Cooler Master MasterBox NR600 Case Review

Introduction

Not a huge fan of RGB? Looking for something that is stylish and has great airflow? Well, that’s the audience Cooler Master is looking for with their new ATX mid-tower case the NR600. The NR600 is comprised of modified a MasterBox MB5xx series frame, stylish minimalistic design, full mesh front panel for optimal airflow, and a tempered glassed side panel. Other notable features of the NR600 also include radiator support for 360mm up front / 280mm up top, room for 5 x 2.5” and 4 x 3.5” drives, and a full-length PSU shroud. Are you are still attached to your Blu-ray or DVD drive? The NR600 has you covered with a separate model that includes a 5.25” drive bay. Coming in at an MSRP of $69.99, the NR600 is also very easy on your wallet.

We would like to thank Cooler Master for sending us the NR600 to review.

About Cooler Master

Back in 1992, when the internet was in its early stages and CPU’s were measured in MHz rather than GHz, a company called ORYX was born. ORYX later became Cooler Master, which we know the company as today. Started by a rogue product manager who had no funding and no support except a single administrative secretary, he set out to create, innovate and improve products for the PC industry. Starting with its first product, a Socket 7 CPU heat sink in 1993, their product line has since grown to Cases, Peripherals, Fans, and much more. Over the past 25+ years they brought many advancements and firsts to the PC industry (such as the first all copper heat sink) and today, they continue to innovate by bringing new and exciting products to market.

Features & Specifications

Notable Features:

• Minimalistic mesh design
• Flush tempered glass side panel
• With/Without ODD support

Technical Specifications:

Packaging & Unboxing

Cooler Master’s NR600 is packaged in a non-colored box with an outlined profile shot of the case. Since the NR600 has 2 models with one having an optical drive bay, the packaged model is noted in the lower right-hand corner. As you can see, our review sample is the one without the ODD.

On the back of the box are 2 more profile outlines of the NR600 with one being the optical disk drive model. To the left is a general description of the NR600 along with some of its notable features which include optimal cooling, subtle minimalistic design, and tempered glass side panel. These features are also listed at the bottom in 8 different languages.

On the side of the box is a full list of specifications for the NR600 along with where to get more information on the case from Cooler Master’s website in various languages.

On the final side is a front outline on the NR600 without the optical disk drive cutout.

Like many cases, the NR600 is packaged in between 2 pieces of protective foam with the case itself wrapped in a plastic bag.

Once all the packaging has been removed, all that’s left is to remove the film and fragile sticker from the tempered glass.

A Closer Look: Exterior

The exterior of the NR600 has a matte black finish that extends to all surfaces of the case. The front panel is comprised of a seamless piece of mesh with a stylized solid line on the right. On the side of the NR600 is a flush mounted tempered glass side panel that is attached at the back of the case. Moving the screws to the back of the NR600 keeps the tempered glass free of obstructions and maintains the clean look of the rest of the case.

Below the tempered glass panel in the lower left corner, there is some subtle branding with a barely visible Cooler Master logo outline.

On the other side of the NR600 is an all steel panel that is secured by two thumbscrews at the back of the case.

At the back, you have your regular I/O and PSU cutouts as well as 7 expansions slots. The screws for the expansion slots are on the outside of the case but are out of view thanks to a little bracket. I think this is a nice touch that helps with the rest of the clean lines on the NR600.

You can remove the expansion slot bracket simply by removing the two screws holding it in place. Once removed, you have complete access to your I/O screws. I personally prefer them on the outside of the case as I find it easier to access them with a screwdriver.

Looking to the top of the NR600, it contains a removable magnetic dust filter and in the right-hand corner the case’s I/O.

Once the filter is removed from the top, a hexagon cutout pattern is revealed and has a rail system for installing radiators and fans. The outer rails seem to give a fair bit of play for your 140mm wide radiator and fans which should give you maximum component compatibility.

A closer look at the NR600 I/O shows a 3.5mm audio jack, two USB 3.0 ports, a reset button and a Cooler Master shaped power button.

Flipping the NR600 to the bottom, 4 rubberized feet are visible and there is a removable filter for the PSU intake.

Included with the NR600 is a user manual, warranty guide and stored inside the case is a bag of accessories which contains:

• Various mounting screws
• SSD grommets / screws
• Zip ties
• Tool-less drive rails
• Standoff socket
• Molex fan power cable

A Closer Look: Interior

The same matte black finish from the outside of the NR600 has been brought to the interior of the case. The NR600 has support for full sized ATX motherboard with plenty of room for cable routing. Your options for route include two cutouts at the top, two cutouts at the bottom and two grommets to the right of the motherboard.

The NR600 contains a full PSU shroud with a cutout at the front giving you about 70mm of radiator clearance. Cooler Master has also included three 2.5” drive mounting points on top of the shroud if you wish to show off your drive.

Looking toward the front, you have mounting points for three 120mm fans and/or up to a 360mm radiator. The NR600 comes with a single 120mm fan pre-installed on the front panel which acts as an intake.

At the back of the case, you have a second pre-installed 120mm fan as an exhaust fan.

At the back of the motherboard tray are various tie-downs at all sides of the case as well as two 2.5” drive mounting points below the processor cutout.

Under the PSU shroud is a riveted in HDD cage that has storage for up to three 3.5” drives.

System Build and Installation

The hardware included in this build is:

• ASRock Z370 Tachi Motherboard
• Intel 8700K Processor
• 4 x 4GB Team Group T-Force Delta RGB Ram
• MSI X-Gaming RX480 8GB GPU
• Cooler Master 212 Hyper Black Edition Cooler
• EVGA 750W P2 PSU

The NR600 was a pleasure to build in and I loved the unobstructed layout in the case. I had plenty of room to work with while installing my components with room to spare if I wanted to upgrade to a 360mm AIO or even a custom loop. With a tempered glass side panel, I wanted to make sure my build looked great and my cable management was on point. This was easy to achieve thanks to the combination of the full PSU shroud and the cable cutouts around the motherboard. 

Managing the cables in the back of the case was a breeze with the many included tie-downs. The only issue I had with the whole build was how much of space you have for the PSU. It quite the tight fit and you must pre-install all your cables prior to securing the PSU. So, if down the road you wish to add an additional cable you will have to remove the whole unit to do so. I would have been nice if the HDD cage was removable or even if it was moved to the left a few more inches. Like many other Cooler Master cases, the NR600 has tool-less 2.5” mounts which I used to install my Samsung SSD. Personally, I’m a huge fan of this tool-less mounts and really hope Cooler Master continues to include these on all their cases.

The NR600 may not include any colorful RGB effects but it does have a single subtle lighting element with the Cooler Master power button.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Cooler Master’s NR600 is an excellent mid-sized case for anyone looking for a budget-friendly case that prefers a more minimalistic design. With the NR600 it was effortless to create a great looking build and I really liked the NR600’s unobstructed interior layout. The NR600 has many great features such as a full PSU shroud, plenty of tie downs/cut out for cable management, tool-less 3.5”/2.5” drive mounts and lots of room to install your hardware of choice. With the NR600 you also won’t have to worry airflow as the full mesh front panel provides this in spades.

If I had to change one element of the NR600 it would be the riveted HDD cage. The location of the drive cage limits you to 180mm of PSU space which is a little inconvenient adding/remove cables. In future revisions, I would like to see Cooler Master make this cage either removable or adjustable. This would give you some extra room for a larger PSU or more space to hide your cables if your build doesn’t include any 3.5” drives.

The NR600 was a joy to build in and I personally really liked its minimalistic design. In the end, I was able to create a clean build with ease and have plenty of room for upgrades in the future.

Great job Cooler Master!