The most hardcore gamers use multiple graphics cards in CrossFire and SLI configurations. And yet, slinging dual-slot cards together eats up a lot of expansion space. We compare five eight-slot cases with room for complex graphics configurations.
When a motherboard manufacturer makes what we consider to be a bad decision, it's usually a matter of practicality. The most notorious of these is a x16 slot in at the bottom of a board, encouraging you to drop in a graphics card that hangs over the edge. Trying to build a system with four double-slot cards within the ATX form factor even necessitates you use that potentially problematic bottom slot (never mind the thermal issues you're bound to have with card coolers shoved so close to each other).
Better card cooling comes from placing double-slot graphics cards three spaces apart, maintaining an empty slot between the fans. Again, we're struck by the limitations of ATX as the empty slot between each double-slot card again forces you to put the third card in a three-way setup in the seventh slot position. Yet again, motherboards that use this spacing are rare.
Those are the acceptable technical reasons for a x16 slot at the bottom of your motherboard. However, we suspect that engineering convenience is the real reason we usually find x16-lane slots at the bottom of ATX boards. More space between the graphics slot and the motherboard’s top edge allows memory to be positioned lower, easing potential circuit routing issues. More space between the CPU socket and graphics card slot facilitates larger heatinks on platforms that still require a northbridge. More space between the graphics card and memory latches even allows memory to be replaced more easily with the graphics card installed.
While those might not sound like good enough reasons to inconvenience a builder by putting the last graphics slot at the very bottom of a board, the prevalence of such designs compelled a number of case manufacturers to respond with a variety of solutions that offer eight slots of upgrade space, rather than the standard seven.

A few vendors carry several enclosures with eight or more slots. However, time constraints forced us to limit today's round-up to one submission per manufacturer. One company decided not to participate at all because its only recent eight-slot model is in a far lower budget class, though we’re sure a few readers would have been happy to save some money with that firm’s product.
Here’s a short list of statistics for the five models we received:
| Cooler Master HAF X | In Win Dragon Rider | Rosewill Blackhawk | SilverStone Raven RV03 | Thermaltake Chaser MK-I | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | |||||
| Height | 23.6" | 21.5" | 21.4" | 20.8" | 22.4" |
| Width | 9.8" | 9.4" | 8.6" | 9.7" | 9.4"**** |
| Depth | 22.1" | 22.8" | 20.8" | 22.8" | 23.3" |
| Space Above Motherboard | 2.3" | 1.8" | 0.2" | 0.5" | 1.7" |
| Card Length | 13.3" | 13.8" | 12.0"** | 13.6" | 13.2" |
| Weight | 31.5 pounds | 26.8 pounds | 21.0 pounds | 28.0 pounds | 20.0 pounds |
| Cooling | |||||
| Front Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 230 mm (140, 120 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 2 x 120 mm (None) | 2 x 180 mm*** (None) | 1 x 200 mm (2 x 120 mm) |
| Rear Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | None (1 x 120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) |
| Top Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 200 mm (2 x 200 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (2 x 120/140 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 200 mm (2 x 200/140/120 mm) |
| Side Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 200 mm (None) | 1 x 220 mm (6 x 120 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm) | None (1 x 120 mm) | 1 x 200 mm (None) |
| Drive Bays | |||||
| 5.25" External | Six (Two-filled) | Five | Four | Seven | Four |
| 3.5" External | 2 x HDD Dock | 1 x Adapter | 1 x Adapter | None | 1 x Adapter |
| 3.5" Internal | Five | Six | Six | 4 x Dedicated 6 x Adapter | Six |
| 2.5" Internal | Three* | One | Six* | One | Six* |
| Card Slots | Nine | Eight | Eight | Eight | Eight |
| Price | $181 | $137 | $100 | $140 | $160 |
| *shared on 3.5" tray **Add 4.5" with drive cage removed ***On Base ****Excludes Headphone Clip | |||||
Anyone who wants to see photographs of key design and connectivity features should have a look at In Pictures: Five Eight-Slot Cases For CrossFire And SLI.
- Why Do Eight-Slot Cases Exist?
- Building With The Cooler Master HAF X
- Building With The In Win Dragon Rider
- Building With The Rosewill Blackhawk
- Building With The SilverStone Raven RV03
- Building With The Thermaltake Chaser MK-I
- Test System Configuration
- Benchmark Results: Heat And Noise
- Accoustic Efficiency Wins?
Just because a case performs well with a single graphics card doesn't mean it performs well in SLI or CrossFire. I know this from experience.
Just because a case performs well with a single graphics card doesn't mean it performs well in SLI or CrossFire. I know this from experience.
This article misses the whole point! your could have used a mini-ITX board/case for all that matters.
Please do yourself a favor and revisit this article with 3/4 graphic cards this time!
I've got a HAF-X with 2x RadeonHD 6990 cards in CrossFire... and can confirm that you missed seeing all the flaws because you didn't review it properly.
1. The bracket doesn't cover the 6990s - it physically cannot be made to fit.
2. The fan sitting behind the graphics cards also does not fit with 6990s - they take up more room than the cards allow. Even if they did fit, it would never work with 4 graphics cards (if you were going that way) - it's only designed for 3!
3. My HAF-X case didn't come with the USB3 header cable. When I contacted CoolerMaster about this and asked them to send me one, they basically said "Yeah we announced we would send them out to people who missed out, but we only meant it if you're in the USA and you're not so..."
Further, the case cannot handle the heat. The top fan of the HAF-X above the CPU actually warped out of shape and started making a huge noise - the blades started hitting the metal insides of the case. I had to move the fan to the opposite side of the frame - hanging from the metal roof, instead of sitting on top of it.
And the alignment of the PCI slots is off. I originally intended to go 4-way SLI with my HAF-X (before going down the CrossFire path), and realised it would not be possible (using my Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD9 at least). The top two PCI slot ports on the case do not match up with the top two slots on my motherboard! The third & forth case slot would be for graphics card 1, 5 & 6 would be for card 2, 7 & 8 would be for graphics card 3... but if I wanted a forth card, there is only one slot left!
Now, CoolerMaster did cut a hole internally so you could plug a card that overhangs unto the missing 10th slot... but one problem - since there is actually no 10th slot where the heck would all the hot-air go? Yep - straight back into the card. You would be mad to try it on air - otherwise the card would get GPU death.
Needless to say, deeply deeply disappointed with the HAF-X due to wanting a 4-card setup, which the case clearly isn't designed for. Your article missed every one of these flaws!
Testing of multiple graphics cards mean more heat and a possibly a larger PSU. I read this thinking I would see answers to the following three questions. Do any of these cases struggle with the added heat from multiple graphics cards? Do any of these cases have an issue supporting larger PSU's? How is the acoustic efficiency when more heat has to be dissipated(do they get louder)?
Boltronics, on a side note, those are the kinds of almost-invisible "defects" I'd expect from a Coolermaster case.
Particularly given that fans can be replaced, or mounted on silicon nails to quiet them, the Rosewill looks great for the price.
If my goal was only 3xSLI, the HAF-X would probably be fine. Probably I would then be able to use the additional fan that is supposed to sit behind the graphics cards, so there wouldn't be so much heat in the case and the top fan may not have warped too... but as it is my poor overclocked 6990s are running constantly at around 100 degrees on each GPU - even after stripping out all the HDDs and unnecessary mounting brackets (booting off a small external USB key) and doing everything else possible to cool it down (albeit only using air).
I love the way the HAF-X (like the HAF-932 which I use for an older machine) is on wheels and has the PSU extension cable, and I do currently work my rig to the max with BitCoin mining 24x7, but given the price of the case and the constant let-downs with various compatibility issues (this despite it being one of the biggest cases you can buy), I wouldn't recommend CoolerMaster cases again for serious gaming systems based on my experience.
Then Why didn't you use it in your SBMs as a replacement to the Lian Li case. I, for one, prefer functionality over form and also, none of these cases can be described as ugly.
And let me join xdunpealx and Rylan in thier opinion as, these 8-slot cases were designed for SLI and Xfire so, not reviewing them under these conditions is cancelling the review's main purpose.
Also, USB 3.0 front panel internal connectors is not a deal breaker compared to case temperatures, acoustics, and value, right?
"Getting a little more slack on our power cable did require the removal of the face panel."
You can remove the twist tie that holds down the cable by removing the left side panel, then put your hand into the PSU area and remove it.
"The RV03 has no gripping holes for removing bay covers, causing most users to remove the face panel instead."
You can remove the bay covers by taking off the left side panel, then pushing in the plastic tabs by the flip-up latches.
Please fix the above so that people don't think SilverStone doesn't know how to make cases simple to assemble.
The only way I know of to remove the face panels from inside is to reach through the drive bays, but you'd better have really small hands. And the only way I know of to remove the first one from the outside is by inserting a thin blade between the face panel and bay cover, but you'd better be careful if you don't want to scratch up the face panel.
Once you get the first one out, the rest are easy.
I will stick to my HAF-X in my configuration...