1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Cougar MX500: Exterior4. Cougar MX500: Interior and Installation5. Testing Methodology6. Thermal Performance7. Acoustic Performance8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

Removing the side panel of the case reveals the entirely black-painted interior. This will complement most component choices aesthetically and is generally the preferred finish amongst enthusiasts.

There is plenty of room to work with inside the case, making the installation process fairly simple. The internal layout is fairly standard, with an array of seven drive bays on the right below the three 5.25” external drive bays.

There are a number of cable routing holes cut into the motherboard tray which should let you achieve a tidy build in this case if you’re willing to put in the work.  We also find a generous amount of room behind the motherboard tray for cable routing, which makes the process of achieving a tidy build even easier.

Installing our Asus P9X79 motherboard into the case was fairly simple as there are no stand-offs required. We found it a little difficult to figure out which screws were which, though, as they are all supplied in the same bag.

Cougar have thoughtfully cut a substantial hole into the motherboard tray to facilitate the installation of CPU coolers. This is ideal for those who plan to change their CPU cooler at a later date.

There is plenty of room in the case for long power supplies. Our Seasonic Platinum 1000W is longer than most and we had no issues installing it or routing the cables through the pre-cut holes.

Cougar have gone down the same path as the majority of manufacturers concerning the drive bays. There are seven hard drive caddies included which support both 2.5” and 3.5” drives, giving you the flexibility to choose what configuration you would like. The top three bays can be removed to allow extra room for long graphics card or to improve airflow if desired.

We experienced no issues when installing our AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card into the case. This is a similar length to most current high-end graphics cards so it is unlikely that many users will experience difficulties.

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