A Closer Look - Inside

Accessing the interior takes no tools. Simply slide the top cover off before pulling each of the side panels off. The metal cover with two uniquely shaped air vents also has the same shaped magnetic mesh covers.


Upon first look, the internal layout of the Cooler Master HAF 700 is essentially exactly what we have seen inside the EVO. This is pretty traditional for a sandwich chassis that takes advantage of the sheer size of the enclosure. The motherboard is upright, with cooling on the bottom, front, top, and side of the chassis. On the opposite side are a lot of the elements we have seen in other cases with the same type of layout as there is a central mounting plate that hides the cables, for example. Once again, its all there, just bigger.


Cooler Master clearly spent some resources on exploring a few new details, including plastic locks that rotate 90° to keep case components securely in place. As we already hinted when first seeing these, odds are high these will make it into other case models from Cooler Master in future.


Just like the EVO, you will find that unique motherboard tray within the Cooler Master HAF 700, with HAF branding inside. You get rubber-grommet-equipped routing holes on all three sides of the motherboard, with those at the edge actually wrapping around the metal. This is also something we may see in smaller, more affordable enclosures in future, if there is still a shroud and bottom mounted PSU for example. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Cooler Master opted to keep that little metal bar on the bottom of the tray to guide cables up and away from any cooling you may install in the floor of the chassis.


Taking a peek at the front, you will notice a few elements missing when compared to the HAF 700 EVO. Cooler Master does not ship the classic HAF 700 with the front bracket for angled fan or AIO placement. Nor do you get the three multi-purpose mounting plates that were attached to this frame. In addition to this, there is also no mirror covering the side intake area. In general, none of these cuts to the case will be of any consequence to the vast majority of users. In fact, the lack of the front frame will improve overall air flow and as such probably provide better temperatures in our testing.


That said, Cooler Master still includes the frame on the floor of the HAF 700, which you may easily detach and place in the front of the case if you like. Present is also that one 120 mm SickleFlow fan. Having it is a nice touch, and while beneficial, one could do without it, too. With the side panel removed, you may also pull out the dust filter underneath the HAF 700 with relative ease.


In the rear, the bottom with its eight expansion slots gives you all the room you need for your motherboard, regardless of format. Thanks to the sheer size of the HAF 700, there is also room for bottom fans or radiator assemblies—these won't interfere with the board or any connectors. In the top are two more 120 mm SickleFlow exhaust fans. The vent next to these has no apparent function. Cooler Master could have incorporated an SSD, reservoir or pump mounting holes here instead, for even more build flexibility.


Looking at the ceiling of the HAF 700, there are numerous mounting locations for a wide variety of fans and radiator sizes. And just like other recently released Cooler Master cases, you may first take off that top panel to simplify attaching any components to it, also giving you better access into the case interior.


Turning our attention to the other side of the massive chassis, the central plate has mounting holes for two SSDs or two 3.5" hard drives, if you run out of room inside the HAF 700, which is unlikely. It is easily removable thanks to the gray plastic locking mechanism and reveals a central area all the cables run through in a finished build.


Towards the front of the case are three individual mounting plates for 2.5" or 3.5" drives. While the HAF 700 EVO comes with a total of six, it is really nothing that will be missed by most users considering the sheer amount of storage options that remains with the HAF 700.


The remaining storage potential includes a cage for four additional drives. This means you could stuff the HAF 700 with a maximum of nine drives of either size. The cage swings out to get to the trays, or could be taken out completely in the process. Underneath it is a single full-size ATX power supply bay with integrated foam padding as an anti-vibration measure. Cooler Master also added a cutout to make it easier to route cables to the bottom corner of the motherboard. While one could argue that a second PSU bay could have fit inside the case, those filling the HAF 700 to the brim will probably end up going with a single 1-2 KW power supply.


In the central area are two spacious plastic clips to hold wires in place. That is a nice touch, but the backside of the motherboard tray provides a large number of hooks for zip ties, so your cable routing should be just fine without these. There are two PCBs within the enclosure. The central one is for ARGB control via Cooler Master's own software while the other is for PWM fans, with their ARGB components unified into one output that is then routed to the dedicated ARGB controller PCB.


As the Cooler Master HAF 700 has four USB 3.0 Type A ports, you will find two of the uniquely colored leads, alongside a USB-C and the usual audio cable. On top of that, a plastic clip around the case connectors holds them together, so that you may plug them in all at once.


Both the PCBs are connected via USB, which Cooler Master combined into a single header, and a SATA connector provides power. The fan hub has its own dedicated SATA power connector and is meant to pass the PWM signal from your motherboard to any connected fans.