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This means that in order to clean the filter, you'll have to uninstall that fan every time. On a case this big and heavy, that's pretty much a necessity.Overall, I highly recommend this case to modders and computer enthusiasts. And if you are buying this case in the first place, you're probably going to be doing a lot of upgrading and tweaking. The back side panel is also removable allowing you to arrange your cables neatly and access the motherboard though a cutout. The ease of swapping out parts and the potential cooling this case provides makes the ATCS one of the best cases available anywhere.Free shipping from Amazon too, atm. The side facing 3.5 bays and sliding rail design means that installing a new hard drive is nearly plug n' play.I especially appreciate the ease with which you can install your motherboard. There is an optional exhaust fan that can be installed outside the case. There is no shortage of 5.25 and 3.5 bays.
The Cooler Master ATCS 840 is really a masterpiece in computer case engineering. Your fan is probably better off somewhere else, unless you can spare it.ConsThat all said there are some things about this case that you should consider, as well as things that could have been improved.-Side panels are thin. It covers the PCI slots. What is there is nice, but there should be more in places that you actually need them.-The intake filter for the psu is blocked if you install an intake fan next to it. This means you no longer need to remove your motherboard to install a third party cpu heatsink.There is tons of room for fans, and all the intake fans include filters. My room is quite dusty, and my previous cases would fill with dust after a few months. It is incredible spacious, allowing you to install any graphical cards with ease. Even after installing a 10 inch card, you'll have room to spare.
Measure it out and make sure you have room.-No handles. This isn't so bad, but came back from shipping with a dent in it. Although it seems like a good idea, it didn't really seem to make a difference. Turning it off yields slightly higher cooling performance.-There really don't seem to be enough motherboard tray cutouts. You just have to remember to clean the filters.
Really. Newegg was going to charge me $80 to ship to Hawaii. Huge design oversight if you ask me.-It's HUGE. 2 removable side panels ensure that there is no location in the case that can't be reached with ease. Not Cooler Master's fault I guess, but a stronger panel would have prevented it.-Upper right 230mm fan seems to exhaust air prematurely, before it can blow over any of your components.
Because the motherboard tray is so big, you have the option of sticking some fans on it directly, I used scotch double sided tape, if you want additional air to blow directly over your PCI cards. The removable tray allows you to easily swap it out. After a full month with this case, there is absolutely no dust at all inside.
It's light. I pretty much take the good points for granted. Makes one wonder why that forward top fan is even there.The motherboard tray hole for the 8-pin motherboard power connector is not in the proper position for every LGA1366 (Core I7) motherboard that I've ever seen.The blue power and hard drive LEDs are blindingly bright. THIS IS A GOOD CASE. They light up the whole room at night. Personally I've never found a perfect case. The blinking of the power LED can become very annoying when the system is in sleep mode at night if it's in your bedroom.The four front (top) USB ports are placed too close together to permit all four to actually be used at once in any likely real world situation that would cause you to want to use the front ports rather than the rear ports on your motherboard.Other thoughts:A somewhat amusing (to me) observation is that front 230mm intake fan seems to expend about as much energy cooling off the solid aluminum front face plate in front of it as it does cooling the 3.5 inch disk drives behind it.
It is even written in what appears to me to be passably literate English. Solution is to cover over the forward top fan grill. Solution is to not hook up the forward top fan.The two fans in the top of case "beat" against one another like the props in a propeller driven aircraft, causing excess noise that comes and goes in harsh low toned "waves." Solution is to not hook up the forward top fan.If you don't hook up the forward top fan, then the rear top fan just pulls cool air in from the forward top fan grill rather than exhausting hot air from inside the case. Be sure to pay attention to the pictures in the manual, especially the one showing how to properly remove the front bezel. That could be bad news for your power supply if you mount your power supply on the bottom, it has a bottom fan and you face it downwards.Placing a fan on the optional middle bottom air intake makes it impossible to remove the filter from the rear bottom air intake without first removing the optional middle air intake.The forward top fan steals cool air from inside the case and exhausts it prematurely before it has had a chance to cool anything inside the case.
I HAVE TWO OF THEM.The good:It's roomy. I'm good at finding faults though, so here goes in case any of these might bother you.The not so good:Both side panels are thin and lack mass so they end up vibrating like drum heads and amplifying otherwise small innocuous internal vibrations (such as from a typical graphics card fan) into big annoying loud noises.Any sort of dirt or even a minor scuff on the black brushed aluminum case finish shows up badly and can only be properly cleaned off (without making it look even worse) by using a lint free cloth and wiping with the grain.Both bottom air intakes are blocked when the case is placed on carpeting, but especially the middle bottom air intake (because its filter is on the outside bottom of the case and the case floor is inexplicably molded a little extra far downwards there as well). Very good.Please note that none of the not so good points below have made me seriously regret purchasing this case (I have purchased more than one BTW). The documentation is good. They clearly show the proper method and it's easy as can be.If you're a water cooling fan you can replace the two stock 230mm top fans with three 120mm fans and a 3x120mm radiator without having to modify the case in any way.
Allows for excellent cable routing also. Excellent case. Has tons of room to add water cooling and all of the biggest components you may have.
The only other brand with build quality to match this case would be Lian Li, and you should see what some of those cost. Just Google for "ATCS 840 review". The immense 230mm fans move a ton of air, but do it while spinning far more slowly than smaller fans have to. One last comment: if you're an adult who doesn't want a case that looks like it was designed to appeal to 14 year-olds, you will appreciate the clean elegant style of this case. Just one of the engineering details is nice, easily removable, easy to clean filters for each intake fan. I've built maybe eight or nine PCs over the years, and previously favored Addtronics full or server tower cases.
Every detail of the layout and construction of this case demonstrates superb engineering. All the sites catering to serious builders and overclockers have reviews of this case, simply because it's one of the best to come along in quite a while. I like lots of room in a case so it's easy to work in, there's room for anything I might ever want to add, and there's plenty of space for good air flow. I could go on and on, but you can find a number of extensive reviews with large numbers of closeup photos online. I can tell you that it looks even better in the flesh than it does in the photos. I thought those were excellent cases, but moving up to the ATCS 840 is like jumping from a 1939 pickup truck to a late model luxury SUV.
That means little noise, and what there is is much lower pitched and unobtrusive.
It has plenty of room for expansion later and the build quality is second to none. This case not only looks incredible, but also is perfect for building a top of the line PC.
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