Cooler Master HAF Stacker 915F & 915R Review - PAGE 1

Recently one of the bigger turnabouts in the computer hardware industry is the rising popularity of small form factor systems. Although miniaturized components have existed for a long time, they were commonly plagued with propriety hardware and restricted airflow that truly limited performance and expansion. Moving forward to today and the availability of low-powered chipsets and cases such as the Bitfenix Prodigy is abundant. It is now viable than ever to put together a nice micro-ITX system build with overclocking potential and performance closer to what you would see from a full-sized desktop equivalent.

In our original review of the innovative Cooler Master HAF Stacker Mod-Tower case, we worked with a massive chassis package consisting of a single mid-tower case dubbed the HAF Stacker 925 and two m-ITX cases: the HAF Stacker 915R and 915F. While a lot of hype has gone into the series' stacking capability, details of individual case capabilities have unfortunately been overshadowed in the process. Today, we will focus entirely on the m-ITX HAF Stacker 915R and 915F cases to see if they are worth the money on their own. If you haven't read the aforementioned HAF Stacker review, I would highly advise a quick glance because we have already gone fairly in-depth on the packaging and case features. Here, we will do an examination on the actual installation process and thermal performance versus other smaller form factor cases on the market.

Externally, it is difficult to tell the HAF Stacker 915R and 915F apart. Aside from the placement of the power supply – in the rear for the 915R and the front for the 915F – the two share the same dimensions and base chassis frame. The differentiating factors lie in clearances and drive installation on the inside. The HAF Stacker 915R comes pre-installed with a 92mm front intake fan and has a maximum 80mm height limitation for CPU coolers. A dedicated hard drive cage in the 915R features support for three 3.5" or 2.5" drives. On the other hand, the HAF Stacker 915F comes pre-installed with a 120mm rear exhaust fan and supports CPU coolers up to 170mm tall. Again, three 3.5" or 2.5" drives can be installed if the HDD cage is removed. Both cases support graphics cards measuring up to 360mm / 14.17 inches, and a 360mm or 280mm radiator on each side panel.

While we already went in-depth with the Cooler Master HAF Stacker series in our previous review, be prepared for even more in our review of the Cooler Master HAF Stacker 915.

Specifications:

HAF Stacker 915R:

HAF Stacker 915F:

Information courtesy of Cooler Master @ http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=10099&product_name=HAF%20Stacker%20915R and
http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/case/mini-itx/haf915f.html