Cooler Master’s Vertical GPU Mount Is More Expensive Than Its Cases
Strange times in the case world
Cooler Master has announced three new products, including two mid-tower ATX chassis, the MasterBox 520 and MasterBox 520 Mesh, and a new PCIe Gen 4 capable vertical GPU mount. However, Cooler Master's MSRP for the vertical GPU mount is surprisingly high.
The MasterBox 520 is Cooler Master's latest rendition of a budget-oriented computer case, with the aesthetic design of its more expensive chassis. Its most prominent feature is the triple fan design at the front, featuring ARGB lighting and a tempered glass front panel, with an angled front shroud for everyone to see.
Alternatively, Cooler Master also provides a Mesh version of the 520 that replaces the tempered glass with a performance-focused mesh front panel for customers prioritizing cooling performance over looks.
Besides the front panel, the side panel is Tempered Glass regardless of the model. Color options include black and white themes for the 520 and 520 Mesh.
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The case measure up to 50 liters in volume, with the capability to house 165mm CPU air towers and graphics cards measuring up to 401mm in length. Motherboard support includes Mini-itx, microAT,X and standard ATX. However, if needed, the 520 can also support more prominent form factors such as extended ATX motherboards - at the expense of some cable management routing.
For cooling, the case has three 120mm ARGB fans at the front with mounting holes for three 120mm or two 140mm fans. To the top, there is room for three 120mm or two 140mm fans and a single 120mm mount to the rear. Radiator support extends up to 280mm, 360mm, or smaller on the front and top of the 520. However, recommended fan and radiator thickness should be 55mm or lower on the top for optimal clearance between the radiator and the motherboard.
For additional fan control and cable management, Cooler Master has included an ARGB/Fan hub built right into the chassis that can handle up to four 3-pin fans and four ARGB-led units (lighting strips, ARGB fans, etc.).
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Drive support includes dual 3.5' Drive bays and two 2.5' drive bays for smaller hard drives and SATA-based SSDs. Front I/O consists of a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a 3.5mm mic and audio combo jack.
Vertical GPU Mount
The new Cooler Master Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit V3 is the company's most advanced GPU bracket, featuring Z and X axis adjustability and PCIe Gen 4 support.
The bracket supports up to three slot-wide graphics cards and is built out of SGCC steel to handle cumbersome graphics cards on the market today. Within the case, the mount can move up to 65mm in length if needed to ensure video output access is not blocked. Similarly, the mount can also move 30mm from side to side for this reason - and accommodate more exotic graphics cards with flow-through cooler designs.
Pricing
The MasterBox 520 will be available for $89.99 MSRP in the United States at launch, and the Mesh variant will be priced at $84.99 - or $5 cheaper. However, the Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit V3 will cost as much as the vanilla 520, with an eye-watering $89.99 MSRP.
Thankfully, the vertical GPU mount appears to be very high quality, with durable material and an incredible amount of functionality for a GPU mount. However, the price is undeniability expensive for a unit that mainly improves looks more than anything else. Hopefully, the price will come down within the year, but for now, it seems like a niche product for customers building top-of-the-line systems.
Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.
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A Stoner This is likely a "case" of economies of scale. They are not likely to sell many of these, at least not at first, and thus all the engineering, tooling and other one off costs are spread over a smaller number of sales. If it costs you $100,000 of engineering, $50,000 in tooling, and $10 in materials and labor, if you sell 1,000 of them, the minimum price has to be $160, but if you sell 1 million of them then the minimum price can be $10.15. That is just to break even.Reply -
LolaGT They probably figure if people are gullible enough to blow $800-$2000 on a GPU they will be happy to be fleeced for another c-note to show their buddies that they have a cool mount for it.Reply -
DingusDog I guess you aren't paying attention people easily blow $100+ on RGB accessories (fans, strimers etc.)Reply -
dutty handz Is it only me who noticed the vertical GPU mount picture is 100% fabricated and wrong, as no GPU, when slotted vertically, would have it's fans facing the motherboard ; the fans should be facing away from the viewing angle we have (and thus facing the side panel of a case)Reply -
Gam3r01 Reply
At first glace that does indeed seem wrong, however the following paragraph under the picture explains it:dutty handz said:Is it only me who noticed the vertical GPU mount picture is 100% fabricated and wrong, as no GPU, when slotted vertically, would have it's fans facing the motherboard ; the fans should be facing away from the viewing angle we have (and thus facing the side panel of a case)
"Within the case, the mount can move up to 65mm in length if needed to ensure video output access is not blocked. Similarly, the mount can also move 30mm from side to side for this reason - and accommodate more exotic graphics cards with flow-through cooler designs."
The card in that picture is a reference 3080Ti/3090Ti, which has a fan on the rear of the card.