A Closer Look - Inside

To access the interior, simply turn the silver screws to allow for the glass panels to be removed. Looking into the Mastercase H500, it becomes apparent that the classic version focuses on the real necessities as it lacks covers on the back and only offers a shroud that covers the PSU. There is no need for any covers on the back of the motherboard tray as it will be hidden by the solid cover anyways. You will find two 2.5" drive bays on the backside of the tray and ample cable-routing holes to keep things nice and tidy within.


In the rear, the PSU bay is covered by a shroud you need to remove access the area itself. The power supply rests on foam bumps as an anti-vibration measure. Above the shroud, the 7+1 expansion slots utilize standard screws on all the covers except the vertical one. However, considering Cooler Master only includes a single vertical slot, it will be of limited use anyways. While this is just fine, thumbscrews would have been a nice touch, especially as they are usually found in most cases these days.


The two massive 200 mm fans in front are set to push air across the interior and towards the rear. Due to numerous mounting holes and plenty of room, you can easily add radiators of up to 360 mm in size here. You will find two 3.5" hard-drive trays in a cage as well, which is exposed by default. Cooler Master still includes a cable cover in the front, next to the motherboard area, just like with the H500M, but it is a bit simpler without the ability to mount any other objects to it.


Taking a look at the ceiling, you can also clearly see the mounting options for air or liquid cooling through the metal-mesh filter. From this angle, just how far the 240 (or 280) mm radiator will sit from the motherboard also becomes apparent, so you should have no issues with colliding components.


All the cables within the Mastercase H500 are of the standard variety. On top of that, the PCB offers you 4-pin RGB connections, which are partially used by the fans as the cooling units are equipped with addressable RGB LEDs. To adjust fan speed and power, they feature a second cable with a 3-pin header. Cooler Master includes a 3 to 1 cable that allows you to plug up to three fans in through one motherboard header, which is a nice touch as most boards max out at 4–5 plugs. This means you have plenty left to add more units or go for liquid cooling.