Installation and Operation:
Installing a system in the Cooler Master iTower 930 is fairly straight forward and shouldn't present any major challenges to most users. The following components were installed in the process of this review:
» Intel Pentium D840 (3.2 GHz Dual-Core) CPU
» ECS Elitegroup RC410L/800-M Pentium 4 mATX Motherboard
» Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 500GB SATA 3 Gbps Hard Drive
» Buslink DVD R/RW Optical Drive
» OCZ 1GB (2x 512MB) Platinum XTC PC2 5400 DDR2 Memory
» Allied AL-B500E 500 Watt Power Supply
» ASUS GeForce 6200 PCI Express graphics card
» Cooler Master Hyper TX Socket 775 CPU Cooler
Although installation went well, there are areas worth noting. Despite there being plenty of room for drives and other bay devices thanks to all the room up front, the area around the motherboard isn't as spacious. The test system used a mATX motherboard, but full size ATX boards will fit just fine. The main restrictions are due to the solid steel box around the power supply, the SATA drive cooling fan, and the CPU air duct (which can be left out).
The below left image shows the motherboard, memory, graphics card, and CPU cooler installed. The Cooler Master Hyper TX cooler is one of the smaller heatpipe coolers on the market and it can be seen that it fills the space well anyway. Owners of extremely large CPU coolers may experience problems, as the "PSU box" is right up against the edge of the motherboard, leaving little clearance.
The above right image shows the backside of the case with the bulk of the components installed. The image below shows how the tool-less expansion card mechanisms work. They are actually hinged, and swing out of slots on the back of the case as shown.
The images below show a before and after of the installation of the SATA drive cooling fan. These views also provide a better look at just how close the CPU cooler is to the edge of the PSU box. Coolers like the Scythe Infinity and Thermalright Ultra-120 (among others) just might not fit!
