Cooler Master Masterbox 5t Chassis Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The Cooler Master Masterbox 5t launches today and should start appearing at major retailers any time now. Cooler Master has put an MSRP of £74.99 on the Masterbox 5t, which we think it’s pretty decent given the build quality and features on offer.

Overview

The Masterbox 5t is certainly interesting when it comes to design, and I think it falls into one of two categories, you’ll either fall in love with it, or you’ll outright hate it. Personally, I think it looks great, but a little loud in terms of colours to suit the needs of my own system or the part of the house I place it in. However, if you’ve got one of the many popular red and black motherboards, GPUs and more, they’re going to look pretty epic in this chassis. Don’t forget to turn on those turbo lights on the front panel for maximum effect!

The build quality on this chassis is pretty solid. The front panel is glossy plastic, which will be a bit of a pain to keep clean, but that’s hardly a deal breaker, and the PSU shroud is flexible plastic, but these are small details. The actual frame of the chassis, as well as the side panels, feel thick and strong, with a good weight to them. The strong frame lends well to the carry handle on the top, which is fixed into the frame of the chassis, allowing it to hold 30KG of weight, so even a water cooled system should hold up just fine.

There are a few minor improvements that could be made, such as the handle placement, or a slight shift with the cable routing holes, but they’re hardly deal breakers at this price.

The 5t does have a feel of a high-end chassis done on mid-budget, or perhaps a mid-budget chassis trying to be something high-end, but either way you look at it this is a lot of chassis for a very reasonable price. Added bonuses like the PSU shroud, carry handle, the removable hard-drive bays, robust fan and radiator support, LED lighting, built-in fan controller, magnetic and slide-out dust filters, and two 120mm fans pre-installed, all add up to excellent value for money.

Pros

• Durable build quality
• Unique aesthetics
• LED lighting
• Good hardware support
• Washable dust filters (top panel and PSU)
• Built-in fan controller
• Very competitive price

Cons

• Glossy front panels are often hard to keep clean
• Carry handle is set quite far forward
• Cable routing hole design could be improved

Neutral

• Black and red theme won’t appeal to everyone, but there’s certainly a big market for it

“If you’re looking for a LAN gaming chassis that can hold a high-end system with ease, while also giving you those sweet gaming vibes and aggressive aesthetics to match your black and red components, the 5t ticks all the right boxes!”