Removing the rear thumbscrews and side panel reveal an interior that is very well organized and extremely spacious. The 840 certainly looks huge from the outside, and the interior does not disappoint; it's probably big enough you could fit an entire mid-tower inside with room to spare. Make no mistake, this case is huge, also wider than most cases and tipping the scales at 30lbs when it's empty! That notwithstanding, the overall design is uncluttered, straightforward, and exceptionally roomy. The attention to detail is well thought-out, as we’ll soon see.
 Cooler Master ATCS 840 |  Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
The bottom-mounted power supply will sit on a meshed intake grill, elevated above the interior floor and also further elevated by the exterior case feet, so there will be sufficient clearance for adequate air intake for the power supply. Adjacent to that is another meshed intake, flush to the floor, for an optional 120mm fan of your choice. Occasionally cleaning the power supply and bottom of the ATCS 840 should take hardly any time at all with a quick filter removal and a few shots of compressed air.
 Cooler Master ATCS 840 |  Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
There are extensive holes cut out in the motherboard tray for cable routing, and you should be able to fit an assortment of excess cables back there because the offset distance between the rear of the tray and the side panel is wide enough to allow enough routing. There is also a cutout where the processor will sit in the motherboard, so you will be able swap your CPU heatsink or water block without having to remove your motherboard and carefully-planned wiring. The cutout is large enough to accommodate a Core i7 Socket 1366 monster backplate. This is great to see, and I’m not sure why more manufacturers don’t do this nowadays. There are also large open areas at the very top and bottom of the motherboard tray to route cables freely, so there's no need to fish large wires through small holes and across the motherboard, which would entirely defeat the purpose of cable management to begin with. Cooler Master has made some very smart design decisions here in this regard.
 Cooler Master ATCS 840 |  Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
The motherboard tray is marked by a paper template that identifies the holes to use for installing various form factor motherboards. Thankfully the motherboard tray is removable, and it goes two steps further as the entire rear expansion area is removable (not just the tray itself) as it's attached to the tray itself. The entire structure then sits on a track with ball bearings, making removal extremely simple. Even wtih a fully loaded tray, it slides perfectly smoothly in and out of place with barely any force required; it is probably the best design and implementation of a removal motherboard (and expansion area) we've ever seen.
 Cooler Master ATCS 840 |  Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
The top houses the two 230mm exhaust fans, moving a large amount of air at slower RPMs to help keep the overall setup very quiet. You do have the option of swapping in 2 or 3 – 120mm fans for a complete 240mm or 360mm radiator setup here, with pre-fabricated conversion brackets and pre-drilled holes to make things ready to go. Unfortunately I did not have a 360mm radiator on hand to show, but I did check with a 240mm rad and everything lines up perfectly. Suffice it to say, finding a case that can accommodate a 360mm rad without having to resort to a Dremel is quite rare, and the ATCS 840 will no doubt satisfy water cooling afficionados. In fact, with the huge interior space available in the case, you can easily fit a 360mm rad and fans in a "push" scenario, with enough clearance to the motherboard that you will barely even notice the liquid setup, save for the tubing and block. Fitting a 360mm rad without modding is impressive enough, but making it virtually invisible is nothing short of outstanding. And for those who go beyond the average, yes, you can fit a double-thickness rad if you like, and even 38mm thick fans if you are so inclined; it will get a bit more snug but it is possible.
 Cooler Master ATCS 840 |  Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
The front of the interior sports the optical drive bays that feature a tool-less installation system that is identical to the Cooler Master Storm Sniper design, a simple push-button mechanism whereby you slide in the drive and push the button on the cage to lock it in. To remove, just push the button and pull out the drive. No drive rails or add-ons required, and the drive sits in the cage tightly with no loose rattling about. We’ve seen some pretty shaky designs in the past, and fortunately this is not one of them; the tool-less mechanism here is outstanding, and probably the best one I've ever used.
The hard drive cage at the lower-front has room for six drives, each with its own removable caddy. The design is about as close to a "pop-in, pop-out" scheme as you'll see, with no rails or fasteners of any sort required. In front of the cage is a huge 230mm intake fan and this will be far more effective at pushing air across the hard drives and into the interior of the case than any of the 120mm or 140mm designs we've seen. We think this trend for larger fans is a wise move.
 Cooler Master ATCS 840 |  Cooler Master ATCS 840 |
Another interesting feature is located along the hard drive cage, facing the interior of the case. There is a removable bracket against the cage that allows you to install two optional 120mm fans, essentially creating a push-pull configuration against the hard drive cage, increasing cooling air across the hot drives. Perhaps more important, however, is this allows air to be pushed directly to the hot graphics card area to aid in cooling. Even though the drive cage is designed with large open areas to allow air through (not to mention the 230mm fan helping a great deal as well), it's not common to see additional fans available for setup at the opposite side of a drive cage, so this is a welcome addition on the 840.
Let’s install some components and see what we have.
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