FarFarAway
New member
Well here's just a short review for ya of a few bits Iv'e bought and popped in recently.
Specs:
Specifications:
Dimension: 584 mm x 227 mm x 536 mm (D x W x H)
Material: Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis
M/B Type: EXTEND ATX
Power Supply Form Factor: Standard ATX PS2
5.25: 7 (Exposed)
3.5: 1 (Exposed), 3 (Hidden)
Ventilation:
One 120 x 120 x 25 mm Front Fan (intake) 1200RPM 16.4 dBA
One 120 x 120 x 25 mm Rear Fan (exhaust) 1200RPM 16.4 dBA
One 80 x 80 x 25 mm Top Fan (intake) 1800RPM 23.8dBA
Additional Ports:
USB 2.0 x 6
IEEE 1394 (FireWire) x 1
Earphone jack x 1
MIC x 1
Optional Components:
Cross Flow Fan for CM Stacker
4-in-3 Device Module
Side Window
Firstly: The CM Stacker
The CM Stackr is HUUUUGE. I picked up the case from City Link and realised just how big the damn thing is!!
Here's the Huge box:
I actually thought that the acking was good on the case and it had no dents or scratches.
I bought the Silver CM Stacker with the standard non-windowed side. Unfortunately the company sent me a blue on with a side Window. Here's the good bit: I had bought the side window too!! I sent back the side window and exchanged it for the specially designed Crossflow Fan (only for the stacker).
Here's some nice case pics:
The Bare inside. LOADS of space. Its very well build and solid (made of 1mm thick steel). Its also very heavy!! Luckily CM supply you with wheels and I put mine on there!
Here's the back view. You can fit almost any motherboard in existance, including the BTX platform!!
The side view. You can see the vents where the crossflow gets its air from. It sits on the motherboard tray and blows accross the motherboard. Nice!
Here's the side with the window in place. I haven't peeled the film off it yet.
Front view. I like the look of the stacker. Its a sweet looking case and has loads of room for expandibility!
Forgot to get a pic of the HDD cage so here one I have found on the net:
Its very good cause its tool-less and the nice big 120mm fan cools you system and you HDD. You can put a floppy in here but there are also brackets provided that allow you to do the same thing.
Whats going in it:
1 x AMD 64 3200+ Venice (now at 2.65GHz)
1 x DFI LANPARTY SLi-D 939
1 x Club3D 6800GT 256mb
1 x XP-120 + Panaflo
1 x Antec NeoPower 480w Modular PSU
1 x FDD Drive
1 x Sony DVD-ROM/CD-RW
1 x Maxtor 76GB 7200rpm 8mb HDD
2 x UV Cold Cathodes
1 x 120mm SilenX 14DBA LED Fan
1 x Coolermaster Crossflow Fan
Lots of UV Rounded IDE Cables
Couple of pics of what I'm gonna put into it:
mmmm.....mobo goodness! Plus my beautiful foot!!
Club3D having the most impressive package of any vid card I've ever bought. They have every cable imaginable in there and a couple of free games and also a good DVD software Disc.
Ooops and the NeoPower:
Installation
Well I didn't take any pics of this as I was hard at work and that was the last thing on my mind. I will do a quick runthrough of what I thought.
Installing the HDD/HDD rack:
This was soo easy. It comes pre-fitted onto the case and its just a case of flipping a few switch type holders and taking it out. Then install HDD (easy) with the tonnes of screws CM includes (the most screws I've ever seen with a case) and away you go!!
The fron't plates were very easy to take off but I have heard tell that on some CM stacker cases they are not
Installing the floppy:
This was a bitch-ass of a job to do. There are supplied 5 1/2" - 3 1/4" (or whatever) brackets with the case. There are enough screws to make an entire kitchen, certainly. Installing it in the brackets is easy enough (make sure you get it the right way round tho!!).
BUT.....its very hard to get the brackets + FDD installed into the case. Very hard. You have to really push it in there to get the right place and i had to install it three times before I got the right place Maybe I was just being stupid but its final resting place didn't feeli right.....it fitted with the other drive bay sure, but it didn't feel quite right.
Installing the Optical drive/Drives
Very easy. Just grab one of the hundreds (almost) of brackets that CS supply, snap back the plastic holding brackets on the case, stick the brackets to the optical drive and slide it in! Took me about two minutes!
Installing the motherboard
This was easy as pie. You can remove the motherboard tray but it requires about 10 screws to be undone. I just used the correct standoffs and away it went. Loads of space = easy to install! Only one gripe was that the 120mm outflow fan was a bit too close to the motherboard and I had problems installing the Karajan audio snap on part onto the motherboard (I should have done that first I know
). Very easy to install.
Installing the PSU
Again loads of space for a massive PSU here. If I didn't put the brackets on the right way round the first time then it was my fault hehe
Stick it in and away you go. Nice and easy!
You do begin to realise just how far all the cables have to stretch at this point. Not much scope for hiding them as they have to stretch a lot unfortunately
Cable Tidying
This wasn't as easy as I had first thought. The cables have to stretch a long way to get places and that means not much scope for hiding them. BUT there is a lot of access to the back of the case so I'm gonna work on mine. Overall, not too bad.
One thing I will bring up here are the cables from the front I/O panel. They are huge and long. Cause the case is sooo big and provides you with 6 x USE 2.0, 1 x Firewire and 1 x audio jack the cables have to go right over the motherboard.
I solved this by: Yanking them all out apart from 2 x USB ones. Nice!! I didn't need the extra firewire one and I don't use front audio connectors and I certainly don't need 12 x USB ports! They come off easy as they are just clipped into the font panel the same as a mobo. The firewire one was a bit difficult but I just snapped the ground cable!
Feet!!
CM provde you with a set of very sturdy wheels to put on the case as well as the standard (and very sturdy) feet. I installed mine cause its very heavy. This was easy as pie and the mountings are very solid indeed. The feet also have brakes to stop the case sliding around. How convenient!
The CM Crossflow Fan
When I heard about this nifty bit of kit and saw I had some money on reund for the side window I purchased it!!
Its a very good bit of kit and I like it. It has dropped my temps about 2*C average and I know it has helped my OC!
The box:
The box is standard but I found the instructions to be pretty crap. Luckily I'm good at guessing how to install stuff!!
Contents:
You get the fan, some screws, some fanwire routing brackets and the specially designed Fan controller. It allows for three speeds and off.
Close up of fins:
Quite ingenius those things. They kick out a helluva lotta air!
The fan has three settings and off.
The 1st one is very quiet with ok airflow...nt enough for me but still must do some cooling. The second medium setting kicks out a lot of airflow and "hums" mildly, but nothing compared to my panaflo!. The 3rd one is quite loud (just under panaflo noise) and kicks out a shit-load of air. I use this if I wanna run prime95 or something for long periods!
Installation
This was ok, but not amazingly easy.
As you may be able to see above, you have very small screws and a very small space to put them in! Its very awkward, especially for a standard sized screwdriver. Even with my special tiny screwdriver I found it tough! I got all the screws in ok, but it was a bit fiddly.
The wire routing was easy with all the spane and I routed the fan wire behind the mobo with the supplied routing brackets. Its a bit annoying that the fan controller takes up a PCI slot, but I'll get over it.
For the performance I'm just doing rough temps and a sum up. This is for the case + crossflow fan installed
Performance
The CM stacker has put my stock temps down a few degrees. At Idle with the Venice it sits at 26*C and at load 34*C.
The Chipset sits at 35 idle without the crossflow on and at load 42*C. With the crossflow on the chipset it idles at 34*C and loads at 40*C
With my Venice OC'd I get 32-3*C idles and 44-5*C load
The chipset (with a fair bit of voltage through it) idles OC'd at: 40without crossflow and 37-8*C with it on. Loads at 47*C without crossflow and 44*C with the crossflow.
To me this makes the Crossflow a great buy and also the Stacker a great buy!
There is plenty of room for upgrades (w/c etc) and loads of expandibility. I really like the stacker and the fan!!
Conclusion
There can't be too many more cases in this price-range that cool as well as this thing. It has loads of airflow and loads of room for expandibility. Did I mention you can fit another PSU in there??
The case is fairly easy to put together (bar the floppy ) and looks good (IMO).
For cooling I think that this case would have to be the best I've used and maybe comparible to much more expensive cases. The style aint everyones taste and nor is the huge size of it. I personally think Coolermaster has pulled off another great case.
Some pics of my setup with the stacker:
Using PV's standard:
Build Quality
This case is built very well. I have never seen or felt a sturdier case. Coolermaster put together cases well and this on'es no execption
9.5/10
Value for money
This case was just over £100 and I think its worth every penny. The crossflow was £25 and I certainly don't regret that either. I like the piece of mind knowing all my expensive parts are being cooled well in a massive case and that in the future any upgrades I get will be easy to add
9/10
Functionality
This case is functional if you have the space. It is also very heavy. It will be good for your main PC but not so good if you want to take it to LAN's or cart around a lot. I love it TBH!!
8/10
:anisx: Factor
Well you can't beat this case unless you spend a good fortune on one IMO. Its a perfect modifyers case with loads of space, great cooling and excellent expandibility. I think it looks great and is easy to Intall to and use. Any overclocker would be proud to have this beast standing next to them!!
9/10
90%
Specs:
Specifications:
Dimension: 584 mm x 227 mm x 536 mm (D x W x H)
Material: Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis
M/B Type: EXTEND ATX
Power Supply Form Factor: Standard ATX PS2
5.25: 7 (Exposed)
3.5: 1 (Exposed), 3 (Hidden)
Ventilation:
One 120 x 120 x 25 mm Front Fan (intake) 1200RPM 16.4 dBA
One 120 x 120 x 25 mm Rear Fan (exhaust) 1200RPM 16.4 dBA
One 80 x 80 x 25 mm Top Fan (intake) 1800RPM 23.8dBA
Additional Ports:
USB 2.0 x 6
IEEE 1394 (FireWire) x 1
Earphone jack x 1
MIC x 1
Optional Components:
Cross Flow Fan for CM Stacker
4-in-3 Device Module
Side Window
Firstly: The CM Stacker
The CM Stackr is HUUUUGE. I picked up the case from City Link and realised just how big the damn thing is!!
Here's the Huge box:
I actually thought that the acking was good on the case and it had no dents or scratches.
I bought the Silver CM Stacker with the standard non-windowed side. Unfortunately the company sent me a blue on with a side Window. Here's the good bit: I had bought the side window too!! I sent back the side window and exchanged it for the specially designed Crossflow Fan (only for the stacker).
Here's some nice case pics:
The Bare inside. LOADS of space. Its very well build and solid (made of 1mm thick steel). Its also very heavy!! Luckily CM supply you with wheels and I put mine on there!
Here's the back view. You can fit almost any motherboard in existance, including the BTX platform!!
The side view. You can see the vents where the crossflow gets its air from. It sits on the motherboard tray and blows accross the motherboard. Nice!
Here's the side with the window in place. I haven't peeled the film off it yet.
Front view. I like the look of the stacker. Its a sweet looking case and has loads of room for expandibility!
Forgot to get a pic of the HDD cage so here one I have found on the net:
Its very good cause its tool-less and the nice big 120mm fan cools you system and you HDD. You can put a floppy in here but there are also brackets provided that allow you to do the same thing.
Whats going in it:
1 x AMD 64 3200+ Venice (now at 2.65GHz)
1 x DFI LANPARTY SLi-D 939
1 x Club3D 6800GT 256mb
1 x XP-120 + Panaflo
1 x Antec NeoPower 480w Modular PSU
1 x FDD Drive
1 x Sony DVD-ROM/CD-RW
1 x Maxtor 76GB 7200rpm 8mb HDD
2 x UV Cold Cathodes
1 x 120mm SilenX 14DBA LED Fan
1 x Coolermaster Crossflow Fan
Lots of UV Rounded IDE Cables
Couple of pics of what I'm gonna put into it:
mmmm.....mobo goodness! Plus my beautiful foot!!
Club3D having the most impressive package of any vid card I've ever bought. They have every cable imaginable in there and a couple of free games and also a good DVD software Disc.
Ooops and the NeoPower:
Installation
Well I didn't take any pics of this as I was hard at work and that was the last thing on my mind. I will do a quick runthrough of what I thought.
Installing the HDD/HDD rack:
This was soo easy. It comes pre-fitted onto the case and its just a case of flipping a few switch type holders and taking it out. Then install HDD (easy) with the tonnes of screws CM includes (the most screws I've ever seen with a case) and away you go!!
The fron't plates were very easy to take off but I have heard tell that on some CM stacker cases they are not
Installing the floppy:
This was a bitch-ass of a job to do. There are supplied 5 1/2" - 3 1/4" (or whatever) brackets with the case. There are enough screws to make an entire kitchen, certainly. Installing it in the brackets is easy enough (make sure you get it the right way round tho!!).
BUT.....its very hard to get the brackets + FDD installed into the case. Very hard. You have to really push it in there to get the right place and i had to install it three times before I got the right place
Maybe I was just being stupid but its final resting place didn't feeli right.....it fitted with the other drive bay sure, but it didn't feel quite right.Installing the Optical drive/Drives
Very easy. Just grab one of the hundreds (almost) of brackets that CS supply, snap back the plastic holding brackets on the case, stick the brackets to the optical drive and slide it in! Took me about two minutes!
Installing the motherboard
This was easy as pie. You can remove the motherboard tray but it requires about 10 screws to be undone. I just used the correct standoffs and away it went. Loads of space = easy to install! Only one gripe was that the 120mm outflow fan was a bit too close to the motherboard and I had problems installing the Karajan audio snap on part onto the motherboard (I should have done that first I know
). Very easy to install.Installing the PSU
Again loads of space for a massive PSU here. If I didn't put the brackets on the right way round the first time then it was my fault hehe
Stick it in and away you go. Nice and easy!
You do begin to realise just how far all the cables have to stretch at this point. Not much scope for hiding them as they have to stretch a lot unfortunately
Cable Tidying
This wasn't as easy as I had first thought. The cables have to stretch a long way to get places and that means not much scope for hiding them. BUT there is a lot of access to the back of the case so I'm gonna work on mine. Overall, not too bad.
One thing I will bring up here are the cables from the front I/O panel. They are huge and long. Cause the case is sooo big and provides you with 6 x USE 2.0, 1 x Firewire and 1 x audio jack the cables have to go right over the motherboard.
I solved this by: Yanking them all out apart from 2 x USB ones. Nice!! I didn't need the extra firewire one and I don't use front audio connectors and I certainly don't need 12 x USB ports! They come off easy as they are just clipped into the font panel the same as a mobo. The firewire one was a bit difficult but I just snapped the ground cable!
Feet!!
CM provde you with a set of very sturdy wheels to put on the case as well as the standard (and very sturdy) feet. I installed mine cause its very heavy. This was easy as pie and the mountings are very solid indeed. The feet also have brakes to stop the case sliding around. How convenient!
The CM Crossflow Fan
When I heard about this nifty bit of kit and saw I had some money on reund for the side window I purchased it!!
Its a very good bit of kit and I like it. It has dropped my temps about 2*C average and I know it has helped my OC!
The box:
The box is standard but I found the instructions to be pretty crap. Luckily I'm good at guessing how to install stuff!!
Contents:
You get the fan, some screws, some fanwire routing brackets and the specially designed Fan controller. It allows for three speeds and off.
Close up of fins:
Quite ingenius those things. They kick out a helluva lotta air!
The fan has three settings and off.
The 1st one is very quiet with ok airflow...nt enough for me but still must do some cooling. The second medium setting kicks out a lot of airflow and "hums" mildly, but nothing compared to my panaflo!. The 3rd one is quite loud (just under panaflo noise) and kicks out a shit-load of air. I use this if I wanna run prime95 or something for long periods!
Installation
This was ok, but not amazingly easy.
As you may be able to see above, you have very small screws and a very small space to put them in! Its very awkward, especially for a standard sized screwdriver. Even with my special tiny screwdriver I found it tough! I got all the screws in ok, but it was a bit fiddly.
The wire routing was easy with all the spane and I routed the fan wire behind the mobo with the supplied routing brackets. Its a bit annoying that the fan controller takes up a PCI slot, but I'll get over it.
For the performance I'm just doing rough temps and a sum up. This is for the case + crossflow fan installed
Performance
The CM stacker has put my stock temps down a few degrees. At Idle with the Venice it sits at 26*C and at load 34*C.
The Chipset sits at 35 idle without the crossflow on and at load 42*C. With the crossflow on the chipset it idles at 34*C and loads at 40*C
With my Venice OC'd I get 32-3*C idles and 44-5*C load
The chipset (with a fair bit of voltage through it) idles OC'd at: 40without crossflow and 37-8*C with it on. Loads at 47*C without crossflow and 44*C with the crossflow.
To me this makes the Crossflow a great buy and also the Stacker a great buy!
There is plenty of room for upgrades (w/c etc) and loads of expandibility. I really like the stacker and the fan!!
Conclusion
There can't be too many more cases in this price-range that cool as well as this thing. It has loads of airflow and loads of room for expandibility. Did I mention you can fit another PSU in there??
The case is fairly easy to put together (bar the floppy
) and looks good (IMO).For cooling I think that this case would have to be the best I've used and maybe comparible to much more expensive cases. The style aint everyones taste and nor is the huge size of it. I personally think Coolermaster has pulled off another great case.
Some pics of my setup with the stacker:
Using PV's standard:
Build Quality
This case is built very well. I have never seen or felt a sturdier case. Coolermaster put together cases well and this on'es no execption
9.5/10
Value for money
This case was just over £100 and I think its worth every penny. The crossflow was £25 and I certainly don't regret that either. I like the piece of mind knowing all my expensive parts are being cooled well in a massive case and that in the future any upgrades I get will be easy to add
9/10
Functionality
This case is functional if you have the space. It is also very heavy. It will be good for your main PC but not so good if you want to take it to LAN's or cart around a lot. I love it TBH!!
8/10
:anisx: Factor
Well you can't beat this case unless you spend a good fortune on one IMO. Its a perfect modifyers case with loads of space, great cooling and excellent expandibility. I think it looks great and is easy to Intall to and use. Any overclocker would be proud to have this beast standing next to them!!
9/10
90%
