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Coolermaster WaveMaster Case? Thoughts?

M

MapleSyrupMods

Bring on Titan X Volta
Joined
Oct 3, 2002
Messages
1,224
So Im thinking of purchasing this case. Does anyone know if Its a good case or not and/or does anybody have it? Right now I have the turbo gamer case(old alienware style case). Would this be a worthwile to upgrade?
Thanks In advance
 
It's a very nice case. I believe it's 2 primary downfails are

1) Heavy
2) Poor and restricted airflow through the front
 
are you sure about that? I just read some reviews and its light, the whole things is aluminum, also, coolermaster is one of the best cases for airflow and cooling. I know you will say why did you ask then, but its cause I want reviews from people who have it.
 
another vote for wavemaster......i was gonna get the blue one, but man i went to a store and saw the yellow with purple tint window :eek: so nice

but now i think imma get the Praetorian 730 looks better IMO, and i think its the upgraded version of the wavemaster im not sure tho


soulsaver_8229
 
I would own one if it had rails and the HDD bays were turned 90 degrees. They are very solid, very purdy cases otherwise.
 
Is it light? Maybe it is aluminum and not steel, that could have been an error. I have read, and one of the primary reasons I did not purchase one, was because it's very restrictive for air coming in. It needs to be all sucked in from a tiny slit in the bottom.
 
It's a really nice case. Its cooling, however, isn't outstanding such that air intake is really lacking...
 
I've owned a WaveMaster and it is a VERY nice, stylish case. What others have said about restricted air-flow through the front is true however. I would suggest another case if you have the need to air-cool a lot of high powered items (hot graphics card, overclocked cpu, mulitple drives, etc). It also only has 1 80mm rear-fan (if you don't count the one on the PSU).
 
ATI9700Pro said:
ok, what about compatibility wise if I plan on getting watercooling?
Click to expand...

Depends on what you get. The interior of the case is large enough for 'pre-built' water cooling solutions, but the way the lower front bays are designed do not allow you to do anything too drastic (unless you plan to cut some aluminum out of the way). If you want to go water cooling, you may need to stick with an 80mm rad, or be prepared to cut some metal out of the top and use one of your 5 /14 bays.
 
I would buy a blue wavemaster but I cant seem to find one with a window and I dont feel like screwing up trying to make my own :p

Anyone know where you could get a blue panel w/window for a wavemaster?
 
I have the black wavemaster, the panels get scratched easily
but I put it at an angle so you can't see the back panel

the case is VERY light if you take off the front part
Note(it is a pain in the ass to put the front part back in :\)

otherwise nice clean case
 
i LOVE the wavemaster....esp. the black ones, sleek, simple, clean and stylish CM case, GET IT :p
 
I had one, the airflow sucks it just really really sucks, there's no air coming from the front of the case, and the fan in the back is really small. Right now the case is sitting in my basement after I picked up an Antec P180. Since then, my temps have dropped 6 degrees on the CPU and 3 degrees on the video card. It's an amazing looking case, but not very practical.
 
neubspeed said:
I had one, the airflow sucks it just really really sucks, there's no air coming from the front of the case, and the fan in the back is really small. Right now the case is sitting in my basement after I picked up an Antec P180. Since then, my temps have dropped 6 degrees on the CPU and 3 degrees on the video card. It's an amazing looking case, but not very practical.
Click to expand...
wat color is ur wavemaster and are u willing to sell it?
 
airflow completely sucks, my passive x800xl bakes in there. And it is aluminum but the front part is a very solid, heft, material, and the case is quite heavy for an aluminum case. So n64 was pretty correct on both accounts, but they do look great, especially if you get the factory side window panel. I went with silver/blue, but I wonder if the black would of been better because the brushed-ness of the aluminum isn't quite as pronounced as it was on the old lian-lis
 
oh, pretty noisy too...I'm debating on just disconnecting the front 80mm fans anyway, the airflow is just that bad
 
I have a praetorian which is similar to the wavemaster I believe (minus the drive door) I think it's a decent case but after a year of owning it I wish I had a little more. What I'm getting at is that I wish the fans were larger (120mm instead of 80) wish the fans were easier to access and clean. I had to remove the front filter and it was a huge pain trying to get the fan grill back on. It's not perfect but it's a good case, best case I've owned in fact. I just wish it was made a little better. All in all good case for the price. If I had the want and need I'd probably go for a lian li now though.
 
It is pleasing to the eye and reasonably easy to set up. Cooling is good enough.

I like mine :)
 
I bought my Wavemaster because it was built solid, looks great, and wasn't absurdly priced. It wasn't until later that I found out you can only put in so many items before temperatures inside get warmer than desired. At the time I didn't like anyone elses offerings so I decided I'd make do and get the most out of this beauty.

If you'd rather buy a case that you didn't have to mess with to get the most out of it, then the Wavemaster probably isn't what you want.

I was able to pull off a decent air cooling job, but not with its stock fans nor the removeable usb port thing at the top. I think CoolerMaster rates those fans at like 25cfm. Granted they are not 120mm ports (all 80mm) but just a few mild mods can make this case worth it.

Someone mentioned removing the aluminum block from the front helps the case air intake. I'm inclined to believe that it does as well.



I also removed the usb/sound connector thing at the top and mounted a 4th fan using the mesh+foam filter bracket that is included with the case. However, I had to modify it to get it to work with the 38mm depth of the vantec tornado vs the 25mm thickness of the stock coolermaster fans. Later on I removed the foam and cut out a square of the mesh to improve airflow. I also put on a fan grille to keep kitty paws out. (don't ask.)



Inside, there are a lot of small places to run wires and cabling. Personally I try not to hide every single cable because more often than not I'm pulling them out or moving them around or whatever. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the sata and floppy cables, as well as the power cabling to the motherboard do little to block airflow to the video cards and the heatsink area. Also, there is plenty of room to stuff unused cables behind the motherboard tray, and behind the drive trays. It took a lot of coaxing to get the cables exiting the power supply to not block the top fan.



The only forseeable problem I know of is that since the case was designed with 80x25mm fans in mind, replacing the two intakes with anything larger has a possibility to block any drive installed in the lower bays. I did not double check this, but from this photo you can see how my raptor goes in beyond the fans a bit.



All in all, a fun case with a bit of work. Yes it is not perfect, but if you want the Wavemaster's fun looks and don't mind tinkering inside, it'll treat you well. It's treated me well. Even with my tornado's at 30% spin, I still manage 32-36C temperatures throughout the case. (using my fan controller's included thermal sensor cables) I have an SI-120 and a Panaflo M1A in the mail that will be here later this week, hopefully my results will just get better :D
 
I have had the wavemaster for a few years now and I can honestly say its a nice case. The case is nothing amazing looks wise but at the same time all alluminum looks pretty cool and the front is cool IMO. Like people said its not the best case for airflow but at the same time its all aluminum so doesnt hold heat like a steel case would.
Like a lot of people said it hardly gets dusty inside at all i clean my once every few months or so and even then there is hardly any dust really so that is one nice thing about the lack airflow.
Overall i really like this monitor and its extremely well made you can see all the edges and parts fit nice and tight but the only thing i dont like about it is the harddrive bays etc are not quick release but its not a major problem really, it's not as flashy as some of the cases out there these days but very well made and doesnt look cheap........ well at least not the black or silver hehe as for the blue and yellow depends if you like that look :p.
 
I've had my Wavemaster over a year now and still love it.
I create some heat with a pair of RAID-0 Raptors, a pair of RAID-1 250MB 7200's, an Opteron 180 (upgraded a week ago!) and two SLI'ed 6800 Ultras (next item to be upgraded).

(These are pics from when I threw it together in August 2005)

I felt this 2.2 pounds of copper might stress the motherboard socket

Image041.jpg


So, I made some supports for it...

Image010.jpg



I found the following mods cured my thermal/airflow problems:

1. Drill the front holes (doesn't show when case is assembled)

Image026b.jpg


Image028.jpg


Image027.jpg



2. I made this bracket so I could trash the flimsy and restrictive top fan mount hardware

Image003.jpg


3. The top fan, and since the graphics cards were still choking I put some fans in the side...

Image009.jpg


For grins, I moved the external connectors to an empty drive bay (plate). I seem to have lost the finished pic, guess I need to take a new one...

Image029.jpg


I originally had two 120gb drives mirrored as my D: drive, but was able to sell those off in some systems I built for others, so have two 250GB drives mirrored as my D:. When I installed those I tackled what I considered the last problem with the case: a half-inch gap between the front fans and the front plate of the case. The gap allowed the fans to pull some warm air from inside the case. I chopped up a couple plastic 80mm fan holders (from a junk PC case) and made 'sleeves' to close the gap and force the front intake fans (that blow across the hard drives) to draw 100% cool air from outside the case. Guess thats another pic I ought to take...

Anyway, I'm quite happy with the Wavemaster. It looks good, and is built like a tank. I use it as a jackstand when I do brakes on the car, and will use it soon as my stepping-stool when I put up the outdoor Xmas lights ;)

PS - The aluminum-housing 80mm ball-bearing fans look good in there too! (can see part of the one on the back of the case, below the 600W Noisetaker SLI, to the left of the heatsink)
 
Like it was said previously... Airflow sucks, but it LOOKS great. I had one, and not only were things hot in there, but to have any sort of decent cooling, you used noisy fans, and the entire case resonated. It would literally keep my up at night even though the computer was in another room.

I ditched it for the FK-330, which I liked a LOT (very quiet, great airflow, VERY heavy), and I have a Centurion 5 coming in a week that I'm going to toy around with.
 
Spiff, you probably should have made a new thread about your mod instead of bumping a month old one.

Nice idea though.
 
nobi125 said:
Spiff, you probably should have made a new thread about your mod instead of bumping a year old one.

Nice idea though.
Click to expand...

Fixed. It was a year-old resurrection already.
 
Well, at least we can't say "USE THE DAMN SEARCH FUNCTION". Search used and it worked.
 
BUMP for a helpful thread. I have this case but now I want to sell it for reasons already stated.
 
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