[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
Cooler Master HAF 932 is a full-tower case targeted to gamers, coming with three big 230 mm fans rotating at 700 rpm and one 140 mm fan rotating at 1,200 rpm – HAF stands for High Air Flow –, six external 5.25” bays and five internal 3.5” bays and several other features. Let’s take an in-depth look at this new Cooler Master case.
Looking at the case for the first time we were impressed by its impeccable paint job and sturdy aspect.
Figure 1: Cooler Master HAF 932 case.
Figure 2: Cooler Master HAF 932 case.
In Figure 3, you can see the front panel from this case and, as you can see, it doesn’t have a front door. This case has six external 5.25” bays. On the lower section from the front panel Cooler Master added a big 230 mm fan rotating at 700 rpm that glows red when it is turned on. This fan is located between the front panel and the internal hard disk drive bays. Several full-tower cases we’ve reviewed have more 5.25” bays compared to HAF 932, but on such cases the lower bays are usually used by hard disk cages; on this case Cooler Master decided to put the hard disk drive bays on a separated structure, leaving space for the installation of the big 230 mm fan, which, in our opinion, was a very good decision.
All fans from this case use a 3-pin motherboard connector, so they can installed directly on your motherboard allowing you to monitor their speed. They also come with adapters so if your motherboard doesn’t have enough fan connectors you still can install them directly on the power supply.
One very important thing to note is that even though officially the size of the big fans is 230 mm, their blades are only 190 mm in length.
As you can also see, all covers used on 5.25” bays are meshed for a better airflow.
On the top part from front panel you can also find four USB ports, one FireWire port, an eSATA port and mic in and headphone jacks. The number of ports available is perfect for a case on this category. The problem we see is that the USB ports and the FireWire port are too close to each other and you may encounter trouble when installing two or more USB devices and one FireWire cable at the same time.
Figure 4: Connectors found on the front panel.
[nextpage title=”Introduction (Cont’d)”]
Cooler Master HAF 932 has a big 230 mm fan on its top rotating at 700 rpm. The problem, as mentioned, is that the fan blades measure only 190 mm, making this fan to actually have the same size of smaller fans, like the 200-mm fan used on the top panel from Antec Twelve Hundred. This fan is protected by a mesh and you can remove it to install small fans on its place (more about this later).
The top panel has a small storage compartment and the power and reset switches. The bottom of this storage compartment is protected by a rubber mat and removing this mat you have access to a hole that in theory can be used to fill tanks from water cooling devices installed on the top 5.25” bays. But frankly this hole is simply ridiculous, because for adding coolant liquid to a water cooler you need to first open the tank, which is obviously impossible to be done through such small hole. Thus it would be far better if the whole bottom part of the storage compartment could be removed, so you would have access to the top part of water cooling solution installed on the top 5.25” bays, including the water tank.
Figure 6: Storage compartment and power and reset switches.
Figure 7: Storage compartment with its rubber mat removed.
Finally we have the rear panel in Figure 8. On this case the power supply is installed on the lower section of the case. This case has one 140 mm fan on its rear panel, rotating at 1,200 rpm. No speed control is available on this or on any other fan present on this case. On the upper part of the panel you can see two holes for an external water cooling solution. These holes are protected by a rubber cover, so you won’t need to break anything on your case to have them available. As you may have noticed, these holes are located on a frame covering where you can install a second power supply. If you decide to install a second power supply, you will need to remove the top 230 mm fan, but you will be still able to install a 120 mm fan on the top panel. We will talk more about this in the next page. Unfortunately this case doesn’t come with the necessary adapter to connect pin 14 (green wire) from the two power supplies, which allows them to be turned on at the same time when you press the case power button.
This case also comes with a set of wheels, so you can replace the standard stands that come with the case with the feet if you want to be able to move you case around. This is a really nice option to have.
Now let’s see how HAF 932 looks like inside.
[nextpage title=”Inside HAF 932″]
The side panels are fastened to the chassis using thumbscrews, which is great. Even though you can remove the right panel, the motherboard tray is permanently attached to the chassis. The left panel comes with a 230 mm fan attached. As mentioned, this fan rotates at 700 rpm and its blades measure only 190 mm. If you need more airflow you can replace this fan with up to four 120 mm fans. The side panel
is meshed on the area where the big fan is located, with a small transparent window imitating wired glass.
In Figure 11 you have an overall look from the interior of this case.
This case uses a plastic screwless mechanism for you to fasten daughterboards to the case, as you can see in Figure 12. If you pay attention you will see that the slot covers are meshed, allowing hot air to go out through them. This is a really nice touch. As mentioned before the power supply goes on the bottom part of the case. Speaking of the bottom part, you can add a 120 mm fan there (see Figure 11). In Figure 12 you can also see the rear 140 mm fan.
Figure 12: Rear 140 mm fan and expansion slots.
In Figure 13 you have a close-up on the top 230 mm fan. If you like, you can remove this fan and install two regular 120 mm fans or a water-cooler radiator based on two or three 120 mm fans. As mentioned, you can also install a second power supply if you remove this fan, but you will still have space available to install a 120 mm fan on the top panel.
Figure 13: Closer look of the 230 mm top fan.
[nextpage title=”The Disk Drive Bays”]
As mentioned this case has six external 5.25” bays and five internal 3.5” bays, with a big 230 mm fan between the front panel and the internal 3.5” bays, see Figure 14. This case comes with one 5.25”-to-3.5” adapter, so if you don’t have a floppy disk drive you can have up to six hard disk drives.
All bays use a screwless mechanism for installing devices. The mechanism used on the 5.25” bays can be seen in Figure 14. Each hard disk drive bay is actually a small drawer, which includes a screwless installation mechanism with a shock absorber to prevent the noise produced by the spinning of the hard disk drives motors to propagate to the chassis.
Figure 15: Hard disk drive bays and front 230 mm fan.
Figure 16: Drawer for installing hard disk drives.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
HAF 932 case main specs include:
- Application: Extended ATX and smaller form factors derived from this one.
- Material: Zinc-coated steel (SECC).
- Power supply required: Doesn’t come with the product.
- Available colors: black.
- Side panel: Meshed with a small transparent window.
- Dimensions: 21.5” x 9” x 22.7” (54.6 cm x 22.9 cm x 57.7 cm) (H x W x D).
- Net Weight: 29.1 lbs (13.2 Kg)
- Gross Weight: 34 lbs (15.4 Kg)
- Bays: Six external 5.25” bays (with one 5.25”-to-3.5” adapter) and five internal 3.5” bays.
- Expansion slots: Seven.
- Fans: One 230 mm fan on the top, one 230 mm fan on the front (which glows red when it is turned on), one 230 mm fan on the left panel (all rotating at 700 rpm) and one 140 mm fan (rotating at 1,200 rpm) on the rear panel. No speed control for any of the fans. Space for a 120 mm fan on the bottom, four 120 mm fans on the left panel (if 230 mm fan is removed) and two 120 mm fans on the top (if 230 mm fan is removed).
- More Information: https://www.coolermaster-usa.com
- Average price in the US*: USD 160.00.
* Researched at NewEgg.com on the day we published this review.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
Cooler Master HAF 932 is a full tower case targeted to high-end gamers that want a good quality case full of features but don’t want to pay for an aluminum product. Here is a summary of what we found about this case.
Strong Points
- Great quality and impeccable paint job.
- Excellent price for a high-end full-tower case, providing a nice cost/benefit ratio.
- Use of three big 230 mm fans (with 190 mm blades, though) and one 140 mm rear fan should provide enough air flow even the most high-end system keeping noise level at a minimum.
- Great connectivity: eSATA, FireWire and four USB ports.
- Set of wheels allowing you to move your PC around.
- Meshed slot covers.
Weak Points
- No speed control for the fans.
- USB and FireWire ports are too close to each other and you may have trouble installing two or more USB devices and one FireWire cable at the same time.
- Hole for filling water cooling systems has no practical use, as it is too small and you need to open the water tank lid first, which is impossible to be done through such small hole.
- Could have dust filters.
- Doesn’t come with the necessary adapter to connect pin 14 (green wire) from the two power supplies, which allows them to be turned on at the same time when you press the case power button.
In summary, this is a terrific case for users that want a high-end gaming case but don’t want to give an arm to buy a very high-end all-aluminum model.
Leave a Reply