One of the more popular case reviews we published last year was of Cooler Master’s MasterBox Q300L. It was a very compact Micro-ATX case with a great price point and a handful of features. This year Cooler Master is releasing an ATX version of that case, which is the MasterBox Q500L. The Q500L definitely has to be one of the most compact ATX case we’ve seen, but it still has room inside for an ATX power supply, long graphics cards, and up to four hard drives. You are going to get all of this for only $59.99. Being that this case is so small it could make the perfect LAN rig, read on as we get a system installed in this case and see what it is all about!
Special thanks to Cooler Master for providing us with the MasterBox Q500L case to review.
Specifications
| Product Name | MasterBox Q500L |
| Product Number | MCB-Q500L-KANN-S00 |
| Exterior Color | Black |
| Materials – Body | Steel, Plastic |
| Materials – Windowed Side Panel | Acrylic |
| Dimensions | 386(L) x 230(W) x 381(H) mm |
| Motherboard Support | Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX |
| Expansion Slots | 7 |
| 5.25″ Drive Bays | 0 |
| Combo 3.5″ / 2.5″ Drive Bays | 2 (each bay supports: 1 HDD or 2 SSDs) |
| 2.5″ SSD Drive Bays | 0 |
| I/O Panel – USB Ports | USB 3.0 x 2 |
| I/O Panel – Audio In / Out | 1 x 3.5mm Audio Jack, 1 x 3.5mm Mic Jack |
| Pre-installed Fan(s) – Rear | 120mm x 1 |
| Fan Support – Top | 120mm x 2 or 140mm x 2 |
| Fan Support – Rear | 120mm x 1 |
| Fan Support – Bottom | 120mm x 2 |
| Radiator Support – Top | 120 / 240mm (35mm max motherboard component height) |
| Radiator Support – Rear | 120mm |
| Clearance – CPU Cooler | 160mm / 6.29 inch |
| Clearance – Power Supply | 180mm / 7.08 inch |
| Clearance – Graphics Card | 360mm / 14.17 inch (270mm clearance with PSUs longer than 160mm) |
| Cable Routing – Behind MB Tray | 27~30mm |
| Dust Filters | Bottom |
| Power Supply Support | Top front mount, ATX PS2 |
| EAN Code | 4719512080580 |
| UPC Code | 884102053078 |
Packaging
The Cooler Master MasterBox Q500L comes in Cooler Master’s typical case packaging. There is an illustration of the case on the front and lets us know that we indeed have the Q500L. Flipping over to the back there is a small paragraph about the case itself and a list of features in a handful of different languages.
On one side of the box there is a list of specifications. Opening the box up we can see that the case is nicely protected.
