King Kong Returns

Some of you may remember our review of the original Cooler Master CM Stacker STC-101, a behemoth of a casing that garnered our Most Innovative Product award for its broad support of form factors, among other reasons. It was then the first PC chassis to support all existing ATX form factors and even the relatively new BTX standards. While it could be quite the chore to transform the casing from its default ATX orientation to BTX, the option was there to provide some form of insurance against obsolescence.

What made the Stacker quite unforgettable however was its huge size. While full tower casings are not uncommon, they are usually customized for servers where appearances are secondary to function. The original Stacker was a hybrid that blended the sensibilities of a server casing with more enthusiast friendly touches. This made it extremely suitable for the power user, who requires the seemingly excessive expansion options found in the Stacker but also desires an enclosure that does not resemble your bland, beige server boxes.

Size is everything for the Cooler Master CM Stacker 830.

All these characteristics return in Cooler Master's latest update of this casing, now known as the CM Stacker 830. Hence, besides its own merits, we will naturally be comparing the new Stacker with its predecessor, which means that reading our review of the original Stacker may serve as useful background. For the Stacker 830, the same towering stature is retained and if anything, it is now larger than ever. Looking at the specifications, the height of the original Stacker and the new Stacker 830 have remained constant at 536mm but the depth and width have been expanded. Despite the increase in dimensions, Cooler Master has kept the weight of the Stacker 830 around that of the original, which was close to that of a steel chassis at 14kg. There are other similarities between the two that is better illustrated when inspecting our technical specifications below: