Tom's Hardware's AMA With Cooler Master, In Its Entirety

USB 3.0, The V8GTS, And Cooling Comparisons

Q. What does "HAF" stand for, exactly?

A. HAF = High Air Flow

Creative, right? :p

Q. There has been a recent trend towards developing mini ITX boards with full-fledged functionality. Do you have any new products coming out for the enthusiast lines that take advantage of this trend? Such as cases, power supplies, heat-pipe HSF units that don't block memory slots, etc. ?

A. Yessir, mini-ITX is getting a lot of attention from our team. I won't spoil anything, so when Jon gets to this thread he can provide more details.

Q. With almost everyone going into small form factor since it can do the same as large form factors. Is there a possibility, you guys going to make the Cosmos, HAF, and Storm series in MicroATX and even miniITX?  It would be awesome to see these cases coming in different sizes starting from full tower and all in the way down to miniITX.

A. Oh definitely, we are developing more in these areas.

Q.  Would you mind telling me which of your products would be best for a 4.5ghz 4770k overclock?

A. I'd recommend a CM V1000 80 plus gold power supply. You would have <1% voltage regulation, reliable output and extremely low ripple for better overclocks.

Q. Do you plan to add USB3 functionality to the HAF series cases?

A. Yes all future HAF Chassis will include at least one (usually two) Front USB connection.

Q. I saw your guys' V8 GTS at Computex and thought that it looked absolutely amazing, I also just recently saw that you have a new V4 GTS in your products. When are you going to actually release these two in the US and what prices are they going to be?

A. The V8GTS will be released stateside in a couple weeks. Price will be 89.99-99.99.  We don't currently plan on bringing the V4 to the US.

Q. Planning on opening a few retail shops?

A. Just a quick tease: You will see Cooler Master products in your North American Apple Stores by the end of this quarter.

Q. How does CM rate its fans? I remember AnandTech found that the Sickle Flow fans fell well short of their advertised numbers?

A. In the past there have been some misunderstandings regarding fans which we have addressed by changing the way we test our fans. All new fans are all tested in our windtunnel machines. For example we have multiple testings verifying our new product Jetflo 120 operates at 95CFM at a 2200 RPM. We also have sound chambers to test the DBA in this case it is 36. This fan also has a brand new POM bearing type and is one of the only LED high end fans.  For more information on this fan please see: the following URL: http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/cooling/case-fan/jetflo-120.html

Q. Is there any chance you'll post some cooling comparisons of your closed loop coolers (Seidon, Eisberg, etc series) against similar competitors on your website? If I were in the market for these, I would want to see how they compare with other vendors' offerings of similar specs (240mm radiator vs. 240mm radiator) as well as compared against common air cooling options that are available.

A. We are working on creating a comparison guide for all of our products for compatibility, but we can definitely look at expanding into the performance as well. It's hard though, because you will always have varying performance factors for each build and we don't want to be told that we're trying to skew the numbers. :)

  • johnvonmacz
    HAF XB 2!
    Reply
  • JJ1217
    Hyper 212X isn't released in America yet? Interesting, its released in australia:

    http://www.mwave.com.au/product/sku-ab48721-cooler_master_hyper_212x_cpu_cooler

    itss been up for quite awhile
    Reply
  • slicedtoad
    I've always considered CM somewhat subpar on the quality scale but I think I need to reassess. I actually have quite a few CM parts and while none of them are super high quality, thinking back to how much I paid, they had excellent value (price to performance/quality). I need to try one of their more premium parts sometime and see how well their value scales.
    Reply
  • JJ1217
    11103784 said:
    I've always considered CM somewhat subpar on the quality scale but I think I need to reassess. I actually have quite a few CM parts and while none of them are super high quality, thinking back to how much I paid, they had excellent value (price to performance/quality). I need to try one of their more premium parts sometime and see how well their value scales.

    Yeah, CM aren't the best in terms of cases tbh. My first item from them, a HAF X, had a side panel that wouldn't even fit back onto it.

    Reply
  • slicedtoad
    11103826 said:
    Yeah, CM aren't the best in terms of cases tbh. My first item from them, a HAF X, had a side panel that wouldn't even fit back onto it.
    I have an old 690 (original version) that I'm actually still using. I've modded the hell out of it but thinking back, I only paid ~$50 for it. The fact that it's supporting 2 watercooled gpus, a watercooled cpu and a triple rad is kind of amazing.
    I would never buy a budget case again (cause modding is a lot of work lol) but I think this case has done quite well. It's still fairly robust despite losing quite a lot of metal to a dremel.

    While you had problems with your haf X, a lot people have been very satisfied with it. I guess they sacrificed some QA for a cheaper price, lol.
    Reply
  • slicedtoad
    Wait, what?
    A. Just a quick tease: You will see Cooler Master products in your North American Apple Stores by the end of this quarter.
    I have no words. I can't think of any CM products that would fit in an apple store...
    Reply
  • KrazyKap
    love the HQ tour! :D
    Reply
  • manofchalk
    11103896 said:
    I have no words. I can't think of any CM products that would fit in an apple store...

    They have a few iPad stands and the like, can already get them on Newegg.
    Reply
  • slomo4sho
    A taller HAF XB to incorporate a 3rd 3.5" bay would be a welcome addition to the lineup. Having compatibility with longer PSUs (above the currently 180mm limit) would also go a long way in supporting 3-way sli/crossfire builds since many of the 1000W+ gold/platinum rated PSUs are larger than 180mm.
    Reply
  • zooted
    "Q. Would you mind telling me which of your products would be best for a 4.5ghz 4770k overclock?

    A. I'd recommend a CM V1000 80 plus gold power supply. You would have <1% voltage regulation, reliable output and extremely low ripple for better overclocks"

    Definitely need a 1000w power supply to o/c a 4770k.
    Reply