User review – Robert Galewaler
This is a review of a new case for me, the Cooler Master 810 Stacker. After 6 years I was looking for a case to replace my aging Antec Tower.
The main reason I purchased this case was for the enormous ability to hold all my components and do so in a cool and quiet environment. I do not plan to purchase another case for at least five years and need to be able to switch out components and do so easily.
Here are some specifications from the Cooler Master website:
Available Colors Silver, Black. Silver is all-over Silver, Black is Black. However, on each side of the case front are silver bars.
- Dimension (inches) 22.99 x 8.94 x 21.10 (L x W x H)
- M/B Type Micro ATX, ATX, E-ATX 12
- Material Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis
- 5.25″ Drive Bay 11 (Exposed)
- 3.5″ Drive Bay 4 (Hidden) from 1 x 4-in-3 Device Module included; 1 x 3.5
- I/O Panel USB 2.0 x 6, Mic x1, SPK x1, IEEE 1394 x1
- Cooling System:
One 120 X 120 X 25 mm Front Fan; 1200 rpm, 22 dBA (intake),
Two 120 X 120 X 25 mm Rear Fan; 1200 rpm, 22 dBA (exhaust),
One 80 X 80 X 25 mm Top Fan; 1800rpm 22 dBA (exhaust) - Weight 10 kg
- Standard PS2 (option); EPS 12V Compatible (optional)
- Expandability:
- Movable front I/O control panel with 6 x USB 2.0 connections
- Compatible with Micro-ATX, ATX, E-ATX 12″x13″, W-ATX 13″x16″
- Cooling:
- Full Mesh front panel provides superior airflow; fully supports up to 3 x 120mm super silent fans
- 2 x 120mm super silent exhaust fans
- Assembly:
- Tool-free installation
- Spacious interior design to maximize the flexibility of installation process
- Structural:
- Strengthened body structure with 1.00mm steel plates
- Superior mechanical design for greater stability
For comparison, I wanted to see just how large this case really is. On the left is the New Cooler Master810, on the right is the Antec case. Overall the cases are almost the same height – the width is slightly larger on the Cooler Master case and the length looks longer, but in reality it’s only the length of a mouse – 5 inches deeper.
This is how the case looks when shipped to the user:
These are the parts that are shipped in the box. There are wheels for rolling the case (if needed), a bag of screws, standoffs and other hardware, 3.5″ faceplate for a floppy or other removable drive, a power supply plate, two rails to connect the removable drive to the case sides, drive rails to install DV, CD, and other 5.25″ drives and a small speaker for the motherboard.
The case is designed for multiple hard drives. There is a cage called the “4 in 3″ which means 4 hard drives fit where 3 5.25” drive bays are located. It would be possible with 3 of these units to have an incredible 12 hard drives and a DVD drive installed in this case. Also very nice is the 120 mm fan located on the front of this cage to cool those drives.
I have removed the fan, grill and three plates. These plates block airflow through this drive cage. If you look closely on the left and right, you should see the blue hard drive isolation washers to reduce vibration.
Here I have installed a Yate Loon 120 mm fan – this is a clear blue LED fan.
Here is the hard drive cage with two hard drives. There is still room for two more drives here.
The whole front area is covered with drive covers. Each cover has a filter which can be cleaned and reinstalled to reduce dust. These drive covers just pull out from the front of the case.
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The front power, reset, hard drive and power LEDs are located in a single bay cover. This cover also has six USB ports, a firewire port, headphone and mic jacks. By simply removing six screws, the cover can be located in any bay. If you have the case on the floor, the cover could be at the top for easy reach; or if you house the case on the desk next to you, then it can be on the bottom within easy reach. This cover has a cable long enough to reach just about any motherboard you could install.
I was having problems deciding so I bought them all – Just kidding!!! This is from an article on Toms Hardware Guide:
“To slide a CD, DVD or other 5.25” drive you just need to install the side rails. These are marked as to left and right and even have a up arrow. You simply unlatch the side panels then determine where you want the drive. Unlatch the two side clips and slid the drive in till it bottoms out. Unlatch the side clips and pull forward slightly. This makes sure the drive is secure. If you are one of those people, you can
also put screws into the drive to secure them. Screws are included with the case.”
This is a mock up of how the case is going to look on my desktop.
I just wanted to show the versatility of this case.Right and left sides showing clips:
Front Mock up of the system and the rear of the case:
Two 120 mm fans extract air from the case. The power supply is located on the bottom of this case – there is a factory cover on this area now. In the upper left area is a switch and a power plug – this is not the power supply. These are modifications I did to add a 120v pump and relay to the system.
This is a case modder’s dream. The case comes with two 120 mm exhaust fans and an 80 mm blow hole fan. The drive cage has room for four hard drives and also includes a 120 mm fan for cooling, plus it is isolated from the case to lower noise. The front power switch and I/O ports are movable as required by the end user – you’re not stuck with the power switch only where the manufacturer put it.
This case also has some interesting things going for it:
- You can add two 4-3 drive cages for 8 more hard drives – these run 19-27 dollars each
- There is room in the front, top and bottom of the case to add 120 x 2 radiators
- The case is long enough inside to add any length video card
- There are case windowed side panels available for this case
This is the silver side window – I got tired of black. This is just a tease of what I am going to do with this case.
There are two negatives with this case:
- It’s heavy!
- The Motherboard tray is not removable
So is this the case that will last me five years? The short answer is YES – but check back with me – it might be ten.
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