Case - ASUS GT501 TUF Gaming Edition

ASUS also offers several cases as part of the TUF Gaming product range. The GT501 is a tall mid-tower with plenty of unique TUF-specific aspects to it. Plenty of other case brands out there also offer their own take on a TUF edition, but ASUS has the freedom and flexibility to provide a case that is not a re-brand, but instead designed from the ground up to be a TUF Gaming chassis.


The TUF Gaming GT501 ships with some of the dust filters detached alongside a manual and a warranty document. In addition to those, there is a bag with zip ties and black screws as well as a small cover to use on the inner PSU shroud. As you can see, the surface area of this part of the chassis seems to be somewhat unique with a speckled texture on it.


Out of the packaging, the TUF Gaming GT501 looks pretty spiffy with its straight edges and thick carrying straps. One could say that it does have a bit of a military theme going on. Being a case that is dedicated to the TUF line, there are a lot of details inside and out to compose the whole chassis in that design language.


The majority of the front is made of a metal piece that is bent and perforated. It features a bit of a textured finish alongside the TUF logo. Behind it, you will find three 120 mm RGB fans which are protected by the dust filter that ships as part of the chassis.


Both sides are held in place by two thumb screws on the top edge. While we usually like to see a glass window without any visible mounting mechanisms, the screws on the GT501 fit right into the overall design.


The two thick handles on top of the chassis hang over the second dust filter that ships as part of the accessories kit. This magnetic metal mesh variant keeps dust out of the top of the TUF Gaming GT501 and has that unique TUF camo texture for good measure. In the front are two USB 3.0 and a pair of audio plugs. This is where the case shows its age a little bit. Having been on the market for a while, it missed the push for USB-C that is now commonplace on cases of this price segment. Lastly, taking a closer look at the thumb screws, these are captive and flat so that they don't feel out of place too much.


The interior of the TUF Gaming GT501 is as expected for a modern chassis with a PSU shroud on the bottom and lots of clearance for large boards, long GPUs or liquid-cooling setups. The shroud sports a TUF logo and that previously mentioned speckled surface texture. You have to remove the whole thing to reveal two 2.5/3.5" hard-drive trays and the PSU bay.


In the top are three more 2.5" trays and the three intake fans with plenty of room to go for a thin radiator of up to 360 mm. In the rear is a 140 mm exhaust fan which is also TUF-branded and sports military gray fan blades. Below that are the seven horizontal and two vertical expansion slots.


Behind the motherboard tray is quite a bit more to discover as well. ASUS equipped the TUF Gaming GT501 with two more HDD trays that may fit a 2.5 or 3.5" drive, which brings the total storage count to a very solid seven drives. On top of that, there are three TUF Gaming branded Velcro strips for cable management.


All the case cables are sleeved black and of the default variety, but ASUS also equipped the GT501 with an in-line RGB controller utilizing SATA and generic ARGB headers for easy expandability.