Outside

We’ll start our in-depth look at the MX500s outer shell starting at the front port connections. Here we find a pair of USB3.0 and 2.0 ports as well as the usual HD Audio jacks. The power button is LED lit and glows blue when in operation as does the HDD activity indicator on the reset button.

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Moving back a little bit further we find the top fan placements. The holes are laid out to accommodate up to two 120mm fans or a dual 120mm radiator. The filter is held in by pins and can be removed for cleaning.

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Moving on to the side panel, we find the side fan filter and 120mm fan placement. This filter is removable for easy cleaning as well but is secured to the case by four small magnets. While it does fit in place as intended I can’t help but think how easily this filter and guard would fall off under constant movement or even during a trip to a LAN. It would have been nice to see some way to permanently secure the guard to the case beyond the magnets.

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Now we take a look at the rear of the MX500. The motherboard connections, rear exhaust and expansions slots are all pretty par for the course. What is different; however are the optional knockouts for water cooling solutions. These are the holes the included grommets are meant for.

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The bottom of the case is our last stop. Here we see openings for the power supply fan as well as a place for another 120mm case fan should you so wish it.  These openings are covered by a dual fan filter, which like the side fan filter is easily removable and held to the case by small magnets. The same problems are here as well as with too much movement the filter will probably fall off so beware and handle gently.

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Deb0's Avatar
Deb0 replied the topic: #33543 26 Dec 2013 01:14
Get some hardware for Christmas? Maybe Cougar has a place to put them.

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