CM Stacker

     Even though it may be a huge enclosure, it is still - just an enclosure. Overwhelming at first, I quickly became attuned to the universe Cooler Master was living in when they created this monstrosity. What we see here is the ATX side of the CM Stacker with the drive bays all on the right hand side. The CM Stacker is situated to call this side of the case, the left side. That becomes important when you start assembling the drive rails. The motherboard tray does not come into contact with the bottom of the enclosure, instead this is the 2nd area that you can install a backup (or your primary if you choose) power supply.

     This view shows the bottom-rear (inside) portion of the enclosure. There is a cover panel installed here that would be removed should you choose to mount a power supply in this location. The imprinted circles are also covers that can be removed allowing the installation of two more 80mm fans. The cover panel for the top power supply is made just like this. The metal grate along the bottom is held in with screws that can be removed should you need the clearance to install a power supply or other large item on the bottom. Overclockers with Water Cooling on the brain should already be thinking of the limitless possibilities than an enclosure with this much free space and pre-drilled holes for 80mm fans has to offer. There is plenty of room here to mount the radiator and pump without sacrificing ANY PCI slots.

     The enclosure came out of the box with the control panel,  the bay cover with the 3½ inch drive opening, and the 3½ inch hard-drive tray all installed on the top of the 5¼ drive bays. All of these things are removable and can be placed in any of the open drive bays you desire. The 3½ hard drive bay does take a little extra effort, because it is reinforced with 12 screws that bolt in through the side of the chassis to give the frame extra strength.

     This is the drive bay once its removed from the chassis and disassembled. The drive bay will house up to 4 hard drives, or three hard drives and one floppy drive. The blue washers you see on the top of the bay are rubber grommets (4 on each side = 2 on top + two on bottom) that the silver pins on the small panel leaning against the tray will slide into. The panels hold the rails which mount to the chassis. Yes, it is something of a jigsaw puzzle, but it really is quite easy to figure out. The fan on the front of the bay is a 120mm fan, but there is one drawback to this configuration. If you want to install a 3½ floppy drive in the CM Stacker, it has to go in this bay unless you have your own 5¼ to 3½ inch drive bay converter. Since the drive will be protruding where the fan is mounted, the fan must be removed. So, use a floppy and you lose the fan unless you have your own 5¼ to 3½ inch drive bay converter.