Introduction

A case is one of the hardest components to select for a new build, and also one of the most important. Not only does it house your components, but it very much determines what you can, and too often, can’t use for a build. One, maybe two radiators, 2 or 4 drives, and many other seemingly little limiting factors often have a builder searching endless lists for a case with the right combination that can hold what they actually need. Too often you have to change plans to make it all fit, and that is unacceptable. In traditional In Win style, the 509 breaks that mold. Capable of handling the largest E-ATX motherboards, 3x 360mm radiators as well as a few smaller ones at the same time, 9 drives, and more fans than you know what to do with, the 509 can handle anything you can throw at it without compromise. Wrapped in tempered glass and dressed in black with a subtle hint of grey, or a bold ROG Certified red, the In Win 509 can look good doing it too.

A separate cooling compartment in the front holds up to three 360mm radiators and is vented externally on the front via a filtered intake and out the right side to keep the warmed air away from your important components. Combine this with a flexible interior and some extras like hot swap drive bays and an RGB capable front logo and you have the makings of the ultimate case. Let’s see how it stacks up!

ProClockers would like to thank In Win for sending us the 509 to review.

Specifications & Features

Packaging & Unboxing

The front of the box is plain brown cardboard like most of InWin’s boxes, with only the 509 Logo visible as well as the In Win website and slogan visible.

The top of the box is also plain brown cardboard with the In Win logo and ‘InWin’ on the two flaps.

The side of the box has much more to see. Full specifications cover half of this side with some pictorials and the In Win logo taking up most of the right side. The 509 Logo is also visible here, albeit under some minor damage to the cardboard from shipping.

The Other side of the box lists off the features under the 509 logo, as well as the color selection inside. Our sample is the black and red ROG certified edition. A UPC sticker and some shipping pictorials are readily visible to alert the carrier to the fragile contents inside.

Opening up the box, we are greeted with the usual In Win packaging. The case is wrapped in a heavy cloth bag and support on every corner by a thick block of Styrofoam. A heavy-duty clear zipper bag is also laying in here with the instruction manual and various screws and accessories needed to assemble the case.

Carefully lifting the case out of the box gets you the 509 chassis, fully wrapped in the heavy cloth bag that prevents any scratches or dust from getting on the case. It also prevents the accessory bag that is loose in the box from doing any damage.

Inside the clear, reusable accessory bag you get the following. The full color manual in several languages, 10 zip-ties, the 4 anti-slip feet for the case that were surprised were not already attached, a baggie with 2 of InWin’s universal GPU support brackets, assorted hardware needed to mount everything in the case such as motherboard standoffs and fan and drive screws, as well as an adapter to power the front RGB In Win logo red if your system does not have an RGB controller such as the ASUS AURA Lighting system. Now, let’s go check out the case itself!

A Closer Look - Exterior

The front of the In Win 509 ROG edition is very sleek. A tinted and tempered glass panel dominates the front of the case. Above this is a brushed aluminum front panel. Sporting quad USB 3.0 ports and a pair of 3.5mm headset ports, you also get a 5.25” bay with a matching cover. While not as many people use optical disks any more, there are still quite a few who just can’t give this bay up due to fan and lighting controllers, and Audio or VR front panel devices, so it is still nice to see in full size cases.

The Right side of the case is smooth with the exception of a large vented area stamped in InWin’s signature hex pattern found on many of their more recent cases such as the 303. This vented area lines up with the front section that can contain a rather large selection of water cooling gear, and can act as intake or exhaust depending on your needs.

The red painted vented rear I/O expansion slot covers really stand out against the black chassis, it’s sad we’ll have to remove most of them to install GPU’s. A large 120/140mm fan spot above the Motherboard I/O area can handle AIO coolers or a fan as needed. Your power supply can be installed facing up or down thanks to the universal mounting screw locations.

If you do choose to install your power supply with the fan facing down, In Win has thoughtfully provided a washable filter for the lower intake area that protects not only your power supply, but also one 120/140mm lower intake fan if you install one after moving or removing the hot sway drive bays in the bottom.

The bottom of the case is dominated by the fan filter and 4 feet. Oddly, the rubber anti-slip pads do not come installed.

Luckily, the feet come in the accessory bag and can be placed in the pocket on each foot assembly to complete the build.

The business side of the case is nearly one unbroken sheet of tempered glass. The lower corner towards the front carries the ASUS ROG Certified badge.

A Closer Look - Interior

After removing the thick tempered glass side, we get our first look at the interior of the In Win 509 ROG edition case. The bright red framework and rear expansion covers set this edition apart from its grey sibling. The main chamber is in a traditional layout with support for all common motherboard standards up to E-ATX.

The ATX power supply resides at the bottom of the case and can handle nearly any length power supply on the market. Longer than average high-wattage PSU’s may require the hot swap drive tray to be moved or removed which can be done with a single screw. The Corsair RM1000 shown here is 180mm long, and there is plenty of room for cable routing still with the drive cage in place.

The glass side panel hangs on 4 rubber posts that absorb vibration and protect the glass panel.

In Win didn’t miss a single detail with the glass side panel itself. Every edge is beveled and ground smooth including the 4 mounting holes. There are zero sharp edges to worry about.

The edges of the front glass panel are also perfectly smooth. The glass is spaced away from the front far enough to allow plenty of airflow into the case, as well as room for the RGB enabled In Win logo. 3 clips like the one shown near the top of the picture allow the front panel to be unclipped and removed with no tools.

Popping the front cover off the case reveals another tool free fan intake filter. The white panel visible above is the RGB lighting module that illuminates the In Win logo behind the front glass panel.

Just above the main chamber is two tool free drive bays supporting 3.5” or 2.5” drives.

The drive trays themselves are also fully tool free for 3.5” drives with vibration absorbing mounts, but 2.5” drives must be screwed to the sleds.

The lower drive bays are fully hot swap capable when connected to compatible ports on your motherboard. As with the top bays, they lower bays support both 3.5” and 2.5” drives.

The hot swap bays are powered from dual SATA style power connectors, and have standard SATA cables for each tray. The cables are fairly short, but will comfortably reach the SATA ports on most motherboards from the position in the main chamber.

With a single screw removed, you can relocate the entire assembly to the front area of the case. The cables may not reach smaller motherboards from this location.

If you don’t want to use the hot swap capable feature, you can remove the power and data connections from the drive cage from some or all 3 bays.

One of the outstanding features of the 509 case is the universal GPU support brackets. Each comes with a plastic piece to stick on to prevent scratches and shorts from contact with your GPU.

The case comes with 2 brackets that can be placed anywhere along the 4 mounting locations stamped into the motherboard tray.

Lastly is the front panel I/O cables. Two USB 3.0 plugs provide the four front ports. Standard HD Audio plugs along with the power and reset switch. A hard drive activity LED connector is also present, but the normal power LED connection is absent. A 4 pin RGB plug feeds the In Win logo from your motherboard RGB ports. If you don’t have these connections available, an adapter is included to light the In Win logo in red from a SATA power connection.

System Build & Configuration

Main Components

• Case: Inwin 509 ROG Certified
• Motherboard: MSI X99A XPower Gaming Titanium
• CPU: Intel Core i7-5960X
• GPU: 3x EVGA GTX980 SC
• RAM: 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum SE Chrome
• PSU: Corsair RM1000
• Storage: 2x Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD’s in RAID-0

Cooling

• CPU Block: EKWB Supremacy EVO X99
• GPU Block: EKWB GTX980 Full Cover
• Radiators: 2x EKWB PE360
• Resevoir: Monsoon MMRS
• Pump: EKWB D5 Vario
• Fittings: Monsoon rotary 90’s and Economy Hardline Compression
• Fans: 6x Corsair HD120

As you can see, we fit one 360mm radiator in the front compartment with it exhausting out the vented side panel of the case. The 2nd radiator was mounted on the middle divider with the fans blowing over the main area to provide a little case air flow for passively cooled components such as the Ram and VRM’s on the motherboard. To fit the radiator and fans in the main compartment side of the center divider, we had to remove the hot swap drive tray. The two drive bays at the top provided plenty of room for the storage we choose for this project, so not a big loss.

Mounting the two SSD’s in the top hot swap bays was very easy. We did have to remove one anti-vibration mount on each sled in the corner where the SSD sits. It is for 3.5” drives and serves to purpose with a 2.5” solid state drive anyway. 4 included screws into each drive later, we were ready to slide them back into the case.

The rear of the case offers plenty of room for cables and controllers, but the case overall doesn’t offer many places to hide excess wiring. The large size uses up most of it anyway so this won’t present too much of problem compared to much smaller cases.

The GPU braces are easy to install, but with this large E-ATX motherboard, they actually block a few of the right angle SATA ports. Not a big deal for this build, but keep it in mind if you use lots of storage devices.

Since these blocks don’t cover the full graphics card, the GPU brace just barely catches the waterblock here. This is preferable to holding the PCB in this case. Even though the plastic protector is installed here to prevent shorts, the brace would rest on some components of the card rather than bare PCB. You should be able to use these braces with any air cooled card without worry though as the air coolers usually extend the full length of the card and the fans do not stick out beyond the cooler.

Last up is the Front RGB enabled Logo. The Logo lights up a nice red color when using the SATA power adapter, but connected to MSI’s onboard RGB header, we can make it nearly any color imaginable. We get a little reflection of the black drop cloth on the glass front panel here, but you can see how it looks in Yellow, Red, Blue, Green and Purple. You can easily make it any color to match your build or mood.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Overall the In Win 509 delivers a great value for the modest $180 price tag. The usual In Win build quality is here, everything feels rock solid and even with a heavy build installed and there is pretty much zero flex in the case moving it around to take pictures. While you can technically install three 360mm radiators in here at the same time, there would not be enough rough to comfortably install fans and tubing around them in our opinion. There is a ton of flexibility here that would appeal to many builders and the options for modding are nearly unlimited.

Some of the standout features of this case are the GPU support brackets, also found on several other In Win Case models, and the removable Hot-swap drive bay. It takes 4 thumb screws to get the glass side panel off, but once you do, the hot swap and tool free bays are nice to have. The RGB front Logo is a nice touch without being too over the top like many RGB enabled devices have gotten the last year or so and add just the right splash of color to the front.

The only complaint with the case is the clips that hold the front panel on. They are just a bit too fragile, for our liking. We did manage to crack one of them taking the front panel off, which is required to access the front intake filter any time you want to clean it. This ultimately led to the cooling configuration pictured in the system build here, we did not want to use the front as an air intake so as to avoid having to remove the front panel for cleaning. It’s not a bad system, you just have to be a little more careful than usual taking it off and putting it back on. Even with this minor ding, we still highly recommend this case.

Overall, Great job In Win!

Check out the In Win 509 ROG on the In Win Website

Introduction

A case can easily be the hardest part of a build to select. If you go too large, you need a mountain of gear to make it look good. If you go too small, you may not fit everything you want, or may be limited on upgrades later. Some cases can even cost more than major components of your build. You don’t want a cheap tinfoil case that may collapse under its own weight, but you’d rather not take your specs down a notch to afford a good case. What’s a builder to do? Riotoro might just have the answer for you. Cases designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, without all those pesky details like cheap materials or fine print. Riotoro’s CR280 case is made for space conscious builders with its ITX form factor, but manages to still handle full size graphics cards, power supplies and even water cooling in a sleek windowed box. The specs look impressive, but can a case from a manufacturer you may not be familiar with (yet) handle you? We are about to dive in and find out!

Pro Clockers would like to thank Riotoro for sending us the CR280 ITX case to review, as well as the Bifrost 120 Cooler and Onyx 650 power supply used in this review which will be covered in upcoming reviews.

About Riotoro

“Founded in 2014, Formed by Enthusiasts, for Enthusiasts, RIOTORO manufactures the best Performance PC Hardware, Peripherals, and Accessories in the industry with a goal of providing complete satisfaction for high performance seekers who build their own personal computers.” –Riotoro.com.

Features & Specifications

Packaging & Unboxing

Riotoro Uses a monochromatic color scheme, black on a plain brown cardboard box. The front is covered by a picture of the case, with the Riotoro Logo at the top, the signature ‘T’ at the top corner, and the Model down the side.

The rear of the box shows a few more pictures of the case, the front, inside layout and top, as well as the two included Riotoro Fans. The bottom quarter of the box lists the full specifications.

One side of the box is nearly all black with the signature ‘T’ front and center.

The other side also shows the ‘T’, but smaller to make room for shipping labels.

Once we open the box, we find the case is wrapped in a plastic bag and cradled in 2 large Styrofoam blocks, one on each end. A baggie with the installation guide is also in the box.

Pulling the case free of the box shows the foam blocks almost entirely encompass each end of the case. It would be pretty hard to protect the case any better than this.

While taking the foam blocks off and removing the plastic bag, we did have a thumb screw fall out of the case that was rolling around inside. Looking at the hardware list, it appears to be one of the 4 included PSU mounting screws.

A Closer Look - Exterior

Riotoro’s CR280 case has a mesh front that starts with small holes at the top they grow larger as the go to the middle, and then shrink back down again. The Riotoro logo at the top is a very bright, almost florescent red. Two USB 3.0 Type A ports, 3.5mm headphone and microphone ports, a disk activity indicator, and the power and reset buttons are arranged symmetrically along the bottom edge of the case.

The right side of the case is a smooth black panel with the signature ‘T’ stamped into the top corner closest to the front. The side panel is held in place with a single thumb screw on the rear.

The top of the CR280 is a mesh similar to the front of the case, but has holes to install the included grommet’s and fan screws to add two additional 120mm fans to the top of the case.

The rear of the case is pretty typical. The Motherboard I/O cutout is next to a 120mm fan location, and it does come with a 120mm fan set up for exhaust. Below these is the double slot for GPU’s, and a screw cover panel. The bottom of the case has the cutout for the power supply, set up to be able to install the PSU facing up or down as you see fit.

Removing the single thrum screw next to the GPU slot covers gives you access to the mounting thumb screws that will keep your GPU secure.

On the underside of the case right at the front we find a hidden LED strip.

This LED strip will serve as a power on indication as well as provide an under glow accent effect. It’s not bright enough to be distracting and we think it looks quite nice!

Towards the rear of the case on the bottom is a filtered intake for your power supply.

The screen can be squeezed a bit and popped out of the holding tabs to be cleaned.

The main side panel has a window covering nearly half the panel. The outside has a scratch protection film on it, shown here partially peeled off. Unfortunately, the inside of the window does not have this film and appears to have suffered some scratching from the loose thumb screw bouncing around inside during shipping. We typically leave this film in place until the build is nearly complete to avoid leaving any accidental scratches ourselves.

A Closer Look - Interior

For an ITX case, the Riotoro CR280 has a rather spacious interior comprised of one large compartment. The power supply goes in the very bottom of the case with the motherboard and GPU in the traditional orientation just above.

Here is a good shot of the shallow scratches the inside of the window suffered from the loose hardware. The bright photo lights give very high contrast showing the scratches much better than your naked eye does. With the system assembled, they are not nearly as visible.

The top of the case supports two additional 120mm fans if you need your system in a wind tunnel. A mesh filter is also present, held in place by several push pins.

The push pins for the fan filter are tiny, and made of two pieces. The first piece goes through the case and filter, while the second slides down inside it and causes the underside to fan out to secure the filter. It secures the filter well, but requires high dexterity to maneuver such small pieces.

With the filter removed we can see how fine the mesh is.

Already mounted inside the case, we have two 120mm fans from Riotoro, rated 3.6 watts or 0.3 Amps at 12V/

The front panel is held in place by four metal spring clips, one in each corner.

Thankfully, the front panel is mounted only with metal, no fragile plastic clips to worry about.

Once the front panel is out of the way, you get access to the two fan filters. We also discovered here the Riotoro logo lets light through. It would be quite easy to light it up as a simple mod.

The filters simply slide to the left for removal for cleaning and fan mounting.

The rear of the case is pretty straight forward. The only thing back here to mention is the 3.5” drive mount, just behind the power supply. There are also several wire management locations where you can use the included zip-ties to secure extra cable. There are two on the rear of the motherboard tray towards the rear of the case, and 3 of them right in the middle. The front I/O wiring here is secured to the lowest of the 3 in the middle.

Speaking of the front I/O Wiring, the cables are pretty standard fare, Power and Reset Switches, power and disk activity LED’s, HD-Audio, and a single USB 3.0 header cable.

Towards of the front of the case are two 2.5” drive mounting locations. There are already vibration absorbing grommets in place to quiet down mechanical drives, but they work just as well with dual SSD’s as shown here.

The 3.5” drive mounting location has a box clamped in it with all of the hardware for the case. Out box was slightly open, which explains where the loose thumbscrew came from.

Once we take the box out, we can line a real drive up with the lower pins that slide into the screw holes for the rear and middle and pop the drive into place.

With the drive aligned, the top bracket slides down to engage the top two pins into the drives mounting holes, and the thumb screw is tightened to secure the drive.

System Build & Configuration

Dry Fitting the parts, we discover that the rear socket cutout is off just a bit for this particular motherboard, so we had to install the cooler to the board outside of the case.

To leave room for the GPU, we took the factory installed front 120mm fan off, and installed the Riotoro Bifrost 120 cooler in its place, and mounted the motherboard. The Factory 120mm fan was then reinstalled below the Bifrost cooler. The dual 2.5” SSD’s were then slid behind the cooler and secured from the rear side.

We moved the factory installed fan down to the lower spot to make room for the Bifrost 120 cooler, but the Riotoro CR280 case also supports a 240mm radiator in the front.

With the core of the system in place, we then installed the GPU and PSU and ran the wiring. The Nvidia GTX Titan-X is a large GPU, but there was about 1cm of clearance from it to the lower 120mm fan in the front. There is plenty of room for even the largest PSU below the graphics card. After the PSU was in place, we ran the PSU cables.

An ITX case can be challenging to find somewhere to hide all of the extra cables. There is a large than normal space behind the motherboard tray to hide cables, and lots of spots to secure them. The motherboard tray itself has four zip tie rings stamped into the steel for convenience. This is using nearly every cable the PSU comes with as the SSD’s and HDD are far apart enough to need a cable to each, as well as a molex cable for a fan splitter since the ASUS Maximus Viii Impact board didn’t have enough fan headers for the pump and 4 fans installed in this system.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Riotoro’s CR280 Mini-ITX Case is great little box with a layout supporting a full size ITX build with no compromises. Full size Graphics cards and full size power supplies are supported along with a 240mm cooler and more fans than most ITX cases. The right selection of components would certainly allow even a full custom loop in this case, something that can’t be said for most compact builds. Support for dual 2.5” drives and a single 3.5” drive should work for most users, and if you haven’t made the jump to solid state, all of the drives have vibration absorbing mounts to keep high speed platters from making a ton of noise.

Build quality is great; the solid steel construction feels solid and there are no sharp edges or overlooked details. The side panels are easy to slide into place, and the front snaps on and off easily. The fan filters are a great addition at this price point, but the filter at the top of the case can take a bit of patience to get reinstalled with the little push pins. The red LED underglow in the front was nice surprise, adding just a touch of style without being over the top. Small cases can be a headache for cable management, so the handful of zip tie rings stamped into the motherboard tray made securing all of the extra cable a breeze. Our only complaint with this case was the lack of scratch film on the inside of the window. The loose thumbscrew during shipping made some very noticeable scratches to the window that would have been easy to prevent.

Overall for the cost, this is a great case, and easily earns our ‘Best Value’ award. Great Job Riotoro!

Checkout the CR280 on Riotoro's website

Introduction

WHEN MODULARITY MEETS SIMPLICITY

Cooler Master has recently launched their FreeForm™ Modular System with their MasterCase line up of cases. My first experience with one of these cases was with the MasterCase Pro 3, the MATX beauty we recently reviewed. Constant innovation of their fully modular system has brought us some amazing cases such as the MasterCase Maker 5 and 5T. Well, Cooler Master has just released their next mid-tower chassis in the MasterCase line-up, The MasterCase Pro 6. With their including their FreeForm™ Modular System and many of the same features that made the MasterCase line-up so popular, the MasterCase Pro 6 is set to be yet another amazing case. However, it has some big shoes to fill. Let’s get to it and see if this is truly a Master Case.

About Cooler Master

“We're all about the things that make building a PC such a rewarding experience. The sense of achievement. The joy of making and creating something uniquely yours in form and function. The freedom that comes from complete control. And of course, the thrill of bringing your creation to life without melting your components”

Cooler Master is a computer hardware manufacturer from Taiwan. Founded in 1992, the company is an aftermarket brand for computer chassis, PSU, coolers, cooling pads, and other accessories. Aside from their own aftermarket cooling solutions, Cooler Master is also an OEM vendor for different brand names such as Nvidia, AMD and EVGA. They produce GPU coolers, CPU coolers and Heatsinks for the various companies. In recent years, the company expanded its brand exposure into gaming communities by sponsoring major events such as KODE5 and a case modding competition. They have also won awards such as the iF product design award.

Features & Specifications

Features

• FreeForm™ Modular System
• Cooler Master’s FreeForm™ Modular System allows for complete customization of the case, both inside and out. You can customize, adjust and upgrade the case over time, instead of replacing it.
• Discreet Air Vents
• Air vents on the four corners provide ventilation for the case. However, pop up the top and pop out the front panel to increase airflow through the case.
• Flush I/O
• USB and audio ports are hidden by a cover that blends with the top panel, to give the top a seamless look.
• Cable management, at the back of the case?
• Back cover for extra cable hiding. Fit your cables into the holes of the rear cover a better look and better cable management.
• Two LED colors to choose from
• The MasterCase Pro 6 comes in 2 versions:
  • Blue LED fan & strip
  • Red LED fan & strip

Packaging & Unboxing

The front packaging shows off the front of the case as well as the inside.

Like other products in Cooler Masters “Master” line-up of products, the packaging is beautiful. On the front of the box, they have the Cooler Master “Make It Yours” logo. Below that is the MASTERCASE PRO 6 product branding. Along the bottom, they make note of the FreeForm modular system and its motto, “Customize, Adjust, Upgrade.” To the right of the package, there is a depiction of the front of the MasterCase Pro 6. To the left and behind the product branding, you get a glimpse of the internals of the chassis.

Three of the packaging shows a blown-out view of the MasterCase Pro 6, a description of the freeform modular system and a list of the main features of the case in several languages.

The right side of the box has a depiction of the MasterCase Pro six. This is also where you find out the color of the LEDs either red or blue.

The left side of the packaging lists the specifications for the case. This is also one spot where you can find the UPC code, model number and serial number.

The rear of the package is packed with information. On the top left corner, you find the MASTERCASE PRO 6 product branding. Below the MasterCase Pro 6 product branding, we find a brief description of what the freeform modular system is. On the top right corner, we find the Cooler Master “Make It Yours” logo. Below that is a blown-out diagram of the MasterCase Pro 6. Along the bottom, they have the key features of the MasterCase Pro 6 listed in several languages.

The top of the case also displays the UPC code, model and serial numbers. Along with that there is the Cooler Master “Make It Yours” logo, as well as the MasterCase Pro 6 product branding.

The left side of the box lists all the specifications of the MasterCase Pro 6. Above the specifications is the MasterCase Pro 6 branding and the Cooler Master “Make It Yours logo.” Near the bottom as we find the UPC code, model and serial numbers. The UPC code, model and serial numbers are also on top of the box, along with the Cooler Master Make It Your logo and MasterCase Pro 6 branding. The right side has the logo and product branding above a depiction of the MasterCase Pro 6. The right side also tells you whether the case has red or blue LEDs.

When the box was first opened, it revealed handles to a very large bag

The MasterCase Pro 6 comes with a very convenient, and large carrying bag. This is a great touch and made removing the case from the box much easier. Good call Cooler Master!

The MasterCase Pro six comes wrapped in a foam bag impact in hard form.

When I first open the package, I was amazed to see a very large gray bag with the actual case inside. The bag has two handles to make it very easy to remove the case from the box. Once removed from the box, you see that the carrying bag also has the cooler master logo printed on the side. Inside the bag, we find the MasterCase Pro 6 with hard form strapped around the case. The hard form in this packaging was fully intact not cracked or broken at all. This tells me that the case was handled with care during shipping. This is also a plus for system builders who ship completed builds because the same form can be used again. When the hard form is broken, it is essentially useless. Once the form is removed you find the MasterCase Pro 6 wrapped in protective a Styrofoam wrapping. The acrylic side panel has protective film on either side, in the accessories are packed in a small box in one of the 3.5” bays.

The accessory box comes conveniently stored in a 3.5” bay.

The accessory box is rather small, about the size of your average hard drive.

The accessory box contains the ties, all screws and standoffs, 2 moles to 3-pin fan adapters.

A Closer Look: Exterior

The MasterCase Pro 6 has a simple, but beautiful design.

Much like other cases in the MasterCase lineup, the MasterCase Pro 6 is simply beautiful. One of the main features of the MasterCase Pro 6, is Cooler Masters freeform modular system. This gives users the ability to upgrade their case over time, as opposed to replacing the case. With accessories, such as a tempered glass side panel, universal graphics card holders, horizontal SSD cages, vertical graphics card holder and SSD trays, you can truly make the MasterCase Pro 6 yours. Essentially every part of the interior is removable. This includes the hard drive bays, SSD trays and more.

The back panel sits flush with the rest of the case and looks simple, yet sleek.

You can see the air vents on the front part of the case. You can also see the lid to reveal the front panel I/O.

The lid to the front panel I/O is held in place by a magnet and has a rubber hinge. The front panel consists of the power and reset button, audio in and out, two USB 3.0 in the hard drive indicator light.

This picture shows the top panel raised, with the discrete air vents opened.

Both front and the back of the case, there is ventilation for airflow. However, both the top panel in front panel pop up and out to reveal discrete air vents. When these bins are open it greatly helps increase airflow through the system. On the top panel, near the front of the case, underneath a small flap is where you find the front panel I/O for the case. The I/O consists of two USB three, audio in and out jacks, power and reset button, as well as the hard drive indicator light. When open the lid to the flush I/O folded back to reveal a rubber hinge. This rubber hinge is a great feature and will prevent the lid from breaking off. When you close lid is held in place by small magnets and you can hardly tell it’s there.

The front and side panels can fold out and stay in place.

The front panel folds down to reveal to 5.25” bays, the four magnets that hold the front panel in place and allow the discrete air vents to open, as well as a mesh panel that covers the 2 x 140 mm fans that come pre-installed on the front of the case. The front panel can be completely removed to greatly improve airflow. However, I feel the MasterCase Pro 6 looks much better with the front panel installed. When the front panel is removed though, you can see the pre-installed LED strips that come with the MasterCase Pro 6.

The MasterCase Pro 6 comes with either red or blue LED strips installed on the bottom of the front panel.

The MasterCase Pro six with the front and side panel removed. Along the bottom, you can see the blue LED strips that come installed.

Here’s one of the magnets that hold the front panel in place and allow for it to pop up to reveal the discrete air vents.

With the front mesh panel removed you see the 2 x 140 mm fans that come installed.

Moving around to the rear of the case, you see a single 140-mm fan preinstalled, seven expansion slots in the mounting bracket for your power supply. One of my favorite features of the MasterCase Pro 6 must be the back cover. This back cover not only covers up all the thumbscrews for the side panels, but it also gives you a place for cable management on the rear of the case. This is an excellent feature in allows for a very clean build. All the cables can be tucked into the side of the back panel and hardly even seen. When the back panel is removed, you have access to the dust filter underneath the power supply. This case also has a removable power supply bracket. This allows you to remove the power supply from the rear of the case, without having to remove the back-side panel. The rear exhaust fan has tracks for the screws as opposed to just holes. This allows you to install either a 140-mm fan, or a 120-mm fan and adjust its height on the back of the case. If you are running an air cooler, you could potentially adjust the exhaust fan to line up perfectly with the fans on the cooler.

Here you can clearly see the tracks for both 140 and 120 mm fans.

Here you see the rear of the case with the back cover on.

With the back cover removed you have access to the dust filter under the power supply.

The MasterCase Pro 6 as a removable power supply bracket.

There is also a removable dust filter underneath the power supply.

The dust filter can be completely removed for easy cleaning.

A Closer Look: Interior

The interior of the MasterCase Pro 6 is very spacious and easy to work in.

One of my favorite things about all the MasterCase cases is just how customizable the interior is. How often have you purchased a case that you love the look of only to find out that there are hard drive bays that are just in the way. This is not an issue with any of the cases in the MasterCase line up from Cooler Master due to their freeform modular system. If something is in the way, does a very good chance you can remove or just move it.

The interior of the case is very spacious and easy to work in.

There is a mid-plate that divides the basement for the power supply in the motherboard tray. On top of this mid plate there are two SSD sleds that come preinstalled.

Below the mid plate there is a track to hold the power supply in place and raise it above the vent just a bit.

Also below the mid plate are 2 x 3.5”/ 2.5” bays which are both removable.

Above the mid plate there are another 3 x 3.5”/2.5” bays. The height on these bays can be adjusted using the track on the back of the case or they can be removed altogether. The 2 x 5.25” bays are also removable.

There are two tracks that the removable hard drive bays slot into. One on the rear of the case in the other on the front where the drives screw into the track.

There are several rubber grommets for cable management. There are three along the motherboard tray as well as to on the mid plate. This gives you plenty of cable management to make your build nice and clean. Next to the rubber grommets for drive bays and other accessories. This track is where you would also install [the hard drive support bracket. Closer to the front of the case is another track in which accessories such as hard drive bays will screw into. This allows you to place them where is convenient for you. For example, if you have a longer than average graphics card you can either lower or just remove these bays. The 5.25” bays are also removable. This could allow you to install a taller than average reservoir, if doing a custom loop. In this case is perfect for a custom loop. With support for up to 280 mm radiator in the front, 280 mm radiator in the top, and a 140-mm radiator near the exhaust, there is plenty of room for cooling.

This case came with a single blue LED 140 mm fan installed in the exhaust.

The top panel, like the front, is held on by magnets on Springs. There is also a removable bracket that can hold up to a 280-mm radiator, or two 140 mm fans.

Here you see the magnets on Springs that hold the top panel in place and allow the discrete air vents to open.

The removable radiator bracket as for thumbscrews attached. This prevents you from losing the thumbscrews when the bracket is removed.

Here you see the radiator bracket removed from the case. Instead of having just fan holes, it has tracks. This allows you to adjust the placement of the fans or radiator if need be.

Here you can see the top of the case with the radiator bracket removed.

The piece a test that looks like a handle is the rear air vent.

With the top panel removed you can see the removable radiator bracket. This bracket makes installing either fans or radiator much easier. There are four thumbscrews at either corner of the bracket that you unscrew to simply remove bracket. I must say, that installing the H220 X2 I used in this build was a breeze. There is one thing I hate is trying to install a radiator, with fans in a push configuration at the top of the case. The removable bracket at the top of the MasterCase Pro 6 made this process simple and much less time-consuming.

The rear of the MasterCase Pro 6 is spacious and great for cable management.

The front of the interior of the case is great. However, behind the motherboard tray of the case can make or break the case. I’m happy to say that the rear of the MasterCase Pro 6 is great for cable management with plenty of room to tuck cables away as well as plenty of little loops for zip ties. I must say that my favorite feature, along with the preinstalled Velcro straps, is the track that the front panel cables come tucked into. There was also plenty of room for any other cables I installed to be tucked into this trap as well.

Here you can see the track designed for tucking cables into on the back of the motherboard tray. This is possibly my favorite feature of any case ever. I hope going forward all Cooler Master cases, or cases in general, implement this or something similar.

The motherboard tray has a very large cutout. This will prevent you from having to remove the motherboard to swap back plates for coolers.

A Closer Look: The Build

System Specs

• AORUS X270 Gaming 5 Motherboard
• AMD RYZEN 7 1800x
• 16 GB G.SKILL RIPJAWS V DDR4 2400 MHz
• GIGABYTE XTREME GAMING GTX 1080
• CORSAIR RM750 PSU
• SWIFTECH H220 X2 DRIVE SERIES AIO COOLER
• 240 GB PATRIOT HELLFIRE NVME M.2 SSD

As I previously mentioned, building in this case was great. Very spacious and easy to move around in, with plenty of cable management room behind the motherboard tray. The removable radiator bracket on the top of the case made installing my all-in-one cooler a breeze. Overall, I’d have to say this was the best mid tower chassis I’ve had the privilege to build and in the 23 years I’ve been building computers. I’ve even built in full power cases that gave me more difficulty than this mid tower. The fans that came preinstalled are excellent. They’re very quiet and move plenty of air. Overall this system at idle ran in around 32 dB in around 40 or so while gaming. Keep in mind that this was with the discrete air vents open. Due to the lack of temperature probes and third-party monitoring support for RYZEN, I was unable to get an accurate temperature reading.

The I/O shield stepped in very easily with almost no force.

The MasterCase Pro 6 comes with mounting holes for ATX, MATX, and Mini- ITX motherboards.

I use the 240gb Patriot Hellfire NVME SSD as the boot drive in the RYZEN 7 1800x as the processor.

I chose the Swiftech H220 X2 as the cooler, because I had an AM4 mounting bracket for it.

I used a 240-mm all-in-one cooler for this build. However, there is support for up to a 280-mm radiator.

There’s plenty of room for cable management in the rear of the case.

I was very happy with how the completed build came out.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

There is no doubt in my mind, that the MasterCase Pro 6 lives up to the name. Like other cases in the MasterCase lineup, the MasterCase Pro 6 is a privilege to work in. You can tell that there was plenty of thought and time put into the development of this case. It’s simple yet beautiful design will look great in a modern competition, on a gamers desk, or even in an office environment. With the amount of customization you can do to this case could have everything from a dual custom loop to a massive file server full of hard drives. There are few cases with this many options. With an array of accessories that you can buy to add on, the MasterCase Pro 6 has the potential to be the last case you could ever buy. At the time og writing this review, there is no Amazon or Newegg listing of this case. We do know that this case is coming in at a price of $159.99, and you will pay a premium for the MasterCase Pro 6. However, with the amount of potential this case has, I personally think it’s an excellent price. The MasterCase Pro 6 is at this point, at the top of my best case of 2017 list. For that in many other reasons that have been listed in this review, I’m very happy to award the Cooler Master, MasterCase Pro 6 the Proclockers “Editor’s Choice Award” this is hands down, one of, if not the best mid-tower case I’ve ever built a system in. If you’re in the market for a new case in 2017, do yourself a favor and pick up the MasterCase Pro 6. You will not be disappointed.

The blue LED strip on the front of the case looks great when illuminated. As does the fan at the exhaust.

Introduction

System Builders often face a tough choice: Lots of flexibility from a huge case, or small size with a very limited feature set. What if you can’t dump half your salary into a build right out of the gate, but want to upgrade down the road like add a 2^nd GPU and eventually water cool? Well you could get a big case, and leave most of it unused, but hey, at least you have options later on right? Probably not the best idea and will probably not look all that great, but if you go with a more compact case, maybe you won’t have anywhere to put a radiator later on.

Seeing the above dilemma, Fractal Design’s Swedish engineers have stuffed a huge list of features into a chassis occupying a measly 1.3 cubic feet of space on your desk. Sound dampened panels for a quiet build? Check. Integrated Power supply cover? Check. Elegant brushed metallic finish? Yes. Filtered fan intakes? Yes. Smooth top panel? Yup. Radiator mounting locations? Several. Windowed side panel? If you wish. Looks like the Define C has about anything anyone could really want, plus some things you didn’t even know you needed.

Today we have the Fractal Design Define C – Window on hand, courtesy of our friends over at Fractal Design to check out and see why this might be your next case. Thanks Fractal for sending this over to us to check out!

Fractal’s Take on the Define C

So many cases on the market today are made to be all things to all people. However, for many this results in a chassis full of empty bays, unused mounts and excess bulk. Created for those who demand a flexible platform for a powerful ATX build that wastes no space, the Define C is the perfect solution to satisfy this balance of capacity and efficiency.

Smaller than the usual ATX case, the Define C and its optimized interior provides the perfect base for users. The open air design offers unobstructed airflow across your core components with high performance and silent computing in mind at every step.

Extensive cooling support via both air and water are offered to make sure even the most powerful systems can be cooled effectively. Carrying signature Define series traits, the Define C brings with it that iconic front panel design, dense sound dampening material throughout and ModuVent technology in the top panel. Those wanting to remove the ModuVent to add more fans or a radiator can install in its place the new magnetic dust filter and a built in power supply shroud helps offer an unmatched level of cable management.

Our team of engineers in Sweden made sure performance without restrictions was paramount. With innovative design, the Define C brings your system together in a truly exquisite way, reminding us why we choose Fractal Design.

About Fractal Design

Fractal Design was founded in 2007by Hannes Wallin in Gothenburg Sweden where its headquarters remain today. All of its products are designed and engineered in Sweden with true Scandinavian style and efficiency. Scandinavian designs are characterized by simplicity, minimalism and functionality that all can afford, and this is embodied with the silent and sleek enclosures of the signature DEFINE series of cases.  With only a few dozen employees, Fractal Design has grown into a well-known worldwide hardware manufacturer of computer cases, power supplies, fans and water coolers and has offices in North America and Asia.

Features & Specifications

Specifications

• ATX, Micro ATX and ITX motherboard compatibility
• 7 expansion slots
• 2 - 3.5" HDD positions; 3 - 2.5" dedicated SSD unit positions
• 7 - Fan positions (2 Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP12 120mm fans included)
• Filtered fan slots in the front, top and bottom (ejects from the front of the case)
• CPU coolers up to 168mm in height
• ATX PSUs up to 175mm deep
• Graphics cards up to 315mm in length with front fans mounted 
• 15 - 35mm of space for cable routing behind the motherboard plate
• Velcro straps included for easy cable management
• Both side panels and rear HDD/SSD brackets feature smart captive thumbscrews
• Dense sound dampening material on front, left and right side panels
• ModuVent™ on top of case for further silent computing or additional ventilation
• Colors available: Black
• Case dimensions (LxWxH): 399 x 210 x 440mm
• Case dimensions - with feet/protrusions/screws: 413 x 210 x 453mm
• Net weight: 6.8 kg
• Package dimensions (LxWxH): 543 x 290 x 484mm
• Package weight: 8.4 kg

Key features

• Define Series sound dampening with ModuVent™ technology for silent operation in a compact micro ATX form factor
• Optimized for high airflow and silent computing
• Side and front panels are lined with industrial-grade sound dampening material
• Flexible storage options with room for up to 5 drives
• Comes with two preinstalled Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-12 120 mm fans optimized to deliver maximum airflow while still maintaining a low noise level
• Open air designed interior creates an unobstructed airflow path from the front intake to the rear exhaust                                                
• Easy-to-clean high airflow nylon filters on the front and base with full PSU coverage and front access for convenience.
• Includes optional top filter to prevent dust buildup when ModuVent is removed for additional fan slots.
• Power supply shroud conceals drive cage and excess cabling for an even quieter and cleaner looking interior free of airflow obstructions

Cooling System

• Front: 3 – 120 or 2 - 140 mm fans (includes 1 Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP12 fan)
• Rear: 1 – 120 mm fan (includes 1 Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP12 fan)
• Top: 2 - 120/140 mm fan (not included)
• Bottom: 1 – 120 mm fan (not included)
• Dust filters: Bottom, top and front intakes

Water cooling compatibility - Radiators

• Front – 360, 280, 240, 140 and 120 mm. Max width 144 mm
• Top – 240 and 120 mm radiators. Max component height on motherboard 40mm
• Rear – 120 mm. Max width 125 mm

Front interface

• 2 USB 3.0
• Audio in/out
• Power button with LED
• HDD activity LED
• Reset button

Package contents

• Define C computer case
• User manual
• Accessory box
• Optional top filter

Additional information

• EAN/GTIN-13: 7350041084310
• UPC: 817301014311
• Product code: FD-CA-DEF-C-BK-W
• Available for System Integrators

Packaging and Unboxing

Fractal uses only black ink on a cardboard box, but still manages to get a picture of the case right in the middle of the front of the box. The Define C label occupies the top right corner opposite the Fractal Design on the top left.
The stripe across the lower edge of the box starts with the Fractal Snowflake, and ends with “Windowed Side Panel Edition” as well as Fractal’s website.

The rear of the box is take up with some quick features in a few languages and an exploded view of the case. The top and bottom of this side is a mirror image of the front.

One side of the box has a list of specifications and cooling support.

The other end has a small picture of the case that was partially covered by the sipping label, and the UPC’s for several regions.

Opening the box up, we find the case wrapped in a plastic bag, and cradled on both ends by heavy Styrofoam.

The foam blocks are over an inch think and fully wrap around both ends of the case, top and bottom. Hard to get much better shipping protection than this. Now let’s dive in and check this case out!

Closer Look – Outside

Fractal Design’s Define C Windowed edition has a very sleek exterior. This edition has a large window covering most of the left side of the case, and it is protected by a scratch resistant film for shipping.

The front I/O panel is along the top front edge of the case for easy access without breaking up the smooth front of the case.

The front panel is a monolithic slab of brushed aluminum and is completely unbroken by things like buttons and drive bays. There is one small notch in the top for the power indicator LED.

The right side of the case has a smooth door, and the front panel is vented to this side for air intake.

The left side of the case in this version is largely a single window, but the front panel is also vented on this side as well for plenty of airflow into the case or to the front radiator if you install one.

The rear shows a typical ATX layout with 7 expansion slots, an ATX power supply at the bottom, and a 120mm fan space. The fan space is slotted so the fan can be moved up and down, which may be required to fit an All in One Liquid cooler’s larger radiator. The power supply mounts to a bracket that allows it to be slid into the case under the floor of the main chamber, and can be installed either direction so that the fan can face the vent in the bottom of the case for proper air flow.

The bottom of the case is covered in one large air filter that can be slid out for cleaning and for fan and pump mounting on the bottom of the case.

With the filter slid out of the front, you can see the PSU intake area, as well as the mounting screws for the lower removable drive tray. Fans and pumps can easily be mounted in this area as well and be protected from dust via the filter.

With such a large filter, the case feet are notched to allow the filter to slide in from the front of the case.

Out of the box, the top of the case is fully closed via the ModuVent system. This sound dampening foam covered panel closes the top of the case and helps keep this system very quiet if desired, but can be removed if additional cooling is needed.

If you do need the top open for cooling, a magnetic dust filter is included to cover it, and still provides a sleek look to the case.

Closer Look – Inside

Two thumbscrews later, the left panel pops right off and we get our first look at the inside of the Fractal Design Define C.
The inside of the window is also equipped with a scratch resistant film. Two Fractal 120mm fans are inside, one front and one back.

Two more thumbscrews loosened gives us access to the right side of the case. This smooth panel is coated in sound dampening foam similar to the ModuVent on the top. The magnetic fan filter is in a bag clinging to the rear of the motherboard tray on this side.

Three reusable Fractal branded Velcro straps manage the bundle of front panel cables. A box of accessories is in one of the removable 3.5” hard drive trays in the lower compartment.

The Fractal Design cable management straps are very long and can accommodate quite a few cables. This is a very nice touch.

The removable drive trays can accommodate 2.5” or 3.5” drives and come with vibration dampening grommets for 3.5” drives as can be seen here in black.

The front and back of the accessory box that was in the drive tray has the case listed on the front, and a breakdown of exactly what this incudes on the rear of the box. It’s a small detail, but it’s nice to know what’s inside.

Opening the box up, we find exactly what was listed. Motherboard standoffs and screwdriver adapter, plenty of drive screws for all possible drive types, and few zip ties for cable management.

After we remove the bag with the top vent filter, we get a good look at the bracket that holds up to three 2.5” drives. Combined with the lower trays, this makes the drive mounting locations go up to 5 drives.

The bracket is held to the motherboard tray with a single thumbscrew.

The two fans included with the case are both Fractal dynamic X2 GP-12 fans rated for up to 1200RPM, 12v and 0.18A. These are 3-pin fans.

Below the front fan, there is a removable panel in the PSU cover. Taking this out gives you room to install up to a 360mm radiator in the front of the case and/or a pump and reservoir.

To access the screws for the cover, you’ll have to take the front panel off. It pulls straight off, but you probably need to pull the lower fan filter out first as it slides into the front panel. In this picture, the fan filter is holding the front panel upright.

With the lower filter out of the way, we can remove the front cover and get our first look at the front fan filter. Yup, there are up to THREE filters on this case.

Unclipping the front filter gives you access to the front fan/radiator mounting location.

The last thing we want to look at inside is the Front I/O connections. You get the standard I/O including drive and power LED’s, as well as power and reset switches. A standard HD-Audio connection and a single USB 3.0 header round it out.

System Build

Specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-5960X
• Mobo: MSI X99A Gaming Pro Carbon
• RAM: 32GB G.skill TridentZ RGB 3200Mhz
• GPU: 3x EVGA GTX980 SC
• PSU: Corsair RM1000
• Case: Fractal Design Define C Window Edition

As we plan to water cool this build, we removed the lower drive cage and front cover.

With the ram and CPU installed, we mounted the motherboard in the case after installing the proper standoffs.

With the board installed, we plugged in all the cables to the motherboard we can. The front USB 3.0 header lines up perfectly with the angled cable pass-troughs in the motherboard tray and makes for a very clean looking installation.

The front I/O header and HD Audio plug also come through holes nearby and this keeps wiring in the front compartment minimal and very clean.

Next was throwing all of the water-cooling gear inside the case. The Fractal fans were relocated to the top, and the rear fan location and front radiators were cooled with Corsair ML120 fans. Sliding the PSU in and connecting all of the cables was a breeze.

With triple GPU’s, RGB lighting, and a full system, there were tons of cables to deal with, but Fractal made this quite easy with the front area with the Velcro straps. You can’t really see it here, but an EKWB D5 pump is

mounted in the lower area and doesn’t leave as much room for cables, especially after the radiator is installed. Two SSD’s were mounted to the rear mounting plate, but a 3^rd could easily be installed here as well.

With everything installed, it’s time to power it on. With RGB ram and RGB lighting strips courtesy of the Corsair Pro Lighting Node, this system can get quite colorful. With the front filter removed, the 3 fans for the

front 360mm radiator were installed on the outside of the case under the front cover. It might not look like it in the pictures. But there is plenty of room between them and the front panel for good air flow.

Last but not least is putting the case sides back on. With a hidden PSU, and plenty of cable well thought out cable management, it’s easy to throw a very clean and tidy looking system together in the Fractal Design Define C Case.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Simple. Functional. Affordable. Some might be put off by the lack of front drive bays, but if you don’t require them for your build, you would be hard pressed to find a case this small with such a large feature set. Every single detail of the Fractal Design Define C is well thought out, and it’s hard to believe something so small and affordable can cater to so many different build types. You can build a small and extremely quiet build with nearly full case sound dampening, or stuff a high powered fully water cooled build into the same 1.3 Cubic foot box. That alone is pretty wild and about unmatched by anything else on the market. You wouldn’t think the simple snap in ModuVent would make that much of a difference, but it does when coupled with the sound dampening Fractal installed almost everywhere they could.

Overall build quality is top notch. There are no sharp edges, and the case is lightweight but still rock solid with no flex. Front I/O cables seem to be the perfect length, there was no issues reaching the required ports on the motherboard, but there wasn’t 3 foot of slack do deal with either when it came time to tidy up the wiring.  It took about an hour and a half to put this system together, and a good chunk of that was just the water cooling. Bending rigid tubing and filling the system took far longer than putting everything else together.

The Fractal Design Define C Window IS available from your favorite retailers for about $90, so if you are in the market for a small but highly flexible chassis for your next build, look no further! Great Job Fractal!

Introduction

Cooler Master’s MasterBox Lite 5 is an entry level, no nonsense chassis that brings the class leading flexibility and customization options of its higher end MasterBox siblings to the mainstream builder. Can a flexible interior configuration, sleek mirrored exterior, interchangeable colored trims, liquid cooling support, and a fully transparent side panel really be affordable and ‘mainstream’? If so, what corners had to be cut to do so? We’ll dive in and see what a long history of making computer chassis’ does for you when you want to re-define the entry level case market.

Pro Clockers would like to thank Cooler Master for sending the MasterBox Lite 5 to us to check out!

About Cooler Master

“We're all about the things that make building a PC such a rewarding experience. The sense of achievement. The joy of making and creating something uniquely yours in form and function. The freedom that comes from complete control. And of course, the thrill of bringing your creation to life without melting your components”

Cooler Master is a computer hardware manufacturer from Taiwan. Founded in 1992, the company is an aftermarket brand for computer chassis, PSU, coolers, cooling pads, and other accessories. Aside from their own aftermarket cooling solutions, Cooler Master is also an OEM vendor for different brand names such as Nvidia, AMD and EVGA. They produce GPU coolers, CPU coolers and Heatsinks for the various companies. In recent years, the company expanded its brand exposure into gaming communities by sponsoring major events such as KODE5 and a case modding competition. They have also won awards such as the iF product design award.

Features and Specifications

Packaging and Unboxing

The Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 5 comes in a plain brown box with depictions of the side and front of the case in black on the brown cardboard box. The Cooler Master logo adorns the top left-hand corner of the box.

The rear of the box gives a mission statement of sorts about the MasterBox Lite 5, as well as some features in several languages taking up half of the rear.

Both ends of the box list important information, specifications on one end, and features on the other.

After seeing some signs of shipping distress on the box, we worried just a bit about the condition of the case inside. Opening the top flaps, we see the case is actually suspended in the middle of the box via two large Styrofoam blocks around each end of the case.  This should protect it from all but the most zealous of loading dock soccer players.

Pulling the case out of the box, it’s pretty quickly apparent the packaging did its job and protected the case.

The chassis is also wrapped in a plastic bag within the Styrofoam blocks.

With the blocks and bag removed, we find the entire front and window side panel covered in heavy scratch resistant film. The rough handling in shipping has dislodged a small brown cardboard box inside, but we’ll get to it in just a bit.

A Closer Look – Outside

The right-side panel of the Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 5 is a smooth black panel with no notable features. With most of the business end of the case covered in scratch film, we’ll have to peel it off to get a good look.

That’s better! With the film gone, we see now the need for it. The left side panel and front are huge panes of highly glossy plastic with a mirror smooth finish.

The Front of the case is made of one single piece of mirror finish glossy plastic with 2 angles that provide an imposing stance when viewed head on. The familiar Cooler Master logo is front and dead center, about a third of the way up from the bottom.

The front panel I/O ports are on an angle along the top. Power button, reset button, 3.5mm audio jacks, and dual USB 3.0 (type-A) make up the front. There is a disk activity light on the right edge, as well as the power light in the middle of the power button provide your status indication.

By default the case come with a striking red trim on the top and bottom of the front, but 2 included sets of trims let you change it out to white, shown here…

…or black if either of them fit your theme better.

The bottom of the case really shows off the trim on the lower side of the front. The trim also acts as a filtered intake for cooling. The PSU intake grill is also filtered.

The lower trim is also made to have imposing angles that give this case a subtle and but still aggressive stance. Note here also in this shot 2 of the four skid-resistant rubber feet.

The lower filter for the PSU intake is a flexible mesh that pops in under a few fingers stamped into the case near the rear two case feet.

The rear of the case shows a pretty typical ATX layout. The lower PSU mount with removable bracket lets you slide the PSU into and out of the case easily from the exterior via two thumbscrews. Seven I/O slots below the motherboard I/O area are standard, as is the 120mm fan mount next to it. The rear fan mount features slotted mounting holes allowing a 120mm Radiator to be positioned as needed inside, handy for all-in-one style liquid coolers.

A Closer Look – Inside

The side window of the Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 5 is the entire panel, can it can be removed from the case with 4 thumbscrews through rubber grommets and is also padded by a few pieces of rubber around the edges. Inside is a small brown box that contains the black and white color trim pieces that can be swapped with the stock red ones.

The front panel comes off by simply pulling the bottom firmly, than popping it off. We also noticed here the front panel is transparent, not opaque, so we might have to use LED fans in a bit when we put a system in this case.

Inside the box inside the case is the white and black trim pieces to replace the stock red ones.

The upper trim piece near the front I/O panel is held in place with 2 small screws.

The lower trim is held in place with 4 screws.

The lower trim has a filter screen that you need to move to the new trim before reinstallation onto the panel.

The main chamber of the case follows a standard ATX layout. A permanent ‘basement’ or power supply shroud divides off part of the case for this purpose as well as keeping everything looking great.

The main chamber also comes with a single 2.5” drive tray that can be mounted in 2 locations along the motherboard tray near the front, or 2 locations on top of the basement cover if you have a larger cooler in the front that might block the view of your favorite SSD.

Two thumb screws let you remove the right-side case panel. The cables are bundled in the basement via a baggie that is tied to them. Inside the bag are a few zip ties, some screws, and standoffs for the motherboard and drives. A few twist ties keep everything in place for shipping.

The cables for the front I/O panel are standard, a single USB 3.0 header, an HD-Audio header, and small connectors for power and reset switches as well as power and disk activity lights.

The opposite side of the case gives you access to the lower chamber, as well as a pair of drive trays. There is a good amount of space behind the motherboard tray for wire management, as well as a huge number of stamped loops for tying bundles of cables down with zip-ties. The loops are even wide enough to use Velcro straps if you move things around often.

Both lower drive trays can be removed with no tools and support either tool free installation of 3.5” drives, or screwing down 2.5” drives.

Cooler Master’s tool free trays are pretty slick, there are fixed pins that line up with the outer most sets of holes in the middle of the drive, which is great as some drives come with only these holes and forego the middle set of mounting holes.

How do you install a 3.5” drive in a rigid tray when the mounting pins are fixed? Cooler Master has an ingenious sliding mechanism that allows the tray to expand just enough to pop a drive in.

If you press the center tap, the tray slides a few millimeters. Then, just slide the tray back closed around the drive until it latches again.

The lower chamber also has 4 raised areas under the power supply to support it, with a rubber pad on each to prevent scratching of the PSU, as well as absorb any vibrations from its fan to keep things quiet. An intake area with a filter feed your PSU all the fresh air it needs.

The case comes with a single Cooler Master 120mm fan for exhaust.

System Build and Installation

Components

CPU – Intel Core i7-7700k

Motherboard – ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Impact

GPU – EVGA GTX 1070 SC

Ram – G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200Mhz 2x8GB

PSU – Corsair RM1000

SSD – Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB

CPU Cooling – Cooler Master MasterLiquid 120

Case – Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 5

RGB – Corsair Lighting Node Pro Kit + HD120 RGB Fan 3-pack

The Cooler Master MasterCase Lite 5 is an absolute breeze to build in. After rounding up all of the parts, we were able to completely install the system in about 20 minutes.

Connecting cables to the PSU required us to slide the PSU out the back of the case a bit, but thanks to the easy removal design, this wasn’t a big deal at all. Even with almost every cable connected running up the motherboard tray in one bundle, there is plenty of room to put the side panel on with no issues. The front I/O cables are plenty long to reach anywhere on about any build, so you won’t have to worry about those.

And now for our favorite part, first power up! There is plenty of room left, so we could easily have used a full size ATX board and a larger all-in-one cooler or even a 360mm radiator on a custom loop.

The clear front panel just begs the use of LED fans and while it looks solid with nothing on, one you power on the RGB LED’s, it’s just gorgeous.

And with the transparent side panel reinstalled, you can see everything in the main chamber still, as well as all of the lighting.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Cooler Master’s MasterBox Lite 5 sets the bar so high for mainstream cases, we almost have to wish everyone else luck. It isn’t really obvious from the specifications or packaging the front panel is actually transparent, but for any lighting aficionados, it’s going to be a welcome surprise. If you like to stay low-key, it looks pretty much opaque albeit very glossy and reflective without backlighting. The clear side panel provides a great view of anything you want seen in the main chamber of the case, but ample room behind the motherboard tray and the basement of the case provide plenty of room to hide anything you don’t want seen.

Overall build quality is great as usual from Cooler Master and it’s pretty hard to believe you get this level of a case out of a $45 MSRP. The plastic front and side panel are super magnets for dust and fingerprints, which also scuff and scratch fairly easily being plastic.  You’ll want to keep a microfiber handy if you want to show off your new build when your friends stop by. The interchangeable trims will be a welcome addition to any builder who is getting burnt out on the black and red color scheme. The high level of options should give most builders anything they need. We do wish the lower drive tray set was removeable for those with larger power supplies or someone wanting to use that space for something like mounting a pump. My only other gripe is very minor and won’t affect most people is I would love to have seen a 2nd SSD tray for the main chamber.

If you are in the market for a great looking case and don’t want to have to compromise on your components inside just to fund the case they are going in, you’ll be very hard pressed to find any better than this at this price point. Great Job Cooler Master!

Pros:

• Price
• Interchangeable Trim
• High Internal Visibility
• Cooler Master Quality

Cons:

• Attracts Dust and Fingerprints
• Only One SSD Mounting Tray

Introduction

SilverStone has been one of those brands that’s consistent with build quality and aesthetics through all the series they offer. Gamers and enthusiasts would really find SilverStone cases adequate for any build be it a high-performance gaming PC or truly spectacular modded PC setup. One of their cases that seem to have a good balance of aesthetics and features is the SilverStone Redline Series and today we would be looking at the RL06. Follow us today as we check out the SilverStone RL06 desktop chassis.

The SilverStone RL05

The Redline RL06 was created with the goal of exceeding user experience and expectation for affordable PC chassis. By strengthening the character line of the exterior with simple and detailed styling elements inside and out that traces its roots to the rest of the aggressive Redline series; the RL06 has stunning looks that is often only available on cases costing much more. Functionally, the RL06 does not disappoint with oversized intake mesh panel, top magnetic filter, easily accessible front filter, PSU and drive bay cover, abundant room for cable management, and plethora of fan mounting options. Advanced users will also find support for front, top and rear radiator mounting positions and water tank mounting holes to be highly useful for building liquid cooled PCs.

Watch the product overview video below.

Features and Specifications

• Stunning exterior styling with fine details
• Super clean internal look with PSU and drive bay cover
• Quick access filters for easy cleaning
• Motherboard back plate opening for quick CPU cooler assembly
• All black painted interior for stylish look
• Supports graphics cards up to 13.7" (348mm)

Closer Look - Exterior

The left side features the huge acrylic window that gives a good view inside. SilverStone also offers the RL06 PRO version with a tempered glass side panel.

On to the right is just a plain side panel. Looking on an angle, you can notice the angular front panel design with red trim which is aesthetically appealing for me.

Even on the front view of the front panel, the angular design is still noticeable.

At the rear, there’s a 120mm fan pre-installed inside and the typical orientation wherein the PSU bay is at the bottom.

Going to the bottom of the RL06, case feet of choice is a tall piece of plastic with rubber padding.

The PSU bay does get a removable fan filter which slaps in and out fairly easy.

At the top is a huge ventilation cut out with hexagonal mesh holes with fan mounting holes for 120mm and 140mm fans. There’s magnetic filter that goes on top if you plan to add fans there.

Closer Look – Interior

We strip all the side panels and front panel to see what’s inside.

The interior of the RL06 is quite similar with the RL05 but this has a sleeker design. There’s a spacious front that offers space for AIO or custom liquid cooling hardware. The PSU shroud also gives it a clean look as it hides the cables underneath it.

The rear of the RL06 really offers a lot of options. Unlike the RL05, the RL06 comes with a fan hub with 10 fan headers with three populated with the three 120mm Red LED fans pre-installed in the front. The RL06 comes with four pre-installed fans which is quite lavish already, its actually enough for any kind of built including a high-performance gaming PC with custom liquid cooling.

The PSU bay has adequate space for a typical ATX PSU, I was able to mount a be quiet! Dark Power Pro 850W PSU here to be seen later. There are three 3.5-inch drive bays at the front end of the bottom which receives fresh cooling from the bottom pre-installed fan.

Here’s a look at the fan hub with its 10 output headers, 3 populated for the 3 120mm front fans.

There’s are two 2.5-inch drive bay slots at the back of the chassis for SSDs which is designed better than the RL05. This was easier to use with a much better cable management route.

Behind the front panel is a mounting area for fans, radiators and liquid cooling hardware.

The SilverStone RL06 also gets a nice branding on the PSU shroud, similar to the PM01 chassis.

The top portion of the PSU shroud has routing holes which are ideal for routing the PCIe power cable on your graphics card and for the USB headers and Audio Port headers for the front panel I/O.

20

Build and Installation

We will be doing three different builds with the SilverStone RL06 to highlight its flexibility when it comes to cooling options and its cooling performance based on the three builds. We will do a typical build with air cooling solutions, one with AIO liquid cooling solution and one with custom liquid cooling installed.

Air Cooling Build

Setup and Configuration

• Processor: AMD FX-8370
• Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+
• Cooler: Cryorig H7
• Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast (2x8GB) 2400MHz
• Graphics: MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G
• PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 850W
• Drive: ADATA SU800 Ultimate
• Accessories: Cablemod Sleeved Cable Kit for be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 Series

Using a typical tower CPU air cooler would leave a huge space in front of the case which looks neat. Fresh are from the three front fans flows directly without obstacle to the components inside particularly if you manage to do cable management well.

All-in-One Cooling Build

Setup and Configuration

• Processor: AMD FX-8370
• Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+
• Cooler: Xigmatek Scylla 240
• Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast (2x8GB) 2400MHz
• Graphics: MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G
• PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 850W
• Drive: ADATA SU800 Ultimate
• Accessories: Cablemod Sleeved Cable Kit for be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 Series

As for mounting an all-in-one liquid cooler, mounting it the radiator on top had some issues. The radiator with cooling fans mounted was obstructing with the HyperX Beast memory. The only possible way to mount radiator on top of the chassis is if there are no cooling fans installed. But as for mounting the 240mm radiator in front, I found no issues whatsoever.

Custom Liquid Cooling Build

• Processor: AMD FX-8370
• Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+
• Memory: Kingston HyperX Beast (2x8GB) 2400MHz
• Graphics: ASUS GTX 680 with EKWB Water Block
• PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 850W
• Drive: ADATA SU800 Ultimate
• Accessories: Cablemod Sleeved Cable Kit for be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 Series
• Liquid Cooling:
  
  • Radiator: EKWB CoolStream RAD 240 XTX
  • Pump: EKWB EK-DCP 2.2
  • Reservoir: 150mm Cylindrical Reservoir

Doing a full custom loop for CPU and graphics card was manageable but had to improvise with the pump-reservoir installation. I moved the pre-installed 120mm rear exhaust fan on top of the chassis to fit all liquid cooling hardware given that the 240mm radiator of choice is rather thick. No need to add cooling fans under this configuration. The pre-installed front fans should provide adequate air flow to cool the 240mm radiator.

Rear Cable Management

The RL06 has enough space for good cable management given the routing holes and supports available at the back.

Temperature

Testing Setup

Software:

• PC Mark 8 Pro
• HWMonitor

Drivers:

• AMD 9XX Chipset Driver V17.10
• GeForce Driver V383.33

With the three different builds, we ran PC Mark 8 Pro’s benchmark and acquired the lowest and highest temperature readings using HWMonitor. Ambient temperature around 28C. Let’s see our CPU temperatures below.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

The SilverStone RL06 chassis is a great enthusiast desktop chassis. It offers a little bit of everything that you would find in most premium cases such as the fan hub, aluminum power supply shroud, four pre-installed cooling fans and support for liquid cooling hardware.

Build of the RL06 is exceptional. I find the structure sturdy and aesthetics quite appealing. The included fan grill on top of the chassis needs a revision in my opinion as it rather takes away the good looks of the case somehow. If SilverStone could have included two FF143 fan filters, it would have been perfect but I assume this was to lower the pricing of the chassis.

Perhaps the most selling part of the chassis is the angular design in front that gives it an ‘enthusiast’ feel that doesn’t look ordinary. A huge bonus for me would be the included four pre-installed 120mm fans because with these, you don’t really need to buy more cooling fans to achieve good ventilation unless you plan to purchase some to simply change its appearance or if you don’t like red LEDs. Either way, I find the SilverStone RL06 a complete enthusiast case that’s under $100 which is great.

You can find the SilverStone RL06 in two variants; black/red and white/blue with an MSRP of $74.99.

Likes

• Included four pre-installed fans
• Angular design
• Improved PSU shroud
• Efficient cooling for different build setups

Dislikes

• Could have bundled better fan filters for top panel

Introduction

The desktop chassis is the centerpiece in any desktop PC setup whether it’s for work, casual or gaming use. Aside from the overall visual aspect of your PC, the chassis also determines the amount of hardware you can put in it. Nowadays, enthusiasts and gamers love to highlight their prized high-performance gaming hardware installed inside a case which made tempered glass as side panels as a popular choice. While we can see a lot of these in the market today, one might not have the spare cash to grab when these tend to be on the more expensive end of things. Fortunately, there’s Xigmatek that’s offering such cases at a much cheaper price point. Follow us today as we check out the Xigmatek Prospect ATX chassis, with tempered glass side panels, is priced at just $59 USD.

The Xigmatek Prospect

Features and Specifications

Tempered Exquisitely

Designed for a compact build, yet offers unparalleled control and flexibility, with full cable management options. Elegantly displays the fantastic visible structure inside through the three-panel tempered glass design.

Effective Heat Dissipation

Designed with the option of installing up to five fans in total (2x 120mm front, 2x 120mm top, 1x 80mm rear) to deliver effective airflow which allows air to pass directly across the whole structure and to effectively dissipate heat through the rear exhaust fan and top ventilation.

Advanced Liquid Cooling Compatibility

Compatible with 120mm and 240mm liquid cooling radiators on top for superior cooling performance.

Detachable Dust Filter Mesh

Detachable dust filter mesh on top enables users to easily clean the dust created inside the chassis.

Front Mounted PSU

A smaller form factor case with a front mounted PSU offering more central space to be used for other hardware.

Specifications

Unboxing and Closer Look

The Xigmatek Prospect ATX chassis comes in a typical plain box, nothing fancy coming from this value-oriented tempered glass side panel case.

Inside, you’ll find the Xigmatek Prospect case protected with a sheet of plastic and foam. Xigmatek uses foam instead of Styrofoam which offers better protection and cushion for the case with its fragile tempered glass panels.

Here are angled shots of the Xigmatek Prospect with its three tempered glass side panels. The tempered glass is not clear glass, it features a smoke color which is better in most cases which we will explain and discuss later when we see the entire build.

Since the case’s PSU bay is in front, you can only see the power cable extension cable’s male plug. The topmost PCIe slot is empty but there’s an included shield in the accessory pack.

At the top of the case, you’ll find a set of audio ports, two USB 3.0, a reset button, power button, power LED and HDD LED.

The 240mm mesh area has a magnetic fan filter which you can easily remove and it does stay in place quite nicely.

At the bottom, the front has a hole for the PSU’s rear where it vents out hot air from the power supply. The screw holes on the bottom panel are drive mounting slots. Case feet is also not cheaply built. It’s made of plastic to give it 2cm of elevation from the ground with an anti-slip rubber pad.

Closer Look – Interior

Here’s the interior of the Prospect case. Remember that this case is just 370mm tall and 370mm in length, has to be one of the most compact ATX cases with tempered glass panels available today. This case has a lot of length and width restrictions which will be explained in detail as we go along this review.

It might not be mentioned on the product page but using a PSU longer than 150mm could pose some issues particularly if it’s not modular with all the cables attached. Hence, we will push the limitations of this case beyond its specifications and build the highest-end build we can.

Notice also on the top panel, while there’s space for a 240mm radiator, installing fans along with the radiator could pose issues with the upper-front drive bays unless removed. Fortunately, a slim-type 240mm radiator or those of typical AIOs can fit in easily without any fans installed.

Build and Installation

Like I mentioned earlier, we will push the limitations of this compact ATX case and build the best possible enthusiast-gaming system with the Xigmatek Prospect chassis. We will have two different configurations, one build that maximizes graphics card support and one that maximizes PSU support.

Maximum PSU Support Build

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X299 AORUS Gaming 9
• Processor: Intel i9-7900X
• Memory: Kingston HyperX Predator 2666MHz (4x8GB) Kit
• Graphics Card: Palit GTX 660 Ti
• Drive: MyDigitalSSD BPX 240GB NVMe PCIe SSD
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 850W with CableMod Sleeved Cable Kit
• Cooling: Xigmatek Scylla 240
• Radiator Fans: Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM (slim-type 15mm fan)

Maximum Graphics Card Support Build

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X299 AORUS Gaming 9
• Processor: Intel i9-7900X
• Memory: Kingston HyperX Predator 2666MHz (4x8GB) Kit
• Graphics Card: MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G
• Drive: MyDigitalSSD BPX 240GB NVMe PCIe SSD
• Power Supply: SilverStone ST45SF-G 450W SFX PSU with SilverStone PP05-L Flat Black Cable Kit
• Cooling: Xigmatek Scylla 240
• Radiator Fans: Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM (slim-type 15mm fan)

The layout will get your PSU meet the end of the graphics card particularly when it is long. While you can find ‘mini’ versions of high-end graphics cards today like the GIGABYTE GTX 1080 Mini-ITX 8G, full-sized graphics cards still offer higher factory overclocks and better overclocking headroom with its beefier coolers. Also, the product page doesn’t mention anything about graphics card width limitations but I found out that any card with widths longer than 130mm could have a hard time fitting. The MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X cards, in particular, have widths of 140mm which did require minor case modding to make it fit. That will be featured in the maximum graphics card support build later on this review.

Mounting the power supply is fairly easy and even if the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 850w exceeds the recommended PSU size, it can still be installed. You just need to manage the PSU cables in a tighter space. The disadvantage of using a longer PSU would be blocking most of the airflow from the front intake fans which will affect the cooling inside the chassis. If you prefer a cooler interior, use a smaller power supply. Hence, this would depend on the kind of room temperature you are operating your computer on.

With an ATX power supply installed, you would have around 260mm of space for your graphics card. Also, take note of the 130mm graphics card width limitation I mentioned earlier, that would really be significant if your PCIe power cables are thick and tough which would likely hit the tempered glass panel.

One impressive feat about the Xigmatek Prospect was how it was able to support a 240mm AIO cooler, which in this case is the Xigmatek Scylla 240 AIO cooler. The radiator might come in contact with the PSU extension cable which I had to loosen a bit to give it more room to fit in nicely. Also, standard 25mm thick cooling fans will not fit along with the radiator on the front drive bay area. To solve this problem, we used 15mm slim-type 120mm fans courtesy of the Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM fans. Since it needed smaller screws as well, we just fastened it up with cable ties.

Thanks to the CableMod Sleeved Kit, cabling was much easier compared to using the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10’s stock cables which are stiff and thick.

We can barely route cables are the rear of the Xigmatek Prospect which was limited to thin cables. The 8-pin ATX and the PSU extension cable was routed at the rear of the case.

Now with the graphics card maximum support build. Using a small-form-factor power supply will offer you a longer space for your graphics card. With this, we were able to fit the MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G graphics card. Will the 450W PSU be enough to power an Intel X299 board with a mighty 10-core Intel Core i9-7900X? Let’s find out later.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

The Xigmatek Prospect ATX chassis offers the exquisite view of looking through tempered glass panels. While its compact ATX form factor poses challenges in installing hardware inside, it can still house a mighty gaming-workstation high-end desktop platform-based system with all the glamorous RGB lighting and effects.

Aesthetics and Functions

Without a doubt, the Xigmatek Prospect with its smoked tempered glass side panels offers the best view of hardware installed inside compared to acrylic windowed panels. The two solar eclipse LED fans installed are also nice additions already unless you prefer other brand’s RGB fan offerings. While it doesn’t include a type-C port on the front panel, the two USB 3.0 front panel ports should be enough to give you the high-speed accessible connectivity you need with a variety of devices today.

Layout and Hardware Support

The Xigmatek Prospect isn’t an average chassis with the typical layout. The length and size limitations are significant points to consider in building a system with the case. There are a few sacrifices you can do to maximize support for a certain hardware as illustrated by our build. Still, it is able to house a HEDT platform with a 240mm AIO cooler is impressive considering its compact size. You could even go higher with a small-form-factor GTX 1080/1080Ti graphics card easily with the case. As for the SFX 450W PSU, turns out it can easily power the mighty 10-core, 20-thread i9-7800X with ease with the entire system pulling around 350watts at peak. We were able to write this review, play Fortnite and other games, edit images and run benchmarks with ease.

Temperatures

As for temperatures, the i9-7900X averages around 37C at idle and reaches up to 55C with gaming and other heavy applications like Adobe PhotoShop, with a room temperature of 28C. VRM is quite toasty at 52C but that’s already aided with the GIGABYTE X299 AORUS Gaming 9’s beefy VRM heat sink design that has a single copper heat pipe extending near the rear I/O ports with another heat sink module. The PCH is also toasty at 54C with it controlling the BPX NVMe PCIe SSD installed. The PCH module would be cooler if the PCIe slots are less populated. Our GTX 1060 card could reach temperatures of 55C-60C depending on what’s running but the case seems to provide sufficient airflow for it not to reach critical temperatures. Well, the GeForce GTX 1060 isn’t a power hungry GPU anyway. Could be a different case if we have a GTX 1080/1080Ti installed.

The Xigmatek Prospect chassis has an MSRP of $59.99 USD but prices vary depending on region and availability. This has got to be one of the best value tempered glass chassis that supports up to ATX motherboards. If you like the luxurious look and feel of tempered glass panels without the hefty price tag, the Xigmatek Prospect would be your ideal chassis.

Likes

• Smoke Tempered Glass Panels
• Flexible Hardware Support
• Affordable Price Point

Dislikes

• Hardware Installation Difficulty

Cautions

Graphics Card Width Limitation of 130mm

Introduction

Corsair SPEC-4 TG Chassis Review

Computer cases have gone from generic blond flat cases that a monitor sits on to high tech well designed pieces of art that display our components in an attractive way. Far too many times you look at a computer case that has the wiring features and amenities that you want and the price tag approaches what your CPU cost. We've seen mega towers that run $299 and up and they are grand chassis that will awe and inspire but way out of the price range most end users can afford. Enter the Corsair SPEC-4 TG with an MSRP of $59.99, Tempered smoked glass window that covers the entire side, more wiring amenities than most high dollar chassis even dream of and capable of 120mm and 240mm radiator mounting. That's a lot of chassis for a little money if you ask us. Now we aren't talking mammoth hulk of SECC rolled steel weighing in at 20 pounds without components, the Corsair SPEC-4 TG is made of lightweight aluminum and is a mid-tower class chassis but if you are looking for a wallet friendly chassis with extras then the Corsair SPEC-4 TG fits the bill to a T and lets face it it's Corsair so quality is a given.

We saw the red trim on the case and the included Red fan and what else could we do but a red themed build and Corsair sent us a few extras to make TyRedasaurs Rex shine. We were quite surprised at the full length tempered glass smoked window on a chassis in this price range but hey we aren't going to turn down an expensive feature on a chassis this price.

A Closer Look Exterior

Despite an outer box that shows some wear the chassis is well protected on two foam pads and covered in a lightweight plastic sack and arrived unscathed inside the substantial packaging.

We are liking the big open smoked glass side on the Corsair SPEC-4 TG but it's a good thing the wiring amenities are excellent because there's very little area to hide any wiring that isn't well routed. The distinctive lines and angular design will pull people eyes as they come into the viewing range of the chassis. Notice there's no accommodation for an optical drive in the SPEC-4 TG and that seems to be a trend in the chassis field but we really like to see an optical drive bay. A USB 3 external optical adaptor, open the side of the chassis or transfer files to a USB drive are your options for optical disks. This can be problematic if no machine with an optical drive is in the area. 

Moving to the back side of the Corsair SPEC-4 TG you see a well-raised side that will allow for easy cable routing without having to break out the steam iron to get the side close without bulging. Nothing ruins a good build like a bulging side.

Full on side view the Corsair SPEC-4 TG gives off an aura of much more expensive smoked glass chassis and you get a peek at all the wiring pidgeon holes.

A Closer Look: Interior

With the back panel off we see a good number of well-placed wiring pidgeon holes and a smattering of zip tie positions to keep everything neat. The pigeon holes aren't covered in rubber grommets but we don't expect a chassis at this price to have rubber coverings.

From the Tempered Glass side you can see the single 120mm red led fan that is included with the chassis and if you want a front mounted radiator then you will need to remove the drive cage which can fit three 3 1/2 inch platter drives and a couple of 2 1/2 inch SSD's. The power supply is bottom mounted with a wide pidgeon hole provided right where the wires will need to be routed. The only wires that might need to be routed under the motherboard would be USB and possibly the front panel sound. 

The back shows 7 expansion ports a bottom mounted PSU and the usual I/O plate opening and a 120mm fan opening. If you look close at the bottom there is a removable filter for the PSU so be sure and lay it aside during the build to avoid possible damage to the filter.

The bottom mounted PSU opening should fit most PSU but being a mid-tower chassis you may need to be careful about some of the longer PSU. We wouldn't suspect length to be an issue in a mid-tower usually those don't need watt monster ginormous PSU though we will check it with a watt monster just to be thorough.

The Manual on the Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-04 says that a front mounted 240mm AIO cooler can be mounted but drive bay removal is required. We checked the top fan mounts and a 240mm AIO isn't happening up there so as the manual states you can rear mount a 120mm and front mount a 120mm and a 240mm. Notice to the top left of the image Corsair snuck in a couple of 2 1/2 inch drive mounts so even mounting our 240mm EVGA CLC Cooler we would have room for a couple of SSD's.

Here are the top fan mounts on the Carbide Series SPEC-04 TG case where you can mount a couple of 120mm fans. Even with a 240mm AIO water cooler front mount, you can still mount 3 larger luxury fans, 2 top one rear. The 3 fan arrangement we used was a snug fit and cable routing in the area was easy even with 3 luxury fans.

With the front off the case, you can see the case was tooled for up to 3 front mounted fans but one spot was sacrificed to the front panel connectors and a cable routing shield. Modders might be able to pull that cable routing cowling and mount a fan here and replace the cowling or mount a 240AIO on top in the interior. There is a pigeon hole higher up that you might be able to route the front panel cables through.

We left the front panel connector shot for now so you can see it in relation to the interior cable cowling for those modders with the gears turning in their heads.

Here's the drive cage removed showing the front mounting dual radiator AIO mounting possibilities. The two rear-mounted 2 1/2 inch SSD mounts will be nice in this configuration. The screws on the drive cage maintain it's structure and on removal, the lightweight aluminum twisted a bit but replacing the drive bay was no issue.

Included with the Corsair SPEC-4 TG we found 4 zip ties and enough screws that we added a few to our black screw collection. Corsair tossed in Motherboard mounting screws, drive mounting screws. a ton of black fan mounting screws and 4 long fan mount screws. The included red led Fan also had for long fan mount screws for a total of 8 of those.

Features & Specifications

The specifications chart shows pretty standard amenities for a mid tower and the Tempered Glass side at the $59 MSRP is really what sets this offering apart at this cost. The two rear-mounted 2 1/2 inch drive mounts are mentioned but the three 3 1/2 inch drive bays also have 2 1/2 inch drive slots so the total of hard points to mount 2 1/2 inch drives total 5. You will want to check specifications on any massive tower coolers and the clearance is 170mm so most modern air coolers should fit. We tossed a 1500w Silverstone PSU in the chassis but in all fairness, it is the smallest 1500w PSU made but you shouldn't have any issues with 225mm of PSU clearance. At 370mm length on graphics cards, we are using our EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 W/ICX dual fan card that rocks 269.2mm. Be aware there are cards out there that ring in at 525mm so check your clearances if you plan on a massive card in a mid-chassis.

Graphic Courtesy of Corsair

1. 1x 120mm fans included: Front 120mm LED fan provides excellent cooling. 
2. Front 120/140mm radiator mounts: With mounts for 2 x 120mm fans or 2 x 140mm fans, the front can support a 120/140mm, and with the HDD cage removed, up to 240mm.  
3. Top 120mm fan mounts: The top cover can house 2 x 120mm fans 
4. Up to 370mm clearance for GPUs, 170mm for CPU coolers, and 225mm for PSU: Room for any modern GPU, CPU cooler, and PSU. 
5. Two 2.5” SSD mounts and three 3.5” drive mounts: Easily add or remove 2.5” drives and 3.5” behind the motherboard tray without compromising storage or cooling. 
6. Easy Cable Management: Deep cable routing channel and numerous tie-down points make building a clean system quick and easy. 
7. Front I/O: Recessed front I/O includes: USB 3.0, USB 2.0, power/reset, and headphone/microphone jacks. 

Corsairs take on the Carbide Series Spec-04 TG

The Carbide Series SPEC-04 Tempered Glass combines an angular, hard-edged exterior style with the sophistication of a full tempered glass side panel and excellent cooling potential. The sleek, tempered glass window shows off the roomy interior, which fits up to five 120mm fans and can accommodate massive storage configurations for simple and easy builds. The side-mounted front IO panel and USB 3.0 port put all your connections within easy reach, while dedicated cable routing cutouts and tie downs, and built-in dust filters, combine for a system build that’s as bold as the SPEC-04’s design. 
 
Angular Exterior Design With Tempered Glass Window: The asymmetrical, hard-edged design adds bold styling to your build, while the huge tempered glass window adds sophistication. 
 
Room Up To For Five 120mm Fans: Tons of room for excellent cooling potential with one 120mm red LED front fan pre-installed. 
 
Expansive Storage Space: Easy-to-use mounts for up to three HDD’s and two SDD’s 

Clean, Side IO Panel: Featuring a high-speed USB 3.0 port and additional ports for all modern connections.
  
Cable Routing Cutouts And Tie Downs: Hide your cables behind the motherboard tray to keep your build looking tidy and out of the airflow path for improved cooling.
 
Removable, Built-in Dust Filters: Added layer of protection will keep your components safe and running longer.

The Components & Build

Corsair Components

• Carbide Series Spec-04 TG
• Corsair Lux 70 RGB Keyboard
• Corsair Glaive RGB Mouse
• Corsair ML120 Pro Red LED Fans x 3
• Corsair Vengeance LPX 3733 W/Airflow

Lab Components

• Asus ROG Maximus IX Apex Motherboard
• Intel Core I7 7700k CPU
• Silverstone ST1500-GS 80 Plus Gold
• EVGA RGB 240mm CLC Cooler (240mm AIO Water Cooling)
• EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 ACX Technology

The Build TyRedasaurus Rex

GIven the MSRP of $59 the wiring on the Spec-04 TG was fast and even though we were fighting the ultra heavy cables of a 1500W PSU we had plenty of room for wires and pigeon holes were always close at hand.

We know for $59 you can only expect so much and Corsair definitely gives good bang for your bucks on the Spec-04 TG but we would have easily spent a few more bucks for rubber wiring hole covers which would have made for a more elegant wiring job.

Throw on a couple of well chosen RGB toys like the Corsair K70 Lux and the Glaive Mouse and your gaming rig will get plenty of jealous looks and it's easy to see why we call it TyRedasaurous Rex.

On a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being the easiest build we would give the Spec-04 TG a 9 with half of the missing point smudges and the other half just the nature of Mid-Towers compact size for high end gaming builds.

We kept the MSRP of the Spec-04 TG under wraps and we ask anyone who stopped and oogled it how much they thought it cost and most guesses were north of $100 so Corsair put the bank for buck factor in this beauty. Response to the Spec-04 was a pretty universal beautiful rig comment and we couldn't be happier with the look and ease of installation. 

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Coming in at an MSRP of $59.99 at launch the Corsair Carbide Series Spec-04 TG offers a lot of features found on much more expensive chassis and a beautiful tempered glass window with a smokey color that makes the case pop out at you quickly. The wiring was quick and easy with more wiring access ports than we could count. The raised back panel makes wiring the back of the chassis a breeze and there's plenty of room to run wires and not bulge the side panel. The black set of screws that comes with the chassis are a welcome addition and unlike some we've seen are good solid screws and there were plenty of them. 

The inclusion of up to 240mm water cooling mounts was a pleasant surprise we quickly took advantage of but we do miss an optical drive bay. Optical drive bays might be going the way of the dinosaur so we might have to scare up an external optical drive setup or give into the USB flash drive data transfer method. In Mid-Tower chassis drive bays tend to take up a lot of room and clutter a chassis so it's hard to fault the decision to leave them off the Spec-04 TG.

Cooling slots allow for up to 5 fans and accommodations for two 140mm fans was a nice touch. Drop in a 240mm AIO water cooling solution and 3 fans you have excellent cooling on all fronts. Using a tower air cooler airflow is more than sufficient to whisk away heat. The 120mm LED fan Corsair included will help to cut cooling costs and fonding an LED fan of any quality in a chassis with a tempered glass side at this price is simply unheard of.

Considering we are for the most part died in the wool full tower users the mid-tower Spec04 TG really impressed us with its sharp aesthetics and eye-popping smoked tempered glass. A lot of thought and engineering went into the Corsair Carbide Series Spec-04 TG making it the best choice in low-cost high feature Mid-Tower Chassis we've seen in a very long time!

Introduction Cooler Master MasterBox MB600L

Computer chassis have changed from little yellow cubes sitting on our desktops to sculptures that house our prized expensive components and we expect them to be as attractive as our components inside. Cooler Master has long produced value priced chassis that give more bang for your bucks that you would expect. The MasterBox MB600L is in the $50 dollar price range and considering the price it has a ton of features. If you are looking for an elegant build without breaking the bank take a serious look at the Cooler Master MasterBox MB600L.

Coolermaster is one of many computer chassis manufacturers; they are also well known to have a wide variety of varying shapes, and sizes as well as affordability of computer chassis designs. But rest assured when it pertains to Coolermaster that just because a given chassis it is more affordable does not necessarily mean cheaply built. This company is well renowned for building top quality chassis and cooling components across their entire line up of products. The chassis we here at Proclockers going to be looking more closely at is the Masterbox MB600L mid tower By Coolermaster. Now the real question remains, does this mid tower have what it takes to protect as well as be aesthetically pleasing while also giving us computer users the ability to hide wires from our Power Supply Units (PSU’s) with considerable ease? Let’s turn the page and find out, shall we?

Features & Specifications

Product Name:    MasterBox MB600L

Model Number:  MCB-B600L-KA*N-S**

Available Color:  Black

Materials:           Steel, Plastic

Dimensions:       464 x 212 x 454.5mm  (LxWxH) 

Motherboards:    ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX

Expansion Slots: 7

Drive Bays 5.25": 1

Combo 3.5" / 2.5" Drive Bays: 2

SSD: 1

I/O Panel: USB 3.0 x 2, Audio in / out

Pre-installed Fan(s): Front  N/A, Rear 120mm x 1 black fan

Fan Support: Front  120mm x 2 / 140mm x 2 (w/ODD) 120mm x 3 / 140mm x 2 (wo/ODD) Rear 120mm x 1

Liquid Cooling Support: Front 120/140/240/280mm radiator (w/ODD) 120/140/240/280/360mm radiator (limited) up to 50mm thickness without fan (wo/ODD) Rear 120mm x 1

Clearance CPU Cooler: 160mm / 6.3"

PSU: 180mm / 7.1"

GPU: 400mm / 16.14"

Cable Routing: Behind Motherboard Tray 15mm - 23mm / 0.59" - 0.90"

Dust Filters: Front, bottom

Power Supply Support: Bottom mount, ATX

The Masterbox MB600L chassis by Coolermaster does have a rather impressive array of specifications, from being able to support up to triple 120/140 fan radiator, while also being able to support a large array of different lengths of video cards in the main area of the chassis. This particular chassis can only support up to a single 5.25” drive, but considering most either do not use one or typically use a combination type of drive, ie. Blu Ray/DVD/CD-ROM/Burningcombo drive, I will not hold this limitation against this chassis.  Another area of note is that this chassis does have support for 2 3.5” HDD’s that can also install 2 2.5” HDD/SSD. There is also 1 included 2.5” HDD/SSD drive holder as well, which we can place into 4 different areas of the chassis.

Packaging & Unboxing MasterBox MB600L

Coolermaster tends to keep their packaging simple; Coolermaster gives us a quick outline image of the chassis on the outside of the box. Coolermaster also includes a quick introduction of this chassis on the backside of the box itself in multiple languages.

Opening the packaging up and getting a picture of how Coolermaster packaged up the Masterbox MB600L chassis, we can see that Coolermaster keeps the packaging internally simple but effective. This does provide the chassis with enough protection to help keep it from getting damaged during the rigors of shipping.

A Closer Look: Cooler Master MasterBox MB600L

Removing the Masterbox MB600L from the confines of the packaging; my initial thoughts of this chassis are fairly positive, It has a simple but elegant design to it.

Looking at a 3/4 view of the left side from the back of the chassis.

Turning the Masterbox MB600L over to the backside we can see that this chassis does support up to a standard ATX sized motherboard. The Masterbox MB600L chassis uses a PSU mounting plate that is easily removable for us to install our PSU’s in this chassis; also, that Coolermaster made the rear 120 fan adjustable, we can move it up or down to accommodate our cooling needs of our CPU coolers, or cooling of the internal chassis itself.

Looking at the front of the Masterbox MB600L chassis, we can see that Coolermaster keeps the simplicity of the chassis design while also giving it some elegant looks.

Looking towards the top of the chassis we see the 5.25” single bay, as well as from left to right, a reset button, a front headphone/mic IO ports, a power button, and only two USB 3.0 headers.

The entire right side of the Masterbox MB600L chassis is a smoked Lexan panel. Coolermaster uses 4 rubber grommets where the mounting screws go through the panel to secure it to the Masterbox MB600L chassis; this will help reduce any unwanted vibrations from this panel.

Looking at the interior of the Masterbox MB600L chassis, so far it definitely looks very roomy inside and should accommodate a wide variety of large computer components within this chassis.

The included 2.5” HDD/SSD mount, this mounting plate can be removed and installed onto three other places inside the Masterbox MB600L chassis. 

Looking towards the front of the interior of the Masterbox MB600L chassis, we can see where we can install up to a triple 120/140mm radiator at, as well where the second 2.5” HDD/SSD mounting plate can be installed at, which is right below the first 2.5” HDD/SSD mounting area.

The final 2 2.5” HDD/SSD mounting plate mounting areas are located towards the bottom of the chassis. We are only given 1 2.5” HDD/SSD mounting plate, if you wish to use more than 1 2.5” HDD/SSD you can either install them in the 3.5/2.5” HDD/SSD drives mounts or purchase 3 more 2.5” HDD/SSD mounting plates (if you wish to keep them installed in the interior of the main chassis).  

The only real limitation of what we can use as far as a radiator with this chassis, you will have to keep the thickness of a triple 120/140mm radiator to a dual row style of the radiator if you plan on using a triple 120/140mm radiator. (Approximate thickness of 45-55MM thick radiator)

Looking at the interior of the left side of the Masterbox MB600L chassis; this chassis has a larger CPU mounting cutout to accommodate various types of motherboards. Below the motherboard mounting plate is a compartment where our PSU and 3.5/2.5” HDD/SSDs will be installed. Also where we can hide our PSU wires at.

A closer picture of the dual 3.5/2.5” HDD/SSD mounting trays.

The PSU mounting plate is removable which is a nice feature as it keeps from scratching things when juggling the PSU into place.

Coolermaster also includes a warranty booklet as well as an installation manual in several different languages.

Inside of the Masterbox MB600L chassis is the included mounting hardware that will be needed to install our computer components into this chassis. Coolermaster also includes several small sized wire ties to secure our loose wires from the PSU, and various other cables of our computer components.

A quick look at the front chassis I/O header plugs which have the usual USB, Audio, Power, Reset and HD LED plugs.

Finally the single 2.5” HDD/SSD mounting plate but since there are two more in the drive bay that totals three.

I decided to use our workshop computer for this chassis, it's something you might throw together for your younger brother from your leftover upgrades and the Cooler Master MasterBox chassis at $49.99 gives it all a snazzy look.

Simply slide the PSU and mounting plate into the bottom rear of the chassis and secure it with the two thumbscrews. In this case it's what we had and this type chassis isn't really built for monster sized PSU but to it's credit the chassis accomidated it.

Looking more closely at the front of the PSU to the 3.5/2.5” HDD/SSD mounting trays, there is not much room here. Trying to use a large PSU with this chassis while also trying to use these bays will become a challenge.

Coolermaster included two standoff self-centering motherboard mounts onto the Masterbox MB600L chassis. I like this inclusion of these types of stand offs, it keeps us from having to mount a standard motherboard standoff mount inverted, to help center the motherboard to the mounting standoffs.

Coolermaster also included a small screwdriver adapter to install the motherboard standoff mounting hardware.

Just as I predicted earlier, using a large PSU on the Master MB600L would be a challenge. The choice of using a large 1000W PSU was a bad choice on our part and no fault of the chassis.

Since installing any drives into the 3.5/2.5” HDD/SSD mounting trays became moot after installing the PSU, I decided to mount the 2.5” HDD onto the included 2.5” HDD/SSD mounting tray.

A quick look at the completed Masterbox MB600L chassis installation I will say outside of problem with hiding the PSU wires, the overall installation of this computer looks clean and professional.

The Masterbox MB600L chassis is a mid-tower and has limited space so if you plan on a massive computer build you may need to go for a full tower. The MasterBox we are looking at today should be fine for all but the hardest core enthusiasts that have to cram tons of components into the chassis.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Being a Mid-tower chassis the Masterbox MB600L chassis is geared for medium-sized builds and covers that market well. The PSU Chamber was a tad small for our liking but perhaps if we spent more time cabling we would have had a better outcome. In retrospect, it would have been better to wire some of the wires up from the PSU across the back of the motherboard tray. This chassis does exactly what Coolermaster claims it will do. Among those claims being able to use large video cards, larger sized ATX motherboards, also being able to house a triple 120/140mm radiator without cluttering the main interior of the chassis with a bunch of wires from our PSUs, and other computer-related cabling. In the end that will help keep our computer components cooler, while also protecting them from the outside environment, which is what a computer chassis was designed to do in the first place.

Modern PSU in the 1500W range specifically the SilverStone Silver Strider ST1500W-GS will easily fit in this chassis and for most end users a 750 or 850W fully modular will be plenty and reduce the spaghetti tangle. We would recommend flat wires on your PSU if it's in the budget and fully modular is always better partially but either should be a breeze to wire in the MasterBox. Being a Mid-tower you will have to understand space is limited but with the elegant features of the MasterBox MB600L you should be able to create a masterpiece for your MasterBox.

The MasterBox MB600L is a well designed well-engineered sculpture waiting for your personal touch to make it harbor your dream machine!

Introduction

A favorite of PC enthusiasts everywhere, Corsair’s Carbide series has gained new member of the family – the 275R. This compact mid tower has the sleek understated good looks that the series is known and loved for with a tempered glass side panel to show off your components in all their glory. Does it have the goods to carry on the family name, or is its beauty just skin deep? That’s what we are here to find out after the jump.

Features & Specifications

• Type -    ATX Mid Tower
• Color - White
• Case Material - Steel / Plastic / Tempered Glass
• Motherboard Compatibility- Micro ATX / ATX / ITX - Tempered Glass
• Internal 3.5" Drive Bays - 2
• Internal 2.5" Drive Bays - 4
• Expansion Slots – 7
• Front Ports 2 x USB 3.0 / 1 x Headphone / 1 x Microphone
• Fan Support:
• Front: 3 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm (120mm included)
• Top: 2 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm
• Rear: 1 x 120mm (Included)
• Radiator Support:
• Front: 360mm or 240mm (1 included)
• Top: 240mm
• Rear: 120mm (included)
• Dust Filters – magnetic front and top, slide out bottom
• Max GPU length – 370mm
• Max CPU cooler – 170mm

Packaging & Unboxing

The Carbide 275R comes in a brown cardboard box surrounded by thick foam molds inside of a plastic bag.

The front has a drawing of the case in front of the Corsair logo with the name below.

The right and left sides are the same, and list some of the specifications in various languages. The only difference is the one side indicates the color of the chassis, in this case white.

The back has an expanded look at the parts that make up the 275R.

A Closer Look

The front has a clean sleek look with rounded sides adorned with a small Corsair logo near the bottom.

The left side is a single piece of tempered glass with a black border that gives an excellent view of the inside.

Around the back we see the openings for the IO shield and ports, rear exhaust fan and PSU mount, 7 expansion slots, plus the option to mount your GPU horizontally – a very nice touch. Another thing I’d like to point out is the exhaust fan mount. It is slotted allowing the fan to be better positioned for your needs.

The right side continues the smooth and sleek motif.

Up top is where the power and reset buttons are located along with the mic and headphone jacks with a pair of USB 3.0 ports. Also present is a magnetic filter for the top fans.

With the filter removed we can see the mounts for three 120mm fans, or a 240mm radiator. Notice the front most location can also accommodate a 140mm fan.

The front cover comes off with a firm tug revealing the second magnetic filter. Down at the bottom are three white LEDs that shine when the power is on.

Removing the filter we see mounts for up to three 120mm or 140mm fans. If you prefer, you could attach 360mm or 240mm radiators here too.

A Closer Look: Interior

Taking a look inside, you immediately can see the wide open interior which will make building easy and let air flow freely through the case. The motherboard standoffs are preinstalled for you along with two 120mm fans. Making cable routing easier, are cutouts near the top of the motherboard tray, and rubber grommets with a nice sized opening to make CPU cooler installation a snap.

The PSU shroud is ventilated, and has an opening near the rear for your audio connection, and a grommeted opening for the PCIe leads.

At the front of the shroud is an opening to facilitate the installation of a 360mm radiator.

Around on the other side there are numerous cable ties downs that will make for a really clean build. There are four mounts for SSD placement – two near the front to the left of the cableing grommets, and two removable mounts above the PSU area.

The PSU area is where you will find a removable two bay cage for 3.5” drives, and rubber vibration dampeners for the PSU to rest on. This is also the area where excess cabling will be stored.

The bottom has four large feet with substantial rubber pads to ensure this case will stay put. In addition, there is a slide out filter for the PSU here.

Corsair packs in with the Carbide 275R an Allen key to remove the tempered glass panel, the various screws needed for assembly, some zip ties, and a very basic install guide.

Testing Environment

Building inside the Carbide 275 was about as straight forward and simple as it gets. The motherboard standoffs are preinstalled, and the middle one is of the centering type which helped hold the motherboard in place during installation. With all the fan mounts being slotted, there is a wide amount of freedom in placing them exactly where you want. The chassis is sturdy, and does not flex.

Taking a closer look inside, the many options for cable routing resulted in a super clean build that was easy to achieve. The grommets are soft, pliable and stay in place.

All those cable tie downs did indeed come in handy allowing for neat and tidy cabling. The SSD mount comes off with a simple turn of the thumbscrew, and the HDD sled is a tool less affair that locks in place securely. There is plenty of room to snake the CPU 8 pin lead through to the other side. Excess cabling space is at a premium though, there isn’t much room left after the PSU is installed. So you will need to attach any leads before installing the PSU. I highly recommend using a modular power supply. Replacing the back panel was ok, but a bit more depth would have been appreciated.

The tempered glass panel is attached with Allen screws that fit more flush than the normal thumb screws. I am of two minds about this. On one hand, the Allen screws are more flush, and give the case a more appealing look, but they are somewhat harder to install. Another thing to be aware of is the rubber bushings that pass through the panel are glued on, and should not be relied on to hold the panel in place. The black border feels a bit out of place given the rest of the case is white. The air inlet between the front panel and the front of the case is about 3/8”, and I had good airflow through the case.

When powered on, white LED glow emanates from the bottom of the front panel.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

The Corsair Carbide 275R is a fine mid tower that is well thought out, easy to build in, and quite attractive. The clean lines lend to it a sophisticated look that you will enjoy. Cable management is a breeze, and the tempered glass shows off your components nicely. The only real quibble is the tight excess cable storage. The Corsair Carbide 275R definitely deserves your attention if you are in the market for a mid tower, and easily earns the ProClockers Best Value award. You can find the Carbide 275R at your favorite e-tailer for about $80.

Introduction

One trend in the PC world the last few years following the push for more efficient components is to make things smaller. We’ve seen an impressive lineup of ITX and MicroATX boards from nearly all of the vendors out there extending from entry level up through the High-End Desk-Top series. The problem with high powered systems is the need to cool them, no matter what size the board. Typically, if you want to go with a smaller system, you have to compromise on cooling and typically aesthetics as well or stay with a larger case which sort of defeats the point of moving to a smaller board, to begin with. Corsair has the solution with the new Crystal Series 280X cases. Designed to give a small ITX or MicroATX build full-sized cooling support in a small package while looking amazing.

Pro Clockers would like to thank Corsair for sending the Crystal 280X RGB over to check out!

Corsairs take on the Crystal 280X RGB:

The CORSAIR Crystal Series 280X RGB is a high-performance Micro-ATX case with three beautiful tempered glass panels, two stunning LL120 RGB fans and an innovative dual-chamber internal layout for clean looks and cleaner builds. Outstanding cooling potential offers room for up to six cooling fans and multiple 240mm liquid cooling radiators, while the dual-chamber design lets you put your core hardware on display while tidying drives, cables, and the PSU away in a dedicated compartment. With 32 RGB LEDs controlled by CORSAIR iCUE software, it? s easy to match your setup, create amazing lighting effects or synchronize all your CORSAIR RGB lighting together. CORSAIR Crystal 280X RGB - Clearly Compact

·         Massive Cooling, Small Case: Room for up to five 120mm cooling fans, or a 240/280mm radiator in the top, 240mm radiator in the front, and 240mm radiator in the bottom.

·         Stunning RGB Lighting with CORSAIR iCUE Software Control: Two included CORSAIR LL120 RGB fans boast 32 individually customizable LEDs, controlled by CORSAIR iCUE software to deliver a symphony of color.

·         Three Panel Tempered Glass: Three stunning tempered glass panels put your system on display like no other Micro-ATX case.  

·         Dual-Chamber Internal Layout: Highlight your PC’s core components whilst tidying cables, drives and the PSU into a dedicated rear chamber.

·         Flexible Storage Space: Dedicated storage compartment for up to two 3.5” drives and three 2.5” drives keeps your system clean without sacrificing storage capacity.

·         Fully Filtered: Front, roof, floor and PSU dust filters keep your system looking great long after your build is finished.

·         Direct Airflow Path™ Cooling: Cool air is directed to the hottest components, without any interference from drive cages.

Features & Specifications

Highlighted Features

1. LL120 RGB LED Fans (2x included): Light up your build with controllable RGB fans that provide excellent cooling.

2. Integrated Lighting Node Pro: Control all case and fan RGB lighting effects through iCUE software with the included Lighting Node PRO controller

3. Front 140/240mm fan mounts: With mounts for 2 x 120mm fans or 2 x 140mm fan, the front can support a 240, 140, or 120mm radiator.

4. Top 240/280mm fan mounts: The top cover can house 2 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm fans, with room for a 240mm/280mm radiator.

5. Bottom 120/140mm fan mounts: The bottom can house 2 x 120mm or 2 x 140mm fans (Mini-ITX systems only).

6. Up to 300mm clearance for GPUs, 150mm for CPU coolers, and 225mm for PSU.

7. 3 Tempered Glass Windows to Show off your Hardware: Tempered glass side, top and front panels put your system on display unlike any other case.

8. Three tool-free 2.5” SSD mounts: Easily add or remove 2.5” drives, the cage can be removed entirely.

9. Two tool-free 3.5” drive mounts in a modular drive cage: Installed from the rear, the cage can be removed entirely.

10. Plentiful cable routing cutouts and tie downs: To keep your system neat and tidy.

11. Removable top, front, floor and PSU dust filters: Keep your system looking great long after your build is finished.

Specifications:

MSRP                                    $159.99

Exp. Slots                             4

Side Panel                           Tempered Glass

Available Colors                Black, White

Storage                                 2x 3.5”, 3 x 2.5”

Included Fans                     2x 120mm LL RGB

Total Fan Support             6x 120mm

Lighting Control                1x Lighting Node PRO

Front Rad                            240mm

Top Rad                                240 / 280mm

Bottom                                 120 / 140mm fans only (MITX only)

Max GPU Length               300mm

Max Cooler Height           150mm

Max PSU Length                180mm

Front I/O USB                     USB 3.1 Type-A x2

Dust Filters                         Front + Top + Bottom + PSU

Packaging & Unboxing

Like many of Corsair’s cases, the Crystal 280X RGB comes in a plain brown cardboard box with only black ink used. The front of the box has a simple image of the case over a giant Corsair logo.

The right side of the box has dimensions as well as basic specs in a few languages.

The back of the box has a large exploded view of the case highlighting several of the important features.

The other end of the box has the model and UPC information.

Opening the box gets a great view of…. nothing but a giant block of foam.  A baggie with the manual is laying on top.

The case is nearly entirely enclosed in 2 pieces of foam. The areas with no glass are not covered in foam but are still well protected.

The case is wrapped in a plastic bag inside the foam. This makes it easy to extricate without getting fingerprints and dust everywhere.

A Closer Look: Exterior

Corsair’s Crystal 280X is similar in layout to a few of Corsair’s past cube cases with a dual chamber design but picks up some modern elements from the Crystal series with the clean lines and tempered glass panels. The Crystal 280X is a Micro-ATX case with an optimized layout for liquid cooling.

Reminiscent of Corsair’s past cube style cases, the 280X has replaced the front grill over the main chamber with a sheet of tempered glass. The glass panel is held from the bottom and left side in a way that makes it appear to float, but it can draw air from all 4 sides so cooling shouldn’t be an issue. There is a small Corsair logo on the right side near the bottom, but all of the buttons and I/O ports have been relocated to the top.

The top again see’s the former grill replaced with a sheet of glass held by four posts.

The rear of the case has the motherboard I/O in the center with a center area to the side. The rear chamber has a full ATX power supply cutout with holes for mounting either direction. Just above it is a removable vented panel that gives access to 2.5”/3.5” Drive trays.

The right side of the case is smooth sans the vented area with magnetic dust filter.

A single 120 or 140mm fan can be mounted in this area. The rear area is mostly for power supply intake.

The bottom of the case has four feet with rubber pads. Another magnetic fan filter protects fans here.

The lower area can handle twin 120 or 140mm fans if you don’t use all the space with graphics cards.

The front I/O and power and reset buttons sit along the very front edge and include headphone and microphone jacks and dual USB 3.0 ports.

The front glass panel appears to float. All of the glass panels have smooth edges and corners.

The side and top panels are held in place only by four thumb screws. The glass panel has rubber bushings inserted into the glass.

The top panel has taller rubber bushings to give it a little more breathing room.

The side panel just screws to the case but the top panel sits over something resembling a stand-off.

Corsair includes a bag of lower profile screws with an Allen head if you want something a little more clean than the larger thumb screws for the side and top panels.

A Closer Look: Interior

The main chamber of the Crystal Series 280X RGB is pretty open. You get a standard Micro-ATX layout with four rear slots and plenty of room in front of the board for longer graphics cards or radiators. Speaking of radiators, you can install 120mm to 280mm rads in any of the 3 locations, top, front or bottom.

The front of the case pops off by pulling firmly to access the front dust filter.

The 280X RGB version comes with two Corsair ‘Light Loop’ LL120 fans, one preinstalled in the top and one in the front.

Under the top glass plate is a magnetic dust filter.

Under the filter is one of the LL120 fans, pre-wired to the included controller.

Speaking of the controller, in the rear of the case hides the Corsair Lighting Node Pro and an RGB fan lighting hub. Both fans are pre-wired to this and cable managed.

The front I/O includes an audio cord, USB 3.0 cord, power switch, reset switch and power light, and a USB2.0 cord from the Lighting Node Pro.

A single thumbscrew on the rear of the case lets the drive access cover be removed easily.

There are two hot-swap style trays, one of which has a box stuck in it with all of the case hardware in it.

The rear of the case has two drive areas along the top, a 2.5” tray with space for three drives, and a 3.5” tray for two drives just above the power supply area.

The 2.5” trays are also tool free.

If you don’t need them, a single thumb screw holds the tray in place and it can easily be removed.

The rear 3.5” tray can also be removed with one thumb screw inside and four small screws through the rear face of the case.

With the drive trays removed, you have a ton of space in the rear of the case. The power supply area has three rubber topped stands stamped into the case to keep the PSU level and absorb any vibration.

Corsair ships the case with the fans and related already reasonable cable managed to save you some effort. We are a little torn on this, experienced users or modders will likely rip most if not all of it back out during install to move things around, but newer users may just leave it as-is.

The box of hardware has quite a pile of screws for fans, drives and related, it also comes with lower profile mounting screws and an Allen-wrench to install them. You do get half a dozen zip-ties for cable management as well.

Software & Hardware

The Crystal 280X RGB comes with a Corsair Lighting Node Pro installed. It connects to your motherboard via an internal USB 2.0 header.

It is a small device that takes power and feeds it out over two entirely independent digital channels. These channels can connect directly to Corsair’s PRO RGB strips or to any of the RGB fans through an RGB Fan LED Hub. The USB connection to the Hub itself is mini-USB.

In this case, there is also the Fan LED hub installed which converts a Corsair Digital RGB channel into six 4-pin proprietary connectors that all of Corsairs RGB fans use. Fans such as the ML RGB, HD, SP RGB, and LL series fans.

The Crystal 280X RGB comes with a pair of the 120mm Light Loop fans that have a dozen addressable LED’s in an outer ring, and four addressable LED’s in the center hub.

You can see here that that makes an almost infinite number of lighting combinations you can achieve and is a very unique look found nowhere else in the industry.

Corsair iCUE

UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Bringing together the full range of CORSAIR products into a single intuitive interface, iCUE software powers everything from CORSAIR keyboards, mice, and headsets to fans, coolers, and PSUs.

iCUE users can instantly synchronize RGB lighting across all their compatible CORSAIR products, monitor system performance from a customizable dashboard, and control hardware temperatures with fan and pump speed adjustment with a single click. At the heart of everything CORSAIR, iCUE offers intelligent control with unlimited possibilities.

Corsair iCUE works will all of Corsair’s lighting, control, audio and input systems but will be looking only at the Lighting Node Pro today. When you first open up iCUE, you show a list of compatible Corsair Devices detected, in this case, only the Lighting Node Pro.

You’ll need to do a basic configuration of the Node initially that is comprised of selecting what is connected to each channel and how many of that given device is connected. In our case, we are using one channel with LL series fans. We do have two ML RGB fans in use, but since they have less LED’s they will still work but the pictorial of them won’t correspond to the real fan. We’ll have to play with them a bit to get which lights we want to be set the correct way.

In our case, we are using one channel with LL series fans. We do have two ML RGB fans in use, but since they have less LED’s they will still work but the pictorial of them won’t correspond to the real fan. We’ll have to play with them a bit to get which lights we want to be set the correct way.

We have 4 fans connected and they must be connected to the fan lighting hub in order on ports 1-4. Ports 5 and 6 will go unused for now.

With that done we can select Lighting Channel 1 to configure it. Notice it has pictorials of four LL series fans.

We’ll start by hitting the plus sign to create a new lighting mode. The default is a rainbow wave that shows off the capabilities of a digital system, but you have a ton of options to choose from.

New to the iCUE software over the older CUE is the ability to apply lighting modes to every single connected LED independently. You can have some LED’s in the fan going in a rainbow, a few on solid and 1 reacting to CPU temperature if you wish. Here we set the center hub LED’s too solid white, and the outer LED’s to a pattern of red and yellow.

The end result is a bit more spectacular than the pictures give justice for.

Here we set the outer ring solid white and the center hub LED’s in a sequential rainbow. The options are nearly limitless.

If you don’t want all the crazy lighting or don’t want to mess with it, for now, you can hit the Instant Lighting drop down and pick a color (or the grey X for off) and instantly turn every connected light on every device a static color.

In this case, we went with the Corsair Yellow.

The Dashboard lets you monitor other items in your system, here we have some Patriot memory, the ASUS motherboard and GPU, and the Ryzen 2700X CPU.

The settings menu lets you adjust program settings like what to do on system startup, or check firmware revisions and even update corsair device firmware with a single click.

System Build

Specs:

CPU:      AMD Ryzen 7 2700X

Mobo:  ASUS ROG Strix X470-I Gaming

Ram:      16GB Patriot Viper RGB 3000Mhz

GPU:     ASUS GTX 1080Ti Poseidon Platinum

SSD:       Samsung 960 Pro 2TB

PSU:      Corsair RM1000

Case:     Corsair CRYSTAL 280X RGB

Fans: Corsair LL120 x2 (Included) & Corsair ML140 RGB 2x

Cooling: Alphacool DC-LT pump, top, and reservoir, 240mm radiator. EKWB Supremacy Evo water block.

Since we are planning on throwing a simple liquid loop in the case and moving everything around, we removed the factory installed fans which required us to remove all of Corsair’s carefully wire-managed cables. We also removed the drive trays as we will be running a M.2 drive on the board itself.

The motherboard standoff’s are preinstalled in the most common locations so we were able to drop our board right in and screw it down with no issues.

Next we popped open the expansion cover to remove two of the blanks and install our GPU.

With the GPU installed we put our ram kit and radiator in. the Two supplied LL120 fans are on top of the radiator in a pull configuration. Two ML140 fans provide general case airflow from the front. As the GPU we are using is very heavy, we used half of a quick connect fitting to brace it while we're flipping the case around in the build so as not to damage the GPU. The ASUS ROG GTX 1080Ti Poseidon Platinum is the biggest card we have and have touched. If it can fit, almost anything else can fit.

Next, we installed the Corsair RM1000 PSU in the rear and ran the cables. There are tons of little loops stamped into the motherboard tray everywhere so cable management with zip ties is a breeze.

Lastly we installed our simple Loop hanging directly from the Radiator and added a matching ROG SLI bridge. We only have one card, but it is the perfect length to support the GPU from the case floor for a little extra piece of mind.  We ended up not liquid cooling the GPU this time since we would really need more than a single slim 240mm radiator for this hardware combination and we don’t have another on hand. Luckily, this GPU does just fine on air only.

Even with larger 140mm fans, there is plenty of room to run cables.

The final test is putting the glass door on. This GPU is massive and almost touches the door but does fit. We ramped the fans up to 100% and felt around and there is a ton of airflow coming out around the glass panel on top so cooling shouldn’t be an issue. The fan filters do create a bit of air noise, but the glass panels block that added noise enough that you get a very quiet system.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Corsair’s Crystal 280X is a beautiful marriage of the beloved dual-chamber cube cases made popular by the Carbide Air 540 half a decade ago and the tempered glass and sleek lines of the more modern Crystal series cases. The case is a breeze (pun intended) to build in and we were able to go from a fresh out of the box state to a running build in an hour flat. A MicroATX build would limit your cooling options a bit. Don’t plan on putting monster 60mm+ thick radiators in here, but you can get some serious cooling with slim radiators all day long.

Since we really like this case, we’re going to nitpick a bit. Does that even make sense? Well, yea, the Crystal 280X is so dangerously close to being perfect, we want to point out just a few small things just in case someone from R&D sees this. First is cable management. It’s not the lack of it, or options to do it, it's that it’s already done for you. Any build is going to get some level of cable management, and one fan on top and one in the front is just an odd configuration. If you don’t add any other fans, you likely either move them both to the front or to the top depending on what you’ll see the most of on your desk, so you have to break all the zip ties to move them. If you add more fans, you’ll have to manage the wiring on those anyway.

The only other thing is the fan/radiator mounting. All 120mm mounts are dead center of the 140mm mounting locations. That doesn’t sound bad in and of itself, but if you are getting tight on space with large components, it would be nice to have 120mm sized radiators farther from the motherboard tray so you can plug in fans and RGB headers or shifted one way or another for fitting clearance. Slotted mounts would solve that. Those are super minor things, and we see modders having a field day with this case. There are SO many possibilities, and it probably won’t be long before you see some very creative builds.

Not bad for a $20 case right? Wait, but we said the MSRP is $159? If you add up all of the extras like the Lighting Node Pro and the beautiful Light Loop fans, you get the entire setup for $20 more than the internals alone.

Given how fun this case is, and how much value you really get, it's hard to do anything but highly recommend this case if you are in the market for a smaller end build with higher-end capabilities.

Awesome job Corsair!

Introduction

NZXT has added another case to their newly designed H series line-up: the H500/H500i. This new case is intended to fill the gap between the H700i/H400i and the successor for the S340/S340 Elite cases. The H series has been designed with builders in mind and its goal was to create a canvas to express their individual creativity. This case comes with full steel construction, mounts for water cooling and a stylish unique tempered glass front panel. For this review, we will be focusing on the H500i. Along with all the above features it also boasts a NXZT Smart Device for RBG lighting and fan controls, 2 x RGB LED strips with individually-addressable LEDs and two 120mm Aer F Case fans, all for a price of $99.

ProClockers would like to thank NZXT for sending the H500i over to check out!

About NZXT

NZXT was founded in 2004 by Johnny Hou and they have been building cases and accessories for PC gamers for over 13 years. Primarily known for their cases, they also develop many cooling accessories such as their Kraken line of GPU and CPU coolers and AER fans.  Just recently, NZXT also joined the list of motherboard manufactures by releasing their first motherboard: the N7 Z370.

Features & Specifications

Notable features of the H500i include:

• All steel construction
• Fully filtered intakes
• PSU shroud
• Unique cable routing kit
• Tempered glass front panel
• Front radiator bracket
• Digital fan control for 3 and 4pin fans
• Adaptive noise reduction
• RBG lighting controller
• Integrated RBG lighting
• Vertical GPU mount

Technical specifications are as follows:

Packaging & Unboxing

When the H500i arrives, the first thing you will notice is the very nice full colored box with that signature NZXT purple. One side is sporting a fully white H500i, showing off its clean lines and top IO.

On the other side of the box, there is a full system build in the case which can be viewed through the tempered glass panel.

When opening the box, the H500i is fully secured by 2 pieces of Styrofoam and the case wrapped is in plastic.

The case was extremely easy to remove from the box by flipping it upside down and sliding the box upwards.

After removing the Styrofoam and a plastic bag, all you have to do is remove the plastic film from the tempered glass and you’re ready to start your build.

A Closer Look: Exterior

Upon examining the exterior of the H500i you can quickly tell it was well thought out and that they achieved their goal of making this case a blank slate for builders. The whole case is painted matte black and throughout the case has clean lines and contains minimal branding.

Going to the front and back side of the case they keep it extremely clean with only side ventilation and a very faint NZXT logo on the front bottom of the case (so faint you can’t even see it in the photo). The side panel is also secured to the back with two thumb screws which stay attached when removed, so you won’t have to worry about misplacing them during your build.

The front panel of the case is made from tempered glass and NZXT took a unique approach and removed the typical four front screws you see on most tempered glass cases. Instead, they made the front panel sit in a slot at the front and secured it to the back with a single thumb screw (also stays attached when removed) which leaves the window free of obstructions.

At the back of the case you see your typical IO/PSU cutouts, but what you also have is a vertical GPU bracket which is a very nice feature to see (though you'll need to supply your own riser cable if decide to mount your GPU vertically as one isn’t supplied).

The top of the case sticks with the very clean design and includes the I/O and power button at the front with a fan exhaust at the back.

On the bottom, you have four rubberized feet and a filtered PSU intake which can be removed and cleaned easily from the back of the case. The slots you see in the middle are used to secure the HDD cage but this cage can be removed and they can be used to attach a D5 or DCC pump mount.

A Closer Look: Interior

After removing the tempered glass panel and you can see that clean and elegant look from the exterior continues into the interior of the case. The H500i also includes the cable management bar seen in the H series which you can mount up to a 150mm tube reservoir on it. The H500i has a full PSU shroud that can be used to mount the two removable SSD brackets included with the case.

Looking over towards the front of the case you will see that NZXT included radiator bracket which supports up-to a 280mm radiator.

At the back, there is an included Aer F120 fan as well as a GPU vertical GPU mount if you wish to show off your GPU through the tempered glass front panel.

At the roof of the case, NZXT also includes another Aero F120 fan, as well as an RGB LED strip that sits right in front of the tempered glass panel.

Moving to the back of the case NZXT has really thought about everything a builder could need. Included is an NZXT Smart Device for your RGB and fans, a patent-pending cable management system and both HDD/SSD mounting options.

The NZXT Smart Device location at the upper left corner supports 1 RGB LED port and 3 fan channels which can be controlled via CAM software.

Moving to the center you will see NZXT patent-pending cable management system which will help keep your cables tidy at the back of the case.

At the bottom, you will see the fully enclosed PSU shroud with room for a full-length PSU and up-to 3 HDD’s using the included cage. If you wish to forgo the HDD cage you could mount a D5 or DDC pump mount to the floor with M4 screws.

Just below the motherboard processor cutout, you have 2 tool-less SSD mounts which can very easily be removed/installed with a single hand.

Also visible from the back of the case is the preinstalled white NZXT LED strip which is located behind the cases cable management bar.

Included in the HDD cage was a nice little goodie box which includes a manual, 2 SSD trays, zip ties and nicely labeled baggies of screws.

System Build & Installation

Building this case brought back memories of the S340 Elite build I did a few months back. NXZT really knows how to design a case and puts cutouts where you need them and the cable management bar/cable channel system really helped me keep my build looking clean.

The hardware included in this build is:

• ASRock Z370 Tachi Motherboard
• Intel 8700K Processor
• 4 x 4GB Team Group T-Force Delta RGB Ram
• MSI X-Gaming RX480 8GB GPU
• Cooler Master 212 Hyper Evo Cooler
• EVGA 750W P2 PSU

Looking at the build you can really see that cable management bar was put to good use. It perfectly hides the cables and the cutouts are also perfectly placed in relation to the motherboard. At first, I was worried that my aftermarket cooler wouldn’t fit with the tempered panel installed but I had a few millimeters to spare. If you plan to install an aftermarket cooler be sure to check that It’s under the 165mm of clearance that the H500i provides.

Now going to the back of the case you have plenty of tie down points throughout the case and the cable channel system helps keep all cables neatly tucked away. I really liked how they did the cutout behind the cable management bar as it was big enough that there was little to no strain on my 24pin motherboard cable as well as my side mounting USB3 cable. Speaking about cables, I really loved how they made the front-panel connector as a single header which it made it super easy to install onto the motherboard. If you plan to install any HDDs using the included cage prepare for it to be a pretty tight fit even for your PSU is modular especially if your PSU is on the longer side.

Upon booting up the system, the installed RGB LED strips were white and the pre-installed fans were running at 100%. It was a little louder than I was expecting and the fan installed on the roof of the case even caused the ventilation to vibrate. All these issues went away as soon as I installed the NZXT Cam software, which immediately turned the LED blue and the fans became nearly silent.

The cam software you can download from NZXT is marketed as a complete PC monitor solution which includes tons of readouts and allows you to configure many aspects of your PC. In this review we will focus on the features available to configure the pre-installed RGB LED strips.

NXZT gives you 10 presets which will apply a certain lighting pattern to your LED strips. The included presets are as follows:

• Fixed – Solid color
• Breathing – Colors fading in and out
• Fading – Fades colors in and out and blending them during the transition
• Marquee – LED chases around attached LED strips
• Covering Marquee – Like Marquee but the LED stays on when the color moves to the next LED
• Pulse – Pulse the color
• Spectrum Wave – RBG Wave going through all colors
• Alternating – Alternates colors each LED between 2 colors
• Candle Light – Add a flame effect to the LEDs
• Wings – 2 chasing LED’s going in opposite directions and bounce off each other.

Under the smart tab, you can have the LED’s change base on CPU/ GPU temperature and FPS

The custom tab allows you to create a custom version of the Fixed, Breathing and Wave presets.

The audio tab will change the LEDs based on various sound presets.

On the last tab, you can configure your LEDs to react to your games. Each game can be configured individually and the software will change the preset based on what game you are playing.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

The H500i is a very welcomed addition to the lineup and has brought over the clean/sleek design the H series is known for. NZXT really brought some unique and nice features with this case like the vertical GPU mount, back secured tempered glass front panel, and innovated cable management design. On top of these features, they also included 2 x RGB LED strips and an NZXT Smart device to configure them, which really gives you value for your money. It’s extremely hard to find faults in this case as it’s well built, well thought-out and is really an empty canvas for the builder’s creativity.

If you’re in the market for a mid-tower case that is compact, full of features and comes in at a nice price point of $99, definitely give the NZXT H500i a look.

Introduction 

When it comes to PC building many people start with a CPU and motherboard. But there is a fine group of people that start with the humble case. Yes, the humble PC case has grown over the years from solid panels to digital screens and more. But the most popular is the Tempered glass panel case. Which Phanteks just happen to make and they sent their special edition Red and Black Eclipse P300 Tempered Glass and you have to check out how this cost-efficient, beautiful case. 

About Phanteks 

Phanteks was founded by a group of engineers with a total of 20 years of international experience in thermal solutions. They paired up with a Dutch design team and established Phanteks in 2007. Phanteks venture into the CPU cooling industry with two goals in mind, “High-end quality and innovative products in thermal solutions.”  

As a relatively young company, Phanteks strives to develop top quality and superior products. The first product, PH-TC14PE, was a great success in the overclocking community. With the success made, the passionate in developing new and better innovative cooling solutions was greater than ever. Phanteks Design Team is situated in the Netherlands and consists of creative researchers, designers, and developers whose only desires are to bring the latest cutting-edge technology to you. 

Remaining focused on the PC enthusiast, Phanteks released their first line of computer cases, the Enthoo Series. The Enthoo series offers the water cooling community features not available from most other manufacturers. Phanteks will continuously pursue excellence in developing new products to bring satisfaction to PC enthusiasts and computer users everywhere. 

Our goal is to be the best in the industry in all that we do and our motto is “no job is impossible.” 

Features & Specification 

Model 

Brand: Phanteks 

Series: Eclipse P300 Tempered Glass 

Model: PH-EC300PTG_BW 

Details 

Type: ATX Mid Tower 

Color: Black / White 

Case Material: Steel / Tempered Glass 

With Power Supply: No 

Power Supply Mounted: Bottom 

Motherboard Compatibility: Micro ATX / ATX / Mini ITX / E-ATX (E-ATX up to 275mm width) 

Side Panel Window: Yes 

Removable Filter: Yes 

Expansion: Internal 3.5" Drive Bays 

                   2 (2 included) 

                  Internal 2.5" Drive Bays 

                  2 (1 included) 

Expansion Slots: 7 

Front Panel Ports: 2 x USB 3.0 / Mic / Headphone / RGB LED SW 

Cooling System: 120mm Fans 

                 Front: 2 x 120mm / 140mm fan  

                 Top: 1 x 120mm / 140mm fan 

                 Rear: 1 x 120mm fan (included) 

Dimensions & Weight 

Max GPU Length Allowance: 330 mm 

Max CPU Cooler Height Allowance: 160 mm 

Dimensions (H x W x D): 17.70" x 7.80" x 15.70" 

Weight: 13.20 lbs. 

Lighting: 1 RGB LED Strip on Glass Side of Case 

Package & Closer Look 

On the Eclipse P300 box, there is an exploded view of the case and all of it removable parts and pieces 

The left-hand side you see a beautiful black case with a painted red interior begging to have your parts installed in it. 

The right-hand side is just a plain black metal panel but the screws that hold it in place make for easy removal and they do not fall out of the panel. 

The rear of the case has the 120mm Phanteks preinstalled fan. Also, you have the red and black cover plates. 

The front of the case has a removable cover with two dust catchers. 

With the front panel removed you have access to the two Internal 3.5" Drive Bays. 

If you look through the 240mm/280mm radiator opening you get a fantastic look at the interior of the case. 

After removing the rear panel, you see the cable management area on the left, the Interior 2.5 Drive bays area (one included) 

On the lower right is the PSU area that can handle up to a 160mm PSU. 

After removing the tempered glass panel you see the preinstalled riser that requires the supplied screws to install the motherboard. 

The top fan mount can handle a 120mm or 140mm fan. 

It is covered with a magnetic dust cover. 

On the top of the case you have the Power SW / RGB LED Control / 2x USB 3.0 / Headphone / Mic 

On the bottom of the case, you have a dust cover for the PSU. 

With the case, you receive an accessory box with Quick Installation Guide, Attention Card, and a bag of screws/zip ties. 

Components & Build 

• Intel - Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor 
• Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  
• MSI - Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  
• Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory 
• Patriot - Blaze 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  
• MSI - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GAMING X 4G Video Card 
• SeaSonic - Snow Silent 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply 

After getting all of the components into the build you have an awesome looking build that would look great on anyone's desk. 

The ATX motherboard was easy to install with the supplied screws and view of all of the cables are hidden.

The 240mm Radiator was a smooth install with no issues or binding.

The RGB light on the side of the case can be set to primary and secondary colors with the RGB LED Control button on the top or can be controlled by an RGB motherboard with an adaptor (sold separately) 

Final Thoughts 

The Phanteks Eclipse P300 Tempered Glass case is beautiful and affordable. The full metal exterior/interior design is durable and well painted. It was a little tight installing the PSU. But this was plenty of room to hide all of your wires to give you a clean build. I was very pleased with the how the case had access just where I need it to fit all of their components. I would recommend this case to whoever wanted a wonderful case. You can find this case for sale on Amazon and Newegg. 

Introduction

Cooler Master is a staple in the world of DIY computer building.  One of the most important decisions to make about a computer build is what chassis you are going to use.  It dictates a lot about the contents and limitations of a system -  motherboard form factor, GPU height/length, tower cooler size, and watercooling options just to name a few. 

We have always been fans of Cooler Master chassis, and the Cooler Master MasterBox TD500L ATX mid-tower case is no exception.  It checks all the important boxes for an off-the-shelf PC chassis: power supply shroud, windowed side panel, support for watercooling, and an interesting aesthetic, which includes a diamond-cut design on the front and side panels.  Its sub $75 price tag (the model with RGB fans is $75) made me prejudge this case before actually getting to take it out the box... but I couldn’t have been more wrong; it met and even exceeded my expectations. Cooler Master is really stepping up the PC chassis game with this MasterBox offering.

Pro Clockers would like to thank Cooler Master for sending the MasterBox TD500L over to check out!

Features & Specifications

Features

• Style
  
  • Aesthetic diamond cut design that extends from the front panel to the side panel that shows a unique effect for your system.
• Side Panel
  
  • Edge to edge transparent side panel
    • Diamond cut design extends to this panel which allows you to see the unique designs from led fans and internal case lighting
• Cable Cover
  
  • An additional cable cover allows you to take cable managing up a notch.  Gives your system a professional look
• Versatile cooling options
  
  • Has plenty of options to cool your system all while ensuring you do not have to compromise on performance (more detail in specifications)

Specifications

• Available colors
  
  • Black
• Dimensions (LxWxH)     
  
  • 493 x 217 x 468 mm (19.40 x 8.54 x 18.43 in)
• Motherboard support
  
  • ATX (up to 272mm width, 10.71 in)
• Expansion slots
  
  • 7
• 5.25” drive bays
  
  • O
• 3.25” drive bay (HDD)
  
  • 2 (max 2)
• 2.5” drive bays
  
  • 4 (max 6)
• I/O Panel
  
  • USB 3.0 x 2
  • Audio in / out
• Pre-installed fans
  
  • Rear 120mm Black Fan x 1
• Fan support
  
  • Front: 120mm x 3 / 140mm x 2
  • Top: 120/140mm x 2
  • Rear: 120mm x 1
• Radiator support
  
  • Front: 120/140/240/280/360mm
  • Rear: 120mm
  • Top: 120/240mm
• Clearances
  
  • CPU cooler: 166mm, 6.53in
  • PSU: 190mm, 7.48in
  • GPU: 407mm, 16.02in
• Cable routing
  
  • Behind Motherboard Tray 19mm, .75in
• Dust Filters
  
  • Front
  • Top
  • Bottom
• Power Supply support
  
  • Bottom mount ATX

No matter whether you plan to air cool, AIO cool, or custom water-cool your system, the Cooler Master MasterBox TD500L has plenty of space and features to support whichever method you choose. Being that it can fit GPUs of up to 16 inches in length, you can use cards that have massive air coolers on them, which has been a popular (and effective) GPU cooling trend that doesn't show any signs of changing.  If you plan to water-cool, the case has an abundance of space to fill with a decent amount of hardware. It can fit up to a 360-mm radiator in the front as well as a 240mm or 280mm at the top.  That is plenty of radiator space to tame a high-power CPU as well as dual graphics card configurations.  And of course, AIOs are similar too custom watercooling, but without the added bulk of the pump or reservoir, so if you go this route, the case leaves you plenty of interior space, for... you know... activities.

All in all, it is an extremely thought out and balanced platform designed for builds of all calibers as well as systems of all types.  Where performance meets aesthetics while not breaking the bank. 

Packaging & Unboxing

Cooler Master went with a simple design of the box for this case, which is to be expected at the price point, and in my opinion, any case box, for that matter.  On the front of the box, we get to see an outline view of the case. 

On the back, we get a different outline view as well as some information on the case in multiple languages.

Inside the box, we see the case wrapped in plastic and kept in place but some hard Styrofoam.   To some people, this isn’t enough protection, but in my experience, this is an acceptable level that gets the job done.   The case was shipped to me directly from Cooler Master.  It survived, undamaged. Score 1 for status quo case packaging.

A Closer Look: Exterior

The overall aesthetic of this chassis is very pleasing to the (my) eye; it is obvious Cooler Master wanted it to be eye-catching.  The diamond cutting on the front and side panels is definitely a unique design element especially for a case at this price point.  While the front panel can be snapped and unsnapped from the chassis, the side panel is held on with oversize thumb screws through rubber grommets, much like so many tempered glass panels on more expensive cases.

 The panels themselves are a smoked transparent acrylic which gives the case a more premium look than many of the chassis' competitors, and the edge-to-edge design of the side panel is a bold choice that pays off for the TD500L.  Furthermore, the diamond-cut design adorning the front and side panels is three-dimensional (not just laser etched), which will work with your case/fan lighting to create a truly unique look for your system.  Lastly, the angular/tapered design of the front bezel really ties the room... er... the case, together well.

The top grille piece is designed with offset fan/radiator mounts, which means you'll have good clearance for thicker radiators or even a push-pull configuration.  You also get a magnetic dust filter covering the top, to prevent settling dust from entering your system.

The front I/O is very clean and well organized with a centered power button, reset, drive activity light, and two USB 3.0 ports to round it out.

The rear portion of the case has a 120mm mount for fans or radiators next to the IO cutout.  The metal mesh below the fan mount gives you an idea of just how tall of a GPU the case can handle... If I didn't know any better, it looks like you could fit a vertical GPU there (with some sweet case modding, of course), if you decided you didn't want to use any of the standard horizontal PCI expansion slots provided. 

At the very bottom of the chassis, you've got room for a standard ATX power supply.

The underside of the case is slightly raised via four stylish corner feet that are somewhat seamlessly integrated onto the case.  This is more than just a design element, however.  Having the underside raised up like that gives the power supply some breathing room to pull in nice fresh air... through a dust filter no less!  The filter is basic but effective, and easy to remove if and when cleaning is required.  In this photo, we can also see the chassis is held together with rivets, a very effective (in both strength and cost) manufacturing method for PC chassis.

A Closer Look: Interior

The interior is a rather open layout, which again, emphasizes the fact that there are plenty of options and space for you to build what you want.  The motherboard tray accepts mini-ITX, micro-ATX, and full-sized ATX motherboards with up to 7 expansion slots. The power supply shroud is a very nice feature for this price point, as shrouds have come to be expected in any decent case these days.  The space at the front of the PSU shroud is deep enough that you can fit a medium thickness radiator with a layer of fans (or maybe even a slim rad with push-pull), which is a thoughtful design choice by Cooler Master.

The motherboard tray has some cable routing holes at the top, as well as a pretty massive cutout around the CPU socket, which potentially allows you to change the cooler without having to remove the entire motherboard from the case.

Moving to the nether regions of the chassis, the chamber under the shroud gives you plenty of room for most any length ATX PSU, save for maybe your high wattage Corsair or EVGA units, due to the 3.5” drive cage that is also located under the shroud.  This drive cage can hold up to two 3.5” drives, or, if you need the space for a long power supply, or perhaps a water pump, it can be removed by simply drilling out the rivets that secure it to the chassis.  It would have been nice if this was held in by screws or bolts so that it could be removed without drilling the case.  However, in this budget price range, I'm not surprised that they made a compromise like this.

The backside of the mobo tray has mounting locations for two 2.5” drives and plenty of cable tie-down locations.  We also see the three main cable routing holes next to the motherboard. Coming from the front portion, we also have all the front panel header wires, which will plug into the motherboard, and allow those nifty buttons and ports on the front of the chassis to work.  Lastly, there is adequate space for your cables to live behind the mobo tray if you don’t try to cram them on top of each other all willy nilly... a little time spent managing cables goes a long way in a case like this.

We also get a little box of accessories with the case, which include the documentation/manual a cleaning cloth, some zip ties, necessary screws, motherboard standoffs, as well as some extra side panel thumb screws and the accompanying rubber grommets.

System Configuration & Build

Being that there is a lot of options for a build in Cooler Master TD500L because of how it was designed I decided to do something a little more basic compared to a full on custom water loop.. or 2.  For a CPU cooler, I decided to go with the Thermaltake Floe Riing 360.  I wanted to show off its capabilities at having a 360mm radiator in the front of the case.  I actually used an EATX motherboard to show that it can unofficially support motherboards a little wider than standard ATX size. For the power supply and cables, I went with the rm750i from Corsair using the standard cables.  Since so many motherboards support m.2 style of SSD I didn’t include any 2.5” or 3.5” drives because clean sleek builds are becoming more and more what people want and desire.  I left the standard 120mm fan in the back of the case as a vent.  I also didn’t include any fans at the top of the case because I have adequate cooling and noise levels.

Before we were able to place in the motherboard we had to install the standoffs. Being that we used an EATX motherboard and they share similar holes I was able to mount it like an ATX motherboard with no modifications. The motherboard does start to cover up the cable routing holes so be careful if you go too wide.

After the motherboard installation, I went with the next biggest piece which was the CPU cooler.  There was plenty of space to install the rads and fans to the front of the case while also having space to route the fan cables alongside the cooler without being able to see them.

Next, I installed the GPU and it was fairly uneventful as you just need to remove the thumb screws that pertain to whichever expansion slot you want to access.

Routing the cables took a little more work than I first hoped.  You need to connect the cables to everything in the system and plug them into the power supply while it is outside the case. After that, you just walk it into the case slowly and then screw down.  The cables remained snug but not too tight so they all stayed in place well and I didn’t use any of the tie downs.

The cables for the CPU cooler are quite lengthy so I removed the 2 Hard Drive trays to make space for a cable cubby (basically just stuffed them in there).

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

In an age of tempered glass and ‘RGB all the things’, Cooler Master decided to release this case.  This case has neither by the way, but they do sell one with some RGB fans for about $75.  We don’t mind this case coming the way it does. They are sending you a shell to do with as you please. A blank canvas.  We prefer it this way. Instead of tempered glass, we get some 3 dimensionally shaped smoked acrylic. 

This case is simple, clean and very much functional.  It offers more than enough for people to be able to play around with and not get bored.  Since some people like us don’t necessarily like everything RGB, we are glad that it doesn’t come with RGB fans.  Some people wouldn’t use them so they would take them out to use wanted anyway so that’s nice. We would say that the case would be extremely easy for anyone to build in. We could talk on and on and on about this case, but that’s not what the case wants.  It wants to look unique and be sleek all at the same time. It accomplishes this mission. 

The only thing this case is lacking is some aftermarket cables and better cable management….so I guess the only issue with this case is me.  Finally, I'd like to thank Cooler Master for sending us the MasterBox TD500L, it is an awesome case!

Introduction

In line with MasterCase’s commitment to unparalleled customization and flexibility, Cooler Master has added another case to the H500 series with the MasterCase H500M. At first glance, the H500M may resemble its older brother, the H500P. But, Cooler Master has gone the extra mile with the H500M and added tempered glass panels to the top and back-side as well as added ability to easily change out the front mesh panel to one made of tempered glass. Other features include: a fully removable PSU shroud, additional cables for ARGB support and a GPU support arm. In addition, you will find a 2 x 200mm ARGB fans, Rear 140mm 1200RPM fan, and an ARGB controller. Coming in at an MSRP of $200, the H500M definitely lands itself on the premium side of mid tower cases and is about $50 more than its counterpart, the H500P Mesh.  

We would like to thank Cooler Master for providing us with this case to look at.

About Cooler Master

Back in 1992, when the internet was in its early stages and CPU’s were measured in MHz rather than GHz, a company called ORYX was born. ORYX later became Cooler Master, which we know the company as today. Started by a rogue product manager who had no funding and no support except a single administrative secretary, he set out to create, innovate and improve products for the PC industry. Starting with its first product, a Socket 7 CPU heat sink in 1993, their product line has since grown to Cases, Peripherals, Fans, and much more. Over the past 25+ years they brought many advancements and firsts to the PC industry (such as the first all copper heat sink) and today, they continue to innovate by bringing new and exciting products to market.

Features & Specifications

Notable features of the H500M are:

• 4 sides of tempered glass
• Swappable mesh from panel for extra airflow
• GPU support for longer GPU’s
• ARGB controller included
• Fully removable PSU shroud
• 9 covers for you to hide your cables/PSU
• USB 3.1 (Gen) Type-C port on the front IO

Technical specifications are as follows:

Packaging & Unboxing

Upon receiving your MasterCase H500M, you’re presented with a full colored box which displays the H500M as well as its technical specifications. On one side you see an angled view of the case with both front 200mm fans showing off there RGB flair.

Moving to the front of the box you get a front view of the chassis with the RGB fans illuminated.

Moving to the other side of the case, you’re presented with a written overview of the case as well as a set of notable features in a variety of languages.

All technical specifications of the H500M are provided on the back on the box.

Upon opening the box, you will find that the case is securely encased in foam, which is also placed into a grey bag with two handles.

Using the handles of the bag, we were able to lift the case out of the box with little to no effort. I must say that this was much easier than flipping and sliding the case out as you normally would. The bag itself is high quality and proudly displays the Cooler Master logo and slogan on the front.

After the bag is removed, you can see the foam totally surrounds the H500M, which has kept all the tempered glass safe and intact.

Once the foam is removed, the case itself is wrapped in a plastic bag as well as the swappable tempered glass front panel.

After we removed the bags, we noticed that all the tempered glass and plastic portions of the H500M covered with a protective plastic film. Happy peeling!

Included with the case is a handy little box with various screws, 3 to 4 cable adapter, ARGB extension cable, zip ties and a microfiber cloth. A case manual was also included.

A Closer Look: Exterior

After peeling all the protective film from the H500M, you immediately notice the attention to detail that Cooler Master has put into this case. The whole case feels very well built and really has that premium look that you would expect from a $200 case. We really like how the all the tempered glass panels sit flush with the case’s shell, which keeps the lines extremely clean. Another bonus is the ability to replace the front panel based on your airflow and aesthetics preferences.

Looking at the display side of the case, you’re presented with a full tempered glass panel with a single locking mechanism to hold it in place. The glass itself has about an inch-wide black border and has a relatively dark tint. Our first thought about the tint is that it’s a little darker than we like but we will have to see how well you can view your build once its illuminated from the inside.

If you take a closer look at the locking screw, you will notice that it requires a flat head screw driver to open. As we were not able to unlock it by hand, we searched for a quick solution and discovered that the channel is the perfect size for a penny (not sure if this was intentional or not, but it was much easier than looking for our flathead screwdriver). If Cooler Master uses this lock in future cases, we would like to see this open without the use of any tools (or coins).

The back side of the case is identical to the other side and features the same tampered glass panel and locking screw.

The front of the case comes preinstalled with the mesh panel with the USB ports and power button located on the top of the case.

Taking a closer look at the IO, it’s nice to see the inclusion of the USB 3.1 Type-C port, which is slowly starting to hit mainstream use. Accompanying the Type-C port are 4 USB 3.0 port, a mic and headphone jack, a power button and a reset button that can optionally be used to manage the lighting of the system using the included ARGB controller. 

If the preinstalled mesh insert is not to your liking and you prefer the full tempered glass look and feel, you can swap out it with ease. Start by popping up the full front panel starting at the top of the case and moving your way down. Once you have the full front panel off you can see that the mesh insert is secured with 8 screws that have foam like washers on them. We would like to also point out that all the mesh in the front panel is filtered but it not removable so you will have to popoff the whole front panel to clean them.

After you have swapped the inserts, all you have to do is reattach the front panel by snapping it into place.

Looking at the back of the case, you see the normal IO cutouts and like most cases with a tempered glass panel, a vertical GPU mounting bracket. Down towards the PSU mount you will notice that there is a mounting plate with 4 thumb screws. This has been done so that the PSU can be installed from the back without needing to remove the whole PSU shroud like in the original H500P.

Flipping over the case you can see a removable dust filter for the PSU intake and 4 nicely sized rubberized feet.

If you wish to install fans on the top of the case, you can do so by removing the screw on that back of the case. Once removed, you can easily lift off the top with your hands from the back. Fans can be mounted in the following configurations: 3 x 120mm fans, 2 x 140mm fans or 2 x 200mm fans. Like the front panel of the case, the mesh on the top is also filtered.

A Closer Look: Interior

After removing the front tempered glass panel, you are greeted with a full matte black interior with the customizability that you would expect from a case in the MasterCase line. Some of the bonuses are a water bump mounting bracket on the top of the PSU shroud, a GPU support arm which is needed for those beefy graphics cards and reservoir mounting bracket sitting on the right side of the motherboard tray. Other great features include the multiple SSD mounting points both on the PSU shroud and on the reservoir mounting bracket and an extremely configurable PSU shroud which we will talk about later. The case feels very roomy and you should have no problem adding all the custom water cooling gear if you wish to move away from your air coolers. This case supports up to 360mm radiators on the front and top of the case and you should even have room for pull/pull (dependent on your rad and fan size) since you can install one set of fans under the top and front panel.

Flipping the case around to the back, you will notice the lack of visible wires. This is due to the 3 included covers, which keep the back of the case looking extremely clean. Below the motherboard tray, you also have the option to mount 2 SSD’s. Their wires can be routed though a cutout in the cover below them.

To remove the bottom right cover, you just have to remove the top 2 screws that hold it into place. When removing the bracket, make sure to be careful as the included ARGB controller is attached to the back via 2 screws.

The left side can also be accessed by removing the 2 screws that are securing it to the case. This panel is hinged so that you can open it to the left to view the cables underneath.

This hinged panel can also easily be removed by lifting it up which will give you complete access to all the hidden wires.

Another feature is the motherboard cutout cover, which just adds to the clean look of the back of the case. This cover is plastic so you don’t have to worry about shorting out your motherboard. If you need access to the back of your motherboard, you can easily remove it by popping it out.

A Closer Look: PSU Shroud

You must be wondering why a PSU shroud has its own section in a review. Well Cooler Master has managed to make a shroud so configurable that we really had no choice. Some of the notable features of this shroud include: completely removable, installed as full shroud, installed as ½ shroud, optional front rad cutout, optional panel to expose your PSU, 2 SSD mount points and a water pump mounting bracket.

With that being said you really only want to be configuring this shroud once, and preferably before you install any hardware. The reason for this is that it’s quite a bit to work to get out and to completely remove it, you must take out a total of 11 screws. To start removing the shroud you must first detach the reservoir mounting bracket by unscrewing the 4 screws securing it as the back.

After the bracket has been removed, you must remove the 2 screws securing the front part of the shroud (one at the back of the case and the other at the front). Once those screws have been removed, you can gently remove the shroud (which may take some wiggling to get it out). After it’s out, you now have full access to your drive cage and can can remove it if you want. The second part of the shroud is totally enclosed, so you will see no PSU wires by removing the first piece.

If you still wanted a full shroud but also run a radiator in the front of your case, Cooler Master has you covered by including a removable radiator plate to give you the required space.

Putting the front shroud piece back in, you can see that you have enough room for a raditor as well as a fan if you wanted to do push/pull. Note this won’t fit all raditor and fan setups as they have to be smaller then 70mm when assembled.

If you wish to remove the whole shroud or configure it to expose your PSU, you must remove the HDD cage which is secured by a single screw. Once the cage has been removed, you can proceed to detach the last piece of the shroud by removing the 4 screws holding it in place (one at the back of the motherboard tray, one at the front, and 2 at the back of the case).

Some of you who owned the original H500P may be all too familiar with this shroud removal process as it was required to install the PSU. Well, Cooler Master has improved this on the H500M, so that removing the shroud is not required. To install the PSU, all you have to do is remove the PSU plate from the back of the case with the 4 thumb screws. Once removed, you attach this plate to your PSU and then slide the PSU into the cutout and reattach the plate to the case.

System Build & Installation

For my build, I decided to go for the front tempered glass panel to have a tempered on all side look and decided to keep the full PSU shroud to have a very clean look.

The hardware included in this build is:

• ASRock Z370 Tachi Motherboard
• Intel 8700K Processor
• 4 x 4GB Team Group T-Force Delta RGB Ram
• MSI X-Gaming RX480 8GB GPU
• Cooler Master 212 Hyper Evo Cooler
• EVGA 750W P2 PSU

Before I even started putting hardware into the case. I made sure to carefully plan out my build. The reason for this is once I put the PSU in and attach all the wire covers on, I don’t want to have to remove them again. This is the price you have to pay to keep the back of the case looking clean. Due to all the planning beforehand, the build was an extremely smooth process with very few issues. I kept the build clean and all the cutouts and gromets were well placed. The GPU support arm came in handy to help eliminate any GPU sag.

Moving to the back of the case, I really like what Cooler Master has done with the wire covers. I was able to pretty much hide all my cables with the exception of the CPU cable and SSD cables. My PSU cables (especially the 24pin motherboard cable) are quite bulky and stiff so it took some time to reposition the cables so that the left plate could be reattached. If you own custom cables or your stock PSU cables are on the thin side, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Another thing I really like about this case are the SSD mounts. At first, I wasn’t sure how I would attach an SSD to them until I saw the SSD screws in the included assortment box. These screws attach to the back of the SSD and then the SSD can just be pressed into the rubber SSD mounting points.

Overall this case was a breeze to build in. I had plenty of room to work and the only issue I ran into was with my PSU cables and the left wire cover. I achieved my goal of having an extremely clean build which was made easy with features like the PSU shroud and the wire covers.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Cooler Master has really brought their ‘A game’ when creating this case. They took all the feedback from the owners of the original H500P and truly listened. I personally enjoy every minute with the H500M and loved the attention to detail they had when creating it. Aesthetically, it looks amazing and it backs up those looks with a ton of features and configurability, which makes this case an option for both air-cooled builders and water cooling enthusiasts.

There are so many features I love about this case. From the configurability of the PSU shroud to the included items such as the GPU support arm and water pump bracket, this case allows you to “Make it Yours”. They have pretty much thought of everything that you would want to configure on a case. If I had to be picky, the only things I would change are: making the front/back panels open without the use of any tools, a little less of a tint on the front/back tempered glass panels so the build could be more visible and removing the writing above the USB ports on the front IO as I think it distracts from the case’s clean look. Those things are extremely minor and are really based on my personal preferences as opposed to design flaws.

Would I recommend this case for people looking for a mid-tower case? Absolutely. It may be on the higher end of the mid-tower market at $200, but in my opinion it’s worthy of this price tag.

Introduction

Do you like the aesthetics of Cooler Masters H series, but don’t have the budget for a higher end case? Well, Cooler Master may have the answer with the MasterCase H500. The H500 has taken the design elements from other cases in the H series and added a few surprises of its own. Like the H500M, this case also includes a swappable front panel. You have the choice between a lightly tinted acrylic or the pre-installed mesh. Other key features included are: 2 x 200mm RGB fans with an RGB controller, a convenient handle for moving around your case and a full tinted tempered glass side panel. Even with this extensive list of features, the H500 comes in at an affordable $99 MSRP.

We would like to thank Cooler Master for providing us with this case to look at.

About Cooler Master

Back in 1992, when the internet was in its early stages and CPU’s were measured in MHz rather than GHz, a company called ORYX was born. ORYX later became Cooler Master, which we know the company as today. Started by a rogue product manager who had no funding and no support except a single administrative secretary, he set out to create, innovate and improve products for the PC industry. Starting with its first product, a Socket 7 CPU heat sink in 1993, their product line has since grown to Cases, Peripherals, Fans, and much more. Over the past 25+ years they brought many advancements and firsts to the PC industry (such as the first all copper heat sink) and today, they continue to innovate by bringing new and exciting products to market.

Features & Specifications

Notable Features:

• Swappable Mesh/Acrylic front panel
• Top case handle
• Included RGB controller
• 2 x 200mm RGB fans
• Tempered glass side panel

Technical Specifications:

Packaging & Unboxing

When receiving the H500, you are presented with a box that has various photos as well as feature information of the case. On one of the larger sides, it highlights key features of the case in English beside a profile shot of the case. At the bottom is a larger feature list in various other languages.

Flipping the box around, you can see another profile shot of the H500 which is showing you that you can swap out the front panels.

On the side of the box, a full list of technical specifications can be found.

Going to the other side you can see a front shot of the case sporting its pre-installed mesh panel.

When opening the box you can see the case nicely packed between 2 pieces of styrofoam and the acrylic front plate wrapped in foam. Also visible on the top is the instruction booklet for the H500.

Taking the case out of the box, you can see both the case and front panel covered with a plastic bag.

After removing the styrofoam and plastic bag, all that’s left is taking off the “Fragile” sticker on the tempered glass.

A Closer Look: Exterior

Once the plastic was off the case, you can definitely see the resemblance to the other cases in the H series. It has that same industrial style and a similar front panel aesthetic, but offers new features like the top magnetic dust filter and case handle. It includes a tempered glass side panel that can be removed using two screws located on the top corners. These screws require a flat head screw driver as they are not easily removed with your fingers. But if you look in your spare change, it’s perfectly sized for a penny. The glass itself covers the whole side and has about a one-inch black border and is lightly tinted. Towards the front of the case, there is side ventilation to provide airflow for the front fans. This will be valuable if you choose to go with the acrylic front panel.

Taking a closer look at the tempered glass panel you will notice it slightly extrudes from the side case. This doesn’t affect the overall look but would have been nice if it sat flush to maintain those clean lines like the rest of the case.

The front comes pre-installed with the mesh panel as well as 2 x 200m RGB fans. At the bottom on the mesh, it sports a centered Cooler Master logo.

Moving to the other side of the H500, it includes the same side ventilation, but instead of the tempered glass, it’s a steel panel.

The back of the H500 is the standard IO and PSU cutouts as well as the rear 120mm exhaust fan.

The front I/O consists of two 3.0 and two 2.0 USB ports, a 3.5mm headset/microphone jack, HDD LED, a power button and a reset button. If you wish to control the RGB on the two 200mm fans from the I/O you can choose to connect the reset button to the included RGB controller.

On the top of the case, you have plenty of vents which can handle two 120mm / two 140mm fans or a single 200mm fan. It also can support AIO’s and radiators that are 120mm, 140mm or 240mm in size.

The top vent is also fully covered with an easily removed magnetic filter.

Looking toward the front of the case, you will also see a handle which is quite convenient while moving the case around during your build.

Flipping the H500 over, it features two elongated rubberized feet and a filtered PSU shroud. This filter can be easily pulled out via the back of the case.

If the pre-installed mesh panel isn’t the look you are going for, it can be switched out with the included smoked acrylic panel. To change the panel, you first have to remove both side panels from the case. Once they have been removed, the front easily pops off starting from the top.

Now that you have detached the front of the case, you can take off the mesh panel by removing the 8 screws holding it in place. Now, just insert the acrylic panel and secure it using those same screws.

Then, all you have to do is reattach the front back on to the case. We personally think both the mesh and acrylic match the case extremely well, so it really comes down to the type of look you are going for with your build.

A Closer Look: Interior

Taking off the tinted tempered glass side panel, you are presented with a clean looking interior which includes a half PSU shroud, HDD drive cage and a cable management bar. One thing to note about the cable management bar is that there are no reservoir mount points, so if you are water cooling you’re probably looking to mount your reservoir to the radiator. Taking a closer look at the PSU shroud, you will notice it isn’t fully covered on the side, so if you did remove the HDD cage your PSU cables would possibly be visible.

Included with the H500 is a pre-installed 120mm exhaust fan.

Moving to the front of the interior you have mounting points for a up to a 360mm radiator and comes preinstalled with two 200mm RGB fans. If you’re worried about the HDD cage getting in the way, you have about 60mm clearance. This should be plenty of room for a thicker radiator or even a slim one with push/pull configuration.

The HDD cage has enough room for two 3.5” or 2.5” drivers and is removable with a single thumb screw placed at the front of the cage.

Looking at the back side of the case you are given plenty of cutouts for cable routing with grommets on the ones visible from the front side. One thing that is lacking is a way to install the PSU from the back side of the case. To install the PSU, you must remove the PSU shroud by removing the single thumbscrew located at the back of the case.

Also included are 2 screwless SSD mounts below the processor cutout which make installing and removing an SSD a breeze.

Cooler Master also provided a nice accessory bag which includes an RGB controller, 3-pin fan to 4-pin power cable adapter, zip ties, branded micro fiber cloth and an assortment of screws.

System Build and Installation

The hardware included in this build is:

• ASRock Z370 Tachi Motherboard
• Intel 8700K Processor
• 4 x 4GB Team Group T-Force Delta RGB Ram
• MSI X-Gaming RX480 8GB GPU
• Cooler Master 212 Hyper Evo Cooler
• EVGA 750W P2 PSU

The build went very well and didn’t run into many issues. The handle on the top of the case was very handy when rotating and flipping the case. Once I did get everything installed, it did start to flex a bit, so for building it’s fine but I would be careful using it for transporting. The cable management bar also did a good job hiding my USB3 and SATA cable for my SSD and helped reduce the stress on the motherboard connections due to having more room to work with. Even with the HDD cage removed, I did find the PSU shroud did a good job hiding the cables thanks to the placement of the cable cutouts.

Installing the PSU was quite simple, and to remove the PSU shroud all that needed to be done was unscrewing a single thumb screw from the back of the case. Once the screw is removed you can simply slide out the shroud and attach the PSU. Once the PSU was installed the shroud goes on as easy as it was taken out.

The back of the case had plenty of tie downs for cable management. I did find it a little hard to manage the PSU cables due to it only being a half shroud, so there was little room to hide them in the back. Once all the cables were zip tied down with the included zip ties, putting on the panel took a little work but did go on fairly easily.

I must say that I absolutely love the toolless SSD mounts as it made it extreme simple to install the SSD without the need for a bracket.

The H500 was truly a pleasure to work in and is quite roomy for a mid-tower case. We were able to achieve a nice clean build with minimal effort due to the PSU shroud and cable management bar. It was nice to see the included RGB controller and makes changing the color/pattern of the fans a breeze with the reset button.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

I think the H500 is a worthy addition to the H series line up and has similar aesthetics for about half the price. Cooler Master has managed to pack some nice features such as the swappable front panel, two 200mm RGB fans with controller and a top handle, while maintaining an affordable price of $99. The case itself is very well built and in no way feels or looks like a sub $100 case. If I were to recommend some changes, I would have liked to see the cable management bar designed to include reservoir mounting points and possibly extended it to hide the case I/O cables. Also, with the PSU shroud being half the length of the case it would be nice to have an optional cover to hide the PSU cables completely. With that being said, those are very minor nitpicks and the case is well designed and adaptable to your build needs. So, if you love the look of the H series cases but are on a smaller budget I would recommend checking out  the H500.

Cooler Master is a computer hardware and accessories manufacturer founded in Taipei, Taiwan in 1994. They are currently headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Cooler Master is most widely known for their full range of PC cooling hardware such as air CPU coolers, liquid CPU coolers, PC case fans, thermal grease, and RGB cooling accessories. Cooler Master is also know for their quality computer cases, PC power supplies, peripherals. Cooler Master has continued to expand their manufacturing into areas that suit their customers by offering a full range of peripherals such as keyboards, mice, mousepads, and other accessories for ergonomics.

Phanteks is a computer case and PC cooling hardware and accessories manufacturer founded in 2007 when a group of engineers with 20 years of experience in cooling solutions and a Dutch design team came together to make high-end quality PC cooling products and innovative cooling solutions. Phanteks is well known in the overclocking community for their high performance CPU cooling and Liquid Cooling solutions, as well as their innovative case designs.

Riotoro is California based manufacturer of PC hardware and accessories such as computer cases, computer power supplies, water cooling systems, gaming mice, gaming keyboards, RGB cooling fans, and LED cooling fans.

AORUS is a premium gaming brand brought to you by GIGABYTE. AORUS manufactures a wide range of PC hardware, PC accessories, and PC peripherals. The AORUS brand is focused on high performance gaming hardware and accessories. Their gaming products range from gaming laptops, motherboards, graphics cards, gaming mice, and mechanical gaming keyboards, to a growing list of other products such as mouse pads, computer cases, laptop backpacks, and even laptop backpacks for VR.