Page 2 – Physical Look – Outside
Like other enthusiast cases on the market today, the Cooler Master MasterBox 540 I am reviewing today has a tempered glass side panel. The use of tempered glass allows you to show all your RGB goodies inside, but it can also be messy if you leave fingerprints on it. The other side panel is made out of steel with a matte black finish. It is less likely to show any fingerprints on the steel side panel, but you probably will not see this side as often. To keep the tempered side glass clean, it is a good idea to have some cleaning cloth around, so you can confidently show off your computer to your friends. In the above photo, you can see a sticker that warns the tempered glass is fragile. I think it is important to keep in mind that we need to be careful when handling a case with tempered glass. I actually broke a glass panel the other day when I was trying to move a computer.
Moving to the front of the case, the ARGB ether front panel situation is very interesting. You can see the base of front panel is made out of plastic, and there is also a darkly tinted translucent DarkMirror plastic panel on top of the plastic base. The slots on the plastic base provides airflow into the case, while the use of dark-tinted translucent plastic makes sure the case can show some automotive lighting-inspired ARGB lighting strips with a front diffuser. Note that the translucent panel also serves as a diffuser for a better presentation of the RGB lighting from the LED strips behind it. The front panel is held on by four ball-and-socket joints, which can be removed by a quick tug. There are also mesh filters provided on the front panel behind those slots. Those filters are not removable for cleaning, but can be wiped when they are dirty. It has no opening for an internal 5.25" drive, which means no internal CD/DVD drives can be installed. Having no optical drive is not a big deal in 2021 unless you really want to watch some Bluray movies without using an external option. On the top, the MasterBox 540 features an opening for top-mount fans and radiator. To prevent the dust from getting in, a removable dust filter is provided on top of the case.
The dimensions of the MasterBox 540 are 208.6mm in width, 498mm in height, and 499.3mm in depth. I have not seen a mid-tower like this tall for a long time. It really gives me the feeling that a thick top-mount radiator can be used without interfering with adjacent components thanks to the overall height. It can also be a good idea to have a large vertical space in a case for a top mounted radiator. Note the top panel is also removable so a top-mount cooling solution can be easily installed. As for the weight, according to the product sheet, it is 7.7kg. I think it is not too heavy to move for everyday use.
There is an angled surface between the top panel and the translucent part of the front panel where all of the front I/O ports and switches are located. Note the power switch is located in the middle and has the shape of the Cooler Master logo. Interestingly, the small reset button is not right next to the power switch. Instead, it is actually on the right side of the audio jack. The reset button can also be used to control the addressable RGB lighting, which is pre-routed to the included ARGB controller. For the front I/O ports, we get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port. The single audio/microphone jack is another nice feature of this product. For most of us, we have both laptops and desktops, and laptops are commonly equipped with a single audio/microphone jack only. When we buy a headset, we definitely want something that can be used on both laptops and desktops, so it will be inconvenient if we have to deal with the situation where the laptop has a single jack while the desktop has a dual jack. I do acknowledge many gaming headsets come with a separate headphone and microphone plug, so it could be inconvenient to some. An included Y-split cable will rectify this situation.
In the above picture, you can clearly see the top dust filter is of good quality. It is magnetically attached to the chassis, but the gap between the filter and the chassis is hardly noticeable. Another thing worth mentioning is the connection between the tempered glass side panel and front panel. The connection is pretty smooth. The gap is really small and there are no sharp edges between the two of them. To remove the side panels, users do not need to use any tools. Two captive thumbscrews can be easily unscrewed to pop off the steel side panel. As for the tempered glass one, it does not need to be pulled backward to detach, since there is no rail mechanism. A pop out of the ball-and-socket joints is all you need to get the tempered glass panel off the chassis. An optional thumbscrew can be used to secure the tempered glass side panel if you want to.
The back of the Cooler Master MasterBox 540, like the rest of the case, is simple and clean. There are four major sections at the back; namely, the power supply mounting area, motherboard I/O backplate, rear exhaust, and expansion card slots. According to the shape of the power supply mounting hole, the power supply is horizontally mounted at the bottom section of the chassis. Since the power supply has already taken this bottom position, the motherboard can only be located above it, meaning the I/O backplate opening is at the top. There are seven conventional expansion slots available on the MasterBox 540, which is standard for an ATX mid-tower. There are no vertical expansion card slots to show off your video card. As for the rear exhaust, as you can see from the photo above, there is a Cooler Master SickleFlow 120 ARGB 120mm fan included from the manufacturer.
There are four plastic stands on the bottom of the case to support the Cooler Master MasterBox 540, rising the case up about 22mm on top of the resting surface for better ventilation. The pair of front stands are extended from the plastic frame of front panel. The four stands are on the four corners of the bottom, so there is no doubt about the stability of the case. Meanwhile, there are four rubber bottoms provided to further enhance the grip of the stands. It is nice to have some rubber feet that can offer some kind of protection to your floor or table surface. You can also see from the above photo a washable filter is attached to the bottom grille of the chassis. The filter is not reinforced by any kind of frame, so it looks a little bit cheap in this regard. Note the power supply of this case is bottom-mounted, therefore the ventilation area behind the filter is actually designed for the power supply.
Overall, the Cooler Master MasterBox 540 is a good looking computer case made out of metal, plastic, and tempered glass. The gaps between panels are small and even, which shows a high level of assembly quality. The tempered glass also exhibits quality attributes in terms of distortion, or lack thereof.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
