The MasterBox K501L is Cooler Master’s latest addition to their MasterBox lineup. The new budget-oriented gaming chassis comes with a striking design as well as a transparent acrylic side panel for hardware showcase. Let’s find out what MasterBox K501L has to offer for the price of RM189.
MasterBox K501L – Your Angle of Attack
When we first received the MasterBox K501L, we couldn’t help but notice the tagline printed on the box – Your Angle of Attack. I mean, I do get where Cooler Master is coming from considering all those prominent lines at the front panel but this is next level cheesy.
Putting aside the tagline, the designer of the case at least proved himself to the worthy one as the end product is both good looking and functional at the same time. The front angled cutout provides good ventilation for the red LED 120mm intake fan.
The IO panel comes with two USB Type-A ports, one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0. The CM logo shaped power button is illuminated and there is two 3.5mm audio port for headphone and microphone respectively.
The side panel is just a transparent acrylic to keep the cost down. If you ask me, acrylic is better than cheap low-quality tempered glass.
The top ventilation comes with a magnetic fan filter and supports either dual 140mm fans or dual 120mm fans. While the screw mount is slightly offset from the motherboard tray, that, however, does not guarantee an AIO push-pull configuration depending on the motherboard VRM heatsink you have.
The case can install up to 5 storage drives.
There’s also an extra 2.5/3.5-inch drive mount at the bottom.The lack of power supply shroud also means that cable management and hiding skill will be tested when installing the case. Even the cable pass-through does not come with rubber grommets. Besides, the expansion slots are break-away type, which once again indicates the case being a budget case.
Good news that you get reasonable space for cable management.
Interestingly, Cooler Master has supplied a fan splitter in the accessories package. It splits a 3-pin connector to one 3-pin header and two 2-pin headers. I wonder why they don’t just go for all 3-pin or all 4-pin with PWM.
Final Words
At RM189, some would argue that certain brands are providing RGB fans as well as a tempered glass side panel in oppose to Cooler Master’s acrylic side panel. To be completely honest with you, case manufacturers will have to make sacrifices to meet the expected price point. Besides, the case design is a subjective matter as everyone has a different taste to that. Not to mention that competition in the sub-RM200 market is extremely fierce with all those budget models offering tonnes of attractive features for a fraction of the price.
All in all, we’re very satisfied with the overall design, quality and functionalities of MasterBox K501L. The layout is well thought out and most importantly reasonable ventilation for cooling instead of “aesthetics”. Perhaps heading to your nearest retail store and have a feel of the chassis would give you a better insight on it.
More information available on the Cooler Master website.
