Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Review

Results Analysis

We tested the HAF 912 Plus in its default configuration as it comes in the box. This meant that the internal drive bay caddy was oriented at right angles to the front intake fan, something that we’ve found to affect cooling performance in the past.

The HAF 912 Plus provided sufficient airflow to our CPU cooler, a fact that is borne out in its average CPU cooling ability. The HAF 912 plus gets beaten comfortably by its bigger brother the HAF X for example which managed a peak delta T of 48^oC compared to the 52^oC of the HAF 912 Plus. This result wasn’t awful though and it was only 2^oC behind far more expensive cases such as the Lian Li PC-8FIR.


Graphics cooling was similarly average in the HAF 912 Plus. Its peak delta T of 41^oC sat squarely in the middle of our table, which is a solid result for such a compact case. It’s worth noting though that the length of the ATI HD 5870 that we use for case testing is absolutely at the limit of what the HAF 912 Plus can manage in its stock configuration. The card was pushed right up against the drive bays. On the plus side however this means the card was nice and close to the front intake fan, which is likely to account for its effective graphics card cooling.

We also tested with the central drive bay removed, as this configuration should allow more air through to the graphics card. Unfortunately we didn’t find any difference in the delta T of either the CPU or graphics card when we did this meaning you may as well leave the caddy in and use the four drive bays its contains. Clearly the front intake fan is powerful enough to push plenty of air into the case even when slightly obstructed.

Conclusions

We have to admit we enjoyed our time with the HAF 912 Plus. It’s a reassuringly well built case and it was a pleasure to build a system in, though we did have to plan cable routeing and positioning a little more than in a traditional full tower case. This is always going to be a problem in a smaller case like this though and, as enthusiasts, we saw it as an interesting challenge rather than a chore. It’s very satisfying to make a neatly cabled, good looking system in a small chassis like this.

The cooling ability of the HAF 912 is only average at best, however, and though some concessions can be made for the fact that it’s a smaller case, this still has to count against it. There is ample opportunity to expand the cases cooling potential however; a 200mm exhaust fan in the roof for example is likely to make a large difference.

At £70, the HAF 912 Plus also has plenty of competition. The Xigmatek Utgard offers marginally better cooling and a dual channel fan controller but is visually boring and not as well built while the Antec 300 is £20 cheaper and offers good cooling but is much more basic internally. If you like the styling of the HAF 912, it's solid build and versatility make it a great option for your next case.

• Cooling
• x
• x
• x
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• x
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• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Design
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Value
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

• Overall
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• -
• -
• 8/10

Score Guide