Airflow Beast! Cooler Master HAF II 500 PC Case Review
Meet the Cooler Master HAF II 500
Cooler Master’s HAF series has returned, and its fans are beefier than ever
Cooler Master’s HAF II 500 has arrived, reviving the company’s HAF (High Air Flow) series with new fans and a complete design overhaul. This time, we have a tighter focus on airflow and the best fans ever shipped with a HAF series case.
If one thing’s clear with this new case, it’s that Cooler Master is taking the HAF name seriously with this new PC chassis. We have “Mighty40” series fans. These fans are 40mm thick and use Liquid Crystal Polymer to deliver increased rigidity and finer tolerances. That means stronger airflow and minimised noise. With two 220mm fans at the front, and one 180mm fan at the back, PC builders can expect a lot of air to flow through this case.
Mighty40 Fans
As mentioned before, this case ships with two Mighty40 220mm fans and one Mighty40 180mm fan. These fans are all-black and lack any form of RGB lighting. With opaque fan blades, Cooler Master’s options for RGB lighting are limited. As such, these fans lack RGB lighting, but make up for it with stronger air-pushing performance.
Compared to Cooler Master’s older 200mm SickleFlow fans. the company claims that its Mighty40 F220 220mm fans can deliver up to 2x the airflow at the same noise levels. For their Mighty40 V180 fan, Cooler Master claims up to 1.4x the airflow of their old SickleFlow 200mm fans at the same noise levels. Clearly, Cooler Master’s upgrade fan materials and design have had an impact.
Motherboard Size and Liquid Cooling Radiator Support
Internally, this new HAF case can accommodate motherboards up to EATX (up to 310mm wide). This is a big case that can accommodate big hardware. This case is just as well suited to AI, rendering, simulations, and workstation use as it is to gaming. That said, performance-focused gamers are clearly the primary audience in this case.
Note that the top of the HAF II 500 supports two forms of 360mm radiator. The case can support a 360mm radiator with two 180mm fans, and it supports standard 360mm radiators with three 120mm fans. This case also supports 280mm (2x 140mm) and 240mm (2x 120m) liquid coolers. Does this mean that Cooler Master has a 2x 180mm 360mm liquid cooler in the works?
Price
Right now, we only have the US and EU prices for the HAF II 500. These are $199.99 (USD) and €184.99. We expect this case to become available in Europe in September. The HAF II 500 is already available in North America.
