Page 2 – Physical Look – Outside
The Cooler Master MasterCase EG200 is an external GPU enclosure. It is designed to accommodate a desktop graphics card to be used by a laptop computer. Cooler Master is a company that is known to make great computer cases. Intuitively, Cooler Master's designer made this external GPU enclosure just like a conventional computer case with extra components inside. At first glance, I think it is reasonable to identify it as a mini-ITX case. However, the lack of front I/O ports and switches gives away the fact this is not used to build a standalone PC. The front panel of the EG200 is solid piece of steel with Cooler Master's logo printed on it. The single piece front panel makes the front view of the case looking very sleek. As for the top panel, there are two pieces of steel divided by a mesh section. Both the steel parts and the mesh part of the top panel are built very sturdily.
As you can see from the above picture, the majority of the left side panel of the EG200 is made out of mesh. Just like the top panel, this mesh is pretty strong, so you should not need to worry about its rigidity. The mesh on the side panel provides good ventilation to the graphics card inside; the downside is it cannot prevent dust and water from entering. There is also a laptop stand integrated on the EG200. As you can see from the above photo, the laptop stand is not just a random add-on piece to the case. It is actually well-designed to fit on the case in terms of style. Meanwhile, the side panels of this case are not just boring rectangles either. There is a notch at the front of the side panel to match up the design of the front panel.
The side panels and the top panel are mounted on the case using thumb screws. When it comes to the measurements, the Cooler Master MasterCase EG200 is 140mm in width, 208mm in height, and 383mm in length including all the protrusions. For an external GPU case, the size is definitely on the small side. Compared to the competition such as the Razer Core X, which I also own, the MasterCase EG200 is small in size for better portability.
There are no front I/O ports on the Cooler Master MasterCase EG200, but it does not mean we cannot connect anything to the front side of it. If you just pull down the front panel, you can see a SATA connector to plug in your SSD or HDD. As it is shown in the above photo, the front cover is attached to the case via a stainless-steel hinge. It actually feels pretty nice when flipping the front cover, as the hinge provides the right amount of resistance. The drive bay allows you to use either a 2.5" or 3.5" drive. Thanks to the SATA connector, the EG200 is not just a case for graphics cards, it is also a storage docking station. It definitely increases the usability of this product.
Expanding the laptop's storage space is not the only extra feature the EG200 can provide. Moving to the back side of the MasterCase EG200, we can see three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports. This means this product also serves as a USB hub. Aside from the three USB Type-A ports, there is a Thunderbolt 3 port and a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Micro-B port. The Thunderbolt 3 port is for the external graphics card connectivity, and the USB 3.2 Gen 1 Micro-B port is for the SATA and three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A interfaces. It is worth mentioning the Thunderbolt 3 is independent of the USB hub functionality, such that it allows the graphics card or other PCIe device to use the maximum Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth. Later on, when we inspect the inside of the case, we will see that the Thunderbolt 3 and USB hub modules are on two different PCBs.
There are two steel stands at the bottom of the case to support the MasterCase EG200. These stands may not look very thick in the picture, but they are actually extremely strong. Four rubber bricks are provided to enhance the grip of these stands. These rubber bricks can offer enough friction to hold the case in position firmly. There are two more rubber bricks on the laptop stand. The laptop stand is screwed to the case through five screws. The center screw can be loosened to make the stand adjustable to hold laptops of different thicknesses.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Benchmarking and Conclusion
