Performance Analysis

We tested the Cooler Master MasterCase H500M firstly with its mesh panel and out-of-the-box configuration and unsurprisingly it did rather well with its pair of 200mm fans and high airflow design, nearly matching its sister case, the H500P, with a CPU delta T of 47°C. This was enough to beat the SilverStone Primera PM01-RGB and Fractal Design Define R6. Donning the closed glass front panel saw this temperature rise to 51°C, so those side mesh panels clearly do a fairly good job of limiting the thermal impact of swapping in the glass front panel, but they don't mitigate it entirely.

The GPU delta T sat at 47°C too, which  was a little further away from the top results, but still excellent and enough to match the SilverStone Primera PM01-RGB and Fractal Design Define R6, with the only competition coming from the likes of the Be Quiet! Dark Base 700 and Aerocool P7--C1 Pro. Switching to the glass front panel saw the GPU delta T rise just 3°C, so the impact of doing so is clearly not particularly large. All the fans were relatively quiet too at full speed, but certainly noticeable with a reasonable airflow noise, although the mesh front section did allow plenty of noise to escape, even with the glass panel fitted.

Conclusion

The Cooler Master MasterCase H500M isn't without its faults, but these are mostly confined to the cable covers on the rear panel that often interfere with cable anchor points or simply get in the way and don't secure as tightly as they need to. Apart from adding time to your build, though, they aren't major issues. The price tag feels justified in some areas - the excellent water-cooling support, addressable RGB lighting, extensive use of tempered glass, and great cooling as well as features such as a pump mount, graphics card support, vertical graphics card mount and USB 3.1 Type-C port. 

However, in terms of feel, the Master MasterCase H500M doesn't quite have the appeal of many other cases that cost this much. For example, Cooler Master's own Cosmos C700P now retails for just £30 more. Still, overall it ticks too many boxes to be overlooked as an awesome case for both air-cooled and water-cooled systems, and it looks great and has nearly every modern feature you could wish for.