Introduction

has long since been known to be a performance case company since their inception. As one of the more prestigious case companies, today we look at their top-of-the-line throw-everything-in-it super case. Enter the .

The premise of this case is pretty simple, with eleven 5 ¼" drive bays, two slots for multiple power supplies, and enough space for virtually anything (and everything) else this case is definitely designed for those whom want to have everything. This is definitely a different direction for Cooler Master which usually creates more modest desktop tower cases for performance PCs. Viperlair explores how successful they are.

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 (12
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	USB 2.0 x 6 IEEE 1394 (FireWire) x 1 Earphone jack x 1 MIC x 1
Available Color	Silver
Optional components	Cross Flow Fan for CM Stacker 4-in-3 Device Module Side Window

The Package

The box was shipped to me without any extra materials around it. This box is huge. Note the ruler next to the case (which is leaning against it on the left). The height of the package is nearly three feet.

As you can see, there is a nice sized hole in the box, but that illustrates a good point, although this case box came to me completely beaten, the case inside was completely intact and looking good. I certainly can't blame Coolermaster for the shipping company not taking complete care of the package.

Inside the Box

The case is simply packed between two large Styrofoam inserts, and has a plastic bag around it to protect it from scratches during shipping.

Upon taking off the bag and the Styrofoam inserts the first thing I looked at was the top of the case which contains the six USB ports, the audio jacks, the firewire port, and of course the power and reset buttons. Directly below that is the slot for a 3 ½" device should you have or want one. Above all of that is the "CMstacker" logo.

It may be of note that the power and reset buttons along with the ports can be relocated to any of the bays, should you not like their current location.

Beneath the power button slot is the eleven 5 ¼" bays which are simply staggering.

The panel on the left hand side of the case which shrouds the motherboard has a large perforated screen. It looks like a speaker, but unless you install one yourself, there isn't one there. Although one may install an 80mm fan behind it.

The top of the case comes with a stock 80mm fan blowhole set behind a screen. It certainly is a welcome edition as no one wants a bunch of heat to linger at the top of their case.

The right hand side is perforated just before the motherboard tray on the inside, more on this later.

The rear of the case is pretty standard except for the massive size. You'll notice that a power supply can be mounted on the top or the bottom (or both). Also note the 120mm exit fan. If there is a need for more ventilation the holes on either the top or the bottom in the PSU locations can fit in two 80mm fans.

Inside the case there is a row of release tabs for all the 5 ¼" devices to make installation to the case screw less. However it does require rails which do require screws.

On the inside of the 5 ¼" bays are filters for all the bays, this is when I first realized that the front bays were not solid, but actually perforated as well.

Here is the back of the 3 ½" cage which for most will hold harddrives. All of the cables above that are for all the ports.

Here is a shot of the exit fan with the standard ATX port bracket. Take note that there IS a fan grill, thank goodness for that.

Below all the expansion slots and on the bottom of the case, there is a perforated screen which assumably is for ventilation.

Opening the goody box for this particular case has the (from left to right) instruction manual, all the installation screws, casters, rails, ATX splitter cable (so if you are running two PSUs it turns both of them on for you, very useful I might add) and the PSU brackets.

Here is where I felt there was a slight problem. The bottom left picture is a shot of the mounting brackets for 5 ¼" devices. Note that there is a "left" and a "right" side denotation for the brackets. I don't understand why Cooler Master didn't simply "center" the holes on the brackets and make them universal (as in able to use them on either side). If for some reason you lose half of them, the other half will be useless, but that is just a pet peeve of mine.

Inside the bag of screws, there is even more bags, with all of the screws separated used for different things. The ones of most note are on the top right which contains the motherboard standoffs and the bottom left which contains the screws for the 5 ¼" mounting brackets.

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