Cooler Master HAF Stacker Review 5

Cooler Master HAF Stacker Review

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Value & Conclusion

  • The Cooler Master HAF Stacker sells for 160 US dollars excluding taxes. European readers will see a price tag of around 160 euros including taxes.
  • Modular case approach makes for great flexibility
  • Great construction quality
  • Excellent liquid-cooling possibilities
  • Loads of space for large components
  • Can hold up to twelve 3.5" drives
  • Two dedicated locations for 2.5" hard drives
  • Tool-less 3.5" hard-drive installation
  • Tool-less ODD installation
  • Top chassis may be used for HDDs, a second system, or water-cooling components
  • Smaller chassis can easily hold a fully size ATX PSU and potent graphics card
  • You may stack as many units as you dare on top of each other
  • Nice-looking window
  • No I/O for the smaller case out of the box (optional accessory)
  • As such, no way to turn on a secondary system without shorting the pins to do so.
  • Just two fans included (1x 120, 1x 92 mm)
  • Only taking the smaller chassis along for the ride means that the other has no top cover
  • Space behind the motherboard tray a bit tight
  • Big, very big
  • The small chassis only fits low-profile CPU coolers
  • No PSU split cable to power both systems with one PSU at the same time.
The Cooler Master HAF Stacker is by no means reinventing the wheel as other case brands have been offering enclosures with the ability to hold two separate systems. But Cooler Master has managed to refine the concept behind doing so well by taking it from being a niche product and making it something with mainstream appeal. The fact that you are able to easily detach the two compartments to rearrange things within the case add to their refinement. Yet Cooler Master was not as thorough as I would like as there is no possibility to turn the second system inside the smaller chassis on without going out and buying an accessory, for example. The entire chassis, top and bottom, also only ships with two basic fans. In a perfect world, the larger chassis should have shipped with two more cooling units in the front. Next, the smaller unit in the set should have been a fully configured 915R since Cooler Master refers to it as such in their specifications table. Those last two points keep this case from moving past our Recommended award. That said, look past those points and the HAF Stacker is actually a very good chassis as it sports loads of room for parts, very good cable-management possibilities, easy and tool-less installation methods, and the flexibility to install big components and an elaborate liquid-cooling setup. Cooler Master even managed to ensure that the smaller chassis can not only be used for a secondary system, but as a storage compartment for hard drives or you water-cooling gear.
Overall, it, even though the HAF Stacker manages to catch the attention of a much larger audience than any other chassis of this type, does still remain a bit of a novelty to have. It might have been best to offer the larger chassis in a fully functional configuration on its own for around 129 US dollar to then sell the 915 units separately instead of forcing users to buy the HAF Stacker as it is right now - as its current configuration limits its potential user base.
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Oct 4th, 2024 08:20 EDT change timezone

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