After all, anybody can construct their very own PC. However do you know you’ll be able to construct your personal PC casetoo? Cooler Grasp’s Qube 500 Flatpack is poised to warmth up the marketplace for compact PC circumstances with the standard, efficiency, and adaptability you’d anticipate finding in a factory-assembled case. Those that didn’t know {that a} “construct your personal case” market existed can look to our In Win Airforce overview as a latest style of this uncommon breed, and see a few of the areas that Cooler Grasp hoped to enhance within the Qube 500’s design. We expect the corporate succeeded, with a beautiful, enjoyable aesthetic that is available in a number of colours, can host full-ATX motherboards and full-size energy provides, and delivers above-average worth (and plenty of enjoyable!) for the cash. We crown the Qube with our Editors’ Selection honors for a price range creative-project chassis.
The Design: Go On, Construct Me a Chassis
Although the Qube 500 arrived flatpacked, we suspect potential patrons will need to see what the completed field appears to be like like earlier than studying additional. So we’ll skip forward in time and begin off by exhibiting off the assembled chassis, and roll again to the elements presentation later.
We obtained the black model of the case; Cooler Grasp additionally gives a pure white mannequin for a similar worth, in addition to a pricier ($99.99) Qube 500 Macaron model that comes with contrasting aspect panels, with the principle chassis body and inside in white, and the panels in pastel mint, cream, and pink. The entrance and high panels characteristic detachable fascia with mud covers hooked up to their underside. A detachable deal with is on the high of the again panel, and a glass aspect panel covers a gap that additionally helps an non-obligatory swinging radiator bracket.
Trying extra carefully on the entrance/high edge bevel, we see a single USB Kind-C port and two USB Kind-A ports, an influence button with an LED power-indicator ring, and a headphone/microphone combo jack.
Round again we see an influence plug for the interior energy provide mount’s extension cable (extra about PSU mounting later), an ordinary seven-slot expansion-card bracket with all of its separator bars omitted to permit vertical graphics-card mounting, and a manufacturing unit 120mm exhaust fan. (Cooler Grasp’s promotional materials claims {that a} 140mm fan will match right here, however we don’t see a spot to place it.) You’ll have to present your personal riser cable for vertical card mounting.
Eradicating the aspect panels and the entrance and high faces exposes a plethora of fan mounts, with the detachable aspect bracket holding as much as two 140mm followers (the identical as the highest, backside, and entrance panels).
The highest additionally has a set of holes for putting in a 3.5-inch drive on vibration-damping rubber grommets. Although solely round 52mm of vertical area extends above the motherboard for closed-loop coolers, the mounts additionally present round 48mm of horizontal clearance to permit thicker cooling options to clear onboard parts. (Subtract 20mm from that for 140mm- or 280mm-format coolers.)
The realm behind the motherboard helps one other 3.5-inch drive, or two 2.5-inch drives, once more on grommeted holes. Holes for mounting a 3rd 2.5-inch drive are hidden means up behind the underside nook of the entrance panel.
So, What’s Truly within the Flatpack?
The Qube 500 is available in a low, sq. field resembling a case of flooring tiles. The premise of the Qube 500 is a 3D motherboard tray, proven going through down subsequent to the facility provide mounting bracket under…
After noticing the beneficiant quantity of cable cupboard space, we get a greater have a look at the 2 2.5-inch drive mounts (behind the motherboard’s backside, high of photograph) in addition to the additional holes that permit a 3.5-inch drive to be positioned there as a substitute. A 3rd 2.5-inch drive mount remains to be barely discernable, tucked into the tray’s backside entrance nook (proven within the high proper nook within the picture above). Additionally be aware the opposite finish of the AC extension cable for the interior energy provide bay.
Within the picture under, the carry deal with makes the again panel seem longer than the entrance panel, but it surely’s detachable. Just like the carrying deal with, the port part is factory-mounted to the highest fringe of the entrance panel.
The highest and backside panels are interchangeable, and that signifies that customers can construct the Qube 500 upside-down if they like. The rationale you may need to do this? Some builders desire to have their glass showcase aspect on the best, with their motherboard upside-down. (At the least then it’s simpler to see the followers in your graphics card, no?)
You can even go away the case within the anticipated orientation and swap the aspect panels, having the panel that usually goes behind the motherboard tray mounted over the motherboard. Doing this offers air flow to the non-obligatory swinging aspect radiator mount.
We will’t consider purpose to place glass on the ugly aspect of the case, however that is perhaps obligatory in case you swapped the vented panel for the rationale we simply talked about. Most of us shall be utilizing this panel within the standard place on the open aspect, in order that we are able to see our fairly RGB reminiscence modules, or a minimum of our motherboard’s indicator lights.
Constructing Up (and With) the Qube 500
The Qube 500 comes full of an set up information, 10 ratcheting cable ties, 4 case ft, a pack of #6-32 (imperial) screws, a pack of standoffs and drive mounting pins, sufficient rubber grommets to accommodate 5 drives, and a vertical graphics card bracket. Drive pins are headless and easily push into the holes of grommets, secured by way of friction.
The inside cables embrace HD Audio for the headphone/mic combo jack, a front-panel energy button/energy LED combo cable, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 cable for the 2 Kind-A ports, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 cable for the Kind-C port.
We mounted our motherboard and energy provide onto the motherboard-tray base earlier than constructing the case round these elements. Discover that there’s additional area on the facility provide bracket that allows it to carry bigger, PS/2-style full-size ATX12V models. (We used an SFX mannequin.)
We added the again panel and our graphics card earlier than ending working our means across the case to finish it.
Entrance and rear panels are secured to the motherboard tray with 4 screws, whereas high and backside panels are secured to the tray utilizing solely hook tabs. Two screws every of the highest and backside panel safe the outer corners to the back and front panels.
Discover that the Qube 500 may be very compact regardless of being full ATX. That’s partly as a result of its power-supply mounting space is up entrance, with the choice to relocate it to the underside panel. Entrance-mounting the facility provide accommodates ATX motherboards and permits for EATX motherboard help with boards which are barely bigger than ATX, which isn’t often an issue since EATX “gaming” motherboards are usually lower than 11 inches deep. Conversely, transferring the facility provide to the underside restricts motherboard area to MicroATX proportions.
Notice that utilizing a full-ATX energy provide within the entrance place will hold you from mounting any entrance followers alongside the within entrance of the case. It could additionally intrude with a video card that is greater than 11 inches lengthy.
Right here you’ll be able to see the Qube 500 constructed out. If you happen to desire to restrict your lighting to only a few highlights, the black model of the Qube 500 is perhaps a good selection. Heck, as you’ll be able to see above, it simply is perhaps an amazing selection! In order for you the colourful panels of the Macaron model, although, we do not see an choice but for buying other-color panels individually simply but.
Testing the Cooler Grasp Qube 500: Ethereal Sufficient for Assemble-It-Your self
So this is a fast recap of the usual check parts we use in ATX circumstances…
In our checks, the Qube 500 takes third place for CPU temperature in a decent race between equally formed circumstances, but it surely falls behind the equally ventilated Fractal Design North and the equally themed In Win Airforce. That makes extra sense after we think about that each the North and the Airforce had been factory-equipped with consumption followers, whereas our Qube 500 construct is unfavourable stress. (All followers are exhausts.)
The proximity of our closed-loop CPU cooler’s followers to the motherboard’s voltage regulator does favors for the Qube 500’s voltage-regulator cooling numbers, and the addition of a 120mm exhaust fan of its personal most likely helped as effectively.
You often need an consumption fan to maintain your GPU cool, although we’ve seen some spectacular design workarounds in earlier evaluations. The Qube 500 doesn’t power air previous the graphics card, but it surely nonetheless solely retains our card a number of levels hotter than those who do. Not unhealthy for a compact case like this.
The Qube 500’s noise numbers don’t utterly make sense to us, because it has however one exhaust fan that isn’t anyplace near the factors at which we place our meter, however a minimum of it didn’t lose this check. That notoriety goes to the In Win Airforce on this check lot.
Verdict: Nice Enjoyable and Worth, if You are Eager on a Undertaking
Most of what Cooler Grasp places forth because the rationale for producing its Qube 500 as a flat-packed enclosure entails shipping-material reductions, and the delight of constructing it your self: not simply the PC, however the case itself, too. The latter makes it super-suited to a household weekend undertaking, as an interesting strategy to introduce a toddler or a teen to PC constructing. On the very least, the youngest helper can kind elements, screw collectively the case body, and snap on the panels, even when the finer work of cabling or header pins is past them.
After all, in case you’re not within the DIY mindset and do not have an IKEA build-it itch to scratch with a screwdriver, that each one might sound like one thing a third-grade arts-and-crafts teacher would say. And certainly, there is not that a lot to the precise case construct; skilled PC-building fingers will not get a lot stimulation from so easy a job. Nonetheless, there’s that $79.99 worth and the concept of saving on some packaging to pique your curiosity, even when the chassis-assembly side simply appears an additional chore. The design proportions and the configurability of the Qube 500, paired with the worth, do win us over, charming even this jaded observer of PC circumstances.
