Cooler Master has long been a favorite company among computer enthusiasts looking for a case that can hold everything. One recent addition to the line, the ITower 930, even features a system for external hard drives. Today we'll be taking a look at the case and the system and see how they measure up.
Users today are demanding much more out of their computer systems. Home users are investing a lot of money in cases to get additional features that they will use. Serial and USB ports were the beginning. Then users wanted audio outputs to connect headphones, followed by Firewire ports to transfer video from DV cameras to the PC. Now with the diving prices in personal storage, and the need for more and more storage space for collections of data, some users have looked into removable hard drives.
Cooler Master has been building computer chassis for a few years now and have quickly become a favorite of enthusiasts looking for the most features packed into their chassis. Always forward-looking, Cooler Master had realized the need for a removable hard drive system for their chassis, allowing users to switch between hard drives on the fly to access data that may be stored outside the system for archival purposes. This system has been implemented in the chassis we're taking a look at today, the iTower 930.
Contents
- Cooler Master iTower930 Chassis
- Installation Guide
- Mounting Hardware
- 4 Hot swappable SATA connectors.
- 6 5.25" bays, (with optional 3.5" bay).
- Overall tool free design. (Motherboard must be secured).
- Unmatched upgradeablity (up to 12" x 10.5" CEB server board compatible).
- Superior thermal solution (adjustable elastic air duct design).
- Durable 0.8mm cold rolled steel construction.
- Key lock and intrusion switch design.
- Available color - Silver
- Dimensions - L470 x W215.5 x H429.8 mm
- Weight - 16 kg
- M/B Type - Micro-ATX, ATX and CEB (12" x 10.5")
- 5.25" Drive Bay - 6 (Exposed)
- 3.5" Drive Bay - 4 (Exposed) (Hot Swappable) SATA
- Material Body - SECC.ST 0.8
- Bezel - Aluminum + ABS
- Expansion Slots - 7
- Front I/O Panel - USB 2.0 x 4, MIC x 1, SPK x 1, IEEE 1394 x 1
- Cooling System - One 92mm HDD fan, 1500rpm, 19dBA (intake)
- One 120x120x25mm rear fan (exhaust), 1200rpm, 22dBA
- Independent and adjustable air duct
- Power Supply: PS2 / EPS 12 V Compatible or Mini-redundant (optional)
- Taking a closer look at the chassis you can see Cooler Master's attention to details. One of the main selling points of the chassis is its hot swappable drives. If you examine the sliders you can see clear plastic which actually acts like a fiber optic pipe and transmits individual hard drive power, status and failure lights to the front of the chassis. The hot swap drives are also spaced apart well enough, and have slotted vents which allow air to be pulled into the chassis to cool the drives with the quiet 90mm fan.
The front door of the iTower930 is an all aluminum panel with a strongly concave shape. In the middle of the panel is an access door to the hot swappable SATA drives, for quick and easy access to your drives.
The side air duct is great for users intending to run their system constantly; this will provide fresh airflow into their chassis. The duct fits almost perfectly to Intel's LGA775 heatsink; it allows the fan to access fresh air, and to blow exhausted air into the chassis. With the aid of the additional 90mm and 120mm fans the air is effortlessly blown around the CPU and out the rear of the chassis.Upon removing the side panel from the chassis, the first thing you will notice is the side duct, and support arm for the graphics card. This is removed by pushing the blue clip and sliding it down. This will allow the user to install the motherboard into the chassis. Motherboard installation is the same as for any other chassis.
Installing the power supply can be a little bit tricky. The iTower930 has an enclosed bay for the power supply, designed for heavy power supplies; it may also limit some heavy power supplies. The bay is designed for a power supply with a 120mm bottom fan, or 80mm fans in the rear of the power supply.
Given its design I decided to install my OCZ GameXstream in the iTower930 first. In order to install, I removed the thumbscrew from the rear of the chassis and removed the plate that holds it in place, then fed through all of the power cables into the rear of the chassis and out the back of the power supply bay. Inside the bay there is an adjustable rubber support which holds the power supply in position towards the rear of the chassis. Longer power supplies may have compatibility issues with this, and will just have to be secured to the back of the chassis.The down side of the power supply bays is that some power supplies may cause incompatibility. I had recently acquired an Enermax Galaxy power supply. This power supply is the combination of both a high end server and gaming power source. It is 240mm in length and has a larger 130mm fan located close to the middle of the power supply. If I installed this supply inside the power supply bay it would prevent air flow to the power supply. This issue can be resolved by removing the bay completely.
Another down side of the rear plate being removable is that it actually screws into the enclosure. So a small screw and bolt are needed to secure the back plate to the chassis.Installing the hard drives in the system is nice and easy. With the hot swappable drives you simply remove the cradle from the chassis and install a SATA hard drive into place using four bolts. Attach the SATA cable connecting the motherboard to the controller board and attach two power cables to the controller board.
Mounting a DVD burner into the chassis is pretty easy. Removing the front bezel to remove a face plate is the trickiest part; there are a few plastic tabs which need to be pushed and swing the front bezel open. The faceplate is held in place by a tab as well. Then you can swing the bezel back into place and slide the drive into position. With the the tool less design you just unlock the clip and lift it up, slide the drive in place, line up the holes, put down the clip and put it in the lock position. The drive should remain securely in position.
With all the cables connected to the motherboard and all cards installed, you can reinstall the side duct and card support to the chassis. The fan duct is designed for coolers similar to the stock Intel and AMD coolers and can be raised and lowered according to their location on the motherboard. This design is great for providing fresh air to the processor. The 90mm fan near the hot swap bays moves air toward the rear of the chassis, and the 120mm fan removes exhausted air to the outside of the chassis, providing excellent airflow.After using the chassis for a few weeks, I noticed a few design flaws. They're nothing truly major, but can quickly become a nuisance. First off is the front I/O ports. It's great to have all of these ports on the front of the chassis. But the down side is that with any component plugged in, you cannot fully open the door of the chassis. So if you plan to insert a CD or have your CD tray eject after burning, you better not have any devices plugged into the front of your case. And if you attempt to open the chassis, you can easily break a flash drive in half. It would have been great to have the I/O panel swing open with the door.
The other down side of the case is the side panel. Although the duct works great for stock coolers, there really is no way to mount a dedicated fan to the side panel. Not that it is necessary, but some aftermarket coolers cannot use the duct in place, and can still be aided by a side panel fan.
Using the hot swap is great. I've had friends come over and simply admire my ability to remove 400 GB of data without removing any screws. The drives have almost no play in them, and when you remove or insert the drive, the handle has to be pulled first; this prevents misalignment cause by quickly inserting the drives. Pushing the handle back in slowly connects the hard drive's power and data ports to the board inside, preventing damage and prolonging the reliability, a great design feature.
Conclusion
I've had the iTower930 chassis for a few months now, and I can certainly say I've fallen in love with it. Despite it being heavy, and having a few quirks, there is nothing better than having a friend come over wanting some information off of your drive, and at a flick of your finger removing 400 GB of data without pulling your computer out of its resting place.
The great styling of the all aluminum front certainly makes it stand out from most cases, and its thermodynamics are beneficial to most users, which is great. Although those who go overkill may have to improvise for additional cooling, when all thumbscrews are back in place, they still have the great styling of the iTower930, and have I mentioned the hot swappable drives? The only down side I can think of for this is that not all chassis have hot swappable drives. More boards are offering eSATA ports, so now all you have to find is power for the drive and you're good to go.
Pros & Cons
Pros:- Excellent functionality of hot swappable drives.
- Excellent thermodynamics for most common configurations.
- Secure tool less design, with components firmly held in place.
- All aluminum front door, with easy access hot swap door, and aluminum front bezel.
- Competitively priced at $150, an excellent price for an excellent server. chassis.
- Heavy chassis; I wouldn't take this thing to a LAN party any time soon!
- Front door interferes with front I/O ports; they must be removed to fully open the door.
- Side duct and power supply bay may cause compatibility issues.
- No external power connectors for hot swappable drive, or additional sliders provided for multiple drives.
- No internal hard drive space. What if you want RAIDed internal drives, and hot swappable additional storage drives?
- Bright LEDs can be annoying late at night. Don't put at eye level. They will project across a small room.
- No keyed locks; anyone can rip off a hard drive, or open up the chassis.
The iTower930 is a great chassis solution for any users looking to set up a home server, or a massive media PC loaded with drives. It offers great features for the majority of the users in its market. Although a few design flaws hold it back, it still is one beautiful chassis, and I don't think I would ever get rid of it. Cooler Master certainly has an amazing product on their hands. Anyone in the market should definitely check out the iTower930.
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