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Application:

Computer Case

Provided by:

Cooler Master

Available at:

PCToyland / Cooler Master

MSRP:

$180 est.

Availability:

Spec. Order (Limited Edition)

Review by:

Matt

Edited by:

Scott

Review date:

December 22nd, 2004
   
 

Features

    

     The fans are middle quality and beat out a lot of the cheap fans around. Even though they are sleeve bearings they are very quiet and still have enough CFM for case cooling duties. If you need more airflow they are easily removed. We liked that all the fan had very little if any airflow restrictions, and no cheesy looking notches punched into the case, just good old holes like you would make to a case in your garage.

     Removing the side panel reveals more simplicity. Nothing fancy here. This gives you the ability to make the case look really nice with your choice of mods without removing all the stuff that you don't want. It's free reign on modding for the Wavemaster LE.

     One thing that we did gripe about is that the pillars that support the power supply carriage are a little large. They get in the way of the kind of room you would need to conceal things such as CC converters and extra PSU looms.

     Motherboard trays are a rare sight these days, and for good reason. When they were more abundant on cases they had a tendency to have high electrical resistance which would cause all kinds of headaches since parts of the ground circuit goes through the chassis. Fortunately the Wavemaster LE is a very tight fit with no tolerances that will cause a grounding problem. The motherboard tray also gives you a lot of room to work around which is a plus when removing heat sinks or changing out hard drives.

     The top access panel for USB, firewire, and audio. All you have to do is push down until you hear a click and it pops open. You do the same to close it.

     A simple click and you have access to your USB, audio, and firewire ports on the top and not the bottom front of the case. For all you overclockers out there Cooler Master has been so kind as to give you the option of removing the access port and running.....

...a blowhole! Sure its not 120mm, but the case is not really that big and the installation of a low RPM fan really had a significant temperature advantage.


(click to enlarge)

What's left over from the access panel.


(click to enlarge)

Here is the holder/filter for the top blow hole.
 


(click to enlarge)

The fan we installed was a Vantec Stealth LED.

   

     Here you can see the top blow hole fan installed from the inside of the case. Notice the lack of overspray on the overall finish of the LE, it's almost like blue aluminum exists. Fine threaded screws are very evident all over this case, not the self threading ones.

Performance and Installation


(click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)

     The installation of our A64 components went very smooth into the Wavemaster. The only hangups that were apparent was the lack of space, but that's mainly because we took them out of a full tower case. We would like to see Cooler Master come out with a bigger Wavemaster, and perhaps that may be in the works. Other than that, we were very impressed with the overall quality of the case. All of our main board holes lined up with no forcing, and the screws didn't strip. As far as room is concerned we were able to hide the rest of our power supply looms, cold cathode converters, and other stuff behind the hidden 3 1/2 in bays. The cooling of the Wavemaster was very impressive for a case of this size, and we contribute that to the overall simplicity of the case more than anything else. We dropped about a 10C average on our components versus another mid-tower case of the same size. The other case even had a side case fan! Overall the Wavemaster is relatively flawless, and is absolutely beautiful with its metallic blue paint. If you want one, Cooler Master will make them readily available, so since we obviously will recommend this case, you better hop on it and grab it while you can!

Club Overclocker Rating

Innovation:

10 out of 10

Performance:

10 out of 10

Quality:

10 out of 10

Stability:

N/A

Overclocking:

N/A

Software Pack:

N/A

Value:

9.0 out of 10

Overall Rating 9.5

   

Skill Level

Project Skill Level
(10 being hardest)

4 out of 10