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CM HAF X Hotswap to 5.25" Bay

Tags:
  • HAF X
  • Cooler Master
  • Water Cooling
  • Components
  • Modding
Last response: in Components
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July 7, 2014 10:46:40 AM

I intend on building a computer in the near future. The Case I'm leaning most towards right now is the HAF X. It is a beast. I notice, however that it has two hotswap docks on the front which appear to be converted from 5.25" drive bays. They don't have the tool-less buttons on the side like the 4 normal 5.25" bays do. But, I will need five 5.25" bays, not four, and one hotswap dock, not two. I want to convert a hotswap dock back to a 5.25" bay.

Two bays will be for my dual-bay reservoir, and another two bays will be for my ROG Front Base, and the fifth bay will be for a DVD or Blu-Ray drive. On the other hand, I don't think I'll ever use one hotswap bay, let alone two. In an ideal configuration, I'd place the optical drive in the top bay, the ROG Front Base in the two bays beneath the optical drive, and the reservoir taking up the last two bays above the hotswap dock.

The reservoir is very similar, if not identical, to the reservoir which is installed in this HAF X's front bays:

So, has anyone modified a hotswap dock back into a 5.25" drive bay? Or thinks they know how to do it?

*Post-Answer Update* Yes; according to a HAF X owner, the SATA dock can be unscrewed from the Hotswap bay and anything in the converted bay can be simply screwed in.

More about : haf hotswap bay

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July 8, 2014 1:49:32 AM

Yup, the hot-swap bays are just converted 5.25" bays. You can unscrew the SATA connections and use it as a normal 5.25" bay if you want. Theres no tool-less mechanism but the appropriate screw holes are there.

Also be aware that if you have a thick radiator (or push/pull on a slim one) it will block the top 5.25" bay. You will want to put something slim up there like a fan controller or your ROG panel, as a full-length optical drive wont fit.

This is my rig, check it out in my sig if you want to see how I have done water-cooling in a HAF-X.
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July 8, 2014 10:16:38 AM

Thanks. I was thinking of just putting a fan in the forward-most top mount point and just a 200mm radiator on the back mount in a closed loop for my ROG Poseidon probably with a pull config. But I might follow your suggestion and do what you did - it appears you've got a 360mm radiator on top there. ROG Front Base, then the BD-ROM, then the reservoir, leaving the bottom hotswap bay live in case I actually do ever want to use it. I won't be watercooling from the start, but it's a very likely option further down the road.
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