“Max” is an apt moniker for Cooler Master’s new variant on its MasterBox NR200P Mini-ITX PC case. At first glance, the NR200P Max looks virtually identical to the standard NR200P or the more vibrant NR200P Color we recently reviewed. All of the NR200P chassis share a similar look and design, but the NR200P Max takes things to another level by featuring an enhanced, easier-access interior. It also comes with a preinstalled 280mm AIO water cooler and a capable 850-watt 80 Plus Gold power supply unit (PSU) that simplifies and accelerates the process of building a system. These extras have their cost—at $349.99, the MasterBox NR200P Max is a hefty investment, even though it’s about as close to a full system as you can get without buying a barebones build with a motherboard installed. But if you value ease of build in a compact chassis, it’s a winner.
The Design: Max Cooling, More Power
Though Cooler Master’s several NR200P cases feature a similar design, the Max doesn’t share the colorful facade of the MasterBox NR200P Color. Visually, it takes after the original NR200P: available in only one color scheme, mostly gray with a few black bits thrown in.
The case features heavy perforation on all sides save the front, to let air flow easily into the case. By default, the exterior panels are all made of steel with dust filters underneath, but the case comes with a tempered glass side panel that you can swap out for the left-side steel panel if you like.
The left and right panels are secured by plastic clips and pop off with little difficulty when pried. The same goes for the front panel, though on our test unit the latter required considerably more force to remove than either side panel. The top and bottom panels are removable as well; though there’s little reason to do so, you can take out a single screw and slide them off.
The front I/O panel is nothing special, with just two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and a 3.5mm headset jack. The lack of a USB-C port is disappointing for a case at this price, considering that newer motherboards have a special header for USB 3.2 Gen 2.
The Build Experience: Unusual, But Surprisingly Easy
When we reviewed the MasterBox NR200P Color, we observed that building a system in the case was notably different than with most standard chassis. Following from that, the NR200P Max manages to be different from the other NR200P models, and it’s here that the cases really start to diverge.
As mentioned earlier, the NR200P Max ships with a power supply and a 280mm water cooler already installed. This means that for a basic system, all you need to do is toss in a motherboard with CPU, RAM sticks, and a solid-state drive (and maybe a graphics card), and you’re good to go. As those components can be added to the motherboard before even putting the board into place, this makes the building process about as quick and easy as can be, without buying a fully prebuilt system.
It’s also worth noting that the Max’s cooler is removable. The cooler ships with brackets that support the last several generations of AMD and Intel sockets, all the way up to and including AMD AM4 and the new Intel LGA1700 for 12th Generation “Alder Lake” processors.
The NR200P Color had a metal mounting bracket along the left side of the case that could be used to hold a 3.5-inch hard drive, two 120mm fans, or a 240mm water cooler. That was a useful addition, especially as the NR200P Color didn’t support adding a water cooler to the top of the case, though the bracket got in the way of interior access.
The NR200P Max lacks this appendage, but since it has a preinstalled liquid cooler, it doesn’t suffer much from the loss. The 3.5-inch drive mount that was on the Color case’s bracket has been relocated to the bottom of the case, which means ultimately the biggest drawback to not having the bracket is that you have two fewer fan mounts. This lack of fan mounts is notable in the NR200P Max, as the only unoccupied fan mounting locations are the two located at the bottom of the case.
I wouldn’t consider this lack of fan brackets a serious issue, however. The CPU liquid cooler and radiator will already be doing their part to vent hot air, and all the ventilation holes in the case should let ample fresh air flow in. If you really need additional airflow, adding two 120mm fans to the bottom of the case should provide plenty. You’ll need to weigh your options for what to put at the bottom of the case, though, as one of the fan mount locations shares space with one of the 3.5-inch drive mounts. It’s an either/or installation.
You can mount a second 3.5-inch drive on the PSU cage, which itself is screwed into the motherboard mounting tray. Alternatively, you can put a 2.5-inch drive there and squeeze two additional 2.5-inch drives under the front panel.
Cooler Master opted to not add any horizontal add-on card slots to the NR200P Max. This is possibly the most noteworthy aspect of the case’s design, as it’s an uncommon choice. Instead, the case ships with a PCI Express riser card and has three vertical card slots.
Note that this design puts the graphics card into competition with your 3.5-inch hard drives and fans for space—any fans mounted at the bottom of the case must be less than 15mm thick to fit under the video card. You also won’t be able to put a 3.5-inch drive over the PSU if you add a graphics card, but a 2.5-inch drive should fit as long as the card isn’t a triple-slot model.
Getting a card into the case itself is exceedingly easy: You detach the add-on brackets from the case, screw in the card, then reattach the brackets. A bit of advice: Connect the riser card to the motherboard’s PCIe x16 slot first, then attach it to the video card after the latter is installed in the case. If you do it the other way around, the graphics card obstructs access to the card slot when installed and will make connecting the riser to the motherboard more difficult.
The Max Question: Weighing the Value
Before getting to our conclusions, it’s worth digging into the MasterBox NR200P Max’s $349.99 price. Some scrutiny of the included components will help determine if the case is worth its cost.
The standard NR200P has an MSRP of $129.99, with the NR200P Color available for $10 more. The interior layout of the NR200P Max differs from the other two models, but it’s not physically any smaller. The Max’s simplified building experience is derived from its preinstalled components and the removal of the side mounting bracket, but if you add it up, you pay a lot for the easier building experience.
The power supply that comes with the NR200P Max is Cooler Master’s V850 SFX, which is an 850-watt compact PSU with an 80+ Gold efficiency rating. We don’t have an exact MSRP for this unit, but it’s available online for between $139.99 (Newegg) and $149.99 (Micro Center), with Amazon and B&H Photo/Video both splitting the difference at $144.99. So that’s responsible for between one-third and one-half of the list price.
We couldn’t find an exact match for the CPU cooler built into the NR200P Max, so we opted to use Cooler Master’s MasterLiquid ML280 Mirror as a stand-in. Both coolers are the same size and use similar SickleFlow 140mm fans. The ML280 Mirror has a more premium look, with snazzy addressable RGB (aRGB) lighting, while the NR200P Max’s cooler has no lights, but it’s the closest we could find. The MasterLiquid ML280 Mirror has an MSRP of $134.99, but it’s available from multiple retailers for a much lower $79.99.
Taking these prices into consideration, if you assume the highest price for all components, you can argue that the NR200P Max is a fine deal at $349.99—if you bought the standard NR200P plus the PSU and cooler we selected for comparison, you’d end up paying more than $400. You’d also have to do more work assembling the system, and who wants that?
If you use the lowest PSU and cooler prices we found online, your total would be literally two pennies less than the Max’s list price. You’d get a snazzier-looking cooler, to be sure, and of course you might be able to save more by opting for different, more affordable components. But SFX power supplies of any flavor aren’t cheap, and you’re not likely to save much more on a quality AIO cooler.
A Quick-Build Pleasure if You Want to Water-Cool
Cooler Master’s MasterBox NR200P Max is unquestionably one of the easiest Mini-ITX cases in which we’ve ever built a system. This is in large part due to the inclusion of preinstalled parts and the lack of brackets and obstacles when inserting components. The most notable negative is the chassis’ high bundle price. Whether that will deter you from buying the NR200P Max will ultimately come down to the value you put on an easy out-of-the-box building experience.
If you aren’t used to building desktops, or if you’ve built so many that the thought of doing it again makes you itchy, then the NR200P Max is well worth considering. If you’re on a tight budget, however, or liquid cooling isn’t essential for your build, another compact case will let you opt for more affordable components to fill out the bill of lading.
