Introduction
Looking for a budget case that can house a good gaming setup? Today we would be looking at a chassis that fits that criteria. One of Xigmatek's new offerings is up for review, the Soundwave A ATX chassis. Read on and see how well this chassis fit hardware as we check it out today.
Xigmatek's Take on the Soundwave A
The Advanced comes with a new exterior design which is stylish and elegant while still supporting dual optical disc drives and front and back fan installation.
Like the Soundwave, the Soundwave Advanced supports VGA cards up to a massive 390mm and CPU coolers as tall as 165mm.
With more drive bays and fans than the average user needs and being able to support larger PSUs, Graphics Card and CPU coolers, the Soundwave Advanced is perfect for all kinds of users.
Features
- Stylish, sophisticated design with quality finish.
- Large rubber foot-stands for reduced vibration/noise and greater underside heat dissipation.
- Supports dual external 5.25” drives.
- Drive bays support 3*3.5” and 4*2.5” hard drives.
- Can house larger sized PSUs.
- CPU cooler clearance 165mm.
- Maximum graphics card length a massive 390mm
- 7* add-on card slots.
- Cable management options.
- Back of motherboard cutout for easy cooler installation.
- Manufactured with sturdy but light materials
- PSU placement at rear base for stability and thermal efficiency.
Let's take a look at the Soundwave A on the next page.
Specifications and Packaging
- Product Name: Soundwave - A
- Material: SECC with black coating, Plastic ABS, Steel mesh
- Dimension: 465 mm (L) x 200 mm (W) x 450 mm (H)
- Drive Bay: 5.25" External x 2 ,Internal x 1 / 3.5" Internal x 3 / 2.5" Internal x 4
- Expansion Slot: 7 slots, tool free PCI slot covers
- Motherboard Support: ATX, Micro-ATX, ITX
- Power Supply: Standard PS/2 ATX or EPS
- Cooling System:
- Front Fan : Optional 2 x 120mm.
- Rear Fan: Preinstalled 1 x 120mm XOF black/Black fan .
- Side fan : Optional2 x 120mm
- I/O Panel: USB3.0*2 and downward USB2.0 support by internal 19pin, HD Audio in/out jacks
- CPU Cooler: 165 mm height support
- Max GPU length: 390mm (Max GPU length 300/390mm with removal of 2.5" drive bay.
- Weight: 3.78kg
The Xigmatek Soundwave A comes in a carton packaging. Features and specifications are found written on the sides of the box.
Inside the chassis is a user's manual along with a bag of screws and cable ties.
Let's take a closer look on the next page.
Closer Look
If you read our review of the Silverstone PS11 cases, the Xigmatek Soundwave A has a similar side panel design but instead of a plain or windowed panel, this has two 120mm fan mounting holes on the side panel. The Xigmatek Soundwave A however is certainly smaller and lighter.
At the front, you can find two 5.25-inch bays, a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 port along with the power and reset buttons. At the rear, you can find 7 PCIe expansion slots and a single 120mm fan ventilation hole. Note that only the top PCIe expansion slot has a removable shield and the rest are not returnable once removed unless you use duct tape or glue.
The top of the Soundwave A is just a plain panel. At the bottom you can find a filter on the PSU bay ventilation hole then the four plastic feet of the chassis.
The front panel hides two 120mm fan mounts at the front for intake. The ventilation on the front panel are on the sides with an indirect airflow access for silence and less dust accumulation inside the chassis.
Here's a look at the interior of the Soundwave A. PSU bay is at the bottom. Bottom drive cage can house three 3.5-inch hard drives and the middle drive cage can house 4 2.5-inch drives. The drive cage is directly behind the front 120mm fan mounts so the drives get fresh airflow from these fans.
Here's a look at the rear of the Soundwave A. There's isn't really much space for cable management but thanks to the side panel design not being flat, it gives additional space for bulky power supply cables.
There's a single 120mm fan included with the Soundwave A then there's a huge motherboard cutout hole for easy access on CPU cooler mounting plates. You can also see a small hole on the upper-left where you can route the motherboard ATX power cables.
The power supply would be sitting on four small rubber feet on the base of the Soundwave A.
Let's move on to the installation on the next page.
Build and Installation
Installing the drives in the drive cages is easy. Mounting the 3.5-inch hard drive is tool less but as for the 2.5-inch drives, you need to screw the drive to secure it.
The front of the Soundwave A can accommodate two 120mm fans but there are only 4 screws included in the chassis so unless you can live with just a pair of screws on each fan, you would need to find 4 additional tall screws.
For the full build, I used the following hardware below:
- Processor: AMD FX-8370 8-core processor
- Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming
- Memory: Kingston HyperX T1 2400Mhz 8GB Kit
- Cooler: Cryorig H7 CPU Cooler
- Graphics Card: Gigabyte GTX 770 2GB OC
- Drives: Kingston 2.5-inch 120GB SSD, Western Digital 1TB 3.5-inch HDD
- Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 1200 with Primochill Single Braid Maxcord Cable Set
- Chassis: Xigmatek Soundwave A
- Cooling: 1 x stock fan (rear), 2 x Thermaltake Riing 120mm fans (front)
Installing the parts inside the Xigmatek Soundwave A was pretty much the typical experience. I didn't find any part or function of the chassis that would seem odd or difficult to use.
Cable management is challenging but with the right power supply and modular cables, it would be a breeze. You can see the huge motherboard cutout exposing the entire backplate of the Cryorig cooler so if ever you want the cooler removed or replaced, you can do so without removing the motherboard and much of the hardware inside. You can also notice how the motherboard ATX power cable is routed to the small routing hole on the upper-right of the chassis.
Fully built, you can have a glimpse of the hardware inside through the ventilation holes on side panel and at the rear of the chassis.
Let's wrap up this review on the next page.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
The Xigmatek Soundwave A is a good entry-level gaming chassis. It has good ventilation and fan mounting options. It may not have fan mounts on top of the case but it does have two on the side panel which is directly on the hardware. I think the indirect airflow intake on the front of the case was a smart idea for noise reduction and less dust accumulation inside the chassis.
Layout is okay. I cannot expect more from a budget case anyway. It's good that it has build-it drive cages for 2.5-inch drives for those that uses SSDs. I can't really find anything lacking with the Soundwave A. The Xigmatek Soundwave A chassis have a SRP of $31.99.
Likes
- Tool-less 3.5-inch drive bays
- Available 2.5-inch drive bays
- Indirect airflow intake at front
Dislikes
- Non-replaceable PCIe slot covers
