A Closer Look - Outside

Out of the box, you can clearly see the two most prominent features of the Masterbox TD500 Mesh. As the name implies, it is the uniquely shaped metal mesh front on one hand, but also the glass side panel with grooves to further underline the "crystal" look and feel.


In the front, the mesh is actually symmetrical, and you can clearly see the three fans behind it, which may be revealed completely by pulling the cover off with a firm tug. The I/O panel is completely separate, so there is no risk of you tearing something off when doing so. In the rear, the chassis looks quite traditional with the PSU bay on the bottom and horizontal expansion slots.


As mentioned, one of the unique elements of the Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 Mesh is the glass panel which comes with an asymmetrical groove design that aligns flawlessly with the front of the chassis. It is framed in black, and two thumb screws in the top secure it in place. Naturally, a completely clean panel would have been great. On the opposite side is a simple, solid metal cover that is held in place by two thumb screws through the rear of the chassis.


In the top you will find a large magnetic mesh cover that covers the mounting holes for three 120 mm or two 140 mm cooling fans. You may also install a radiator of up to 360 mm here if you wish. The mounting holes are as far away from the motherboard as possible to avoid touching board and cooling components. The IO consists of two USB 3.0 (yes, I refuse to call it USB 3.2 Gen1) and the usual audio I/O. A power button in the shape of the Cooler Master logo is in the middle of this panel, along with a small square reset button all the way to the right of the audio ports.


In the rear, the bottom PSU bay comes with two sets of mounting holes, so you may install your unit any way you like. Above that are the eight vertical expansion slots, each of which is protected by reusable covers. In the very top is a mounting possibility for a 120 mm fan with elongated mounting holes, so you may position it to align with your CPU cooler.


A nice little touch is the the screw holding the side panel in place. Even though we have seen designs where the thumb screw is meant to stay in place on the side panel after detaching it from the body of the case, this implementation is new and much cleaner. A simple metal mesh filter on the underside protects the PSU, which means you will have to tip over the whole system every time you want to clean this air intake area.