Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
After removing the side panel, we can have a closer look into the interior of the Cooler Master TD500 MAX. The black color interior nicely complements the MAX Grey exterior. The power supply shroud covers practically the entire bottom of the case, leaving cutouts for cable routing, fans, and the MasterLiquid 360 Atmos radiator near the front. As with all modern chassis, there are no front 5.25" drive bays for clear, unobstructed airflow. The conventional layout has the power supply mounted at the bottom in a separate chamber with ventilation holes on top and lots of room allocated for the motherboard. The TD500 MAX is designed so fresh air can be pumped in by three Mobius 120P ARGB fans on the 360 Atmos radiator into the chassis through the air intake at the front panel and expelled out through the exhaust grille at the top or back panel. Generally speaking, the layout is mostly standard as far as ATX computer cases are concerned. Not only is the chamber designed to shelter the power supply, but it also has a rack for you to put up to two 2.5" or 3.5" drives.
As a mid-tower, the Cooler Master TD500 MAX can support ATX-sized motherboards and, of course, smaller boards such as micro ATX and mini ITX. All motherboard risers were screwed on to the tray from the factory and are labeled with a legend. There is a large opening at the back of the motherboard tray for users to install a backplate for third-party CPU coolers. This is helpful for anyone looking to remove the pre-installed CPU water block after the motherboard is already installed. If you want to switch to air cooling sometime down the road, the TD500 MAX allows for coolers up to 165mm in height, giving plenty of space for most units. The back of the case has a Cooler Master CF120 ARGB 3-pin voltage-controlled fan and seven expansion slots, as mentioned on the previous page. The top panel can accommodate up to three 120mm or two 140mm fans or a radiator of equivalent size.
Alongside the top is one cable management cutout for routing anything to this location, such as additional fans. I had no issues with the size of the cutout, as it is plenty large enough for even the thickest cables. What you will also see here are two 8-pin sockets for the ATX/EPS 4+4-pin connectors unique to the MAX model. They are connected to the pre-installed Cooler Master GX II Gold 850W power supply already, which means you only need to connect the second stage modular cables. This makes the build process cleaner and faster, considering you do not even need to open the back panel to get the power cables from your PSU to your motherboard.
The chassis platform is raised about 2cm off the ground to accommodate units with fans at the bottom, because the Cooler Master TD500 MAX features a bottom mounted power supply bay. Inside the TD500 MAX, two nubs elevate the power supply up a further half centimeter just to ensure enough air is made available to your PSU. The grille has an externally removable dust filter pre-installed, so you will not need to worry about nasty stuff clogging your fans down the road.
The shroud separating the main chamber and the power supply chamber is ventilated at the top to give the GX II Gold 850W some breathing room. There is no need to worry about the safety of the cables or your fingers during installation. What is unique is the PSU cover in the TD500 Mesh V2 is now a screw storage pad in the TD500 MAX, shown in the above photo. I find this a pretty cool and useful feature for those who want to keep their screws safe and easily accessible.
Three openings of various sizes for routing your cables are appropriately placed adjacent to the expected location of your power supply. The metal is not sharp at all even though there are no rubber grommets on the openings. These are going to be used to connect chassis headers like USB to your motherboard. For your graphics card, there is an 8-pin PCIe socket here already to connect your secondary cable to your GPU. In my opinion, there should have been two of these sockets. If you plan to use the included 90-degree 12VHPWR connector, it is not part of the 2-stage cable connectors design, so you will need to use one of these openings.
It is important to note only one PCIe 6+2 pin connector is included. Per the company's website, one extra PCI-e 6+2 pin cable can be requested for free. I think this should have been included from the factory, since there is a good chance you will need it. Finding out you need one and waiting for one to arrive is a real hassle.
Cooler Master has provided three Mobius 120P ARGB 4-pin PWM fans over a MasterLiquid 360 Atmos AIO water cooler system installed at the front of the case. The 360 Atmos is similar to the MasterLiquid 240 Atmos we reviewed in late 2023, except the included 360 model, as its name suggests, is the 360mm version. It also comes with a thicker 38mm radiator, versus the standard 27mm, for the TD500 MAX. Should you choose to use a different cooler, the TD500 MAX supports front mounted radiators up to 360mm, including 280mm models.
The space provided for a front mounted radiator is adequate and quite spacious. The Cooler Master TD500 MAX has a 380mm clearance for graphics cards with the front radiator installed.
The back of the Cooler Master TD500 MAX looks standard compared to many other cases on the market. All fans connected to an ARGB lighting and PWM fan controller, mounted at the back. The benefit of having PWM fans is the precise control over fan speeds and using a controller creates a central hub for easy cable management. Unfortunately, the rear CF120 ARGB fan is not PWM-controlled, which seems like a strange choice, because the front three Mobius 120P ARGB units are.
We have very little space underneath the shroud, given how there is a drive bay here as well. This will make cable management a bit trickier, but thankfully, this is done for you from the factory already with the pre-installed Cooler Master GX II Gold 850W PSU. The drive bay is removable if you do not install any hard drives, allowing you to reclaim some space. The drive rack capable of holding two 2.5" or 3.5” drives. Two more 2.5” drives can be mounted on the back of the motherboard tray as well.
The case does not come preinstalled with Velcro straps, but it does come with an abundance of zip ties. There are several tie-down points that can be optimally used for clean cable management. The area dedicated to cable management is average, having 19mm of space between the motherboard tray and the right side panel. However, you probably will not need to do too much behind here, considering the power supply and chassis cables are mostly pre-routed for you already.
Generally speaking, the interior design of the Cooler Master TD500 MAX is very good. All of the components you need for building a computer can be nicely accommodated and kept cool. The paint job quality of the interior is also good. More importantly, there is sufficient room to route cables, and innovations in the integrated package such as the 2-stage cable connectors design make everything a pleasure to work with.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation
5. Cooling Test Results
6. Conclusion
