Gadgetory

coolermaster had kind of a rough week with us last week the queue 500l as it turns out we didn't do this math until today but the queue 500l didn't fare well into housing at all in fact it was quite bad it was one of the worst cases we've ever tested thermally and we did some math on it and the amount of hole to steel ratio here is it's about 15.6 percent whole with the remaining 80 plus percent being steel so that's why I performed poorly and we'll have more on this soon where I'm gonna cut a hole in the case and fix it but the good news is Coolermaster does have something that is more whole than it is steel and it's this thing so this is the NR 600 today we're reviewing this one it's a much more positive outlook than the Q 500 l and the case has some genuinely interesting points to it and is about 70 bucks so pretty competitive price point as well before that this video is brought to you by deep pools captain 240 pro closed-loop liquid cooler the new captain 240 pro comes with RGB illuminated fans and a pump easily synchronized to each other for color matching in your system the captain 240 pro radiator also uses a unique elastic pressure relief bladder in the water tank has a leak prevention mechanism it expands and contracts based upon liquid temperature to counteract a i/o leak concerns the cooler is available now and you can learn more at the link in the description below color masters NR 600 is something that we saw at CES and we saw it early enough that we were able to make some suggestions so Coolermaster did end up it originally had a potential of one fan of the show they ended up going with two so the second fan is located in the center here we've done tests with this thing with the front panel removed we did test with an extra fan we did new standardized tests that we'll be publishing separately and then we did our normal standard standardized tests and the biggest thing here is going to be how it performs when you buy just one extra fan because that's $70 this is very competitive and you have the budget to maybe throw another 10 bucks at an additional 120 millimeter fan for the front and then you have something that's got this ultra fine mash this is a steel panel like it's it's part of the case structure rather than a dust filter and this is one of the more elegant approaches to doing a mesh front without also doubling down on a filter because then you end up with obstructions like if you did something like that now you have potentially the whole lining up with a steel on the other panel that would be a problem so very interesting case it is priced around where we would like to see the RL 0-6 but it's just not that case is in the 80s to 90s these days it's also seemingly low inventory the mesh if I see the mesh is to our kind of wealth the seam or so is a competitor directly to this case and it's also got some NZXT design elements to it as well so let's get through Patrick's build notes the thermal section and then discuss whether or not the cooler master and our 600 is worth 70 bucks at first glance the cooler master master box NR 600 master product master bears a strong resemblance to the NZXT eh 500 mostly thanks to the partial glass panel that cuts off at the level of the power supply shroud but also the flat unadorned exterior cooler master has gone increasingly minimalist with its branding which is it limited now to a logo shaved power button and an embossed hexagon on the side of the power slash shroud we went so far as to put the NR 600 side-by-side with the aged 500 for comparison but the glass panels are in fact slightly different sizes a glance might not make it clear how much more ventilated the NR 600 is than the H 500 though the the H 500 by tens EXT just to be clear because Coolermaster also makes one of those then our 600 front is covered with a fine mesh that acts as both a filter and a front panel hopefully avoiding the thermal problems that some cases introduce by backing mesh with additional layers of filtration and this is something we'll test momentarily and demonstrate the thermal differences dust will gather on the outside and some inevitably gets through but it's easy to wipe down and the front panel comes off easily we prefer this solution and find cooler masters implementation of the fine material to be of excellent quality by opting out of a filter cooler master has also made it possible to mount fans on the outside of the chassis nearly flush with the panel but still inside the panel mind you so this should draw more air in from the outside of the case instead of just recirculating the inside where sometimes you get up with a slight gap between the panel and the fan because of where the chassis positions the fan and then you could actually recirculate as we saw the BitFenix and so this is another good move by coolermaster and a stark departure from the disappointment that was the q500 out the mounts inside the front panel have three perfectly sized ducts for the 120 millimeter fans but not so for 140 millimeter ones to 140 millimeter fans are technically supported but they really don't line up well with the cutouts and the mounting holes are at the bottom of the panel rather than the top so there's no way to point a 140 millimeter intake fan directly back towards the CPU cooler they're also just a couple of mounting holes that are too small for fan screws although they would fit radiator screws which is mildly bothersome and sort of annoyed Coolermaster also includes two 120 millimeter fans in the case one intake and one exhaust which is much like the mesh YC and up for the case to function but not really excel it's difficult to install fans of any size in the bottommost slot because of the hard drive cage which is riveted in place and prevents most screw drivers from fitting under the power supply shroud a removable fan or radiator bracket would solve this completely but also adds a production costs a right-angle driver makes this much easier opening the case for the first time revealed two minor fit and finish issues first there was a tip of a broken off rivet nothing structural loose in the bottom of the case and second the glass panel doesn't slide all the way forward to fit flush against the front panel the glass is supposed to be slotted in slid forward and screwed into place but since it can't slide forward that last millimeter or so the metal tabs at the rear of our case were bent slightly when the thumb screws were tightened down at the factory level this doesn't affect function but it is visible from the outside of the system the other side of the case is an old-school steel panel straightforward with tabs that hook into the case but it's thick enough and the cable management space is wide enough that there isn't much danger of the panel bowing out when it's being put back on and this is usually the biggest annoyance with that style of panel the cable cutouts on the motherboard edge the clearance for cables and the tie points are well placed for velcro straps to make Cale management overall in this case the riveted hard drive cage is the only roadblock since it makes it more difficult for users to repurpose that space for storing power cables or just accessing that lower fan chamber the top of the case has a vent roughly 30 centimeters long or large enough to fit to 140 millimeter fans its magnetic filter is shipped stowed inside of the side panel which is a great strategy to keep us from using it with our stock test and potentially hurting the thermals the filter for the power supply event on the bottom of the case is just a square of mesh that fits into the cutouts on the case it pops out easily and it's sort of annoying to put back in but it's also standard for this price range and not something we haven't seen before front i/o is limited to two USB ports and one 4-pole or combined in and out audio jack Coolermaster advertises the combined jack as a feature but plenty of headset users have split mic and headphone cables that put out to two separate 3.5 millimeter Jack's so you'd have to use the motherboard there it's just as likely to be a limitation as it is to be a feature whether it's a benefit or a drawback comes down to what the user already owns so we'll leave that there on the other hand Coolermaster may have made up for this in the compatibility department by selling a version of the case with a five and a quarter bay we rarely bothered to comment on support for obstacle drives at this point but it's something that other mesh runs and cases likely metruff I see the red line 0 6 or the various other Coolermaster H 500 variants all shy away from the o DD model of the case is a separate SKU and doesn't seem to be on sale just yet at time of writing but we're happy to see that the market is being met for those who still use optical drives and also want to mesh case because that's a difficult market to fill right now moving into the thermal section we are experimenting with two new standard tests we have one that's noise normalized thermals and then one that standardized fan placement we've tried noise normalized thermal tests in the past but we've now settled on 36 DBA using the stock case fans as our goal we've begun building this content and have included the NR 600 in the charts but we're not ready to publish just yet we'll do the normal review thermals in this content and we'll have a different content piece as we add more cases for the noise normalized and the fan normalized task because we do need to send more cases through that channel first well start the CPU torture thermals it's just an hour 600 then we'll add the comparative chart versus other cases with a cooler master an hour 600 under full stock conditions we measured CPU thermals at fifty five point six degrees delta T over ambient on running the torture workload with idle at about four point eight degrees Celsius simply adding a knock to a fifteen hundred rpm 120 millimeter fan to the front dropped CPU thermals to 47 degrees over a means a reduction of eight point five degrees if you're buying this case one of the best things you can do is purchase one 120mm fan they're not even that expensive the improvement is because we've now created a straight front to back airflow path for the CPU tower cooler benefiting our configuration greatly that doesn't mean the case is bad and it's stock configuration it's actually it's specifically not bad overall but it does suggest that there's a lot to be gained from adding a single fat this is great news actually because it means that cooler masters front match design is sufficiently constructed such that fan configuration changes are meaningful and have a significant impact to thermals removing the front panel entirely has formerly the same effect on thermals as adding a fan which is because we've now opened up the air to the CPU tower cooler fan to directly intake without obstructions or pressure inhibitors adding a fan and removing the panel are nearly synonymous which indicates minimal obstruction to airflow with the panel design replacing the fans with two 140 millimeter fans in the front yielded worse performance for the CPU than just adding one 120 and that's because of the awkward poor fitment of 140 fans in this case which are one partially obstructed and two don't line up perfectly with the CPU we really wouldn't recommend to go in with them and instead would push you toward a 120 here's the comparative chart 55.5 degrees celsius cpu delta T / ambient is average on this chart just a little warmer than the mesh spicy stock it's in the same boat as fractals messe Phi it has great cooling potential but is short on fans when the NR 600 is left stock adding a single fans at the NR 600 achieves a forty seven point one degree result which makes the NR 600 much more competitive and puts it on the level of the long phrase Silverstone our l06 another mesh fronted case that ships with a full complement at four 120 millimeter fan there's always a pictu balance to be struck between case price number of fans and quality of fans but both Coolermaster & fractal prioritized price the user is left and encouraged to purchase at least one extra fan or maybe shove a CLC into the case somewhere do you torture thermals our next starting again with a limited chart the baseline tortured GPU temperature with the stock case configuration was fifty four point three degrees Celsius over ambient which dropped to fifty point six degrees with the front panel removed this lack of reduction versus the cpu results is because the single intake fan is aimed more toward the bottom of the case benefiting the GPU and the stock configuration and so it had less to gain this is probably best as the GP is more thermally sensitive and will boost pursuant to the core temperatures so we think that for the most part color master chose the right way to use just two fans adding a single front intake does little for the GPU and this is unsurprising as we pointed it straight toward the CPU cooler we measured a one degree reduction which is within our error margins we do not have test resolution to state if this is a meaningful change or just statistical variance swap into the lopsided dual 140 configuration further reduced thermals for the GPU bringing us down to forty nine point nine degrees in this setup because the top doesn't accommodate a 140 properly in favor of an optical drive support option the GPU receives most of the air and so is benefited here's the comparative chart a baseline of fifty four point three degrees is on the warm side judged against our other cases but is still well under control to be fair the mesh if I see average fifty seven point eight degrees delta T over ambient in this test with a full set of four one twenty motor fans three intake one exhaust in this case we'd probably see score is comparable to the RL zero six across the board one of the advantages of mesh fronted cases like this is that adding it more fans will continue to improve performance running the fire strike extreme test on loop average 56 degrees over ambient 4gb of thermals a couple of degrees higher than the torture test this places it in the middle of the chart again but two degrees below the stock Mushaf is two and four degrees below the stock mesh if I see we're emphasizing stock because these cases would perform better with additional fans if they were purchased but that's also true for the NR 600 which we ran stock this test as well stockin take fans that have to supply air to both the CPU and GPU are never a great compromise but with airflow biased towards the GPU the NR 600 manages to pull through reasonably well in this test the blender CPU render average 38 degrees over ambient for the CPU the only component stressed here which is a full two degrees below the stock metruff I see it's comparable to the NZXT th 500 and within margin of error of that case which is practically the same thing but with a sealed-off front panel mesh is great but without an extra fan or two to take advantage of it no more air will come in than it would through a more restricted case at least not much more depending on the pressure set up and zxt also leans on leveraging a negative pressure setup in their H 500 so air is pulled through nearly every hole in the case including unused PCIe slots and perforations in the paneling with the blender GPU rendered Evo temperature average twenty six point eight degrees over ambient for the NR 600 that's again significantly better than the metruff IC but just about tied with the H 500 from NZXT as well as the Leon the 11 air those are both fine cases although the air is way better without its filter but again the NR 600 could do better with some additional fans as scene of the torture tests the stock fan does a decent job of moving cool air in along the surface of PSU shroud but it doesn't force a wall of air through like the RL 0 6 does noise testing is up to last 38.7 DBA is almost precisely the same as we measured with the stock mesh of IC which makes sense the open mesh front doesn't do much to muffle noise but the two stock fans also don't generate much to begin with this case is reasonable overall just know that adding more fans will affect the noise given the front panel design that said we've previously demonstrated another content with the RL 0 6 with a versus a be quiet case that mesh cases can be better tuned acoustically by simply dropping fan rpm which is a luxury not afforded by most of these silenced focused cases as they need a higher static pressure to pass all the obstructions that are in the case the NR 600 is actually a pretty solid budget case we liked it overall and it's one of the cases in this price point that we would be completely fine with recommending so good news there it is a budget case though and so buyers should be aware that the two 1200 rpm fans that come with it aren't particularly strong they're fine they do the job but if you can justify another ten to fourteen dollars to buy an extra fan we would strongly recommend it and then drop the 120 millimeter extra fan right there in the front probably leave this dust filter off because they shipped ours with it off stock which is hopefully how it ships in the real world because if it if it's not on their stock then we don't test the stock but you should take this off if you don't have anything at the top for intake because filtering dust on an exhaust doesn't make any sense but yeah if you do that if you add a 120 fan you actually have one of the best performing cases for a configuration similar to ours which is a pretty fairly standard configuration especially for someone building with a budget that would accommodate this $70 case and overall the build quality is acceptable it's it's really not the best we've ever seen but it's completely fine for the price point the cooling is good ish stock to exceptional when you start adding fans to it and yeah we think it's fine so this thing we did have some complaints those are in this review but the drive sleds are not present you end up with a hard drive cage that's riveted in place we found that very annoying because to use this lower Bay you need basically a right angle driver or you have to really screw around with the screw around with the screw driver for a long time to get through the riveted hard drive cage which is very annoying and I had a couple of other elements to it as well that Patrick complained about in the build notes if you didn't watch that you should go check it out in the earlier part of this video so some caveats over all but for $70 case it's fair it's acceptable and this is one of the simplest enclosures you can manufacture it's it's very similar to every other $70 mid Tower but that's not necessarily a bad thing the s340 is mostly dead at this point it's been replaced by the H 500 by NZXT that's a good competitor to look into oh six is still good competitor to look into Coolermaster zone age 500 at about $30 more is another good solution to look into and the fractal mesh of IC but you should add fans to that is another competitor so that's kind of your list of competition if you want to do some research on each of those and otherwise this is fine it's actually it's actually pretty good it's much better than this thing which is bad and you shouldn't buy it that's the Q 500 l so that's it for this one thank you for watching subscribe for more and go to Stuart on cameras axis net to support us directly our mod mats are coming back in stock in the next about this week probably hopefully the end of this week and they'll ship out immediately and then this shirt the graft logo shirt has been restocked freshly as well where you go to patreon.com/scishow cameras nexus to help us there and join our discord thanks for watching I'll see you all next time