Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 Mesh

[Darksaber]

The Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 Mesh checks off all the right boxes for an appealing mass-market choice. With its sub-$100 price tag, three fans, RGB, and clean looks, it goes down the path of "trusted and true", and it actually ends up being quite the confident stride for good reason.

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[dirtyferret]

Loud CM case fans, what a surprise...

 

[Th3pwn3r]

Ugly in my opinion. But if it performs decent...

 

[iuliug]

What is the P/N of the fans? Are they PWM?

 

[cucker tarlson]

ugly and loud
I'd take 500dx for sure

 

[MAXLD]

I would prefer the frontal fans to be mounted exclusively on the inside of the chassis and therefore not having such a bulky plastic frontal panel that basically screams "cheap". Which then would allow to ditch the plastic front panel altogether and have a much sleeker and robust looking steel meshed front. Just like the top side of the case. I really like that top side, plenty of mesh space for airflow and mounting options for fans.

Besides that, not providing full number of grommet+pins for all the bays the case has... that's silly (silly cheap decision that is). As for the fan noise, seems typical of these cases/fans... ditch the RGB bling-bling and fill it with proper Noctua fans and problem solved (will cost you, but you'll have a bunch of fans for life).

 

[Chrispy_]

Hideous, but at least it's mesh and not tempered glass.

I don't know why Taiwanese case manufacturers insist on sticking a mismatched piece of questionable plastic 'art' on the front of every case. It just adds cost, takes up space, and hinders airflow.

The front of a case needs to do one thing, and one thing only - let in air. Hide the fans behind some painted mesh or vented flat fascia if you must but please don't create a completely pointless volume of cheap, low-grade brittle plastic that poorly mimicks a jet engine nozzle, or Optimus Prime's nutsack, or a Tron lightcycle.

That stupid garish plastic rubbish costs money and looks bad. Can we please get cheaper cases that don't look bad by simply not including that junk in the first place? Nobody is asking for it. Nobody appreciates the wasted space, larger shipping boxes, or low-grade plastic. Just stop already!

I'm aware that my opinion may not reflect everyone's opinion but outside of NZXT and a few tiny startups, almost every manufacturer is pursuing form over function and that disheartens me. I'm an engineer and I find beauty in good design, not fashion gimmicks that will look dated in 2 years.

 

[wheresmycar]

Come on it's not that bad in terms of aesthetics. Although I admit, having tasted NZXT's minimalist design aesthetics and now BeQuiets 500DX... the TD500 is more of a distant memory by todays standards (IMO). What I don't like is "the plastic feel".

 

[Chrispy_]

Come on it's not that bad in terms of aesthetics. Although I admit, having tasted NZXT's minimalist design aesthetics and now BeQuiets 500DX... the TD500 is more of a distant memory by todays standards (IMO). What I don't like is "the plastic feel".

There you go. The thing you don't like about this otherwise perfectly decent case is the ugly and cheap-feeling plastic crap they bolted to the front - and it looks dated already, that's what I assume you mean by "distant memory by todays standards"

I'm sure the rest of the case is fine. I'm just having a whine that so many Taiwanese OEMs ruin perfectly decent cases with dated/ugly bolt-on plastic of questionably quality and hinderance to function.

 

[Borgysa]

I just built a PC using this case, I have to say it was poorly designed with no forward thinking. RGB ram wouldnt fit with top mounted water cooling radiator and fans, the top hole for cpu power on motherboard was in a bad spot, only certain power supplys were suitable due to some having cables that were too short to reach top of motherboard, holes in case for large motherboard power cable was in wrong location, only 3 x 3.5 drives can be fitted AND it was ugly, the bevel lines in the glass panel made it look like part of a decanter kit. Sorry Cooler master has dropped the ball with this one.

 

[Th3pwn3r]

I just built a PC using this case, I have to say it was poorly designed with no forward thinking. RGB ram wouldnt fit with top mounted water cooling radiator and fans, the top hole for cpu power on motherboard was in a bad spot, only certain power supplys were suitable due to some having cables that were too short to reach top of motherboard, holes in case for large motherboard power cable was in wrong location, only 3 x 3.5 drives can be fitted AND it was ugly, the bevel lines in the glass panel made it look like part of a decanter kit. Sorry Cooler master has dropped the ball with this one.

All the issues sound like problems you made for yourself in all honesty. I built a PC in a Mastercase H500M and it was really nice other than the fan controller.

 

[Borgysa]

All the issues sound like problems you made for yourself in all honesty. I built a PC in a Mastercase H500M and it was really nice other than the fan controller.

I like how you mention that I made all these problems myself and then explain how you built a computer in a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT case and said it was really nice. Are you serious or was that a joke ?

 

[Th3pwn3r]

Again, all your problems stem from the configuration and combination of parts YOU chose to build the system with.

If you didn't know ram comes in different heights, power supplies come with different length cables, board come with different layouts.

Lastly, my mention of another case is because these cases from Coolermaster are very similar.

Edit: And you couldn't tell if it was ugly or not from pictures? Lol, c'mon dude.