Cooler Master Stacker 830 Chassis Review
What's in the BoxInside the package with the Cooler Master Stacker 830 you get the following items:
Features of the Cooler Master Stacker 830The Stacker 830 is constructed out of aluminum and measures in at a large 9.84" W x 21.10" H x 25.11" D. I think the stacker is the best looking case on the current market with the brushed natural aluminum and black mesh. Those looking for a more sinister chassis can get it in all black too. Both case colors have blue LEDs inside that make the mesh glow well in a dark room.
On the front of the Stacker 830 you get four USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire port as well as front panel audio for headphones and mic. The power and reset switches are also on the front cover. A door on the front of the case hides the external drives and has its own mesh panel.
Under the front cover the drive bay covers are also the same black mesh to allow for great ventilation. All components and parts of the Stacker 830 are absolutely top notch. The door can even be changed to allow for right or left side opening. In all you get nine external 5.25" drive bays. To convert the 5.25" bays to the 3.5" size for hard drives and floppy drives requires the use of what Cooler Master calls a 4-in-3 device module.
The 4-in-3 device module is basically a 3.5" drive cage that houses your hard drives and floppy drive in a cage. You can place the included 4-in-3 device in any of the available 5.25" drive bays. Cooler Master lives up to its name with the Stacker 830. You can fit a total of nine 120mm fans inside the chassis. You can get three in the front inside drive bays, one in the top, one in the rear and four on the side in a special and removable fan bracket. The chassis can house seven expansion slots and a BTX conversion kit is available as well. The top fan limits the chassis to using only standard size ATX PSUs. If you are running a high wattage power supply like the PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 1KW you wont be fitting it inside the Stacker 830 thanks to the aluminum fan on the top of the chassis.
Cooler Master Stacker 830 in Use The Stacker 830 is hands down the best case I have used to date. It has everything that I can think of wanting in a chassis. The removable mainboard tray makes installation a breeze and the entire chassis is tool free. The drive rails were the sole source of dislike for me on the entire chassis. When you install optical drives into the 5.25" bays, the drive rails don't hold them tight enough for my liking. If I pressed the front of the DVD drive on my computer hard at all it would slide back into the chassis because the drive rails didn't hold securely enough. Easy enough to fix with a few screws to hold the drives, but on a tool less chassis it was a source of irritation to not be able to use the drive rails. I was also disappointed to see that I couldn't fit a larger PSU into the chassis. With the new NVIDIA G80 on the horizon, larger power supplies will soon be the norm. This chassis is so cool that NVIDIA uses it for some of their show rigs at places like QuakeCon. Verdict If you are after a chassis for your new computer with tons of room, superb quality and fantastic looks Cooler Master has the trifecta and it is called the Stacker 830. This case is just fantastic and worth every penny of the cash they ask for. Just be sure you have the room for the beast, it is one of the largest chassis' around. Overall fit and finish is superb and any gamer or PC user looking for the best quality will be happy with the Cooler Master Stacker 830.
Test System Specifications:
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