Cooler Master HAF X Case Review

Cooler Master is using a familiar push button drive mounting system to secure your 5.25" drives, simply push a button and the drive is quickly removed and installed.  On a side note it is good to finally see them reusing a past drive retention method.

The 3.5" drive slide rails are the same as found on other Cooler Master cases, and work great.  To install them simply bend the rails around your 3.5" drive and snap them into place.  The included 2.5" drive converter is not tool less but only requires a couple screws before securing to a 3.5" drive rail.

As an added bonus two of the 5.25" drive slots are made to accept either a 3.5" or 2.5" drives.  This allows modders the option to remove the bulky 3.5" drive cage at the bottom of the case for additional space. 

Not only does the HAF X allow for hard drives to be mounted in the 5.25" bay, but Cooler Master has included a 2 drive SATA hot swap controller and opens up a ton of additional options. For instance many people using a dual configuration of an SSD boot drive, and a Large 3.5" hard drive for storage is going to love this. Also if a person has a couple drives they change out on a regular basis will love being able to without having to open the case, or even having to buy extra mounting equipment.

Now on to my favorite part of any case the cable routing system. The HAF 932 opened up a whole new world to cable routing by allowing you to route them behind a motherboard and not needing a hydraulic clamp to close the back of the case.  HAF X builds on this by including bigger cable routing holes, rubber surrounds, and small loops around the back of the case to run zip ties through for better cable management.

More often than not to remove and replace a heatsink you will undoubtedly need access to the back of the motherboard.  This convenient cutout saves you the trouble of tearing down the entire system just to install an aftermarket cooler or waterblock.