ASUS TUF Gaming GT502

Darksaber · Mar 21, 2023

The Asus TUF Gaming GT502 tries to mix the popular sandwich ATX case design with the details and design DNA of the TUF series. The result is an intricate looking case that may just be the coolest of its kind out there.

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Zforgetaboutit · Mar 21, 2023

Grammar problems, I think:

"Inside the box, three are three"
"an beautifully"
"but lets stick to the macro" # "let's"
"the lip that hooks the cage form(?) falling into place" # "from"?
"case makes (a?) very clean impression"
"all the components and AIO tubing is also perfectly visible" # should be "are" because of multiples?

HairyLobsters · Mar 21, 2023

Who is the target audience for a case with TUF branding all over it?

Udyr · Mar 21, 2023

HairyLobsters said:
Who is the target audience for a case with TUF branding all over it?

The audience that likes the "industrial" look of the TUF branding. But I have to agree the big letters with the teenager motto is kinda overwhelming.

Zforgetaboutit · Mar 21, 2023

Udyr said:
The audience that likes the "industrial" look of the TUF branding. But I have to agree the big letters with the teenager motto is kinda overwhelming.

Yeah, but so are sports teams' branding on adult consumer clothing goods. :laugh:

AnarchoPrimitiv · Mar 21, 2023

A Lian Li ripoff should at least be cheaper than the original

Chrispy_ · Mar 21, 2023

For a vendor that is obsessed with (and charges a weighty premium for) ARGBLED, the inclusion of only a four-fan ARGBLED controller seems a little shortsighted. Poor thermal results seem likely to be a victim of TPU's mandate to test only with the supplied fans but I feel this design would do fine once the fan bay vacancies are filled, at which point the four-fan limit of the included controller is an obvious oversight.

Aside from that, it's not actually a terrible case and it's nice to see the white version (again, not my style) is actually white. I've been asked to make a couple of all-white PCs and it's actually hard not to end up with black parts somewhere.

Vario · Mar 22, 2023

AnarchoPrimitiv said:
A Lian Li ripoff should at least be cheaper than the original

Yes it looks like an uglier and worse performing O11 Evo.

Athlonite · Mar 22, 2023

Vario said:
Yes it looks like an uglier and worse performing O11 Evo.

Or the O11 Dynamic XL

rlifeh · Mar 22, 2023

This case is not compatible with ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070Ti :kookoo:

KrazyT · Mar 22, 2023

Many fans and no so good temps ....
There is something wrong no ?

I know it would be very boring to do, but sometimes it would be great if cases could be reviewed with top/better fans instead.
Maybe the case would perform better with new and better fans.
But it means some $ more to put on the table too.

lepudruk · Mar 22, 2023

KrazyT said:
Many fans and no so good temps ....
There is something wrong no ?

I know it would be very boring to do, but sometimes it would be great if cases could be reviewed with top/better fans instead.
Maybe the case would perform better with new and better fans.
But it means some $ more to put on the table too.

Bunch of random fans is never a recipe for success (more like for disaster, to be honest).

I don't get this whole "double-chamber"-idea. What they were about to achieve this way? Instead of getting rid of hot air as quickly and flawlessly outside of the case, they add second chamber with just a bit of perforation here and there. This second chamber just keeps holding the hot air, nothing more. The case has only one intake too, and that is from the bottom of the case, which is least efficient.

Weird design IMO.

PLAfiller · Mar 22, 2023

lepudruk said:
I don't get this whole "double-chamber"-idea. What they were about to achieve this way? Instead of getting rid of hot air as quickly and flawlessly outside of the case, they add second chamber with just a bit of perforation here and there. This second chamber just keeps holding the hot air, nothing more. The case has only one intake too, and that is from the bottom of the case, which is least efficient.

Weird design IMO.

I actually think "dual-chamber" is a great design, but not the way it's done currently. Corsair has dual-chamber cases and Lian li, etc. I wish they could flip the first chamber with the hardware inside vertically, something like combine FT02-B and a dual-chamber. Figure out the second chamber later. May be throw in a 200 mill fan on the bottom or so.

Chrispy_ · Mar 22, 2023

Dual chamber is for looks only.

Splitting the case into two chambers halves the average airflow per fan, because now to achieve airflow through the case you have to do it twice, once for each chamber. It's not quite that bad because the chambers aren't the same size, but any cooling added to the PSU/storage chamber provides absolutely ZERO benefit to the CPU/GPU chamber whatsoever.

All it does (and this is a choice some people actually want) is to hide the PSU away entirely out of sight and allow the case to be shorter by the 80mm height of an ATX PSU.

Vario · Mar 22, 2023

Chrispy_ said:
Dual chamber is for looks only.

Splitting the case into two chambers halves the average airflow per fan, because now to achieve airflow through the case you have to do it twice, once for each chamber. It's not quite that bad because the chambers aren't the same size, but any cooling added to the PSU/storage chamber provides absolutely ZERO benefit to the CPU/GPU chamber whatsoever.

All it does (and this is a choice some people actually want) is to hide the PSU away entirely out of sight and allow the case to be shorter by the 80mm height of an ATX PSU.

Dual chamber works well for me, I don't run any fans on the second chamber, its blocked off. You can cram all the wires on that side. That side doesn't need any fans, the power supply gets its own air straight from its own vent. The additional fan mounts on the side on the popular sandwich cases are for radiator options (or distro blocks), I left them blocked off because they are worthless for aircooler.

Suha_Voda · Mar 22, 2023

hmm, why is the thermal performance (being among the worst of all) not enlisted as a negative point?

AusWolf · Mar 22, 2023

What's with all these awesome-looking, super expensive dream cases with terrible to zero airflow these days? It's shocking that my £30 Kolink micro-ATX case has lot better support for cooling than this one.

antuk15 · Mar 22, 2023

Suha_Voda said:
hmm, why is the thermal performance (being among the worst of all) not enlisted as a negative point?

I came here to say that exact thing!!!

Thermally it's shocking and should be avoided by everyone.

Jeelo · Mar 22, 2023

Looks good but pricey

EatingDirt · Mar 22, 2023

Does this case really come with 0 fans? Temperature test shows it's one of the worst cases tested so far because of it.

I understand this is mostly a water cooling focused case, so the fans will often come with the water cooler, but they could have included one at the rear for exhaust.

Chrispy_ · Mar 22, 2023

Vario said:
Dual chamber works well for me, I don't run any fans on the second chamber, its blocked off. You can cram all the wires on that side. That side doesn't need any fans, the power supply gets its own air straight from its own vent. The additional fan mounts on the side on the popular sandwich cases are for radiator options (or distro blocks), I left them blocked off because they are worthless for aircooler.

View attachment 288775 View attachment 288776

Perfect example of "cosmetic" dual chamber where you have zero components and zero additional fans in the second chamber - it's being used solely to hide cables.

The PSU is never counted as a component (from an airflow perspective) these days because it always draws in fresh air from the side or bottom of a case and exhausts directly. This is true no matter what design/shape/size of your case.

Vario · Mar 22, 2023

Chrispy_ said:
Perfect example of "cosmetic" dual chamber where you have zero components and zero additional fans in the second chamber - it's being used solely to hide cables.

The PSU is never counted as a component (from an airflow perspective) these days because it always draws in fresh air from the side or bottom of a case and exhausts directly. This is true no matter what design/shape/size of your case.

The cable bulk has to go somewhere. If I had the traditional case design, all those cables would be occupying the primary chamber and obstructing airflow.

AusWolf · Mar 22, 2023

Chrispy_ said:
Dual chamber is for looks only.

Splitting the case into two chambers halves the average airflow per fan, because now to achieve airflow through the case you have to do it twice, once for each chamber. It's not quite that bad because the chambers aren't the same size, but any cooling added to the PSU/storage chamber provides absolutely ZERO benefit to the CPU/GPU chamber whatsoever.

All it does (and this is a choice some people actually want) is to hide the PSU away entirely out of sight and allow the case to be shorter by the 80mm height of an ATX PSU.

It's not just for looks. Better cable management also means easier servicing. It's quite useful if you like playing around your PC / swapping components often, like I do.

trsttte · Mar 22, 2023

Chrispy_ said:
Perfect example of "cosmetic" dual chamber where you have zero components and zero additional fans in the second chamber - it's being used solely to hide cables.

The PSU is never counted as a component (from an airflow perspective) these days because it always draws in fresh air from the side or bottom of a case and exhausts directly. This is true no matter what design/shape/size of your case.

Calling it just cosmetic is a bit too harsh, it also provides for better organization. Current cases are either huge or you just get a small basement to cram cables and drives in (like fractal meshify/define series for example, most cases follows one of the 2 models). Dual chamber solves that problem being able to have a better thought out layout to have multiple drives in (other examples like Lian li at least do, this one from Asus seems terrible).

Now the value of can be questionable when 3.5'' or 2.5'' drives are used less and less but I could say the same-ish for radiators and most cases still are designed with that in mind often to a great detriment.

Luke357 · Mar 22, 2023

antuk15 said:
I came here to say that exact thing!!!

Thermally it's shocking and should be avoided by everyone.

There are no fans included. When you actually have fans the temps would probably be decent.

System Name	Meshlicious Monster
Processor	Intel Core i5-10600T
Motherboard	MSI Z490I Unify
Cooling	NZXT Kraken Z53 with 2x Noctua Redux 1300 RPM PWM fans
Memory	ADATA 16 GB 3200 Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio
Storage	TeamGroup 1TB NVMe SSD
Display(s)	Asus ProArt 27" 1440P, 75Hz
Case	ssupd Meshlicious with mesh side panels
Power Supply	Fractal Design Ion 660 W Platinum ATX
Mouse	Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro Wireless
Keyboard	Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard
Software	Windows 10 Home

System Name	Back in Black
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	MSI B450 Tomahawk
Cooling	ID-Cooling SE-224-XT Black
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8) 3000mhz C15
Video Card(s)	Asus Rog Strix GTX 1070 TI Advanced Edition
Storage	Crucial MX500 500GB / Solidigm P41 Plus 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung 32" TV 1080p
Case	Montech Air X Black
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 750W Gold
Mouse	Redragon M711 Cobra
Keyboard	Corsair K55

System Name	Lightbringer
Processor	Ryzen 7 2700X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X470-F Gaming
Cooling	Enermax Liqmax Iii 360mm AIO
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB (8GBx4) 3200Mhz CL 14
Video Card(s)	Sapphire RX 5700XT Nitro+
Storage	Hp EX950 2TB NVMe M.2, HP EX950 1TB NVMe M.2, Samsung 860 EVO 2TB
Display(s)	LG 34BK95U-W 34" 5120 x 2160
Case	Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic (White)
Power Supply	BeQuiet Straight Power 11 850w Gold Rated PSU
Mouse	Glorious Model O (Matte White)
Keyboard	Royal Kludge RK71
Software	Windows 10

System Name	Bragging Rights
Processor	Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard	It has no markings but it's green
Cooling	No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory	2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s)	Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage	32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s)	10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case	Veddha T2
Audio Device(s)	Apparently, yes
Power Supply	Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse	MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard	Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD	Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software	W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores	I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.

System Name	Computer of Theseus
Processor	Intel i9-12900KS: 50x Pcore multi @ 1.18Vcore (target 1.275V -100mv offset)
Motherboard	EVGA Z690 Classified
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15S, 2xThermalRight TY-143, 4xNoctua NF-A12x25,3xNF-A12x15, 2xAquacomputer Splitty9Active
Memory	G-Skill Trident Z5 (32GB) DDR5-6000 C36 F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK
Video Card(s)	EVGA Geforce 3060 XC Black Gaming 12GB
Storage	1x Samsung 970 Pro 512GB NVMe (OS), 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB (data 1 and 2), ASUS BW-16D1HT
Display(s)	Dell S3220DGF 32" 2560x1440 165Hz Primary, Dell P2017H 19.5" 1600x900 Secondary, Ergotron LX arms.
Case	Lian Li O11 Air Mini
Audio Device(s)	Audiotechnica ATR2100X-USB, El Gato Wave XLR Mic Preamp, ATH M50X Headphones, Behringer 302USB Mixer
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1000W 80+ Platinum White
Mouse	Zowie EC3-C
Keyboard	Vortex Multix 87 Winter TKL (Gateron G Pro Yellow)
Software	Win 10 LTSC 21H2

System Name	Cumquat 2021
Processor	AMD RyZen R7 7800X3D
Motherboard	Asus Strix X670E - E Gaming WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool LT720 + CM MasterGel Pro TP + Lian Li Uni Fan V2
Memory	32GB GSkill Trident Z5 Neo 6000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ OC RX6800 16GB DDR6 2270Cclk / 2010Mclk
Storage	1x Adata SX8200PRO NVMe 1TB gen3 x4 1X Samsung 980 Pro NVMe Gen 4 x4 1TB, 12TB of HDD Storage
Display(s)	AOC 24G2 IPS 144Hz FreeSync Premium 1920x1080p
Case	Lian Li O11D XL ROG edition
Audio Device(s)	RX6800 via HDMI + Pioneer VSX-531 amp Technics 100W 5.1 Speaker set
Power Supply	EVGA 1000W G5 Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Core Wired
Keyboard	Logitech G915 Wireless
Software	Windows 11 X64 PRO (build 23H2)
Benchmark Scores	it sucks even more less now ;)

System Name	My PC
Processor	Ryzen 5500
Motherboard	TUF B450M-PRO GAMING
Cooling	ID-COOLING SE-207-XT
Memory	JUHOR 3000Mhz 32GB (16Gx2)
Video Card(s)	RTX 2060 Super 135$
Storage	Kingchuxing 500G nvme & others
Display(s)	LG 24 FHD IPS 75hz
Audio Device(s)	SAMSON SR850
Power Supply	XPG CORE Reactor 650W Gold
Mouse	Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed
Keyboard	K96
Software	Windows 10 Pro

Processor	Intel i7 77OOK
Motherboard	Gigabyte Aorus something
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12S dual fan
Memory	Ballistix 32 Go
Video Card(s)	MSI 3060 Gaming X
Storage	Mixed bag of M2 SSD and SATA SSD
Display(s)	MSI 34" 3440x1440 Artimys 343CQR
Case	Old Corsair Obsidian something
Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	Old Antec HCG 620 still running good
Mouse	Steelseries something
Keyboard	Steelseries someting too
Benchmark Scores	bench ? no time to lose with bench ! :)

Processor	Intel Core i7 12700KF
Motherboard	Asus Prime Z690-P D4
Cooling	Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280
Memory	G.Skill TRIDENT Z 32GB 4000MHz CL16 DDR4
Video Card(s)	MSI Suprim X RTX 4080 16GB
Storage	Kingston KC3000 1TB
Display(s)	Alienware AW3423DWF 34" 21:9 OLED
Case	Lian Li Lancool III
Power Supply	Fractal Design ION 860+ Platinum
Mouse	Roccat Kone Air
Keyboard	OZONE StrikePro Spectra (CherryMX Red)
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64bit

System Name	Sandfiller
Processor	I5-10400
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS
Cooling	Noctua NH-L9i (92x25mm fan)
Memory	32GB Corsair LPX 2400 Mhz DDR4 CL14
Video Card(s)	MSI RX 5700 XT GAMING X
Storage	Intel 670P 512GB
Display(s)	2560x1080 LG 29" + 22" LG
Case	SS RV02
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z
Power Supply	Fractal Design IntegraM 650W
Mouse	Logitech Triathlon
Keyboard	REDRAGON MITRA
Software	Windows 11 Home x 64

Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard	Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming
Cooling	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White
Memory	2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3600@3400 CL18
Video Card(s)	6GB KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
Storage	SAMSUNG NVMe SSD 970 EVO 1TB, Crucial MX500 1TB, WD Blue HDD 4TB
Display(s)	DELL S2721DGFA
Case	Nanoxia Deep Silence 2
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS 850 Watt ATX 3.0 Gold
Mouse	Razer DeathAdder V3
Keyboard	Corsair K55 RGB PRO

System Name	Nebulon-B Mk. 4
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	MSi PRO B650M-A WiFi
Cooling	be quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory	2x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance EXPO DDR5-6000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 7800 XT
Storage	2 TB Corsair MP600 GS, 2 TB Corsair MP600 R2, 4 + 8 TB Seagate Barracuda 3.5"
Display(s)	Dell S3422DWG, 7" Waveshare touchscreen
Case	Kolink Citadel Mesh black
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime GX-750
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2S
Keyboard	Logitech G413 SE
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R23 single-core: 1,800, multi-core: 18,000. Superposition 1080p Extreme: 9,900.

System Name	Gaming PC
Processor	Intel Core i5 12400f at 5.4Ghz
Motherboard	Asrock B660 Riptide PG (Eternal clock gen)
Cooling	ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II
Memory	32GB Kingston FURY Renegade
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX 4070ti Trinity
Storage	WD SN750 SE 1TB M.2 + 2x Kioxia Exceria 480GB
Display(s)	BenQ EX2780Q 1440p/144Hz
Case	Lian Li 205M
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x SHIFT

System Name	LMDESKTOPv2
Processor	Intel i9 10850K
Motherboard	ASRock Z590 PG Velocita
Cooling	Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 w/ Maintenance Kit
Memory	Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600 CL18 2x16
Video Card(s)	RTX 3080 Ti FE
Storage	Intel Optane 900p 280GB, 1TB WD Blue SSD, 2TB Team Vulkan SSD, 2TB Seagate HDD, 4TB Team MP34 SSD
Display(s)	HP Omen 27q, HP 25er
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C Steel Panel
Audio Device(s)	Sennheiser GSX 1000, Schiit Magni Heresy, Sennheiser HD560S
Power Supply	Corsair HX850 V2
Mouse	Logitech MX518 Legendary Edition
Keyboard	Logitech G413 Carbon
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 2 (w/ BOBO VR battery strap)
Software	Win 10 Professional

ASUS TUF Gaming GT502

Senior Editor & Case Reviewer