Cooler Master Masterbox MB520 Mid-Tower Chassis Review

Peter Donnell / 6 years ago

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

The Cooler Master MB520 is available now for just £58.40. That’s not a lot of money for any chassis, but it’s a tough price range of Cooler Master to enter this chassis at. For the same money, you can get similar chassis from Cooler Master themselves with three fans in the front. Furthermore, Corsair, Kolink, and others all do similar specifications for similar money. Even CM do a tempered glass and RGB model for less than this with the Masterbox Lite 5. That’s not to say this isn’t worth what they’re asking, but damn are you spoilt for choice when it comes to £60 PC cases.

Overview

I can’t say the Masterbox MB520 blew me away when I first took it out of the box. It’s a £60 affordable chassis, it’s not going to light the world on fire. It’s not even got any features that are particularly innovative. However, it does tick all the right boxes for a competent gaming PC build, and that’s fine by me.

Build Quality

The core of the chassis is nice and strong, as one would expect from a Cooler Master product. I do think they overdid it with the plastic though, as they have done with a lot of their similar price chassis in recent years. It’s absolutely fine, many chassis have been built like this for the last decade or more. It looks good, it’s built well, so can’t complain.

Aesthetics

This is certainly the strongest aspect of the MB520, as it does have a pretty unique look. It even manages to have its own identity while borrowing some design aspects from more expensive Cooler Master chassis; such as the MasterCase series. The red trim looks superb, and with a few well-placed dust filters, it’s practical for airflow too. I know they do a model of this with three RGB fans in the front though. However, if you’re adding your own fans, or an AIO cooler in the front, why buy one with fans you plan to remove? So this model does make sense for some projects.

Added Value

Cooler Master has been smart here, and while they cost is a little higher at first, it sneaks a few design choices that help set it apart a bit. The PSU shroud is one of them, it’s well integrated and helps conceal the PSU, cables, and even a pair of HDD bays. The cutaway design also keeps radiator support high, which is nice. The addition of a rubber grommet to route cables to the GPU is most welcome. Furthermore, great cable routing in general, as well as two stealth 2.5″ drive mounts help keep the build neat and tidy.

Should I Buy One?

I can’t think of any chassis in this price range that’s perfect, so don’t think I’m being hard on this one for its few flaws. It’s a perfectly capable chassis as you saw in our build, and great for a gaming PC, water cooling and more. It really boils down to aesthetics, and with so much choice in this price range, even Cooler Master have lots to choose from. On the hardware side, it’s solid, but the aesthetics are so subjective anyway. Either way, you could do a lot worse for such a reasonable price.