Okay that was a horrible pun. With the side panel we get
a better view of HAF 932's guts. The space is cavernous but 3.5" and 5.25"
devices are well organized into little groups along the front of the case. Some
full tower cases place the hard drives along the bottom, or have optical drive
bays which interfere with long motherboards. Neither problem exists with the HAF
932.
The first you'll notice is the cheat sheet taped to
the non-removable motherboard tray in the HAF 932. It indicates the
locations of various screw holes for motherboard installation, which differ if the
board is m-ATX, ATX or something server-sized. It's helpful if you don't
already know where to screw in those brass motherboard stand offs.
With the opposite side panel removed we can see a special hole
in the motherboard tray that will make your life easier. Guaranteed.
The motherboard tray isn't removable, but it can be accessed from the secondary side panel.
|
The motherboard tray is not removable, so for heatsinks
that have rear support plates Cooler Master has thoughtfully provided a hole in
the tray underneath the motherboard's CPU socket. Badda Bing, Badda Boom, installing CPU heatsinks with a back plate is no longer a
royal pain. This is a godsend for anyone who has been forced into deconstructing
their entire system in order to change a CPU, or cooler.
Another nice touch is making the HAF 932 wider than a standard
ATX case. Other chassis like the Eneremax's Uber Chakra have
side-mounted internal fans which intrude enough into the interior space
to interfere with tall tower heatpipe coolers. Don't believe me, just try mounting
the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme in
that Chakra. The Cooler Master HAF 932 has 20cm of headroom above the
motherboard, more than enough room for uber-tall 165mm heatsinks like the
Cooler Master Hyper Z600.
Why is the power supply mounted on the bottom of the Cooler Master HAF
932 chassis?
Weight my friend. And heat, and cable clutter, and balance. The HAF
932 has enough power supply space for larger, heavier power supplies like the Enermax Galaxy 850w or the Coolmax CUQ-1200B (at least 12"). Considering +1000W
units can weigh around 15lbs, this arrangement makes life easier for everyone involved. Cooler Master also supply
an 8-pin power extension cable for bottom mounted PSU's whose own cable is too
short.
The power supply can also be swapped up into the
upper PSU bay (by default this is the water cooling area), although
again that will require the removal of the top panel fan. Given the height of the HAF
932, it will probably be easier for most users to mount the power supply
on the bottom anyhow. There is grating on the bottom of the case to allow a healthy
convective airflow to occur through the power supply if it fanless, otherwise air is
sucked up through the power supply fan through this opening without disrupting internal case
airflow.