Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Following the Cooler Master TD500 MAX review, Cooler Master has also sent over their new budget-friendly MasterBox 600. Priced at an insane $99, the MasterBox 600 includes four ARGB fans, three of which are 140mm Sickleflow fans pre-installed for front air intake.

Why don't we look at the MasterBox 600 and see if it's a budget banger?

Packaging

Starting with the packaging, Cooler Master has yet again chosen a brown cardboard box with some imaging on the outside.

The backside of the cardboard box packaging shows some information about the MasterBox 600 in several languages.

On the side, we have a PR sample that includes the Atlas ARGB GPU support. It shows all the specifications, product registration, and Cooler Master's websites in QR codes for easy, quick reference.

Opening the packaging and removing the MasterBox 600 shows a few cost-saving measures, such as using hard-density foam with a plastic bag.

Outside the Cooler Master MasterBox 600 ATX Mid-Tower Case

Now removed from all the packaging, the MasterBox 600 resembles a traditional ATX layout. Inside, Cooler Master has included the Atlas ARGB GPU support bracket (purchased separately).

The front of the MasterBox 600 is where all the action is, with three visible 140mm Sickleflow fans behind the removable mesh front panel. Two gray mesh panels flogging the 140mm intake fans are a nice way to break up all the black.

The MasterBox 600's tempered glass side panel has a slight tint, just enough to allow viewing of the system components inside.

The rear side panel is uneventful. Its solid design is held in place with two thumbscrews. Moving on.

The rear of the MasterBox 600 has a standard ATX design with cost-saving measures staring at me right off the back, bend-out PCIe slot covers. On the other side of the slot covers is some hexagonal ventilation, which helps air escape.

The top of the MasterBox 600 is set up with the I/O positioned on the top left-hand side (depicted in the picture) consisting of a power button that is in the shape of the Cooler Master logo, a small square LED button, a combo microphone/headphone 3.5mm jack, a single USB Type-C port, and finally two USB 3.0 Type-A ports. The top section also has a magnetic dust filter covering a mount for three 120mm or two 140mm fans or up to a 280/360mm radiator.

The bottom of the MasterBox 600 is fairly plain except for the foam feet, which do a great job of dampening vibrations; however, they do a terrible job of gripping any surface so that your PC doesn't slide all over your desk space-womp, womp.

Inside the Cooler Master MasterBox 600 ATX Mid-Tower Case

Removing the tempered glass side panel shows the interior of the MasterBox 600, which seems well put together. Rubber grommets for cable passthrough and support for reverse motherboards are seen here, with no structural issues, especially when a motherboard is installed.

Removing the front mesh panel reveals the three included 140mm Sickleflow fans, rated at 67 CFM (full speed) each, and have an RPM range of 650 to 1,400 ± 200 RPM. A single CF120 ARGB fan is also installed in the rear fan location. 120mm fans only need to apply; sorry, there is no 140mm support.

Removing the rear side panel shows more of the cabling at work, which runs up the center, albeit with no real cable raceway. HDD/SSD support is pretty good, having support for two 2.5" HDD or SSDs on the back of the motherboard tray, with three more locations on the other side of the rubber cable grommets. An included four-fan/ARGB controller is powered via a single SATA connection in the upper left corner. A fifth ARGB header is also open, and all the included fans came pre-wired and installed.

Test System, Installation, and Finished Product

• Motherboard: B650 AORUS Elite AX (AMD B650) - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 - Buy from Amazon
• Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32GB DDR5 5600 RGB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3090 Founders Edition - Buy from Amazon
• Storage: Corsair MP600 PRO XT Gen4 PCIe x4 NVMe M.2 SSD - Buy from Amazon
• Case: XPG Invader X - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000w ATX 3.0 PSU - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit Build 22621 - Buy from Amazon
• Software: AIDA64 Engineer v7.20.6800, CPU-z 2.09.0 x64. GPU-Z 2.57.0, and HWiNFO64 v7.63-5205

Final Thoughts

Building in the MasterBox 600 went well, especially with those four included fans being pre-routed and pre-installed. Cable management could have been better, but for a case that costs $99 with four included ARGB fans, one can't complain.

Testing the Cooler Master MasterBox 600 ATX Mid-Tower case, the suite of standard AM5 test hardware was installed consisting of an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X while running at the base frequency of 4.5GHz on a B650 AORUS Elite AX motherboard. For memory, two DDR5 sticks of Patriot Viper at DDR5-5600M/T. The test GPU is the NVIDIA RTX 3090 FE, which runs at stock power limits and clocks via MSI's Afterburner GPU Overclocking and Monitoring utility. With four included fans, the Cooler Master MasterBox 600 ATX Mid-Tower case is at a massive positive air intake advantage with only a single 120mm exhaust fan, while the three Arctic 120mm fans mounted on the CPU AIO in the roof helped even the odds.

The CPU, AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X, the 8-core 16, threaded CPU's temps only rose to an average temperature of 78.5C but maintained average boost clocks of 5151GHz with 1.236 vcore. In contrast, the NVIDIA RTX 3090 FE GPU averaged only 65.5C while retaining an average frequency of over 1.9 GHz boost clocks.

All testing was completed using Aida64 Engineer's System Stability Test version v7.20.6802 for over 24 hours; the ambient temperature was 17C. Other monitoring software used was HWiNFO64 v7.63-5205, TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.59.0, and CPU-Z 2.09.0.x64.

So, in closing, the MasterBox 600 from Cooler Master is a great budget banger for sure. Having tons of airflow via its three front-mounted 140mm Sickleflow fans ensures every component inside gets cool air from the outside. The best part of the MasterBox 600 is the price of $99, which is spot on. The value of the MasterBox 600 is just insane; how much are those three 140mm fans? $25 each on Amazon. The other CR120 rear fan? $20 on Amazon. I don't know how much profit Cooler Master makes on the MasterBox 600, but it can't be much.

Great Job, Cooler Master!