The Cooler Master MasterCase 5 Review
by E. Fylladitakis on August 27, 2015 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Cooler Master
- mid-tower
- Case
- Freeform
The Exterior of the Cooler Master MasterCase 5
The MasterCase 5 is a modern design, based on simple shapes and geometric patterns. It appears based on the first Cooler Master Scout case, but it is more serious and elegant. The entirely of the case, metal and plastic parts alike, is sprayed with a satin black paint. Cooler Master did a fine job making sure that the paint is not significantly different between the plastic and metallic parts, creating a uniform, quality look. With a volume of 0.0659 m3 (65.9 liters), it is neither a small or large case as far as Midi-ATX towers are concerned, but do note that it is 23.5 cm (9.25") wide, which is significantly wider than typical ATX designs. It also tipped our scale at 10.4 kg, making it a fairly heavy case for the size.
The stock version of the MasterCase 5 has no windowed side panel, only the MasterCase Pro 5 does, but it is offered as an extra accessory. If purchased an installed, by default it will still be hiding the lowermost part of the case, where the PSU compartment is. If the system is very tidy, the black stripe hiding the PSU compartment can be removed, displaying the entirety of the system.
Cooler Master placed the front I/O ports and buttons at the top front of the case, on a tilted surface. Given that the case is rather tall, the position of the buttons and I/O ports clearly favors placement under a desk and makes the use of a windowed side panel questionable. The power-on button rests at the middle of the formation, with the 3.5 mm audio jacks above it and one 3.0 USB port on either side of them. A tiny square reset button can be seen to the right and a small HDD activity LED to the left.
The two handles at the top of the case appear to be plastic. Actually, their covers are plastic and the main frame of the handle is steel, directly attached to the main frame of the case too. They can easily handle the weight of the case and any system that may be installed inside it.
Removing the four large screws releases the metallic top cover of the case. The screw heads are very visually intrusive and made us wonder if the designer has never heard of countersunk screws. A simple nylon filter is placed beneath it; do not expect it to keep out too much dust. Two 120/140 mm fans can be installed on the metallic cover.
Cooler Master offers the top frame and cover of the MasterCase Pro 5 as an extra accessory for the MasterCase 5. It comes with the metallic frame that can fit two 120/140 mm fans, providing enough clearance for a liquid cooling radiator. Arguably, the MasterCase 5 looks much better with the extra top cover installed. The top cover does not block the handles and converts the area beneath the front handle into a simple storage department.
The rear of the MasterCase 5 reveals the position of the PSU compartment at the bottom of the case but is otherwise uninteresting for a modern design. There are no grommets or holes for custom liquid cooling solutions. A nylon filter is placed beneath the PSU fan intake and it can be removed by pulling it out towards the rear of the case.
At the bottom of the case, the feet resemble the handles found at the top of the case. They too are made of steel and attached to the main frame of the case, with plastic covers over them. The only difference is the long rubber feet on them that, strangely, appear somewhat worn on our brand-new sample.
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Terry Suave - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
It would seem to me that Fractal Design is a better choice over this half-baked attempt at modularity. Even the Define R4 allows both a front radiator + HDD cages at the same time, and the R5 has even more quality of life improvements.Achaios - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
I have to agree with Terry Suave.What is actually happening in the market of PC Cases, is Swedish Fractal Design taking the PC entusiast world by storm.
The Fractal Design S & R5 have been reviewed by every single major You Tube PC Enthusiast reviewer, including Jayz Two Cents, Linus Tech Tips, Paul's Hardware as well as the British Kit Guru.Net, and have received dithyrambic praise by ever single reviewer.
From what I see of this case, it offers nothing to the PC enthusiast that Fractal Design S doesn't have and there are even several features that are missing.
All in all, I am quite disappointed. I am a Cooler Master fan btw, having owned a Cooler Master Cosmos RC-1000 case. It is very disappointing to see Cooler Master fail to study the Fractal Design S and produce a similar case.
In my humble opinion, there isn't any reason for an enthusiast to buy anything other than a Fractal Design S or R5 at this stage. Personally, I was forced to buy a Corsair Graphite 780T to replace my former Cooler Master COSMOS RC-1000, but this only because Fractal Design cases are sold out everywhere here in Greece. Generally, I dislike Corsair and tend to avoid them as a company that sells over-priced medium to low-quality hardware.
usernametaken76 - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
"The Fractal Design S & R5 have been reviewed by every single major You Tube PC Enthusiast reviewer, including Jayz Two Cents, Linus Tech Tips, Paul's Hardware as well as the British Kit Guru.Net, and have received dithyrambic praise by ever single reviewer."Some or all of them do advertising for Fractal Design. They're also YouTube reviewers, high on production value (in some cases) while light on critical details. Not always, sometimes they give the specific reasons for why they feel something could use improvement, but all in all, those YouTube reviewers you mentioned are fluff.
Achaios - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
While it is true that some of them do advertising in the form of spots inserted into their videos or product presentation, I wouldn't call any of these reviews as fluff. In addition, it is somewhat condescending & baseless to assume that every viewer of the said channels cannot discern said reviewers heavily and disingenuously pushing a specific product.It is no coincidence that every single reviewer is of the same opinion regarding Fractal Design cases.
As a final note, Kit Guru. Net (Brits) have been specifically excluded by AMD in their latest GPU presentation due to their refusal to compromise on delivering impartial reviews, so you are misinformed in addition to being wrong.
usernametaken76 - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
I would and did. They are light on details and anytime you accept advertising and free products from the company you're reviewing, it's 100% suspect that you're able to provide an unbiased viewpoint. Those guys have to make a living, I don't fault them for that. But many, many videos they put out start out strong and ride off with a whimper. Almost as if they said what they needed to say before getting to the final bits of advertising (some of which consume 20-30% of the total runtime of said videos. I don't take them seriously. They do provide a service but, for the most part, it's all just entertainment. They are entertaining. When I want to make an informed decision I read Ars and Anand and pcper, HardOCP, bit-tech, etc.usernametaken76 - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
p.s. you could just as well be a shill for Fractal Design. There's no way for anyone to know.As far as Kit Guru, one example. If they (AMD) have limited supply, and believe Kit Guru or anyone else may be shilling for Nvidia or anyone else, that's their call to supply or not supply them with free review hardware. If Kit Guru wanted to or did purchase retail product for review, that's their prerogative.
As far as being wrong and uninformed, that's your opinion. You're generalizing based on me disagreeing with you, and I don't care if you agree with me or not.
My opinion is those YouTube channels are providing a service, an entertaining one, but they are too short and do not provide enough "meat" for me to make an informed decision. Almost never do that do that, and if they are pushing Fractal Design products AT THE BEGINNING of their video, I'm going to judge them based on what they are...paid endorsers.
Isambard - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
Kitguru? You mean the same site who just copied their PSU testing equipment from another website and are claiming to be doing tests impossible to be done? The same site that continuously posts odd ripple and single digit numbers with a 12bit usb oscilloscope with a maximum resolution of 10mv that can show only even numbers? Those who are making new posts based on what they overheard from company members sitting next their table at a cafe?Please. Everyone who knows a thing or two about computers and electronics knows that this site is a sham. They have done so many amateurish mistakes betraying most of their reviews and articles are fake that it is obvious they are not even at a level allowing them to cheat properly.
Samus - Friday, August 28, 2015 - link
O SNAPJonnyDough - Tuesday, September 22, 2015 - link
*snaps 7 fingers on both handsromrunning - Thursday, August 27, 2015 - link
Achaios: "In my humble opinion, there isn't any reason for an enthusiast to buy anything other than a Fractal Design S or R5 at this stage."So what if I wanted a small, mini-ITX case? I guess I wouldn't be buying a Fractal Design S or R5. ;)
(I could, however, buy one of Fractal Design's Node series.)