Cougar MX600 RGB Full Tower Case Review

TweakTown's Rating: 92%

The Bottom Line

Cougar's MX600 RGB checks all the right boxes with a very attractive price tag. You cannot go wrong with the MX600 RGB for anyone shopping for a new case.

Pros

• + Superb airflow
• + Four included fans
• + Cable management is spot-on
• + Excellent water cooling support
• + Simple GPU bracket

Cons

• - No PSU bracket
• - Vertical GPU bracket pattern doesn't match

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

Today, we have a full-tower case from our friends at Cougar, the MX600 RGB. The MX600 RGB is an airflow-focused full-tower ATX case that feels like a mid-tower. With two color options, white or black, the MX600 RGB has great cooling potential and an attractive price tag of $120. Why don't we dive right in and see what the MX600 RGB from Cougar is all about?

Packaging

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While not flattering, the review sample that we received was taped up to the nines.

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Removing the MX600 RGB from the outside cardboard shows a beat-up hard cell foam packaging material and clear plastic. Thankfully, nothing was damaged.

Outside the Cougar MX600 RGB

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With all the shipping packaging removed, the MX600 RGB looks minimalistic but with a focus on airflow.

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Cougar says the front grille is squared off and provides 11% more airflow than circular patterns. A removable dust filter quickly slides in from the top lip.

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Looking at the side profile of the MX600 RGB is a 4mm thick tempered glass side panel, which is toolless. Just below the tempered glass is a removable section of the PSU basement area with the same square ventilation pattern found on the rest of the MX600 RGB, which also sports dust filtering.

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The rear of the MX600 RGB shows the same square ventilation pattern, making the whole design seem more cohesive, even down to the PCIe slot covers. The rear fan mount supports a single 120mm, which is included, or a larger 140mm fan. The only problem is that the PSU needs a quick installation bracket.

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The back panel is plain, with more square ventilation in the side PSU basement area.

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The underbelly of the MX600 RGB has four large feet with good-sized rubber dampeners that grip well. The PSU section has a quick removable dust filter that slides out from the rear.

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The top of the MX600 RGB has a full-length magnetic dust filter, covering up support for up to a 280/360mm radiator or three 120/140mm fans.

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The front I/O section of the MX600 RGB has a large square power button, a smaller square LED RGB button, a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a 4-pole combo 3.5mm mic/headset jack, and another USB 3.0 Type-A port. Lastly, a lonely USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port rounds out the I/O.

Inside the Cougar MX600 RGB

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Going inside the MX600 RGB is the traditional eight-slot ATX layout. A simple yet effective GPU support bracket is integrated into the back wall. Up to 280/360mm radiator or fans are supported in the front and the roof. Additional fan/radiator support is located above the PSU for two additional 120mm fans or a single 240mm radiator.

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Cougar has included four aRGB fans with the MX600, three 140mm JGR140 fans (500-1200 ± 10% RPM) set as front intake, and a single 120mm JGR120 (500-1400 ± 10% RPM) fan installed as a rear exhaust.

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The front 140mm fans are mounted into an easily removable fan mount that can be completely reversed, giving the end-user the ability to have additional clearance.

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Moving to the backside, removing the rear side panel shows support for two 2.5" SSD/HDD mounts on the back of the motherboard tray. Additional drive support is located in the PSU basement for an additional 3.5" HDD or two more 2.5" SSD/HDDs via the cage, which can be removed longer than normal PSUs.

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Removing the cable management cover, which swings out and is removable, hides almost all the cables from view. Cougar has included a fan and aRGB controller that can control up to 8 fans. A cable raceway also keeps all the cabling at bay, aided by three velcro cable ties.

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The 3.5" HDD mount in the basement is a tackle box full of odds and ends needed for a clean build. A 2.5" SSD/HDD is also supported on the top of the 3.5" drive cage for the four drives being supported.

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In the tacklebox are sticky back cable ties, screws, riser standoffs, and a few zip ties.

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Inside yet another box was this vertical GPU bracket that can accept up to a three-slot GPU. The only odd thing about this GPU bracket is the hexagonal pattern, which could be more cohesive with the rest of the MX600 RGB. Also included is the user guide/manual.

Test System, Installation, and Finished Product

• Motherboard: B650 AORUS Elite AX (AMD B650) - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 770X - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 - Buy from Amazon
• Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32GB DDR5 5600 RGB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3090 Founders Edition - Buy from Amazon
• Storage: Corsair MP600 PRO XT Gen4 PCIe x4 NVMe M.2 SSD - Buy from Amazon
• Case: Cougar MX600 RGB - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: MEG Ai1300P PCIE 5 & ATX 3.0 Gaming Power Supply - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit Build 22621 - Buy from Amazon
• Software: AIDA64 Engineer 7.00.6700, CPU-z 2.08.0 x64. GPU-Z 2.56.0, and HWiNFO64 v7.66-5271

Final Thoughts

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Testing the MX600 RGB, I installed some test hardware consisting of a Ryzen 7 7700X, an 8-core, 16-thread AM5 CPU on a B650 AORUS Elite AX motherboard. Cooling the Ryzen 7 7700X was Arctic's Freezer II 360mm AIO; while it may be toasty for some, the 7700X got up to 61C. However, the average idle temperature was just about 36C. The test GPU was NVIDIA's RTX 3090 FE, which ran cool at 32C idle, only loading up to an average of 65C while drawing 376 watts.

All testing was completed using Aida64 Engineer's System Stability Test version v7.00.6700 for over 14 hours; the ambient temperature was 19C. Other monitoring software used was HWiNFO64 v7.66-5271, TechPowerUp GPU-Z v2.56.0, and CPU-Z 2.0.0.x64.

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In conclusion, the MX600 RGB from Cougar is a remarkably good chassis for just about any build, whether cooled via air or liquid. Support for dual 360mm radiators is also the trend; the MX600 RGB ups the ante and supports an additional 240mm on top of the basement. Including four aRGB fans, three of which are 140mm, makes for a compelling value argument for the MX600 RGB being priced at a competitive $119.99.