LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
This is originally from www.cpcff.co.uk.
Cooler Master Stacker
Why this case ?
I was building a rig, and needed a case that would stand the test of time, be able to house a watercooling setup as well as other expandability, and look reasonable at the same time.
From these categories I had two real contenders- the Stacker and the Akasa Eclipse 62, both of which I had seen in Custom PC magazine and had come highly recommended. I chose the Coolermaster as, although it costed £20 at the time, it offers mcuh more in terms of expandability, with 11 optical disk drive bays and the 4 inch extra at the bottom of the case, which no other i have seen has, and is perfect for my future watercooling radiator. Also it offers long life due to its compatibility with the new BTX platform and is very easy to modify, as it is available with a case window and has excellent cooling capabilties .
Lets have a look at it
CMStacker
Well, when it arrived through my door, or i took my door off to get it through, i was astounded by the sheer size of the box it came in, thankfully it wasnt 3/4 of a metre wide, but had some very good padding in the form of a plastic polystyrene equivelent , and arrived undamaged.
Looking inside the box i was instantly struck by the quality of aluminium that was used, and the SECC steel that is used to stiffen the chassis and the quality of general workmanship around the case. the upper fan blowhole, covered with mesh was a particularily good example, as they managed to get the mesh incredibly flat with the rest of the aluminium panel. When Custom PC reviewed it they said that it was ugly, but i found that this was far from the case, the window panel has a very natural curve to it and the aluminium is really quite beautiful. However the front could look a bit less copy and pasted all the way down the case, but even this still looked good.
Ease of use
The Coolermaster stacker is a very large case, and therefore should be extremely easy to build a computer in. With this in mind it certainly doesnt fail, the case is brilliant to use, due to its sheer internal volume, and the excellent drive securing mechanism, which i have heard critised but have nothing but praise for. you just use a bracket with a notch where normally the screw would go on the drive, put it in, and then slide it into the case until it clicks, very simple and you just release a catch to let it out. The best mechanism i have ever seen on a case. To install the motherboard you have the option of removing the motherboard tray but i would recommend against doing this as the removal of about 15 screws is necessary and it is more designed for the conversino to the btx form factor than for installing motherboards. However this is not too much of a setback as the stacker is a very easy case to install a motherboard in due to its size. There is an option of a cross flow fan which blows air from the right side panel across the RAM and Voltage regulartory modules, which should help overclocking , and i took up this option. However it may be easier to leave this out until you have installed the motherboard as it restricts access somewhat. Also if you did not have this option then cable tidying would be much neater as you could use the hole that it leaves to slot the power and fan cables through and greatly reduce the clutter at the same time. There is also the extra feature of the extra psu bay in the stacker, which explains the presence of the gap at the bottom. As most peope wont use this, coolermaster have kindly included a additional backplate which can house two 80mm fan, as input or exhaust which is great for a bit more cooling, or if you have a radiator around that area.
Cross flow fan
Another great feature of this case is the hard drive module. It clips into the drive rails the same way as optical drives, and take up 3 drive bays. For that cost you get space for 4 hard disk drives, and there is a fan at the front of the module, wich is great at feeding air through the hard drives and into the rest of the system. In fact this is the only way to pull air into the case without modding , although the whole front is mesh and grill, so the exhaust fans will drag some through due to nature abhoring a vacuum. However this may have its downfalls, the mdule only taking four drives, you must buy a new one if you want to add another hard drive, and they arre £15 each, which is alright considering they include a very quiet fan, though it doesnt move a lot of air. Another issue with the modules is the ease of removing them to add another hard drive. To do this you must remove the mesh outer covers which are useually easy to push out with a screw driver. however when there is something in them, this is now impossible, so you must take off the one underneath from inside the case, then take off the ones you need from the outside, which is a very tricky process. If you did ever fill up all eleven drive bays, you could never get one of the drives out, as you cant get the covers off.
Hard drive module
There are two of the coolermaster ultra quiet 120mm fans included in the case and one 80mm. The 120mm are silent (13dB-A) although they only output a meagre 11.27 CFM of air, which is abysmal. The 80mm fans actually output more air (15.75 cfm ) for the same noise which is remarkable, and shows that those fans must be much more efficient than the 120mms. Weird.
Watercooling ability
This case should be a beast for watercooling in the same way that it is for installing a system- size, and special mechanisms to help you out. In this case we have the 38x22x10cm space below the motherboard tray, which can be used for pumps, resevoirs , or most productively a radiator. For the last use it excels, it can mount a 120.3 if you dont use the lower drive bay, which i would never do. There is a picture of mine with a 120.3 below. i belive you could also mount a extra 120.1 either by standing it upright next to the 120.3 lying down or at the top of the case, with the current 80mm fan hole bored out to 120mm. you could use this for a HDD or the northbridge while the 120.3 cooled the cpu and the Graphics card. Due to the large number of drive bays( 11) you can afford to have a dual bay resevoir which most other cases will not allow you to have, the dual bay not only means less filling up and more self bleeding but will cool the water to a greater degree, as the resevoir acts as if it is a less effecient radiator. This case allows for a truly awesome cooling setup, and you can have it as good as your budget allows
Cost
All of these features cost a lot of money to manufacture so the Coolermaster stacker is not a cheap case, infact apart from the Mountan Mods cubes and some Lian Lis , it is near to the most expensive. However due to it being a year or two old now, and newer designs comign along to replace it soon, you can find one with a window for £110 easily, and without for £95. This is a lot to pay for a case but you really do get what you pay for in this case (no pun intended). the features are the best i have ever seen on a case and they will only be matched by the new stacker when it is available to buy.
Conclusion
This is one of the most expensive cases around, and certainly not the best looking, however it more than makes up for this in my opinion with its sheer and obscene functionality. It is a perfect case if you have a bit of money to spend, and dont mind sacrificing a bit of looks to ensure that their system remains stable and cool. It is also the ultimate case for a watercooling setup, all in all, highly recommended if you can afford it.
Looks- 7/10 Up for debate, but i reckon they are very nice
Features- 10/10 So many you cant have them all
Cooling- 10/10 The best around. full stop
Value- 8/10 not cheap, but worth it
Total: Very good- 35/40
Bennywidag
© 2005 http://www.cpcff.co.uk
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by hexah
