Cerulean Cordillera

Posts Tagged ‘High Air Flow’

The current machine that I have at home is a system that I’ve built by myself. Back then, I wanted to build a computer that’s roughly around $600, and I wanted it to be a pretty good computer. This was my first dual core machine, and I bought the cheapest dual-core processor out there on the market: an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+. I combined it with a mid-tier graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS), fetched a random motherboard that worked with these boards, and recycled the rest from my old Gateway computer. Needless to say, I felt pretty accomplished once the computer was in working condition. However, I did make a few mistakes. The first was to not choose a better and more reliable motherboard. The motherboard I got has some issues with its USB interfaces such that I had to buy a separate USB controller card, and it has been very annoying having to go to the back of the computer to plug in any USB devices. The other mistake I made was recycling my old hard drives. They’re beginning to show their age. On my second fresh install of Windows on this machine, those hard drives kept on giving errors, and now some of them spin so loudly that the computer is literally a motor when I turn it on. Such loud noises is a sign that my computer has reached dangerous, critical territory, and really does need replacement before some major catastrophe happens.

Of course, I can always just replace the hard drive, however, I always had an obsession with optimizing my technology, and one thing that really bothers me is my technology not running as efficiently as it could be. That’s why despite the fact that I can still use Microsoft Word on this machine (hey, what machine couldn’t?), I am planning a $1500 budget for a new computer. Clearly, I can’t keep this trend going, as having to build a new computer every two years would be expensive and wasteful. Therefore, this new computer design must be extremely modifiable and last me for a very, very long time. I guess this means I’ll need:

• An extremely flexible computer case for any kind of future changes, including water cooling if I ever feel ambitious enough.
• A motherboard and graphics card combination that supports Crossfire or SLI interface.
• A motherboard that supports DDR3 RAM
• A new hard drive

The other features are all flexible, as they can be changed cheaply and without much trouble. Though, considering that crossfire/SLI means I’ll need to get the latest high-end graphics cards, it just doesn’t seem appropriate to still be stuck on a regular processor, so I can probably still go for a low to middle-end quad core if my budget works out.

But in any case, I want to show you guys the computer case that caught my eye for this new build. It fits my criteria perfectly:

The CoolerMaster HAF 932

From the outside, this thing looks like a humvee. It’s not the most graceful looking box out there, but I’m always for practicality over style anyway, so to me this thing is beautiful. “HAF” stands for “High Air Flow,” and you can clearly see why it’s called that. The case uses mesh instead of full metal for most of the surfaces, thus making it extremely open for air to get in and out of the case. On top of that, there’s a huge fan in front (on the bottom), to the side, and on top of the case, plus a small fan at the back of the case. When all of them are turning, this thing is going to move tons of air. Having so many fans also means the RPM per fan can be slower, thus the case itself should be pretty quiet. The case comes with wheels, meaning I can finally throw away the wheeler board I built for my computer towers. The case will be quite big, but that’s not an issue as long as I don’t carry it around.

The case’s sheer size means that if I ever want to expand to a different motherboard or add more components into it, there will still be plenty of room. This thing can handle up to an extended-ATX motherboard even though I’ve only planned an ATX one. Apparently it’s got holes and space behind the motherboard tray for cable management, which is good for me because my current build has horrible cable management, and it takes a lot of effort to say… even pulling out a hard drive. This thing is designed to be extremely moddable, with screw holes in place for any kind of case cooling system – it’s even got little round holes for running water tubes. Lots of room for future expansions – it means if I get this case, I pretty much won’t be needing another case ever again.

Online reviews for this case have been stunningly positive, with many people (having tried it out) claiming that this is the best case that ever came out on the market. There are some negatives though. Lots of holes for airflow also means the case will get dusty easily, but that’s not something that can’t be fixed by monthly de-dusting. Aside from that, there’s not much other complaints. Another feature that really caught my eye is that mechanisms are in place for installing any hardware inside without the use of screwdrivers. The case can be opened with thumb screws, drives are all mounted  with built-in sliders in its toolless drive bays. Probably the only place I’ll need to use a screwdriver is the one time installation of the motherboard and CPU heatsink and fan (since for motherboards it’s a standard and the CPU depends on the motherboard and not the case). It sounds like installing things in this case will be very fun and easy.

For now, I need to raise that budget first. Expect this project to be carried out sometimes in late June or early July. When it happens, I’ll keep all of you updated.