COUGAR Intros Rugged New MX300 Mid-Tower Chassis

COUGAR has introduced its newest mid-tower gaming chassis, the MX300. Designed with optimized cooling, cable management, and convenience for the end-user in mind, the MX300 represents COUGAR’s efforts to “bring in a new spirit of gaming case,” as the company itself puts it.

Your first look at the MX300 should get COUGAR’s goal off to a great start. The new chassis has a very distinctive aesthetic governing its front panel, which is sure to grab your attention. The front panel is meshed and is decorated with a distinctive hexagonal honeycomb “grill.” The top part of the front panel is where the I/O cluster – which features 1 x USB 3.0 port, 1 x USB 2.0 port, and the usual mic and headphone connectors – and 2 x 5.25″ optical drive bays reside. The rest of the front is an air intake, where two 120mm fans reside.

Speaking of fans, the MX300 can fit a maximum of seven 120mm fans. Beyond the aforementioned two in the front intake position, you can also install up to two fans on the roof panel, one in the rear exhaust position, and up to two more in the side panel. Alas, it is unclear from all available material how many fans come with the MX300 out of the box. Also unclear is any information regarding possible radiator mounting options – I am making zero assumptions regarding fan spacing on the chassis, which will affect its radiator mounting capabilities. The MX300, however, does come with dust filters up front, on the roof panel, and on the chassis floor. The front and roof filters are mounted at the fan positions, of course.

COUGAR has designed the MX300 to be as good for cable management as possible. Strategically located openings in the all-black interior panels go a good way towards aiding a PC builder’s efforts to manage the system’s cables.

End-user convenience is also a top design priority in the MX300. This is manifested best in the tool-less drive retention mechanisms. All drives – which include 2 x 5.25″ optical drives, 3 x 2.5″ SSDs/HDDs, and 4 x 3.5″ HDDs – are secured in place without the use of screws.

The MX300, as befits its classification as a gaming chassis, can accommodate graphics cards up to 310mm long. Furthermore, with its seven PCI expansion slots, multi-GPU setups should feel at home in the MX300.

Oh, and since this is a gaming chassis after all, the MX300 does feature a window on its left side panel.

COUGAR has not disclosed either an availability date or pricing information at this time.