Cooler Master H500P ARGB Mesh Edition Case Review

The courier has just been around, and you’ve got a fresh part of PC parts on your desk. A decent motherboard, some flashy RAM modules and the sweetest graphics card this side of a poorly timed reveal of newer and better hardware, all waiting to be joined together like an almighty Voltron of expensive gaming hardware.

So where the heck are you going to house it? It goes without saying that what you put your fancy new technology in, matters just as much as what you’ve bought. It used to be that PC cases were drab shells, containers designed to keep your collection of parts in one place and nothing more. A couple of years ago, things changed though.

PC Gamers wanted to show off their exotic GPUs and flashy cooling systems, they wanted to peacock their way to a LAN and slap a tower on a desk that would make the masses drool. Enter Cooler Master, who saw a gap in the market and decided to plug it with a 360 No Scope blast of flash on your eyeballs. They’ve been making solid PC cases for a while now, and we’ve got our hands on one of them.

I still don’t have the parts to actually place inside of them yet, but hey! Let’s take a look at this case and examine the fundamentals because we’re full of good consumerist advice here at Critical Hit.

Can I store Kit Kats inside of it?

According to my diabetes test results, yes.

What am I really getting out of the box?

Simple answer: A lot of stuff. The version I got is a black steel frame, has a tempered glass side panel and I can hide a neatly partitioned corpse inside of it. It has support for Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, and ATX motherboards, with Cooler Master claiming that it can also support up to 12″ x 10.7″ E-ATX boards. Vertical graphics card installations are also supported, and more numbers:

• MODEL NUMBER – MCM-H500P-MGNN-S11
• SERIES – MasterCase Series
• SIZE – Mid Tower
• AVAILABLE COLOR(S) – Gun Metal Grey
• MATERIALS – Steel, Plastic, Tempered Glass, Mesh
• DIMENSIONS (L X W X H) – 544 x 242 x 542mm / 21.4 x 9.5 x 21.3 inch
• WEIGHT – 11.3 kg
• MOTHERBOARD SUPPORT – Mini ITX, Micro ATX, ATX, E-ATX*, (*support for up to 12″ x 10.7″, will limit cable management features)
• EXPANSION SLOTS – 7+2, (Supports vertical graphics card installation)
• I/O PANEL – 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (formerly USB 3.0), 2x USB 2.0, 1x 3.5mm Audio Jack, 1x 3.5mm Mic Jack, 1x ARGB Controller, 1x ARGB 2-to-3 splitter
• PRE-INSTALLED FANS – FRONT – 2x 200mm ARGB Fan
• PRE-INSTALLED FANS – REAR 1x 140mm, 1200RPM
• FAN SUPPORT – TOP 3x 120/140mm, 2x 200mm
• FAN SUPPORT – FRONT 3x 120/140mm, 2x 200mm
• FAN SUPPORT – REAR 1x 120/140mm
• RADIATOR SUPPORT – TOP 120mm, 140mm, 240mm, 280mm, 360mm
• RADIATOR SUPPORT – FRONT 120mm, 140mm, 240mm, 280mm, 360mm
• RADIATOR SUPPORT – REAR 120mm, 140mm
• CLEARANCE – CPU COOLER 190mm
• CLEARANCE – PSU 220mm
• CLEARANCE – GFX 412mm/16.2″
• DUST FILTERS Top, Front, Bottom
• POWER SUPPLY SUPPORT Bottom mount, ATX

I’m no expert, but I’m going to assume that a mass of metal that you can bludgeon someone to death with, can fit a lot of kit inside of it.

So what’s the style like?

I always think this is tricky. What’s fashionable today, is a laughing stock tomorrow. The H500P ARGB Mesh design is the latest one from Cooler Master. There are aspects of this design that I do like as well. From the side view, I think it’s an absolute stunner and after seeing some pictures of a proper setup, I can’t wait to achieve that look myself.

There’s definitely an industrial design to this case, sort of like a blue collar Megatron the more I stare at it. The front-facing fans are also nothing short of ballsy in appearance, two gigantic air funnels that you can see angled right in front through the mesh window. You have to admire that overt display of Cooler Master’s main selling point here.

Otherwise, I like that there’s an emphasis on neatness. There’s a genuine effort to keep cable management precise and focused, which should please OCD PC builders when they working with a jungle of wires.

What’s your favourite planet?

The sun, because it’s like the king of all planets.

How’s the build quality?

Solid! Just from my initial exploration of the chassis, I do like that I can get into its more obscure corners more easily. There’s a focus on removing parts like the tempered glass window, to get inside the case more easily. At the same time, you’ll need to use the supplied grocery bag that was stolen from the incredible Hulk if you want to take this rig anywhere, as the top plastic struts are a no-no spot for picking up and hauling about. Unless you’re into a masochistic explosion of Nvidia hardware when said flimsy plastic breaks and everything shatters.

If you’re looking to grab one of these cases, then be prepared to never ever move it once it has been assembled. It looks pretty, but I’ve got a feeling that it can be easily scuffed if moved about too much. Otherwise, everything is neatly lined up, stiffly positioned and easy to get to.

What’s the noise and heat like?

…I honestly don’t know, and you’re going to have to wait until I have my kit inside, before I can do an honest breakdown on those vital functions. But from what I’ve seen online and from friends who have played with this case, the H500P ARGB Mesh Edition hits the middle-point of stress and noise-testing: It’s not terrible at keeping the pandemonium of hardcore gaming under control, but it’s not whisper-quiet either.

Final verdict

Well it’s certainly a unique design, isn’t it? Cooler Master’s H500P looks great for this current era of ostentatious hardware gloating. It’s chunky, the modular aspects appeal to me and it looks like it can easily stay cool on the hottest of summer days with the airflow design.

Last Updated: September 28, 2020