Glassy Chassis: FSP CMT510 ATX Case Review

With a design and features that one would expect to find in the $80-120 mainstream price class, the CMT510 is under threat of being pushed out of that price class by Amazon’s exceptionally-low $75 listing. That kind of ‘problem’ could make this a top pick for value seekers, but we’re still going to push this one through its paces just to make sure that it gives mid-market buyers everything they’d expect in terms of performance.

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Branded and distributed by actual power supply manufacturer FSP, the ODM-unknown CMT510 stands out from most similarly-priced cases by having four 120mm ARGB fans and glass panels on both sides. It’s a steel top panel away from having full glass surround for its motherboard, but it also leaves more work for builders to assure that its cables will look good.

We can even imagine some extremely creative builders using this model to highlight their cable management skills, as the right-side glass leaves your work completely at the viewer’s mercy. The right side even lacks the black edge mask that’s shown on the left side, two images above.

The top panel is made of the same steel sheet as the inner structure, finished in a perfectly consistent matt black paint. A 120/140mm single fan mount sits near the back of the case, while the front edge has two USB3 Gen1 ports, separate headphone and microphone jacks, HDD activity and Power On LEDs, an mode selector button for the built-in ARGB controller, a reset button, and a power button.

The bottom features two filter sheets that are secured via edge tabs which makes them a bit difficult to remove. These are the only dust filters for the entire system and while one covers the power supply air inlet, the other covers an undocumented 120mm bottom-panel fan mount.

The motherboard tray is split, with the forward portion inset to ease cable passage through the slot between these pieces. That inset limits motherboard length to 10.8” at most, but that’s still big enough to fit the SSI-CEB (10.5”-deep) sized high-end consumer motherboards that are frequently called “EATX”. The actual maximum for EATX is 13” of depth.

A closer look shows us two 2.5” drive trays attached to the rear and a gaping 160mm hole at the front of the power supply tunnel for radiator clearance. That giant hold gives us an inside view of the bottom panel fan mount, the presence of which might help to explain why the radiator gap is so large.

The forward interior panel that prevents motherboards deeper than 10.8” from being installed has the same impact on power supply depth, though FSP rates it at 267mm (a bit more than 10.5”). That forward portion holds two 3.5”/2.5” dual-pattern drive trays, and we also find two empty mounting points behind the motherboard that are compatible with the 2.5” trays that we saw on top of the power supply tunnel.

The included ARGB controller is programmed with 18 various colors and patterns, and also accepts input from a motherboard’s ARGB header. The VDG pigtail (on the left) is a 3-pin extension of the standard ARGB end (on the right) that is, according to the pin diagram of this post, compatible with the Corsair RGB header of our MSI motherboard. Four of the six proprietary fan connectors are filled.

Two sets of 120mm mounts, one with plain and the other with threaded holes, grace the CMT510’s front panel. Its fans stand apart from most by having bumps on the back of the blades in addition to the oddball 5-pin ARGB/fan power combo connector.

FSP CMT510
Type	Mid-Tower
Motherboard Support	ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX
Max Motherboard Depth	274mm (10.8″)
Dimensions (HxWxD)	47.2 x 22.3 x 46.2 cm (18.6 x 8.8 x 18.2″)
Air Cooler Clearance	165mm
Card Length	400 mm (15.8″)
Power Supply Format	PS/2: 267mm clearance
Weight	8.9 kg (19.6 lb)
External Bays	X
Internal Bays	(2) 3.5/2.5″, (2) 2.5″
Card Slots	7
Ports/Jacks	(2) USB 3.0, Headphone+Mic
Other	LED Controller
Included Fans	(3) 120mm Front (ARGB), (1) 120mm Rear (ARGB)
Front Fan Mounts	(3) 120mm
Rear Fan Mounts	(1) 120mm
Top Fan Mounts	(1) 140mm/120mm
Bottom Fan Mounts	(1) 120mm
Side Fan Mounts	X
Top Rad. Clearance	30mm
Front Rad. Clearance	162mm
Front Filter	None
Top Filter	None
Bottom Filter	Tab-secured perforated sheet
Damping	None
Price	$75