BumbleBee's Cooler Master HAF 932 Cooling Guide
Specifications
Type: Full Tower
Color: Black
Material: 1.0mm SECC (steel electrogalvanized cold-rolled coil), ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
Dimensions: Width 9", Height 21.5", Length 22.7"
Weight: 29.1lbs
5.25" Bays: 6x
3.25" Bays: 1x Adapter for 5.25" Bay
Front Panel: 2x USB 2.0, IEEE1394a (firewire), 2x USB 2.0, eSATA, Microphone, Headphone, Power LED, Hard Drive Activity LED
Expansion Slots: 7x
Motherboard Support: Micro ATX, ATX, Extended ATX
Power Supply Support: ATX, EPS (entry-level power supply)
Hard Drives: 5x
Stock Cooling: Front 230mm x 30mm Red Led (700 RPM 19 dBa 75 CFM) Intake, Side 230mm x 30mm (700 RPM 19 dBA 75 CFM) Intake, Top 230mm x 30mm (700 RPM 19 dBA 75 CFM) Exhaust, Rear 140mm x 25mm (1200 RPM 17 dBa 57 CFM) Exhaust
Fan Mounts: 1x Front 120mm x 25mm, 4x Side 120mm x 25mm, 2x Bottom 120mm x 25mm, 1x Rear 140mm x 25mm or 120mm x 25mm, 3x Top 120mm x 25mm
Radiator Mounts: Bottom, Side, Rear, Top
Bundle: 20x Motherboard Standoffs, 40x 6-32 Screws, 30x M3 Screws, 16x M47 Screws, 12x Cable Ties, 4x Casters, Motherboard Speaker, 8-Pin CPU Power Adapter, 3.5" Drive Bay Cover, Manual, Motherboard Form Factor Guide
Misc: Power Button, Reset Button, Fillport Hole, Motherboard Access Hole, 2x Liquid Cooling Tube Grommets
Warning: some people have reported the HAF 932 did not ship with the side 230mm x 30mm Intake fan mounted if this is the case make sure you have a
allen key or hex head screwdriver to mount because the fan uses hex screws.
for a video review of the Cooler Master HAF 932 see
here.
Introduction
I think the
Cooler Master HAF 932 (High Air Flow) is one of the best cases ever created with it's bold styling, features, cooling and price point. it has so many cooling options enough to fit everybody's needs, one thing nobody can argue is it has dethroned the
Antec Gaming Series cases as "Air Flow Kings". the only feature missing in this case is a removable motherboard tray but if your like me and have been around for a long time it shouldn't bother you besides they are not as useful if you are setting up a liquid cooling system and Cooler Master did include a motherboard access hole. some people might have wished this case was aluminum like it's brother the
Cooler Master ATCS 840 I should point out the disadvantages to a aluminum chassis and that is acoustics and durability, a aluminum chassis does not cool the hardware more efficiently than a steel chassis we are talking about a case not a heatsink.
Power Supply Mounts
The HAF 932 comes with two options to mount your power supply, the bottom mount and the top mount most people will elect the option to mount their power supply on the new standard bottom mount however is mounting the power supply up
top better? lets analyze by mounting the power supply up top the power supply fan will intake cool air from outside through the top perforated vent and across the power supply heatsink then exhaust out the rear of the case the advantages to this is any hot air molecules that radiate up from the power supply housing will go up through the perforated vent and outside of the case and you will be, utilize the two bottom intake fans and having more space for dual slot video card or video cards. by mounting the power supply on the
bottom the power supply fan will intake cool air from the expansion slots, perforated pci and side intake and across the power supply heatsink then exhaust out the rear or you can flip the power supply upside down and intake cool air from the bottom of the case where air is the coolest the problem is the hot air molecules that radiate up from the power supply housing will bind with the video card or video cards or even possibly sucked back into the power supply fan before they are exhausted and you will lose the advantage to mount the two bottom intake fans which are the most important. I recommend mounting the power supply up top.
(pictures courtesy of HardwareCanucks modified by BumbleBee)
Hard Drive Rack
Hard Drive cooling is very overlooked a standard hard drive has a maximum thermal operating temperature of 50'c-60'c before probability of failure and as you can see hard drives can get
hot this is a thermal image of a Seagate hard drive in a
Cooler Master 690 Hard Drive Rack which is very similar to the
HAF 932 Hard Drive Rack. if you look at the rack you will notice several sets of rectangular holes on the front and back for ventilation between each rectangular hole is where a hard drive bracket gets mounted so no real air from the front fan really makes any contact with the hard drive it rather blows the radiated heat away and if you put your hand on the back of the hard drive rack you will not feel any air this is because the front fan has to pass through a sheet of metal, a piece of plastic, a hard drive, another piece of plastic and another sheet of metal this is not only restricting air flow but could also create the possibility of a hot pocket of air forming this is why it is a cause for concern (see Modifications section) there are 2 reasons why some case manufactures are mounting the hard drive racks 90' or on the side 1) no clearance issues and 2) a hard drive is hotter on it's sides than the top or bottom.
Positive vs. Negative Air Pressure
The HAF 932 offers you the option to setup positive or negative air pressure. for more information see
here. in a nutshell negative air pressure is having more air exhausted from the case by a vacuum the advantage is not having hot pockets of air the disadvantage is the accumulation of dust. positive air pressure is having more air intake into the case the advantage is direct cooling and the disadvantage is having hot pockets of air. which is better? I recommend positive air pressure because with negative air pressure to combat the accumulation of dust you will need filters and filters impede air flow (see Fan Filters section) positive air pressure will accumulate less dust and offers better cooling because nothing can compare to four side fans directly cooling onto the motherboard.
(pictures courtesy of HardwareCanucks)
230mm Fans
The HAF 932 comes with 3x Cooler Master 230mm fans their specs are 700 RPM (revolutions per minute) 75 CFM (cubic feet per meter) 19 dBA (decibels) i'm not sure if these specs are true because a lot of companies for example Thermaltake like to exaggerate so lets assume for a moment they are true the first thing I would like to point out is these 230mm fans have low static pressure which means they cannot maintain their 75 CFM at higher resistances normally this isn't a concern for case fans but because of the size and cooling options of the HAF 932 this cannot be ignored these fans just cannot outperform a 120mm at this time because of cost and production, companies like
Delta and
Sanyo Denki make 120mm models that can outperform them but at the cost of noise this means any three quality 120mm fans can exhaust more air collectively than the single 230mm fan in the top the only benefit the 230mm fan has is silence and I would say aerial coverage because of the diameter of the fan but with the low static pressure it doesn't even have that lets take a look at the side panel in this
picture you can see that Cooler Master chose to put the 230mm fan mount in the middle of the four 120mm fan mounts so by mounting four 120mm fans it will not only push more air collectively but offer even more aerial coverage however this comes at the cost of noise I highly recommend removing all three 230mm fans for replacements if you have a big budget I recommend six or more
Scythe S-Flex G and undervolting them with a fan controller (see Fan Controllers section), for a low budget I recommend six or more
Yate Loon High Speed and undervolting them.
Tip: head over to
Jab-Tech you can purchase ten Yate Loon D12SH-12 High Speed for $39.26 USD including shipping. Yate Loons are excellent case fans and great radiator fans they perform on par with the Scythe S-Flex Series for a fraction of the cost.
(pictures courtesy of HardwareCanucks modified by BumbleBee)
Fan Filters
dust is an insulator it can even cause shorts. fan filters are becoming more and more popular these days the HAF 932 doesn't come with any however for the last 20 years PC experts have been using a can of compressed air on there monthly maintenance so make sure you purchase a can and be sure it's chemical free hold it a foot away from component on an angle and use short bursts. I don't recommend a house hold vacuum cleaner as it is unsafe compared to a electronic vacuum cleaner. Vapor at XtremeSystems did a
analysis on the effects of air flow using fan filters and his findings were some filters can be as restrictive as radiators and you will never be 100% dust free with filters the only way that is going to happen is if your computer is in a
cleanroom.
Fan Controllers
The HAF 932 has 11 fan mounts. if your going to be using a lot of the fan mounts I recommend a fan controller with high wattage like the
Sunbeam Rheobus Extreme or
Lamptron FC-2 if your not using a lot of them or you are setting up a liquid cooling system I recommend a
Sunbeam Rheobus or
Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus. all four of these fan controllers have excellent build quality.
Warning: the
NZXT Sentry LX fan controller has only 4 watts per channel and cannot control the stock 230mm fans.
High Air Flow Examples
setup #1 power supply top mount no liquid cooling
* 1x Front Intake 120mm x 25mm at 7v
* 2x Bottom Intake 120mm x 25mm at 7v
* 4x Side Intake 120mm x 25mm at 5v
* 1x Rear Exhaust 120mm x 25mm at 12v
* 1x Top Intake 120mm x 25mm at 7v
setup #2 power supply bottom mount no liquid cooling
* 1x Front Intake 120mm x 25mm at 7v
* 1x Bottom Intake 120mm x 25mm at 7v (optional depending on power supply length)
* 4x Side Intake 120mm x 25mm at 5v
* 1x Rear Exhaust 120mm x 25mm at 12v
* 3x Top Intake 120mm x 25mm at 5v
Radiator Placement
The HAF 932 comes with multiple stock radiator mounts you can mount a 120mm x 240mm on the
bottom, two 120mm x 240mm on the
side, a 120mm x 120mm on the
rear and a 120mm x 360mm on the
top.
Warning: the Thermochill PA 120.3 and 120.2 radiators are incompatible with the bottom, side and top radiator mounts because Thermochill uses different fan spacing, you will need to drill new holes.
Tip: if you have a 120mm x 360mm mounted on the top I recommend removing the top power supply plate that holds the 2x liquid cooling tube grommets for extra ventilation regardless if your fans are in a push or pull configuration on the radiator.
(pictures courtesy of HardwareCanucks)
Modifications
- I recommend you remove the perforated mesh on the expansion slot covers these will restrict air flow and you may find yourself cleaning them one too many times this will shed a couple degrees off your video card and if you elected to mount your power supply on the new standard bottom exhaust the heat radiated up from the housing, if your unsatisfied with a gaping hole for a expansion slot you can always purchase a pack of Silverstone Aero Slots you get 4 nickel plated expansion slot covers in a pack and you can find them at several online computer retailers for $4-8 USD.
- for a beginner's guide to cable sleeving see here, for a advanced guide see here.
- to change the power and hard drive activity LED's on the front panel see here.
- removing the hard drive rack and turning it 90' to face the front of the case is becoming more and more popular this can be done by using a drill to pop several rivets out and to re-seat it use a rivet gun with 1/8" rivets, some people have even removed the hard drive rack all together for extra space and air flow and used a 5.25" to 3.25" hard drive adapter in the 5.25" Bay or Cooler Master 4:3 Module (used in the Cooler Master Centurion 590, Cooler Master Cosmos S and Cooler Master Stacker 83x) to mount their hard drive or hard drives in the 5.25" Bay you can also take the front filter off the Cooler Master 4:3 Module so you can keep the HAF 932 drive bay covers on.
I cannot wait to install everything.. Case is god damn HUGE 
A case just doesn't sound manly with no noise!
It's at like 44-52c idle and gets up to 60-70c..
