Cooler Master's new MasterFrame Series is set to change how we build PCs

Like LEGO for adults, building a PC is all about skill, patience, fun, and creativity. In today's modern PC gaming, content creation, and productivity landscape, the process has become much more than choosing the right components and focusing purely on performance. Building a PC can be a form of personal expression, which is why the modern PC case often features a tempered glass side panel to serve as a window to a sleek and minimal arrangement of things like GPUs, memory, and coolers or an all-out RGB light show with animated displays that reacts to what's happening on-screen.

This makes building a new PC or upgrading an existing rig different from a few years ago. However, the DIY spirit of putting together various components and cooling in a sturdy chassis has been a thing PC enthusiasts have been doing for decades, and for those who have put a new CPU on a motherboard, connected a closed-loop cooling system, and then pressed the 'power' button for the first time - you'll no doubt recall that rush of excitement that comes with building something for work and play.

Aesthetic beauty is a personal thing, so when it comes to building a PC, the chassis or case often delivers that first impression. Cases come in various shapes and sizes and designs that highlight colorful system fans, tempered wrap-around fishbowl glass panels, wood paneling, and even minimal mesh to obscure what's inside. Cases are also designed to make the build process as easy and seamless as possible, with most now arriving with dedicated cable trays and plenty of room to house components.

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Cooler Master has been creating high-quality PC cases for decades, with various options like its Elite, Qube, and MasterBox Series touching on all the above points. However, its latest endeavor fully embraces the DIY spirit, creativity, and personal expression of the PC-building community in a groundbreaking and innovative way. Cooler Master's new MasterFrame Series of cases is here to change how we look at building PCs.

'Make It Yours" with Cooler Master's new MasterFrame Series

Cooler Master's "Make It Yours" tagline is more than a catchy phrase; it represents the company's design philosophy and how it embraces and celebrates the diverse PC community. Each year, the company presents the Case Mod World Series, a global event showcasing and highlighting the incredible talent in the PC-building community. In 2021, the company released the MasterFrame 700, a fully customizable open-frame PC chassis built for enthusiasts to showcase and highlight their PC's components and cooling. The open-air design of the MasterFrame 700 doubles as a durable test bench for tinkerers or a panoramic tempered glass showcase for custom off-the-shelf water-cooling loops.

Cooler Master's new MasterFrame Series, led by the flagship MasterFrame 600, takes this creativity, customization, and innovative approach to a new level. At a glance, the MasterFrame Series - available in 400, 600, and 800 variants - looks like a trio of sleek, stylish, high-quality PC towers. That said, there's more going on here than you'd expect. The next-generation exoskeleton design not only puts the structural framework or bones of the case on the exterior, but each piece can be pulled apart, customized, and rearranged to support various orientations, styles, and builds.

With a minor adjustment to the frame, the tempered glass side panel can become a modern wrap-around fishbowl case with a curved glass panel extending to the front of the display. The design's flexibility is remarkable; the exoskeleton frame, with its unique corner-based modular design, supports resizing and accessibility while prioritizing hardware integration.

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At a time when we've all become conditioned to build and work within the confines and constraints of a rigid case, the new MasterFrame Series from Cooler Master allows you to create a system that suits your specific needs or vision for the perfect PC. Each panel on Cooler Master's new MasterFrame Series is also interchangeable and magnetic, opening the door to near-limitless possibilities in changing the overall look and feel of the case. Want wood panels? You've got the option. This unprecedented customization and flexibility also empower you to focus squarely on what matters most: high performance, aesthetics, or a combination of the two.

Hands-On with the incredible MasterFrame 600

Ahead of the launch, we got to go hands-on with a pre-release version of the impressive Cooler Master MasterFrame 600 chassis in stylish, minimal all-black. Setting aside the customizable side of the exoskeleton design that lets you rearrange or alter the shape of the frame, it's an impressively flexible tower chassis with each panel, other than the tempered glass side panel, including Cooler Master's now iconic hexagonal-shaped vents with a dust filter running the entire length. Right off the bat, you can tell that airflow is not a problem with the MasterFrame 600.

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Each panel is magnetic, so you can open the entire MasterFrame 600 to simplify the build process. It gives you immediate access to each component with optimal room to take full advantage of the case's robust cable management. As you can see in the images, the MasterFrame 600 goes from a closed case to one fully open in seconds. There's also easy and quick access to all of the various screws holding the frame in place, with the overall quality and feel of the case being extremely durable and robust, thanks to the use of premium aluminum. Even in complete exoskeleton form, it's as solid as it comes. Impressive stuff.

As the new flagship MasteFrame chassis, the MasterFrame 600 supports radiator sizes of up to 420mm on the side or front and GPUs up to 450mm in length - more than enough for even the biggest GeForce RTX 4090 or upcoming GeForce RTX 5080.

Here's a look at the specs.

As you can see, there is enough room to support various builds and component orientations. At the same time, the MasterFrame 600's dynamic exoskeleton design extends this flexibility to the entire case - for resizing and swapping out each panel for something that could dramatically alter the overall look and feel of the build.

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Building a PC is all about customization and the freedom to choose the parts you want or those that best serve your goals. It's about creating something that looks great when sitting on or underneath a desk. It's also about adding a layer of future-proofing for PC hardware's ever-changing and evolving nature so you can upgrade that CPU or GPU as more demanding applications and games hit the market.

After going hands-on with Cooler Master's new MasterFrame 600, it's clear that it embraces all aspects of building a PC in a way that hasn't been seen before. Being able to upgrade or swap out a component or two is standard, but the MasterFrame 600 also lets you swap out panels and resize the frame so a modest GeForce RTX 5060 build could transform into a GeForce RTX 5080 streaming beast.

Full details on the entire MasterFrame series will be announced during CES 2025, so for complete information on the range, be sure to head to the MasterFrame product page and sign up for alerts.