Cooler Master ATCS 840 Aluminium ATX Case

Internal Layout

Published: 26th November 2008 | Source: Cooler Master | Price: £225.94 | Author: James Napier

Internal Layout

Sliding off the side panel the first thing you are greeted with are the two accessories boxes we opened up earlier in the review. These are accompanied by a large white sheet of card that covers the motherboard tray area offering useful information on where to place those motherboard spacers for mATX, ATX and E-ATX motherboards. Overall the internal area of the case looks fairly spacious and shares a similar layout to the popular Lian Li A70.

Cooler Master have clearly been listening to enthusiasts and have not only made additional holes in the motherboard tray to assist in the tidy routing of cables, but have also placed a large rectangular cut-out towards the top-left of the tray where the CPU would normally sit on a standard ATX (single CPU) motherboard. This enables users of the ATCS 840 to install/remove CPU coolers and waterblocks that require 'hard mounting' with bolts and backing plates, without first having to remove the motherboard. Kudos Cooler Master!

At the bottom of the case are two 120mm fan grills with the one to the left providing ventilation for PSU's with downward-facing 120mm fans. In both instances the vents are protected with fan filters which is EXTREMELY important when drawing air up from dusty surfaces such as carpets. It's also good to see that Cooler Master have made the fan filters easy to remove by simply pulling a handle and sliding the filter tray out.

Although not so easy to make out, the picture above-right shows the hard disk bay complete with a bracket for mounting a further two 120mm fans. While we're sure that most people will be content with the huge 230mm fan keeping their hard disks cool, it's good to see that Cooler Master are giving users the option to turn the ATCS 840 into a true wind tunnel!

For easy insertion and removal of hard disks, Cooler Master have fitted plastic trays to each of the six bays. These act much like the caddy's found in server systems, but without the ability to 'hot-swap' drives due to the lack of an SATA backplane. While the cost of installing a backplane in the ATCS 840 would have been relatively high, this is something that Lian Li have done in their recent X2000 enclosure and in addition to giving users hot-swap functionality, it also allows drives to be installed/removed without needing to remove both side panels from the case.

Last, but most certainly not least is the removable motherboard tray. This allows a good portion of the system to be constructed outside of the case and then slid back into position for the final few cables to be connected at the end. A common problem with removable trays on most cases is that tall CPU coolers often hinder the reinsertion of the motherboard due to the width of the case. However, as the ATCS 840 is just that little bit wider than your average enclosure, even some of the tallest coolers should fit in without any clearance issues.

As we can see from the image above-right, Cooler Master have also opted to use bearings along the tray rails. This makes removal and insertion much more pleasant and reduces the chance of any vibrations/rattle between the tray and the rails when the system is powered on.

Most Recent Comments

26-11-2008, 07:32:25

Jim

"Cooler Master has revived the much loved ATCS range and we were given the chance to take the ATCS 840 for a testdrive."

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...135323205s.jpg

Cooler Master ATCS 840 Aluminium ATX Case

26-11-2008, 08:54:23

PV5150

Wow what a gorgeous looking beast and I agree with the areas that you highlighted for further improvement. I've gotta get me a black one of these

26-11-2008, 10:29:29

SuB

wow that's stunning! i'd easily have one of these with a full black interior possible window or mesh side panel and a BLACK badge... hrm...

I'm due a new case, be nice to have one thats basically ready to go for watercooling too... tempting...

how much is this? i didn't see a price

26-11-2008, 10:44:14

D-Cyph3r

Been waiting for this review.

Absolutely gorgeous case though, easily able to hold it's own against a Lian Li or Silverstone. I also like how they took all the good bits from the Cosmos S aswell, the tool-less drive bays and radiator-compatible roof particularly.

Also, lovely artwork on the front of the box, if a little out of place.

26-11-2008, 11:02:09

Brooksie

That case is stunning

. Love all the little details. This would definitely be in my case wishlist xD

26-11-2008, 11:11:06

MeltedDuron

Wow Jim thats a great review as usual! I think thats a lovely case with some insane cooling, but I dont get how they can call it an ATCS

At least to me the ATCS cases were nearly all smallish mid towers with beautifully simple design...

Even though I've butchered it a lot, my old Praetorian (last rev. ATC-201 in black ano) still makes me go wow at the engineering involved, if you took out the fans, switches, LED's and the front IO thing you wouldnt be able to find a piece of plastic in the whole case.

The ATCS 840 is lovely but I don't have one on my christmas list. If anyone from CM can read this (yeah right

) come out with a beautiful mid tower (think ATC-110), and I'll buy one, maybe even two!

On a side note, didn't CM fire the ATCS engineers years ago and they went to work for silverstone?

Alex

26-11-2008, 13:01:01

Jim

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='MeltedDuron'

Wow Jim thats a great review as usual! I think thats a lovely case with some insane cooling, but I dont get how they can call it an ATCS

At least to me the ATCS cases were nearly all smallish mid towers with beautifully simple design...

Well most....

http://www.coolercases.co.uk/images/...c-s4000-sx.jpg

S4000-SX baby

But yeah i do agree, the original ATCS cases were midi-towers, but tbh that was more because most people had little use for anything larger at the time rather than CM's choice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='MeltedDuron'

Even though I've butchered it a lot, my old Praetorian (last rev. ATC-201 in black ano) still makes me go wow at the engineering involved, if you took out the fans, switches, LED's and the front IO thing you wouldnt be able to find a piece of plastic in the whole case.

Yeppers I'm still on the look-out for an all original / immaculate Black Widow

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='MeltedDuron'

On a side note, didn't CM fire the ATCS engineers years ago and they went to work for silverstone?

Something like that, but ye all _original_ ATCS engineers are now Silverstone. Hence if you look at the TJ03, its basically a ATC-201 with a new front panel.

26-11-2008, 14:10:01

ionicle

well nice

does it come with a window

i dont usually like CM cases, but i think they've turned a corner

the stacker was horrible

the new stacker was horrible

most of their cheeper cases were cheep and nasty

the black widdow was nice

and the wavemaster, but thats it

this joins the nice club methinks

27-11-2008, 12:55:36

SuB

ok seriously? a price and a place to buy and a date?

28-11-2008, 04:17:59

Jim

Quote:

Originally Posted by name='SuB'

ok seriously? a price and a place to buy and a date?

The only confirmed stockist I've got at the moment is YOYOTech and it should be available early December. The RRP i was given + 15% Tax adds up to around £202, but it could be £210 tops I've been told.

28-11-2008, 05:15:38

SuB

hrm that's steep... but tbh reasonable

cheers Jim i'll be keeping an eye out for them... this review really has made a decision for me tbh lol

28-11-2008, 11:21:42

Bungral

Ooo it is a lot but it is also very nice

*wants*

07-08-2009, 21:51:28

mushikun

hi guys, i'm new to this site. I know its and old thread but Id like to add something to the article. I was looking around the net to check the compatibility between the atcs 840 and the swiftech cmr 320.

first I find a thread from a guy who was planning to build the same computer as me : i7 920 atcs swiftech mcr 320... that guy also found a thread from a guy who built that computer (sorry i cannot post the link...)

but he decided not to use the swiftech cmr320 because of qc3d's article about the atcs 840 saying there s no compatibility between the 2.

do you follow me guys, I'm sorry english is not my language...

well, I was surprised and disappointed as I was planning to buy the atcs to watercool my cpu. i decided to check and sent a message to coolermaster asking about the compatibility between atcs 840 and swiftec mcr320

this is the answer from coolermaster :

Dear customer,

You will not have a trouble doing that in that case, you will have plenty of room for that radiator.

Respectfully,

coolermaster

I'm really happy I did that because I'm going to order that case and do the watercool i planned...

I m sure many people read this article and changed their plans... maybe it would be a good idea from the author to check, edit and change the wrong informations, even in 2009, they stay on the net...

08-08-2009, 03:56:13

VonBlade

The review does state that CM said it supports the same radiators as the Cosmos which from the previous test were..

So it was only taken on the information that Coolermaster provided at the time.

Although I can't see why any 15mm spacing rad shouldn't fit.

08-08-2009, 04:12:26

mushikun

I understand but still, when you're new to watercooling, and you dont know the case if u read this article you may change your initial plan like the guy I was talking about. I just added that comment for the people who like me want that case and the same watercooling system and who want to know about compatibility.

08-08-2009, 05:13:46

Jim

Hi Mushikun,

The list of radiators posted in the review were actually tested by our friends over at WaterCoolingUK. I can only assume that either the Swiftech radiator used was damaged, or that since the review Swiftech have updated their radiators to follow the 15mm spacing that other manufacturers use.

Either way i'll update the review.

Jim

08-08-2009, 10:02:41

mushikun

thank you, I hope you didn't get me wrong, my purpose was just to help.

I mean, when I found this article I was very disapointed, because I was planning to get these parts. so no compatibility implied looking for another shop... maybe more expensive... it took me a long time to check on the net and I finally decided to contact coolermaster directly.

still, your article was very helpful and the people here know a lot. I learnt many things about watercooling and I feel more confortable now with the new parts I'm going to get soon.

thank you guys

mushi

08-08-2009, 13:45:02

ScottALot

Sleek, shiny look. Looks durable, too!

02-06-2011, 15:14:36

Perfectionist

I was thinking about getting one of these but unfortunately the cubby hole in my desk is only 500mm depth leaving 130mm overhang. I suppose i could remove the legs on the tower (is it possible?) and just pull back the desk a little bit. I was wondering though, would an h50 fit into the removable tray, if not are there any recommendations on similar style cases (around £150 limit)? I watched Toms recent review on the Fractal v H2 and agree about the hard drive bays and airflow for front fan.

Inside the desk ive a 700mm available for height, 260mm width.

Cooler Master ATCS 840 Aluminium ATX Case

Internal Layout

Published: 26th November 2008 | Source: Cooler Master | Price: £225.94 | Author: James Napier

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