The original console I’ve been using was installed back in 2009. At this point, its overall performance can no longer keep up with my requirements, but for my parents, it’s more than enough for streaming movies and browsing the web. So, when I decided to upgrade the main system, I planned to hand this one over to them. Later on, I purchased a solid-state drive, which worked fine. Although the internal hardware is still quite robust, the external casing is showing its age. It's not exactly built for durability, and I find myself cleaning the dust out of it roughly every six months. That’s why we’re thinking of replacing the chassis. Among various options, I settled on the CoolMaster MasterBox Lite 5, mainly because I’m not a fan of perforated designs. While they might offer better heat dissipation, they tend to accumulate more dust, especially in my dusty home environment. I wanted to avoid that issue. Additionally, the side panel is completely transparent, and the front has a mirrored panel, which I find appealing. Let’s take a closer look at this chassis.
Wikipedia states that the CoolMaster MasterBox Lite 5 is a mid-tower chassis designed for ATX motherboards. It features a front mirrored panel, a large transparent side panel, support for long graphics cards, and an independent power supply compartment. The MasterBox Lite 5 maintains the Master series’ tough yet simple aesthetic lines, with internal expansion that is neither overly flashy nor boring. It also offers good expansion options for both water-cooling and air-cooling setups, catering well to mainstream high-end gaming platforms. The design continues the Master series' minimalist and calm approach. Unlike traditional fixed chassis models, the Box Lite 5 uses a plastic side panel, and the front panel features a polyhedral mirrored design. The internal fans are illuminated, with a fan light value of 18 comments.
The Coolmaster MasterBox Lite 5 comes in corrugated box packaging, which is a common choice for most chassis and provides adequate safety protection. However, I mentioned yesterday that I bought an 80cm tall protective case for my dad, and after inspection, I found it unnecessary. The damage was minimal, just scratches on the wooden frame, and the paint underneath was intact. The key takeaway is that logistics can be unpredictable. The front of the box shows an image of the chassis’s front panel and a sketch of the internal space. The side panel displays the official website’s multi-language introduction, along with a label listing the chassis’s main specifications. The back highlights some of the chassis’s features, again in multiple languages. The other side provides more detailed specifications, primarily in English, which is fairly straightforward to understand.
Inside the box, you’ll find the main chassis, installation instructions, warranty cards, and a parts package, all neatly arranged within the chassis itself.
The front panel and side panel of the Coolmaster MasterBox Lite 5 come with a protective film. It’s not immediately noticeable when uncovered, but once removed, they become mirrors—especially the front panel. The mirror effect on the front panel is striking, but it has its downsides. It attracts dust and fingerprints, and wiping it risks scratching. The front panel is designed with angular edges, with red lines on the top and bottom edges, adding a rugged touch.
The front IO interfaces are centered at the top of the front panel. From left to right, they include a reset button, front headphone jack, front microphone port, power switch, two front USB3.0 ports, a hard drive indicator, and a power indicator light. While the two USB3.0 ports are commendable compared to many other chassis, the absence of USB2.0 is somewhat disappointing. For instance, my older motherboard lacks a front USB3.0 port and doesn’t even have a rear one. Consequently, these two USB3.0 ports are currently unused, as we’ve relied on a PCI-E to USB3.0 adapter card for some time. It’s a bit regrettable that we didn’t opt for a front USB3.0 interface earlier.
The angular front panel has a nice texture.
The mirror effect is excellent. To avoid capturing myself in the shot, I had to hide in places where I rarely stand. Haha. People who aren’t fond of mirrors can simply avoid looking at them.
There’s a cool metal logo on the panel, with a pleasant texture.
At the bottom, there’s only a small air intake, while the top has mesh holes that help filter dust effectively. However, this reduces airflow, and over time, the mesh will likely clog with dust, requiring frequent cleaning.
At the bottom of the chassis, there’s a dust filter for the power supply fan. Unfortunately, it’s not magnetic, which would have been preferable. Non-slip feet are present on all four corners.
This is a chassis with a built-in power supply. The overall appearance is quite satisfying. The 12cm fan is positioned near the bezel. Below it are seven PCI expansion slots. The power supply is located at the bottom.
The fan placement is somewhat flexible, allowing for some vertical adjustment to suit different needs. A 120mm fan is pre-installed at the factory, though it’s not a light-up fan.
The PCI expansion slots feature a movable baffle design with openings for ventilation and heat dissipation.
The bottom power supply area is an intriguing spot. Here, the chassis uses an active panel, meaning the screw holes can be adjusted regardless of whether the power supply is installed upright or reversed. The panel is removable, and the screws on the panel are missing, making removal impossible. Initially, I thought this panel was merely for adapting to the power supply’s orientation. However, upon installation, I realized it serves a more complex purpose.
The Coolmaster MasterBox Lite 5 features a fully translucent plastic panel secured to the chassis frame with four screws. This type of full-face panel is one of the main reasons I chose this chassis—it allows clear visibility of the internal hardware.
On the side panel, there are rubber pads around the screw holes on both the front and back sides. The outer edges are beveled, and approximately 1cm wide inner edges have a rhombic mesh texture. There’s also a protective pad around the middle to prevent direct contact between the panel and the chassis frame.
The thickness of the side panel is about 3mm. While 3mm seems thick, it’s still slightly flexible, possibly due to the material.
The interior of the chassis is entirely black, with the motherboard and power supply separated. The design separates the power supply and hard drive compartments, creating independent air ducts—a feature now common in many chassis. The internal panel of the chassis includes instructions indicating the positions of the copper posts. The letters in the table represent their meanings: A for ATX motherboards, M for Micro ATX motherboards, and I for Mini ITX motherboards. This design is practical, making it easy to distinguish and avoiding misalignment of the motherboard.
Some copper posts are marked directly with AMI, indicating that all three sizes of motherboards need to be installed here. AM indicates that ATX and Micro ATX motherboards require copper posts to be locked in this position, while Mini ITX motherboards do not. Other markings, such as separate A and M, signify that only the corresponding specifications need to be installed at this location.
The factory-installed fan is a 9-blade, transparent fan with a 3-pin power supply.
Each PCI expansion slot baffle has its own screw.
This location looks ventilated, but I believe it’s more effective for the power supply and hard drive.
A hole is reserved in the upper left corner of the inner panel. This location has ample space, typically for the CPU 8-pin power supply interface. Opening a hole here makes the wiring look neater.
Here is the location for the 2.5-inch SSD. The bracket must first be removed, installed on it, and then attached to the inner panel of the chassis. There’s a similar mounting position below, but without a bracket, it can only be used to select the upper bracket’s mounting position. I’m unsure if this accessory will be released later.
The wires of the front IO panel access the top opening and enter the backplane space from the side.
The right side panel is a non-transparent panel with a thickness of about 0.6mm. The corners are slightly sharp, but the craftsmanship is acceptable.
The plate thickness of the main bearing area is about 0.73mm.
The front panel and top IO panel are separate designs. The top IO panel is independent and fixed to the front frame of the chassis by screws.
In fact, there’s still space, and squeezing it a bit would create room for 2 USB2.0 ports. Attempting to open the hole later shouldn’t be too difficult, provided the extension is feasible.
All the connectors are one-piece. Besides the Power LED, as long as the connector fits, previous issues with inserting audio and USB connectors individually are no longer a nightmare.
The backplane space of the chassis is somewhat narrow. An additional centimeter of width would make it better, as at the end of the process, forcing the side panel onto it was challenging. My 24-pin power cord is relatively thick, and with other cables, this space feels insufficient.
The chassis backplane space is divided into two parts: the lower section houses the power supply and hard drives. The hard drive positions are not close to the front frame of the chassis.
Four threaded holes are reserved on the back side, with one in the upper right corner. The threading holes are curled, so not all lines are usable. There are also many offline holes on the backplane, used to fix offline tools like tie straps, allowing the backlines to be tidier.
Two 3.5-inch hard drives are reserved for the chassis, equipped with a tool-free hard drive bay. This facilitates hard drive installation. These two locations also support 2.5-inch hard drives but require screws to secure the back of the drive.
In addition to the dust filter at the bottom of the chassis, there’s a shock-absorbing pad at the top of the power supply to minimize vibration from the fan.
The accessories are quite rich, including a hexagonal socket adapter that’s handy for securing the motherboard’s copper pillars. It makes locking the copper pillars easier, and there’s a set of four fan-fixing columns. This accessory is somewhat less valuable since the chassis can accommodate many fans.
Because I often clean the interior components, the overall dust accumulation isn’t significant. Using a blower works fine. First, connect the motherboard, water cooler, and USB3.0 riser cards. Since it’s an older motherboard, there’s no USB3.0 interface, and there’s no front USB3.0 slot. The water cooling is the Cooler Supreme Ice God B120, which is another reason I switched chassis. The original chassis wasn’t compatible with water cooling, and during summer, low-end air cooling struggled to cope with the heat, producing considerable fan noise.
A Western Digital Black Disk 1TB, this unit dates back to 2009, and there’s also a Western Digital Blue Disk 320GB, a long-lasting piece with over 48,000 power-on hours.
The two reserved hard drives have sufficient space above and below, but the gap in the middle is relatively small. Adding more space would improve heat dissipation.
Previously, I thought the power panel could be removed only to address issues on the front and back of the power supply. In reality, it’s mainly used to install the power supply. The original power supply position in the chassis was snug, usually loading the power supply from the side. However, the Cool Master Master Lite 5 doesn’t offer enough clearance, making it obstructed. This setup feels less convenient, especially with my long power cords, which are troublesome to route through the back of the chassis.
The chassis opening is appropriately sized, allowing wires to be routed nearby and keeping the front of the chassis looking relatively clean.
On the front panel, I installed three fans. One was the rear fan of the chassis, which was removed after water cooling was installed.
The back looks messier, but fortunately, the original power cord is long enough to avoid extensions. The wires of the front IO panel of the chassis are all routed through the left frame edge. Since it’s not a modular power supply, the wires are plugged into place. If the hard disk were slightly to the left, it would be better.
After completing the installation, the overall effect of the system is as follows:
Turning on the power reveals that the key and indicator light are all white.
The CPU water-cooled head is logo white, and the fan is red, but the brightness is not high. The standard fan of the chassis is not a light-up fan. The two I installed are not light fans either, as it’s intended for parents to avoid light pollution.
Overall, I’m still satisfied with the CoolMaster MasterBox Lite 5 chassis. The overall space is quite adequate, and the materials are acceptable. It supports long graphics cards, though I haven’t shown that off. It supports both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives but doesn’t support optical drives. The front panel can accommodate 360mm water cooling. The topline space is a bit narrow. The more troublesome aspect is that the front panel is prone to dust, which requires frequent cleaning.
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