Cooler Master Launches MasterBox 520 Cases and Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit V3

[Tsing]

Cooler Master has launched a trio of new products in the form of the MasterBox 520, MasterBox 520 Mesh, and Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit V3.

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[Niner51]

Is it me or does CM just seem to rehash their case designs over and over lately? These cases look very similar to what they had out for years now.

 

[MadMummy76]

Is it me or does CM just seem to rehash their case designs over and over lately? These cases look very similar to what they had out for years now.

Every new case uses the exact same old tired layout, there is no innovation in case design, not just at CM.

The only difference is the front panel design and how many RGB lights it has.

 

[Denpepe]

Every new case uses the exact same old tired layout, there is no innovation in case design, not just at CM.

The only difference is the front panel design and how many RGB lights it has.

You are mostly correct, but there are some exeptions like the 011 from lian li, the Hyte Y60 or more exotic stuff like singularity but they are few and far between.

 

[Niner51]

You are mostly correct, but there are some exeptions like the 011 from lian li, the Hyte Y60 or more exotic stuff like singularity but they are few and far between.

They are starting to get copied as well unfortunately, meaning the Lian Li 011. The Hyte Y60 is very similar to the 011 also so it's not ground breaking IMO.

 

[MadMummy76]

You are mostly correct, but there are some exeptions like the 011 from lian li, the Hyte Y60 or more exotic stuff like singularity but they are few and far between.

Dual chamber cases have been around for 20 years at least, techincally 3 of my last four cases were dual chamber, even if the space behind the MB tray was smaller than in the 011.

When I say innovation I mean things like the 90 degree rotated silverstone cases. That was the last big thing in case design, and how old is it now 15 years?

I also liked cube cases, and stacked cases. Like the aerocool M40 which was both.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

IDK. I've seen some interesting and innovative cases on the various U.K. and Asian websites. I haven't posted about them much but have seen some really different things in recent years. They're usually not brand names we regularly hear about stateside.

 

[Ditchinit]

IDK. I've seen some interesting and innovative cases on the various U.K. and Asian websites. I haven't posted about them much but have seen some really different things in recent years. They're usually not brand names we regularly hear about stateside.

Different is OK. The companies offering the available brands in the US tend to be risk averse and they chase each other's tail after the same pool of dollars. I suspect capital venture financiers as a rule are risk averse, hence lack of imagination and innovation in Hollywood and as exemplified by many "samey" products in other consumer markets.

 

[Denpepe]

Steve from GN did a review of this one

 

[MadMummy76]

Steve from GN did a review of this one

Yeah, but that's just styling, otherwise it is a bog standard minitx desktop layout. There is no innovation.

The last innovation that happened to tower cases was moving the PSU from the top to the bottom roughly 20 years ago. Otherwise everything is largely the same.

Compare this to the car industry, a twenty year old car looks like a fossil next to a modern one, there are so many new features and addons.

 

[Grimlakin]

Yeah, but that's just styling, otherwise it is a bog standard minitx desktop layout. There is no innovation.

The last innovation that happened to tower cases was moving the PSU from the top to the bottom roughly 20 years ago. Otherwise everything is largely the same.

Compare this to the car industry, a twenty year old car looks like a fossil next to a modern one, there are so many new features and addons.

That's kind of an unfair comparison. I mean really outside of Safety and tech upgrades which ostensibly we do on our own. The car has remained much the same. 4 wheels, power plant in the front. Some cars have the power plant more central or in the rear. But that's it.

 

[MadMummy76]

That's kind of an unfair comparison. I mean really outside of Safety and tech upgrades which ostensibly we do on our own. The car has remained much the same. 4 wheels, power plant in the front. Some cars have the power plant more central or in the rear. But that's it.

Still if you put a 20 year old car next to a car from the last few years there is no comparison. The upgrades are vast in efficiency, gearboxes engines, hybrid technology, various tech and convenience upgrades.

While if you put a 20 year old computer case next to a new one the only difference will be styling. Seems to be going backwards almost. There is no diversity. I want MR, FR, 4WD, exotic drivetrains, unique attempts like 2dr wagons, long wheelbase hatches, or whatever, just make it fresh and unique. I could vomit at seeing the same layout in 99.999% of cases that has been the standard for 20 years.

 

[Denpepe]

Still if you put a 20 year old car next to a car from the last few years there is no comparison. The upgrades are vast in efficiency, gearboxes engines, hybrid technology, various tech and convenience upgrades.

While if you put a 20 year old computer case next to a new one the only difference will be styling. Seems to be going backwards almost. There is no diversity. I want MR, FR, 4WD, exotic drivetrains, unique attempts like 2dr wagons, long wheelbase hatches, or whatever, just make it fresh and unique. I could vomit at seeing the same layout in 99.999% of cases that has been the standard for 20 years.

You are comparing a complete car to a, empty PC case, the PC itself has made bigger advancements then most cars if you take a fully built PC into account.

inwin has made some pretty different cases over the years, but you are still stuck with the ATX (or ITX) form factor for a good chunk of your pc.
https://www.in-win.com/en/gaming-chassis/list/20

 

[Niner51]

inwin has made some pretty different cases over the years

I've always wanted to try one of their cases, but every time I think about looking for them they are either sold out or not available in the U.S. (The ones I really like anyway).

 

[MadMummy76]

You are comparing a complete car to a, empty PC case, the PC itself has made bigger advancements then most cars if you take a fully built PC into account.

inwin has made some pretty different cases over the years, but you are still stuck with the ATX (or ITX) form factor for a good chunk of your pc.
https://www.in-win.com/en/gaming-chassis/list/20

Can you buy an empty car frame? No, because it doesn't exist as a product. I'm comparing one product to another. One that innovated and another that stagnates and have been the same since forever. If I look for in-win I get two results local to me. One is using an even older layout than the one I'm complaining about, almost making it seem novel with the psu at the top. The other is an overpriced test bench.

You can all high five each other on how I'm wrong for wanting innovation, it won't change my opinion that I'm sick and tired of the standard tower case layout. There are so much possibilities if a manufacturer was willing to do things different. I'm not against having standard tower cases, but have one or two in your lineup, not the entire lineup.

If I look at lian-li all their tower cases are exactly the same.
If I look at CM, 2 of 48 of their tower cases has something minimally interesting about them, the rest is the same standard layout.

I'm sorry, but I've had enough of this. Is 46 different bog standard tower cases really necessary from one manufacturer?

 

[Brian_B]

If I look at lian-li all their tower cases are exactly the same.
If I look at CM, 2 of 48 of their tower cases has something minimally interesting about them, the rest is the same standard layout.

Because those are the ones that sell.

Every time we see a new company come up with a novel idea - it costs through the roof, because innovation is ~expensive~, and no one wants to spend $xyz for just for the case, when a cardboard box will do.

One out of a hundred (or more) concept cases might break through to be something of a success. We can all count... maybe 5 in the last two decades? that have made it past the "omg expensive" stage to get into some sort of mass production where the costs can be brought down.

If you want innovation - go are going to need to go out and make it yourself.

 

[Niner51]

You can all high five each other on how I'm wrong for wanting innovation, it won't change my opinion that I'm sick and tired of the standard tower case layout.

I don't think anyone here is against you wanting something innovative in a case. I for one am all for it. It seems there is one manufacturer that finally does something different (Lian Li 011 series comes to mind), and then all the others kind of follow. Now it seems every manufacturer is stuck in a rut, and just keeps pushing the same design out basically across their lineup as you mentioned.

 

[Niner51]

One out of a hundred (or more) concept cases might break through to be something of a success. We can all count... maybe 5 in the last two decades?

This. Look at Lian Li's failure on their Odyssey X case. that was innovative, but received poorly. The Cooler Master C700M was even slightly innovative, but was overly expensive as @Brian_B mentioned. I would have tried one of those if their quality control wasn't so bad.

 

[MadMummy76]

Because those are the ones that sell.

Every time we see a new company come up with a novel idea - it costs through the roof, because innovation is ~expensive~, and no one wants to spend $xyz for just for the case, when a cardboard box will do.

One out of a hundred (or more) concept cases might break through to be something of a success. We can all count... maybe 5 in the last two decades? that have made it past the "omg expensive" stage to get into some sort of mass production where the costs can be brought down.

If you want innovation - go are going to need to go out and make it yourself.

That argument is destroyed by the existence of expensive tower cases. So needing to keep price down is not really an issue. We are not talking budget cases here that use leftover manufacturing tooling from the last millenia to keep prices bellow $20. That said one of CM's more unique cases that is of a completely different layout than all of their other cases is not even expensive, it is one of their cheaper cases. Making a different case doesn't make it automatically expensive.

If you are making a new case you need new tooling anyway, the layout doesn't make it more or less expensive to manufacture. CM might have 46 different tower cases, with the same basic layout, but that doesn't mean they use the same sheet metal tools to make them all. The cutouts and holes are slightly different for many of them.

I don't think anyone here is against you wanting something innovative in a case. I for one am all for it. It seems there is one manufacturer that finally does something different (Lian Li 011 series comes to mind), and then all the others kind of follow. Now it seems every manufacturer is stuck in a rut, and just keeps pushing the same design out basically across their lineup as you mentioned.

Yes it is slightly different at least, but hardly an innovation, there were cases with the PSU mounted vertically beside the Motherboard, making for a shorter, but wider case in the 90s. We had one of those.

 

[Brian_B]

If you are making a new case you need new tooling anyway, the layout doesn't make it more or less expensive to manufacture.

Volume does.

If you are making 100 cases versus tens of thousands - the price per case is drastically different. That's why most cases use the same basic layout - the factory is churning them out by the hundreds per day, that makes them dirt cheap to mannufacture, so additional costs are whatever to make a new plastic bezel and paint job.

Companies don't like risk - they will take whatever they know will sell relatively well, slap their brand logo on it, and hope they can pull in easy profit.

Very very few companies out there are willing to invest into innovation.