Cooler Master is looking to shake things up in the DIY PC building community with its new Maker line that was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. In Cooler Master's words, the first wave of Maker products "delivers an ecosystem that embeds excellent performance and superb quality within a customizable medium which gives users the freedom to explore, express, and enjoy their creativity as it unfolds."
Got all that? Good, now let's move on to the actual products. The first wave consists of a case (MasterCase Maker 5), CPU air cooler (MasterAir Maker 8), and power supply (and MasterWatt Maker 1200). They're all high-end solutions aimed at builders who want to construct their own version of the utlimate PC, CM says.
The MasterCase Maker 5 utilizes Cooler Master's FreeForm Modular System, which is a fancy way of saying that some of the parts are interchangeable. You can alter both its form and function by ripping away internal and external pieces and replacing them with alternatives.
Without any alterations, the MasterCase Maker 5 is a steel chassis with four USB ports, including a USB 3.0 Type C port. It also has a fan speed and LED control buttons on the upgraded I/O panel.
Inside the case you can have up to half a dozen 140mm fans, three of which are included, along with a red LED strip. If you want to liquid cool, you can fit a 280mm radiator up front.
On the storage side, you can install up to seven 2.5-inch drives, or up to five 3.5-inch + two 2.5-inch drives.
Moving on, the MasterAir Maker 8 features Cooler Master's exclusive 3D Vapor Chamber (3DVC) technology, which merges the horizontal base with heatpipes to help improve cooling by 19 percent compared to conventional copper base coolers, CM says.
It's a large and heavy air cooler measuring 135mm (L) x 145mm (W) x 172mm (H) and weighing 1.35kg. There are a total of eight heatpipes and two Silencio FP fans.
Lastly, the MasterWatt Maker 1200 delivers 1200W and is 80 Plus Titanium certified. Part of the reason Cooler Master was able to achieve such a high efficiency rating was by tweaking the 3D circuit design for a shorter, uncluttered expressway of power.
The PSU uses fully modular cabling and comes with a 20+4 pin connector, 4+4 pin CPU connector, ten 6+2 pin PCIe connectors, 16 SATA connectors, a dozen 4-pin peripheral connectors, and a 4-pin floppy connector.
Cooler Master says you can find all three products now or in June depending on where you live. Pricing is set at €200 for the MasterCase Maker 5, €130 for the MasterAir Maker 8, and €400 for the MasterWatt Maker 1200.
While Coole Master didn't list U.S. pricing for any of the three, we found the MasterAir Maker 8 ($119) and MasterCase Maker 5 ($190) on Amazon.
