty industrial looking case had me smiling and excited about building a new system in a way I haven’t been since the Cosmos. Does the excitement remain or is it all over in a flash? Read on to find out.

Product: Cooler Master HAF 932
Author: Sean Kalinich           
Category: Enthusiast             
Reviewed on: August 10th 2008
Product cost: $159.99
Manufacturer: CoolerMaster
Spelling and Grammatical Editors: Planetx64 Staff

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Packaging:
The HAF 932 box was quite large (in fact it blocked my whole doorway) with well done graphics on the sides that were not over done. There was just enough information to make you want to grab this case and take it home. When I received this I did not even finish getting everything out of my truck (I had just gotten back from an errand) instead I left the door hanging open (both the front and truck doors) and grabbed a knife to get at the HAF. Opening the box you get your fist glimpse at the front.

There covered in thick plastic and cradled by two Styrofoam end caps sits the HAF 932. (By this time I was getting yelled at as the dog had run out and jumped into my truck… so I had to stop and take care of this before delving further into the HAF 932) While removing the case I noticed that the Styrofoam end caps were quite thin and one even came apart while I was removing the case. This was not a good thing and I would be concerned about damage during shipping with such light protection. Once I was through being appalled at the poor shipping protection, I was able to get the HAF 932 out and in a spot where I could get a good look at it.

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Construction and Features:
The CoolerMaster HAF 932 is a fairly sturdy case, this is despite the fact that much of it is plastic.
The entire front is all molded plastic, as is the top shelf portion. On the front panel, at the top, you will find all of the external connections. Power and Reset buttons are on the top. 

On the top of the case there is a tray for your keys etc, this has a rubber mat on the floor that covers up a fill port for a reservoir that would be mounted in the top 5-1/4” bay. Behind this is the first of three 230mm fans. The grill this fan is mounted to has a ton of mounting holes, making it perfect for a radiator or to put in multiple smaller fans.  The skeleton of the case is plain cut sheet metal and nothing too awe inspiring. The side panels are made of a thicker sheet metal and while the right hand panel is simply painted a dark matte black (with an industrial looking  squared X and vents in the front) the left hand side more than makes up for it.

Here CoolerMaster has placed a 230mm fan in a large rectangular grill. This grill is the same as the one on the top of the HAF (extra mounting holes).  Above this grill in the side panel is a small rectangular Plexiglas window. This window has cross hatched lines to give it the look of industrial safety glass adding to the industrial feel of the HAF 932. Along the front edge of the side panel you can see the outline of the letter HAF in slightly more glossy paint (a nice and almost gothic touch) below this are a series of exhaust vents.

Internally the HAF 932 is well laid out with plenty of room for even a 12x13” E-ATX mainboard. 5-1/4” drives can be mounted in the top six bays (5 if you leave the 3-1/2 adapter in place for an HDD or floppy drive). These bays use a push button locking system for easy installation and removal.
Hard Drives are mounted perpendicular to the mainboard; the mounts feel very flimsy but hold up to some pretty serious twisting. The HDD mounts are also tool less. CoolerMaster has provided five internal bays for HDDs. Directly in front of the HDDs is another 230mm fan; this one lights up red and adds a nice glow to the HAF.
Moving back into the main cavity of the case I was surprised at how deep the HAF 932 is. It is almost 2” deeper (wider) than the Silver Stone TJ09B-W. This provides from some great air space and really allows the three 230mm and one 140mm fans to do their work on keeping the system cool. Speaking of cooling, CoolerMaster has not left the water cooling crowd out either. As I mentioned above, the HAF has places to mount a 120mmx2 radiator in the top of the case or the side (although I do not know why you would want to do that.)  

 
Added into the extra flexibility, the HAF gives you the choice of mounting your PSU in the top or bottom of the case. If you mount your PSU in the top of the case you can mount an extra 2 120mm fans in the bottom.  Holes are provided for external water cooling, there are cable runs under the mainboard mounting panel, and all peripheral mounts are tool less. As a final touch CoolerMaster has added in a cutout in the mounting panel for the mainboard, this allows for the easy installation of a large aftermarket heatsink or waterblock without the need to remove the mainboard.  Included in the “parts” box were a set of small casters to allow you to put your new case on wheels.

In all I would have to say the HAF 932 is one of the best designed and most flexible cases I have ever worked with.

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Aesthetics (that means looks):
Looks are always going to be subjective, I could give you just my opinion and you might not agree with it. So to be fair I used my usual method for scoring the appearance of cases. I asked multiple people what they thought and asked them to score the HAF 932 based on overall looks and “coolness” this latter category is described as “An ability to grab your attention and hold it” something does not have to look good to be cool. Additionally I asked for a one word description of the HAF 932.

Most people felt the HAF 932 looked very rugged and industrial, one comment said it would look right at home in a heavy iron foundry, the same person mentioned it would look perfect in Gotham City.  The industrial look also let itself to militaristic styling I had more than one commented, tagging it as a military product.  Of the eight people that I asked most liked it, a number did not like it on first impression but after looking at the HAF 932 from all sides they found it did catch their eye and drew them in. Only one out of the eight did not like it, they referred to it as a Case 900 knock off and called it a “brick”. Below are all the scores and the one word descriptions given to me.

My personal opinion of the case is that it has a hardened industrial look that simply stands out. Normally I do not like the industrial look, I feel that it is overdone and make a case look cheap. The HAF 932 does not fall into this category though. It draws your eyes to it and you (well I) can spend a few minutes just taking in all the details. CoolerMaster did not try to blind you with a ton of LEDs either the simple single red LED lit 230mm fan in the front adds to the overall feel of the HAF 932.

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Installation:
For this case I decided to rebuild my favorite desktop into it. This meant removing my V8 from its current SST-TJ09B-W home (I am recycling this case as a test bench due to its pull out mainboard tray).
The removal actually took me longer than the installation into the HAF 932! I was very happy with how everything wet together. The extra room inside this case made the installation of this larger system a snap. I was finished with the initial install in 20 minutes. Cable management and clean up took another 15 minutes and I had a clean smart looking system.

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Price /Warranty:
The CoolerMaster HAF 932 will set you back about $159.99. This is not a bad price at all considering the size and features of this case.
Warranty is CoolerMaster’s standard three year warranty.
{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
CoolerMaster has a great product in the HAF 932, it is clean, sharp looking, and extremely easy to work with. In all it is everything the Antec Case Nine hundred and 1200 wish they were. I am very impressed with the flexibility CoolerMaster have added into the HAF 932. There is a ton that you can do with this case. I do wish they would have gone with aluminum for the frame, but the steel frame does not take away from the cases quality. Aesthetically, the HAF 932 is stunning, for many its beauty might not hit them at first but after a moment or two the overall design and form start to really show through. The design gang at CoolerMaster really did a good job on the appearance of the HAF 932.  If you are looking to pick up a new case you will definitely want to take a look at the HAF 932. In fact I would not recommend too much looking; as good as these cases are someone will grab it if you wait too long.

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