Cooler master masterbox mb520 review in Spanish (complete analysis)

The market for cheap PC chassis is booming, as there are more and more people than ever in the world of PC gaming, or who are looking to build their first system. We would all love to spend a few hundred euros on the flagship chassis, but when we look at our wallets, reality quickly becomes the order of the day. The new Cooler Master Masterbox MB520 is not going to revolutionize the world, but it offers great features for a tight price.

First of all, we thank Cooler Master for the trust placed in ceding the product to us for analysis.

Cooler Master Masterbox MB520 technical characteristics

Unboxing and design

Cooler Master Masterbox MB520 comes in a large neutral colored cardboard box, the usual presentation on most of the chassis in its range.

We open the box and find the product very well protected, since a plastic bag covers its surface and two pieces of cork prevent it from moving during transport. We remove the chassis and see documentation and all accessories for mounting the equipment.

CM is trying to stand out from the crowd with a windowed side panel, though not tempered glass, and a unique front panel design. It also offers room for a fair amount of high-end hardware.

The chassis is built with measurements of 496 x 217 x 468 mm and a high weight, although it is not specified. ABS plastic with a good quality steel structure has been used for its manufacture. Let's take a closer look.

The first thing that catches the eye of the Cooler Master Masterbox MB520 is the side panel window. It is a large sheet of acrylic material that looks good, however tempered glass is very common on chassis in this price range so it is surprising to see that they followed this route. The edge-to-edge window looks great, and the dark hue makes it look quite mysterious too.

What really stands out in aesthetics is the red colored border on the top and sides of the front panel. It's a design that borrows from its premium MasterCase series, and it works really well. The ventilation structure on the side allows abundant air flow, keeping the front of the chassis less crowded.

The front panel uses a glossy translucent black plastic that has a mirror-like finish, if you have some LED fans installed in this area they will shine perfectly. The downside of so much plastic is that it's going to be a dust magnet, so you'd better keep a cloth nearby to clean it on a regular basis. At the top of the front we find the I / O panel, with the power and reset buttons, the 3.5 mm connectors and two USB 3.0 ports.

On the right side we find a solid black panel without anything to highlight, but it does its job perfectly.

At the rear we find an air outlet for the pre-installed fan, 7 expansion slots, the back plate for the input and output connectors on the motherboard and the power supply hole.

At the base we highlight an insert filter for the PSU and a reasonable ground clearance for air flow. The legs are finished in rubber to prevent vibrations from being transmitted to the table or to the floor.

Interior and assembly

Once we have seen the exterior, we will focus on the interior of this Cooler Master Masterbox MB520 chassis. Removing the window is very simple thanks to the use of hand screws, in this sense it could not be easier.

The first thing we see is the area of the motherboard, we can place a model from Mini ITX to ATX, so the flexibility of use in this regard is excellent. This will make the chassis fit the needs of all users. As for the heatsink, we can mount a unit with a height of 165 mm, which will allow installing most of the models on the market without problems.

The graphics card will be able to reach a length of 410 mm, enough for top of the range models. We highlight that the installation of a graphics card like the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti leaves enough space to put a radiator on the front.

Behind the motherboard we have a space of 19 ~ 27mm to manage the wiring, more than enough space to achieve a very clean and tidy assembly of our new equipment. Cable routing is excellent everywhere. The best thing to do is to run the vertical cables of the cables for the GPU first, it is such an efficient way of doing things.

As we can see, the power supply will be totally faired and isolated from the other components, something very important in order to achieve the best possible cooling. In this fairing we find two bays for 3.5 or 2.5 inch storage units, to which four other 2.5 inch bays are added so that we do not lack storage capacity despite being an economical chassis.

Regarding cooling, we can install the following fan configuration:

Upper: 120mm x 2/140mm x 2 Front: 120mm x 3/140mm x 2 Rear: 120mm x 1

In this way we will achieve a great air flow, with the entry of fresh air from the outside through the front panel, and the exit of hot air through the upper and rear area. Liquid cooling fans are in luck as they will be able to mount a significant number of radiators to keep things cool.

Front: 120/140/240/280 / 360mm Top: 120 / 240mm Rear: 120mm

At the back we find a height adjustable fan support, which makes liquid cooling installations easier. Along with this we highlight the use of reusable expansion slot covers, and the power supply area at the bottom.

Up at the top we find a large magnetic dust filter, which will be responsible for protecting a pair of 120/140 mm fans and radiators of similar size. In this way we can create excellent ventilation, since the heat tends to rise inside the chassis.

Finally, we leave you some images of the assembly that we have made with the components of our test bench.

Final words and conclusion about Cooler Master Masterbox MB520

The Cooler Master Masterbox MB520 chassis comes to the market to offer us great features for a contained price. We can buy it in red, black, white or blue.

As you have read during the analysis we can install motherboards in ATX, mATX and ITX formats. Its compatibility with high-end hardware is surprising. It allows us to install heatsinks with a height of 16.5 cm, a power supply with a length of 18 cm and graphics cards up to 41 cm.

In our assembly we have not encountered many problems. Being a computer assembly, clean and with high-quality components: AMD Ryzen 2700X, Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti, 16 GB DDR4, an Asus x470 motherboard and a top-of-the-range power supply .

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The biggest flaw we see in the chassis is that it only has a rear 120mm fan. In this way we will not have a good refrigeration as standard, forcing us to acquire a second fan to place it in the front to create a good flow.

The recommended retail price is 59.99 euros. We believe it is a fair price given the characteristics of the chassis, although we miss a glass window and a better wiring organization system.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ GOOD DESIGN	- WITHOUT TEMPERED GLASS WINDOW
+ ALLOWS TO INSTALL HIGH PROFILE HEATSINKS AND LIQUID REFRIGERATION.	- IMPROVABLE WIRING ORGANIZATION
+ QUICK AND COMPLICATION-FREE ASSEMBLY	- DEFICIENT REFRIGERATION WITH A SINGLE FAN
+ HIGH-END HARDWARE CAPACITY
+ THE PRICE IS GOOD