Cooler Master MasterCase Maker 5t Review

Performance Analysis

The MasterCase Maker 5t gets solid results on both fronts in our thermal testing and unsurprisingly they're pretty similar to the MasterCase Pro 5. With the roof panel open and the fans set to full speed, we get a CPU delta T of 53°C. Closing the roof panel sees this increase to 54°C and this remains unchanged even when switching to low speed – in all setups airflow is going to be easily enough to cool your CPU when combined with a decent air-cooler.

Despite a solid front panel, airflow does not appear to be impeded with the gaps above and below looking to be large enough to allow plenty of cool air in through the front via the dual 140mm intakes. This is evidently a potent combination as the MasterCase Maker 5t joins a small selection of cases with the best recorded result of a 46°C delta. Again, dropping to low speed has minimal impact, with the result there of 48°C being still one of the best and close to what we see on an open test bench. Results like this make a good case for the chassis being used for air-cooled multi-GPU setups.


Noise from the trio of 140mm fans is pretty low, and the chassis does well at containing noise as well since it's mostly sealed. As we said with the MasterBox 5t, there could be a bit more variation in fan speed with the included controller as the difference in noise and thermals between the two settings is very small. In fairness, though, the results are good so there's no real need to go overboard on fan noise.

Conclusion

So, is the MasterCase Maker 5t worth the significant sum of money it demands? We're certainly not beyond recommending cases this expensive, but they have to have a lot to show for themselves, and we're sadly not quite convinced that this one does. It's definitely not without positives, though. The pair of tempered glass side panels is probably our favourite feature and certainly responsible for a fair chunk of that price tag. The handle is also very well designed and the interior is flexible and easy to work with. We're also fans of the LED and fan control solution and the metallic red paint job is high quality as well.


On the other hand, there are issues. Plastic panels are hard to overlook this side of £200, for example, and the case would definitely benefit from better support for custom water-cooling loops. The cable routing solution is strong, but there is still room for improvement especially as everything will be visible through the side panel. The FreeForm modular system is a neat idea, but its main appeal is being able to upgrade a case over time. The MasterCase Maker 5t already has nearly all the upgrades available besides additional SSD and HDD cages, which a number of other cases also offer these days.

As such, we're not able to bestow a full recommendation but that's not to say we can't see a place for it. In particular, those who are big fans of attending LAN events like Insomnia and who want something jazzy to show their rig off. The carry handle, StormGuard PCI-E cover, lockable side panels and GPU support bracket all lend themselves well to a case designed to be transported to and from such events and potentially left unattended. We do wonder whether the bold design will have much appeal among more mature audiences that are more likely to be able to afford a case like this, but if it does match your taste and LAN events are your thing you'll probably find a lot to love here.