Five Eight-Slot Cases For SLI And CrossFire, Tested

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Got a Haf-X the other weekend. Running SLi gtx 470s (had them laying around already). Temps are not bad. Sound is quieter than a thought. Cable management was acceptable. There are multiple slots for extra fans or watercooling. Everything with mine went off without a hitch really. I went to buy the Ft-02 but decided I should just save some money. Didn't like the look of the Haf X at first but it grew on me. Forgot how F'in heavy and awkward full towers are to move though (no wonder they put wheels on it).

Only real complaint was that you need a Cpu power cable extension to properly wire it behind the mobo tray because the case is so tall despite being a corsair modular PS which usually have pretty long cables.

Got it for 160 though after a rebate. Worth the money either way. The guy above sounded like he go a bad apple 🙁. I got my usb 3.0 and 2.0 cables.
 
In cooling specs under SIDE FANS, Tom's TOTALLY FAILED to mention the 120mm BEHIND the motherboard cpu area CLEARLY making the INWIN the superior case in this comparison. I own one and my rig VERY rarely gets over 33c with all the ventilation this biotch has. HAF is overpriced thus overrated. Don't even go there... i am not an email only user. I cook this mo-fo plenty. Stock setup ran @ 32c ALWAYS; which was, AMD Phenom II 965 Black (3.4 GHz stock), 8GB DDR3/1333's, 2 EVGA Superclocked GTS 450's (BOTH @ x16) with ASUS M4N98TD EVO AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI ATX AMD Mobo, an Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W PSU, with 1 Western Digital 500GB Black caviar and 2 Western Digital 1TB blue caviars all running @ 6Gb/s... (oh yeah PLUS my limited edition "Geek On" t-shirt from Newegg.com - HAHAHAHAHA!!!) SORRY Cooler Master - INWIN takes it in this case, bud.
 
[citation][nom]Majestic One[/nom]In cooling specs under SIDE FANS, Tom's TOTALLY FAILED to mention the 120mm BEHIND the motherboard cpu area CLEARLY making the INWIN the superior case in this comparison.[/citation]You mean when the article said this?[citation][nom]Tom's Hardware[/nom]A 120 mm fan blows on the back of the CPU socket area through a hole in the motherboard tray[/citation]If you didn't actually read the article before evaluating, wouldn't that make your evaluation an "epic fail" :)
 
I think the reviewer may be mistaking the physical location of the fans in the Raven as the source of its improved cooling. Where I work we tested a similar Silverstone chassis both with the fans blowing up from the bottom *and* with the case rotated 90 degrees, so that the fans blew front-to-back instead... and it didn't matter either way. The real deal is that they use massive 180mm fans, more than one of them, and they put them right near the hot components (motherboard / CPU / video card) instead of blowing through drive bays and such first.

Here is a link to the article in question, in case someone doubts this:

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Vertical-vs-Horizontal-Case-Cooling-89
 
[citation][nom]WilliamMGeorge[/nom]I think the reviewer may be mistaking the physical location of the fans in the Raven as the source of its improved cooling. Where I work we tested a similar Silverstone chassis both with the fans blowing up from the bottom *and* with the case rotated 90 degrees, so that the fans blew front-to-back instead... and it didn't matter either way. The real deal is that they use massive 180mm fans, more than one of them, and they put them right near the hot components (motherboard / CPU / video card) instead of blowing through drive bays and such first.Here is a link to the article in question, in case someone doubts this:http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a [...] Cooling-89[/citation]Not really a mistake, updraft is understood to be a minimal improvement in cooling. The real advantage is noise, since the meter is placed at a 45° angle from the center of the front panel.
 
Dont you think that the cases that had the side panel fan removed, got a raw deal in the cooling dept?
I believe a better solution would have been to use a SLIGHTLY smaller cpu fan in the tests, so that the cases could be tested the way they were designed to work.
I know there are cpu coolers that work just as well as the Thermalright and would have fit in perfectly.
That and the whole non crossfire/sli test rig, make what could have been an interesting article, into another half-baked pos Toms failure.
Where is this site going, really?
Seems like half the posters here could do better.
Im not trying to be a hater, I just expect better.
 
[citation][nom]cobra5000[/nom]Dont you think that the cases that had the side panel fan removed, got a raw deal in the cooling dept?I believe a better solution would have been to use a SLIGHTLY smaller cpu fan in the tests, so that the cases could be tested the way they were designed to work[/citation]No, that would be cheating in favor of those two cases. 120mm tower coolers are THE standard for air cooling, there is no other standard, and if a case manufacturer can't meet that standard they can't be pandered to.

It's not like these are compact cases. They're full sized, which means they get a full sized cooler. If they're full sized and cannot support a full sized cooler, they have a design flaw.
 
The picture i linked in my last post was only the front section of the RV03. I thought it would be easier for you too see the tabs that way. I think you've got your cases mixed up.
 
[citation][nom]nawon72[/nom]The picture i linked in my last post was only the front section of the RV03. I thought it would be easier for you too see the tabs that way. I think you've got your cases mixed up.[/citation]

Nope, I looked at mine and all the tabs are inside. The only way to get to them is to remove the front panel, unless you're able to get your hand through a 5.25" bay from the inside
 
Nope, I looked at mine and all the tabs are inside. The only way to get to them is to remove the front panel, unless you're able to get your hand through a 5.25" bay from the inside
Click to expand...
So you removed the left side panel, looked at the area that was shown in the picture, and didn't see any plastic "tabs"(has two lines convex lines on it)? It is possible that SilverStone changed the case a bit since launch.
 
[citation][nom]nawon72[/nom]So you removed the left side panel, looked at the area that was shown in the picture, and didn't see any plastic "tabs"(has two lines convex lines on it)? It is possible that SilverStone changed the case a bit since launch.[/citation]No, nothing but the cages. I did find tabs connecting the covers to the face panel however, but to see those I had to remove the face panel.
 
Lian Li PC-9F is a good 8-slot case right in the middle of this price range for those who prefer more understated looks and value high build quality. Just add the optional top exhaust fan for more cooling.
 
I got Antec's DF-85. Amasing case, lot of space, 7 fans (5 with red leds), realy mean looking, and it feels like a tornado when it's powered 😀 I would say one of the best cases for overclocking. and the best thing? an external SSD connector, which can make your life easier if you need to plug one in 2 sec
 
[citation][nom]Anonymous[/nom]IN the wake of super low powered processors and energy conservation, these things are starting to look like they are on the archaic/someone needs to get smarter about design look[/citation]

Depends what you're looking for 😀 You don't get a Lamborghini or a Ferrari if you want to "save the planet".
 
[citation][nom]dkraptor[/nom]Depends what you're looking for You don't get a Lamborghini or a Ferrari if you want to "save the planet".[/citation]I was going to say "bringing a moped to a demo derby" but thought it might be in poor taste. After careful consideration, it's probably funny enough to set aside any issues of decorum.
 
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