Cooler Master MasterCase Maker 5: A mid-tower champ

The premium mid-tower

Unveiled early this year, the Cooler Master MasterCase Maker 5 has made its way to local retailers. This mid-tower casing is the latest addition to the company’s MasterCase series, the first of which was the MasterCase 5. At the heart of this series is the FreeForm modularity system, and its unique selling proposition was the freedom accorded for the owner to upgrade and modify his existing chassis with optional accessories to  improve form and/or functionality. It's quite unlike the token set of minor options that you get with most other cases. Best of all, these accessories are readily available from local retailers, so you wouldn't have to purchase them from overseas online retailers.

Cooler Master has decidedly built on its winning formula with the new MasterCase Maker 5. Like its earlier predecessor, the MasterCase 5, the newer chassis still only comes in black; however, there are new design features, as well as new accessories that set the MasterCase Maker 5 apart. Early adopters of the original MasterCase 5 series will be glad to know that the new accessories, or more accurately, the ones, which we reviewed in this article, are compatible with the earlier chassis. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the MasterCase Maker 5.

Exterior design

The chassis grabs your attention with its face plate that sports the Cooler Master brand logo, and it brings to mind the MasterCase Maker from the previous year, which we first chanced upon at a local Cooler Master event.

But its side panel with a clear acrylic window brought us out from our reverie, as the company has taken much pains to add new features, albeit incremental ones, to distinguish the MasterCase Maker 5 from the earlier chassis.

One of the most obvious updates, to the keen-eyed observer, are the front I/O ports. At the top row, there are a total of four USB ports; two are USB 2.0 Type-A ones, and the other two are USB 3.0 ports, i.e., one is the ubiquitous Type-A, and the other is Type-C. Flanking the USB ports are the newly added LED control button and the fan control button - something that we wished for in last year's iteration. On the second row, there are the reset and power buttons, followed by the audio-out and mic-in ports.

The top of the chassis has a recess that is actually a front hand grip, and there’s a section beyond that slides off easily to reveal the top vents.

We tipped the case to have a look at its bottom, and it’s almost identical to the older MasterCase 5 except for the removable filter that’s placed before the bottom vents. The filter has two layers so we expect it to better prevent dust and other foreign particles from being sucked into the chassis. Its metal stands have rubber cushions.

As we mentioned earlier, one side of the chassis has a clear acrylic panel, while the other side is a non-embellished panel. At the rear of the chassis, we can see the bundled 140mm cooling outlet fan. As expected, there are six expansion slots further add any kind of extra I/O ports required along with graphics card(s). Its entire rear design incorporates a fair amount of outlet air vents. At the bottom, there’s a bracket for securing the PSU.

Interior Design

Next, we removed all the panels from the chassis to have a good look at its insides. Like the MasterCase 5, the side panels have the same curved groove for easy installation and removal. The front face plate pulled off easier, and the front panel cover was also removed to expose a pair of bundled 140mm intake fans (one more than the previous case). With a bundled fan adapter, the chassis is able to fit an additional 140mm intake fan, accommodating a total of three such cooling fans. For users who decide to opt for a liquid cooling kit, the radiator, up to 280mm in length, can also be mounted at the front. However, this calls for the removal of the 5.25-inch (ODD) cage.

The other bundled 140mm fan is located at the rear, and it can be swapped out from a smaller 120mm outlet fan if required to accommodate radiators mounted within the the top panel of the chassis. Generally speaking, the interior of the MasterCase Maker 5 is almost identical to the MasterCase 5.

From the large CPU cooler cut-out, ODD and HDD cages, to the location of the 2.5-inch drive trays. Even the rubber grommets that cover the access cut-outs are identical.

But there’s a new addition to the bundled goodies in the form of a red LED strip with a magnetized back. So the LED strip can be attached anywhere in its interior but it’s recommended to keep it near the acrylic window for best effect.

The bottom part of the chassis is segregated from the rest of the chassis; this area allows for the installation of ATX PSUs, and HDDs, via the removable HDD cage.

The HDD cage can also be repositioned to accommodate the radiator of a liquid cooling kit, should the owner choose to mount the radiator at the chassis’ front.

At the rear of the mounting area for the motherboard, there are two options to mount the pair of 2.5-inch drive adapters, which are just below the CPU cooler cut-out.

There’s a new hardware addition at the rear, in the form of a LED and fan control hub. Any attached fan and LED will draw power from the board’s 15-pin SATA power connector. There are four, 2-pin LED connectors, and six, 4-pin fan connectors. The hub is protected by a tinted acrylic cover. The bundled red LED strip, mentioned earlier, is connected to this controller hub. The bundled cooling fans are also attached to the same board. Essentially, out of the box, the LED and fan controller hub is ready to use and is only awaiting the power connector from the PSU.

The top of the chassis reveals a mounting option for radiators, up to 297mm in length. Previously, this mounting option was available as a separate accessory for the MasterCase 5.

As expected from Cooler Master, there’s a lot of attention paid to the details with even the accessories and screws packed into an aluminum box that has a padded bottom for protection against scratching any smooth surfaces, as well as to dampen the knocks against any hard surfaces. In the box, there are cable ties, two velcro cable management straps, a top fan bracket, and a pair of 5.25-inch bridging connectors.

The mounting screws are packed and sealed into individual sections of a long rolled-up belt with each section clearly labeled. You might overlook these small touches, but they add to the overall experience of setting up and using the casing.

Installation

As expected, the installation process was a smooth affair. The motherboard standoffs weren’t in place so we had to install them ourselves (gasp!) The motherboard and graphics card were quickly put in their respective places thereafter. Our 3.5-inch HDD was slotted in and held in its place by the drive tray in the top HDD cage. The PSU easily slid into the bottom compartment after we attached the PSU bracket to our PSU (via four thumb screws).

Our SSDs had to be secured to the adapters with mounting screws. We then mounted them to the rear of the motherboard installation area as we felt cable management was better that way. The rubber grommets did their jobs to somewhat bunch our power and data cables at the access cut-outs.

Here's a look at our finished product:

Power on!

We powered on the chassis for a light show. The LED glowed a devil red hue, and the LEDs just above the top row of USB ports, and buttons, also glowed red. This nifty design detail saves you the trouble of groping in the dark for ports and buttons. There isn't an option to turn off the button LEDs though.

Speaking of the buttons, the LED control button (left-most button) toggles among three modes; on, off, or pulsate. So this meant any attached support LED strip will behave according to the LED behavior set. The fan speed control was rudimentary as it toggles only between high and low fan speed states.

Accessories installation

From Ban Leong, one of Cooler Master’s local distributors, we obtained a MasterAccessory tempered glass side panel for MasterCase 5 series. This means that it’s compatible with the older MasterCase 5 models too. As you can see, the full glass side panel really brings the entire chassis to a whole new level; it’s classy and easy to install.

It's held in place by a single lock, and it functions exactly like locks found on a typical glass cabinet door. It’s available locally at S$79, and on Cooler Master’s online store, its SRP is US$49, excluding shipping charges.

The other MasterAccessory is the Universal VGA holder that will fit into any Cooler Master tower chassis series. It's made from steel and the legs of its heavy base has magnets that are out-of-sight. As for the practicality of this accessory, it's only useful if you've a very heavy graphics card and using more than one of them. Otherwise, it's not necessary.

Conclusion

There’s generally nothing to fault with the Cooler Master MasterCase Maker 5, the company has taken a proven formula, on which the earlier MasterCase 5 was based on, and made incremental improvements to it. The MasterCase Maker 5 is priced at S$299, which is considerably expensive for a mid-tower chassis. There aren't many locally available mid-tower chassis at this price point, but the closest we could find was the NZXT H440 Designed by Razer, which was released almost two years ago in December 2014. This exclusive chassis is priced at  S$269, and it comes with similar embellishments like the LED lighting, a generous bundle of cooling fans, with mostly the same options for additional cooling add-ons. It even has a tinted window to show off its internal components. The only thing that distinguishes the MasterCase Maker 5 is the availability of its MasterAccessory components. So if you fork out an additional S$79 for the MasterCase tempered glass panel, the total cost will be S$378! At this price tag, you will be able to consider an upper-tier full-tower chassis that will accommodate extended ATX or SSI-EEB motherboards.

Of course not everyone wants a behemoth, so with that said, we are very sure the new MasterCase Maker 5 will find fans with deep pockets, who are looking for a new, high-end mid-tower chassis, with readily available accessories for some simple, self-modding headroom. We have to add that the company’s attention to details for the chassis are second to none, so it’s only befitting that the MasterCase Maker 5 commands a premium.

For existing owners of the MasterCase 5 or equivalent series, upgrading to the new MasterCase Maker 5 would make little sense. In fact, you could actually just purchase the upgrade kit that's sold by Cooler Master to obtain the upgraded front I/O panel, the front door panel/mesh, the LED and fan control hub and the bundled LED strip. Don't forget that you'll also need the MasterAccessory Cooling Bracket and the Top Cover. The whole bundle does add to the cost notably for the purpose of an upgrade, which is why Cooler Master did say it's wiser to splurge on the top casing model from the get-go.