Page 4 - Installation and Conclusion
After removing the vertical drive bracket and the power supply holder, I started by mounting and installing my Seasonic PRIME 600 Titanium Fanless 600W into the Cooler Master MasterCase H100. The mounting bracket comes off with four more screws and holds in place nicely. Afterwards, I connected my cables to get ready to route this power supply through. Despite supporting this standard-sized ATX form factor, it should be noted you probably do not want a unit that is too long, as it may interfere with the front of the case. According to Cooler Master, we have a maximum clearance of 210mm with no liquid cooling radiator installed, but this will be reduced to 160mm if you do. My own power supply measures 17.0cm in length, so it is compatible as long as I do not use an all-in-one liquid cooler.
Afterwards, I mounted a Gigabyte UD Pro 256GB onto the vertical bracket in the top slot. I then put the Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 motherboard in, which is holding an Intel Core i5-6600K under a CRYORIG C7. The RAM on the motherboard is the Patriot Viper Elite PC4-24000 2x8GB. As we can see, the CRYORIG C7 is a very short processor cooler at 47mm. Cooler Master says this case should accommodate coolers as tall as 83mm. I continued on by plugging in all the front I/O connections and the power supply cables. Otherwise, I would have put my EVGA GeForce GTX 760 into this case, but it was too long, even with no radiator installed. According to the manufacturer, video cards should be kept to a maximum 210mm length without a radiator installed.
With everything installed in place, including the power supply and the drive bracket, you can see we do not really get much of a look at the rest of the hardware. The only other thing I did was plug the included RGB controller into the fan's lighting header and an available SATA power connection. Overall, installation was pretty straightforward. It would have been nice to see some sort of cable routing solution provided, but it would be a hard ask in such a small case. I ended up tying up the additional cables into a bundle using a cable tie to prevent loose cables from getting into either the front or heatsink fans.
With my system installed and everything plugged in, I fired up the computer for the first time and everything came to life. With the front mesh, you can clearly see the illuminated fan and the depth effect it makes. It is sort of cute how small this case looks compared to a standard mid-tower like the NZXT H510 Elite. According to the standard APH Networks sound scale, where 0 is silence and 10 is loud, the Cooler Master MasterCase H100 is a 4.0/10 under full load. The single 200mm fan included in the MasterCase H100 performs alright in terms of keeping a low noise, but there still is a low hum emitted from the fan itself during operation.
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If we were to compare guitars to computer cases, we can easily see that the Cooler Master MasterCase H100 is not a dreadnought or a concert guitar, but almost like a ukulele in comparison to the larger full-sized ATX. Even so, there is a lot to like about this case. Its solid build quality but light design keeps in line with the Cooler Master styling, while on a much smaller scale. The large ventilation at the front ensures we can get airflow through the case, while the large 200mm fan ensures the air moves on through. The large handle on the top is also quite good to see for moving your build around. Internally, we have compatibility for a surprisingly good amount of drives and even a full-sized ATX power supply. Moving on, installation was actually quite straightforward, despite the compact nature of the build. With the right components, you can find modern parts to put into such a small build. On the other hand, just like a ukulele, there are still some physical limitations with the MasterCase H100. Since Cooler Master tried to keep this case to a small footprint, we do have a tight squeeze for video cards, CPU coolers, and even liquid cooling compatibility. Once again, it is very important users are aware of this when selecting this case. In terms of areas of possible improvement, I think it would be reasonable to ask for a slightly longer case to support slightly larger graphics cards or some routing solution for excess cables. I also would like to see if Cooler Master could quiet large front fan just a bit. At press time, the Cooler Master MasterCase H100 retails around $70 USD, which I think is pretty reasonable. In the end, all of the sizes of guitars are still available, because the choice lies on the shoulders of the end user. Similarly, if a small form factor PC is what you want to build and you are conscientious of the given size limitations, then the Cooler Master MasterCase H100 is a solid choice for a portable machine.
Cooler Master provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 7.5/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
If you need a desktop for on-the-go work and play in a tiny package, then look no further than the Cooler Master MasterCase H100.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
