**A Flawed but Consistent Cooler Master Build**

As I sit here with my newly assembled PC from Cooler Master, I have to say that I'm both impressed and frustrated at the same time. The build itself is solid, with all the parts neatly fitted together and the RGB lighting system working seamlessly. However, it's the little things like the placement of the reset switch and the routing of the USB cables that are giving me pause.

The reset switch is one of those small details that can make a big difference in the user experience. Instead of being connected directly to the motherboard, it's routed through the RGB controller, which I find a bit random and not very intuitive. I would have expected the reset switch to be connected to the motherboard itself, where it could easily provide a reliable way to reset the computer. As it stands, it's a nice-to-have feature that can become a frustrating experience if you need to hard reset your PC.

Speaking of frustration, the out-of-box experience with this build is not exactly what I would call "cool". The loose screw in the direct-shipped tower is just one example of the issues that Cooler Master has to contend with. And then there's the bad RAM, which is a bit surprising given the reputation of Cooler Master for quality control.

However, despite these flaws, I have to give credit where credit is due - the build itself is consistent across all three systems I had available to work with. The experience of assembling each system was similar, and the final product was nearly identical. This level of consistency is a testament to the design and engineering process at Cooler Master.

**A Lesson in Quality Control**

I have to wonder what drives Cooler Master to make certain decisions when it comes to quality control. I mean, if they were playing the game long enough, wouldn't we expect to see some significant differences between their different products? It's almost as if they're trying to avoid making any mistakes, rather than embracing the opportunity to learn and improve.

Of course, this is not unique to Cooler Master. Many companies struggle with quality control issues, whether it's a design flaw or a simple mistake like the loose screw in this build. But what's interesting is how some companies are able to get it right, while others... well, let's just say that this build is a good example of why.

**A Good Deal at a Discounted Price**

So, is this build worth the money? Well, that depends on your perspective. If you're someone who's already comfortable with PC building and troubleshooting, then I would say that this build is a decent deal at the list price. The 13th gen CPU could have been a nice touch, but with the planning and lead time involved in PC system building, it's not surprising that they opted for the 12th gen chip instead.

However, if you're new to PC building or are looking for a hassle-free experience, then I would say that this build is worth considering. The $200 discount at the time of recording makes it an attractive option, especially when compared to buying the same parts individually.

**A Word from Our Sponsor**

But enough about the build - let's talk about SNOOZ, our sponsor for today's video. As someone who's always been fascinated by white noise machines, I was excited to learn more about SNOOZ and their products. It turns out that they're not just any ordinary white noise machine - they're designed to deliver the most natural soothing sound possible, without actually producing any airflow.

With a fan built in, SNOOZ produces a consistent and calming sound that's perfect for anyone who struggles with sleep or has trouble relaxing. The device itself is compact and easy to use, with plenty of customization options available through their app. And if you're not happy with your purchase, SNOOZ offers a 100-night happiness guarantee - no questions asked.

**The Final Verdict**

So there you have it - my thoughts on the Cooler Master build and SNOOZ white noise machine. It's been a wild ride, full of ups and downs, but ultimately I think that both products are worth considering. The Cooler Master build is solid, if not without its flaws, while SNOOZ offers a unique solution to a common problem.

If you liked this video, be sure to check out our recent episode where we unleashed our secret shop to test some of our sponsors. It's always fun to see how companies respond to criticism and feedback - and who knows, maybe Cooler Master will take some notes from their competitors.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enBrands reach out asking for reviews every day,but if they send the product to us directly,how do we know that they haven't sent usa special hand-picked unit?Well, believe it or not, with most product categories,this isn't a major concern.You see, it costs millions of dollarsto develop and validate a CPU, for example,which makes it pretty impractical to send out specialor different ones from the mass production units.However, we've always been a little wary of pre-built PCs.You see, so much of what sets one apart from the nextis the care and attention that goes into the build.So when Cooler Master offered ustheir Half 5 Pro gaming PC, it raised a lot of questions,like, since when is Cooler Master a system integratorand would they hand pick a unit to send us?To find out, we did accept their offer,but unbeknownst to them, we also purchased a second unitfor ourselves off of Amazon.Let's see then how these systems stack up,both the one they meant to send usand the one they didn't mean to send us.And let's see how this segue stacks up to our sponsor.Motion Gray, their sit-to-stand desks and ergonomic chairsprovide excellent comfort at an affordable price,so you can crunch numbers and not your spine.Check them out at the link down belowand use code Linus for 10% off your purchase.Before our machine arrived,we poured over the Amazon listing,comparing it to Cooler Master's communicationin an attempt to figure out exactly what to expect.And between the descriptionand some CSI style zooming and enhancing,we were able to put together a list of expected parts.We're gonna have them all linked down below.To our surprise and delight, actually,when we totaled up the prices on PC part picker,it was almost bang on Cooler Master's $1,099 list price,which at the time of recording has actually dropped to $899,making this a pretty good deal at the moment,as long as they didn't bung anything up.Both systems ultimately arrived in one piece,and we started with a quick non-invasive once over.We're gonna keep the unit from Cooler Masteron your left side throughout the video,and the one from Amazon is gonna hang out on the right.Now, we didn't wanna pull off any of the coolersor move any cables around,since that could affect our lab's team's results,but we were able to confirm at this stagethat most of the components were as expected,and that both systems were identical,save for the angle of the adjustable fan rate here,or so we thought.We weren't at all prepared for what we foundwhen we opened up the back panels.No, no, not the different colored zip ties.This, the unit sent to us by Cooler Masterhad a loose screw rolling around,a screw that should have been holdingthe motherboard in place.That is exactly the kind of thing you might expecton a retail unit, but that you would not expecton a cherry-picked review sample.So good job, Cooler Master,not trying to oversell your quality control, I guess.Anyway, that screw wasn't actually going to impactthe testing that we had planned,so we put it back where it belonged,boxed the units back up, and dragged them over to the lab.I should make it clear that up until this point,we didn't make any adjustments to componentsor even plug the systems in.We wanted to be sure that our lab's teamgot them in a fresh out-of-the-box state.Or not so fresh, the unit from Amazonactually wouldn't even post right out of the box.After some troubleshooting,the lab's team discovered that the problemwas one of the two RAM sticks.Neither of our systems would boot with that stick installed.Curiously, that stick did workin an entirely different motherboard,so it could be that it's borderline functional.I mean, maybe it worked when Cooler Master tried it,but overall, not a great experience.Though, I have to give credit to Amazonfor their handling of the situation.They offered to send a technician out to fix it,free of charge for us, and time permitting,we could have gone through that processand gotten a new stick that way.But we had spare RAM on hand anyway,so we said, hey, thanks, but no thanks,and moved on to testing our systems side-by-side.We can deal with the warranty service later.With both units booted,we could finally confirm the i5-12400F CPUand have a little poke around in the BIOS.Both of them came with the very first version of the BIOSfor this motherboard from way back in October of 2022.That's bad, but XMP was enabled out of the box,and we didn't have any stability issues.That's good.Resizable BAR was not enabled,which will hurt gaming performance, so that's bad,and labs reported that both systemswere a little temperamental about using DisplayPortuntil they enabled CSM, which is also bad.Particularly troubling in all of thisis that there is a BIOS update for this boardfrom March of 2023 that specifically fixes problemswith the RTX 3060 GPUsthat are pre-installed in these systems.So it's disappointing that they weren't updated,but given how manufacturing lead times and shipping work,it's likely that both of these systemswere boxed up before the March revision.We can't confirm this.We didn't find any packing dates on the boxes,but we did later find that the installed Nvidia driverswere dated February of 2023,which is as close to confirmation as we're gonna get.The labs updated both motherboardsin hopes that CSM could be turned back off,but found that things still worked better with CSM enabled,even on the latest BIOS for this board.We were all set to start installing and testing games thenwhen we hit our next snag, again on the Amazon system.Instead of the out-of-the-box new computer experiencethat we expected, we saw the Windows system preparation toolthat's supposed to be run by the technicianwhen they're about to pack up the new system for delivery.It seems like whoever was setting this machine upforgot to finish the job.Luckily, our labs techs aren't easily deterredand both systems were quickly up and runningand not only that, but they were refreshingly bloat-free.They didn't even preload any game launchers on these things.That is so unusual these days.Wow, sorry, I was just, I was logging into Steam hereand I couldn't help noticing.This is a spectacularly awful keyboard.Was this included with the system?Devastator 3, I'm the one who got devastated.How's the mouse?Oh, good, it's a Devastator 3 mouse.I mean, it feels less awful.Is that both of them?You know what, I'm sorry, I'm gonna take off our labeljust to check.No, it's not our label.That hurts the value argument a little bitjust because it's the right price accordingto PCPartPicker doesn't mean that it's worthwhatever we paid for it or that we would have chosen it.Okay, well, let's play Cyberpunk anyway.Once we finally got to benchmarking,we found pretty much exactly what we expectedfor the hardware in these systems.We tested Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman 3,and Total War Warhammer 3 at 1440pwith everything cranked up and our systems cranked out,virtually identical performance.I mean, I'm talking one frame per second difference at most,which is within the margin of error of our runs.We also took a quick look at CSGO,and this is to compare against Cooler Master'sclaimed performance of 293 FPS.And I don't really know what to sayother than we had no idea how they got that number.The good news is we ended up blowing it out of the waterwith an average FPS of 432,meaning that if you pick up one of these systems,all you need to do next is pull on a hoodiefrom the new PCMR collection on lttstore.comand you are ready to start annoyingall of your console playing friends.Now, the labs team doesn't quite havetheir thermal testing suite formalized for desktop systems,but I can say that we didn't run into any thermal throttlingat room temperature,actually a little above room temperature.It's summer and our AC's not in yet, don't worry about it.The point is we're not really surprisedgiven the amount of air being movedby the ample case fans in hereand Cooler Master it seems has lived up to their name.Now, the script calls for lightning round Linus inspection.So I guess this is the part where I get to seeif I can find any differences between our two systems.No big complaints about cable management,though personally I would bring the 24 pin in from up hereand then I would bring my USB in from right next to it.Minor thing, okay.There's a random zip tiein the one directly from Cooler Master.Hold on, I can get this.How's the front panel come off this case?Oh, you have to release the clips.Ha ha, what is going on with this twist tie?Nerd jewelry.No, she said no.I guess if I'm pulling panels off,I might as well do the same to the back.This is also a perfect opportunityto plug the upcoming Noctua edition LTT screwdriver.Sign up for a notification of stock on lttstore.com.Not bad.I do have to wonder,are they really saving that muchon the natural plastic color zip ties on the backsuch that anywhere that the zip tie is not visible,they use those instead of the black ones?This is hilarious.Look at this.All black zip ties on this side everywhere.All ugly yellowish zip ties on the back.This seems to be the same on both systems,but the reset switch goes into the RGB controller,which, oh, interesting.That is not that intuitive and kind of randomwhen they could have just plugged thisinto the motherboard for RGB control.Wait, no, no, they couldn't have.What the devil's going on here?Is this it?Yeah, this is it.What the?Why'd they do that?Cooler master?That's not intuitive.I would think the reset switch would reset the computer,not adjust my RGB lighting.And also, the lead for this is right here.All you had to do was plug it in.There, now it's controlled by the motherboard.With that said, we praised themfor their bloatware-free installationand installing RGB software is arguably bloat,depending who you ask.It is nice that they're all the same, though,and now it matches the RAM, you know, like it should.What happens if I press the reset switch now?Oh, it disables that.Oh, that's a good way for that controller to function.Cool.Yeah, all I can think is just like,it's dead simple that way.Yeah.But you lose the reset functionality, which is not good.I'd be pretty frustrated if I needed to hard resetmy computer and it didn't hard reset.Just kept changing.Yeah, just kept changing the RGB.Are you mocking me, sir?To Cooler Master's credit, though,the experience, however flawed,is consistent on the one that we ordered from Amazon.Seems like they, oh, oh, not quite consistent.They've routed the USB cables slightly differently.Overall, though, if I had a system integratorand my production team churned out systemsthat were this similar, I would praise the consistency,even if I wouldn't be happy about the fact that, you know,they don't turn on for the customer.It's consistent.Yeah, you can have the screen any color you want,as long as it's black.Henry Ford approved.The truth is, Cooler Master's been playing the gamelong enough that we didn't really expectto find any significant differences between the systems.It's extra work to cherry pick review units,and if you take the chance and try to hand buildsomething special for a reviewerthat's outside of your normal manufacturing process,you've got a greater chance of embarrassing yourselfif a customer posts somethingsignificantly different on Reddit.So it's good that Cooler Masterisn't engaging in this practice.However, the bad RAM and the flawed out-of-box experiencein the retail unit, not to mention that loose screwin the direct shipped tower,are indications that Cooler Masterhas some work to do on quality controlif they wanna be a serious player in the pre-built game.Given that their most memorable previous attempt at thishad a chicken warming chamber,I guess these hiccups aren't entirely unexpected,but I'd like to see them do better.As far as specs are concerned,it would have been nice to see a 13th gen CPU,but with the planning and lead timesthat are typically involved in PC system building,not to mention the attractive pricingof 12th gen chips right now,this is a decent deal at the list price.I mean, you'd pay the same to build itwith the exact same parts yourself,and at the time of recording,it's available at a $200 discount.If that becomes a regular occurrence,I'd say it gets a recommendation,even if I can only recommend it for folkswho have a bit of experience troubleshooting PCs.Bleh.You know what else I have experience with?Telling you about our sponsor.SNOOZDid you know that because your brainkeeps processing sounds when you're sleeping,any unnatural noise could be potentiallyaffecting your sleep quality without you even knowing?SNOOZ aims to solve that problemwith their line of white noise machines.With a fan built in,Snooze delivers the consistent natural soothing soundof moving air without actually producing any airflow,so your little toes don't freeze in the winter time.Adjust the volume and the toneof the white noise Snooze produces on the device itself,or head over to the Snooze appfor a bevy of customization options.Their Pro model has a bunch of upgrades over the original,including improved build quality,smart plug compatibility,and a handy tone control knob on the top of the device.With a 100 night happiness guarantee,why not give SNOOZ a try?So check out the SNOOZ Pro and their other modelsat the link down below.If you liked this video,check out the recent onewhere we unleashed our secret shopperto test some of our sponsors.I mean, somebody's gotta keep them honest, right?\n"