With sandwich style cases continuing to gain momentum, it is unsurprising that more and more choices become available. As such, ASUS jumping unto the bandwagon with a TUF Gaming branded enclosure makes total sense, especially as it has been a while since a new one came to market. And ASUS is clearly aware on what other, well known brands and forerunners in this segment charge for their offerings, because the TUF Gaming GT502, with its $170/$175 asking price essentially matches what is out there. That is great, because if you have your sights set on a quality, sandwich style gaming chassis, you can just focus on the details, features and function.

Starting with looks, the ASUS TUF Gaming GT502 is a beautifully well themed chassis, oozing design details all over that are only there to illicit an emotional reaction. From the embossed text in the front, to the silk-screened labels, ASUS wants you and your friends to know what this chassis is all about. But ASUS also goes well beyond those branding elements by putting ARGB behind the TUF logo in the front, stitching on branding unto the carrying straps and even onto the metal loops those straps attach to. Whoever designed the case got free reign to add these visual details which really do help to set the GT502 apart from other, similarly laid out enclosures.

That attention to details doesn't stop with the looks of the chassis, but continues into the functional realm with the all white USB ports, dust filters and even wire sleeving and connectors. The result is such an uncompromised approach to retaining the overall colors of the chassis that is unparalleled in what we have seen to date.

And even internally, ASUS engineers did not simply try to mimic other cases out there, but instead have made their own distinct tooling decisions that set the TUF Gaming GT502 apart even further and are mostly wins, with a few small misses. For example, the rear compartment mounting bracket for AIO, fans or drives is a nice touch. The same can be said for the tool-less spring loaded panels, magnetic top cover and easily removable front glass. ASUS has also done well by providing three plates unto which one may install storage drives. Those plates in turn may be mounted in three distinct locations, so that you have plenty of flexibility on how to arrange your cooling layout while retaining storage capabilities.

There are a few missteps though, even if they seem minor overall. On one hand, the hard drive cage feels out of place. It doesn't really need to exist, even the manual and supplied screws are incorrect, but it also gets in the way somewhat - be it for radiator installation or airflow. I feel if ASUS really wanted to include more drives, they could have put a mounting plate across the CPU cooler opening instead. Then there is the floor mounting frame, which functions perfectly fine within the building constraints defined by ASUS, but if it was moved ever so slightly towards the glass panel sides edge on the floor, it could have opened the door to push/pull radiator configurations on the side placement while still allowing for fans on the floor. Lastly, ASUS has gone so far to include all white elements in a bid to keep things clean, but then skips the grommets at the bottom opening, which feels like an odd omission.

But, don't let any of that throw you off. The ASUS TUF Gaming GT502 is such a fun, good looking and well designed sandwich style ATX chassis, that caters incredibly well to those who want a bit more visual bling and toughness for their gaming build. All that with excellent functionality, build quality and features. As such it has carved out a healthy niche for itself that will be hard to compete with as all other offerings are clean and understated & designing something that works this well with so many details is no easy task.