Cooler Master recently announced a partnership with ASUS to produce a new line of TUF Gaming branded products that work together with ASUS TUF Gaming initiative. TUF Gaming is a series of products from ASUS that focus on gaming products that are durable and reliable. TUF Gaming Alliance ASUS, in turn, is a joint effort between Cooler Master, ASUS, and others to create a suite of products for 'cohesive aesthetic gaming PCs'.
The role of Cooler Master in this collaboration is to provide optional chassis, cooling, and power supply with three key design concepts: functionality, reliability, and visual consistency. In essence, we see some partners recruiting products under the general aesthetic umbrella for PC makers to more easily find and build themed PCs with quality products.
The extent to which Cooler Master products will get new excavations, users will see the Masterbox MG500 mid-tower case, masterAir MA620P and MA410M heatsink, and MasterWatt power supply range in 450W, 550W, 650W, and 750W capacities. This particular component, Cooler Master says, 'was chosen specifically for their ability to run your game smoothly and reliably'.
The MB500 Masterbox combines a camouflage camouflage camouflage / military style with gray camouflage at the top, front, and on the edge-to-edge tempered glass panel. Another difference is on the inside where the PSU sheath is cut to display the PSU underneath (no doubt TUF MasterWatt is what they think). Otherwise, the casing itself equals the ATX-sized motherboard, permits 160mm for CPU heatsink, 400mm for video card, and a maximum PSU length of 180mm. The MB500 casing can hold up to 3 120mm fans (2x 140mm), or up to 360mm radiators on the front panel, a 120mm radiator or fan on the back, and two 120mm fans at the top.
The MasterWatt series power supply available for this effort comes in four watt options - 450W, 550W, 650W, and 750W all receive the same TUF Gaming treatment as digital camouflage. We can see the same design on all sides except where the specification table is printed. The MasterWatt series is rated 80 Plus Bronze and offers fanless semi-user operation, modular cabling (beyond the ATX / EPS cable) is said to be thicker than standard 16AWG market cables, and a 5-year warranty.
To keep the CPU cool, Cooler Master has selected two air-cooling options in masterAir MA620P double tower heatsink and masterAir MA410M heatsink heatsink. Like other products in the TUF Alliance, this gets TUF Gaming treatment also with camouflage at the top of the TUF Gaming Alliance tower (s) sticker on the fan hub as well as the 'yellow' TUF color on the fan mount. Both coolers include the MasterFan MF120R RGB fan (one with one MA410M tower) that can be controlled through the motherboard software or use the included RGB LED cable controller. Both coolers use Direct Mastery Master Direct Contact Technology (CDC 2.0) which is said to increase the contact surface area of heat pipe by 45% thereby increasing heat transfer. Each cooler is said to be a tool-free installation and the universal retention bracket supports LGA 115x, 1366, and 775 Intel sockets, while AMD is compatible with AM4, AM3 +, AM3, AM2, FM2 +, FM2 and FM1.
Overall, the TUF Gaming Alliance seems to be a neat way to simplify the making of themed and to make sure users are using the quality section to be exactly the same. The Alliance takes on the job of choosing a functional, reliable, and visually consistent part as intended, but at what cost? Prices are not yet listed but we expect a little premium price for additional convenience provided by the program. Along with Cooler Master, it seems ASUS has teamed up with TeampGroup, as well as G. Skill and Micron for the complete TUF ecosystem. MasterAir MA410M and MA620P are now available for pre-sales in North America while MasterBox MB500 and MastwerWatt TUF Gaming Edition Power supplies are expected to be available in North America by the end of June 2018. The availability of Cooler Master TUF Gaming components may vary by region and component.