Cooler Master is known to produce a lot of products, coolers (as their name implies), Power Supplies as well as PC casing. They have made a few famous PC casings throughout the years, namely the HAF series. Their casings are also known to be well designed, robust and affordable.

A problem with PC Casings is that you are usually stuck with what you get and you can’t change much, if at all. While Cooler Master did change that a bit with the Stacker previously, they still want something that could fit what the user wants. Hence they came out with the Cooler Master Mastercase 5, a totally modular PC casing. You heard that right folks, Cooler Master has just released a Lego like casing for the PC.

Complete Box

With a tagline of “Make it Yours” adorning the side, the Cooler Master Mastercase 5 comes in a large purplish black box, which blends in with the image of the casing that’s inside. Inside the large foam protection you will find the casing itself, as well as a few mountings, screws and brackets. Thankfully Cooler Master is kind enough to pack all of these extra bits in its own box, complete with its own compartment.

Simple, yet brilliant

The casing itself could be described as minimalistic. It has no exaggerated curves or lines, just smooth, freeform shape that blends well into each other, buttons that are flush with the surface, as well as a matte finish. If people told me beforehand that someone could make a minimalist casing, I would have scoffed in their face, but Cooler Master has done it and it’s bloody brilliant.

Easy to Move

In terms of size, the Cooler Master Mastercase 5 is suitable from the larger ATX sized motherboard down to a mini-ITX. It’s quite tall and bulky with a dimension of 235 x 512 x 548mm (W x H x D). We are surprised to see that there are only two USB 3.0 port on the front panel, because casing manufacturers tend to also include two for USB 2.0 ports. Two easy to grip handles are built onto the casing, which makes moving it really easy. If you want to bring it along for a LAN party, those handles would come in handy

Expandability

Inside, you will find a total of eight expansion bays 3.5” bays, four 2.5” bays and two 5.25” ones. All of these can be added or expanded with additional modules later. For easy cabling, there is a 0.75” gap behind the motherboard plate. Cooler Master has included two 140mm fan, one on the front and one on the rear, and you can install four more 120mm or 140mm fans. The top is large enough to install a two-slot long radiator. It also casing accepts 300mm long GPU by default, but if you have larger ones, you can take out the 3.5” bay and lengthen it to 412mm.

High Flexibility

How is the casing in action? It’s awesome and we love it. We can see why Cooler Master wants to make a modular casing, as there are a lot of ways that you can store your hardware in one. It’s possible to install HDDs in the normal spots, like beside the motherboard, or below near the PSU if that’s your preference. Are you more partial to smaller drives, or the more powerful SSDs? No problem, just add more 2.5” bays. Or maybe, you want to put your water cooling solution’s radiator on the front of the casing instead of the top? Sure, take out the 3.5” bays and you should have enough space to work with. There are all sorts of combinations available with the Mastercase 5 and it’s up to you to choose the one you like best.

As bonus, Cooler Master even made sure to help protect all of your cables. Thanks to the soft rubber lining up the routing holes, any cables going through them won’t be worn out due to friction caused by rubbing against the aluminium casing.

Winning Case

Honestly, a PC casing that can be adapted and modified to your needs is something very new. Spacious, awesome design, ergonomic and above all, modular, the Cooler Master Mastercase 5 might just be the ultimate PC casing.

HL: Build What YOU Want

Price RM479

Specs

Size (W x H x D) 235 x 512 x 548mm

Weight 10.6 kg

Motherboard Support ATX, m-ATX, M-ITX

Expansion Slots 8

Drive Bays 2x 5.25-in, 2x 3.5-in, 4x 2.5-in

Cooling Support 3x 120/140mm (air cooling, front), 2x 120/140mm (air cooling, top), 1x 120/140mm (air cooling, rear), 240/280mm radiator (liquid cooling, up to 40mm thickness without fan)

Dust Filter Front, Top, Bottom

Cable Management 25mm

Power Supply Type Bottom Mount, ATX PS2

Value: 8/10

Features: 10/10

Performance: 9/10

Design: 10/10

Usability: 9/10

Total: 9.2

Verdict: We won’t be changing casing anytime soon