Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 5 Case Review

Despite the modular aspects of the MasterBox 5 the layout is very traditional with motherboard, drives and powersupply in their normal locations. 

Well, almost normal.  At the top of the case you would normally find external 5.25” drive bays whereas the MasterBox has none.  The default configuration favors SSD mounting trays next to the motherboard.

At the bottom of the case you will find a 3.5” drive rack supporting both 3.5 and 2.5” drives on removable trays.  This cage along with the PSU is completely covered to hide the contents when viewed from the open side of the chassis.

Cooling is handled by a total of four 120mm fans.  The MasterBox Lite 5 comes with one pre-installed at the back of the case and you have options to install three more at the front.  This location also supports 360mm radiators and 280mm radiators if you are into the 140mm fan “thing”.

Despite the MasterBox Lite 5 being a downmarket chassis there is a good amount of custom features front the basement panel covering drives and PSU cables to the panel mounted SSD trays and the full side window.

From a distance this side window appears to be tempered glass.  It mounts to the chassis using thumb screws, comes with a slight tint and even has beveled edges.  Unfortunately to keep costs down and spice factor up this panel is 100% acrylic.  It seems like cheating but, 90% of all side windows are plastic so it really isn’t all that bad.