My Coolermaster Stacker 830

Dashik

Dashik

Dashik

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Ok I decided to treat myself and I have now got this case. It arrived yesterday from somewhere else Via Citylink at 9:30 am :D

My first impressions were God the box is big! Its very well packaged.

It comes with a proper manual!

I also got a spare 4 in 3 drive cage but I don't think I need it really but I suppose its handy to have. Note the drive cage in the case comes with a clear 120mm fan with blue LED's. The fan in the additional cage is just the usual black 120mm one.

The rear fan is also black.

The case has the removable motherboard tray and the main door at the front can open either way.

The side panels are a little fiddly to refit but thats only an issue if you cant stay out of the case.

The 2 120mm fans are barely audible. The Koolance makes more noise and thats fairly quiet anyway!!

No Taking the 'P' for the mess in the case.

The reason I bought this is for the space inside which the pictures dont really do justice too. I am going for an ATI crossfire setup and internal watercooling along with 2 x Raptor 150 (1 already inside) and 2 x 500Gb drives.

So basically everything is coming out and getting replaced anyway over the next few months as funds allow.

Any way enough waffle heres the pics.


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I also replaced the Nortbridge heatsink on the Asrock board with the Zalman one. I chucked the ramsinks on just for the hell of it as they come with the ram plates anyway. The graphics card is a Sapphire X800 GTO2 softmodded to the X850XTPE spec and is overclocked to the same speeds and averages 62c when playing games etc.
 










I swapped the Athlon mounting bracket for the P4 one as it give a better mount for the Koolance block. Also I can remove the block without having to take the board out which you do if you use the Koolance AMD mount.
 




Overall I'd give it 9.9 out of 10. The side panels are a bit fiddly as I said otherwise I just love it. Its not cheap but well worth the money and should last me a good few years.
 
Looking good, although the 4 fans mounts on the side panel always makes me think, why?

Good case internally, not my cup of tea on the outside but certainly a good case, glad your happy with it as thats what matters :)

Oh and I need a ecuse to mention the Zalman northbridge cooler, if you fill the stacker up with fans to the brim, bit excessive using a aftermarket northbridge cooler :D

Here is a good question, with the stacker full with fans, + 2 on PSU + 2 on SLI + 1 on cpu + northbridge how much noise could it make. :D
 
Yeah, Cant see me using the side fans. Might when I get the ATI cards but even then it'll probably just be 1 fan.

I bet its Loud!!!
 
Did I not say it was a rush job transferring it from the old case ;) But your right it probably would'nt hurt but I'm hopeing to upgrade it all sooner rather than later!
 
Have you used the top USB ports yet?

When I used the case I found they were not properly earthed to the case and it sparked at me, bar the looks only bad thing I had to say about it, guessing it was a fault on that particular case though.

You could do with making a 4 pilar system to hold the koolance to the top of the case, would be very easy to do.
 
If I was going to keep the Koolance then yes but I fancy some Danger Den kit :D

The USB ports have been fine so far......
 
I think thats a really great case, if you watch the video review on it there are some very handy tips and it really is a well thought out case.

Cant understand why it is not popular! It looks okish to be honest, it grows on me!
 
Yes the only steel bit is the 4 in 3 HDD cage. And that kind of makes sense anyway. Oh and I think the black mesh is steel as well. Probably for strenght in both cases.
 
You chaps may be interested in this thread.

I have a Stacker 830 which I find less than perfect. Anyone considering spending this much on a case might like to browse this thread on the Coolermaster forums. The "reviews" on this case are almost entirely uncritical, in fact they represent little more than sales brochures. 100 per cent Speak Ass Reviews.

Here's a link http://www.coolermaster.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=54689#54689
 
I forgot to mention....

People considering this case may also wish to know that the 830 will not accept some of the higher end PSUs which are a couple of inches or so longer than older models. The 830 has a bracket for a top mounted fan which comprises a bent down tab fixing. This obstructs the PSU.

If you read my comments on the Coolermaster forum you'll see that I'm not a hostile critic of Coolermaster chassis. I've owned three including the 830. I may buy again from this company in the future. There are some things I very much like about my Stacker. Under my desk it looks quite well but it's an ugly monster for a desktop.

I shan't be dumping my Stacker in the short term. I can afford to pay the price for this over priced and over hyped chassis. I chose the Stacker from three high priced alternatives. It was the least expensive of my options and what finally decided it for me was the top mounted power and reset and USB ports. These all work fine, but on mature consideration I don't think I chose the best of the alternatives.
 
Dashik said:
Yeah, Cant see me using the side fans. Might when I get the ATI cards but even then it'll probably just be 1 fan.

I bet its Loud!!!
Click to expand...

I've got an 830, with all four side fans populated, and a Vantec controller, and nope it's not noisy at all.

As for being ugly, that's a matter of perspective - however I've got a 15 degree temp margin over the previous Lian-Li case I was using, so asthetics don't really concern me when a cool running case does.
 
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