Supporting as much as three 360mm-format radiators and as much as 10 120mm followers, the Xigmatek Aqua Extremely Combo case ($189.99) packs an terrible lot of cooling potential right into a squat-shaped desktop chassis. Our take a look at unit got here with swappable mesh and tempered-glass high panels (therefore the Combo title), letting you select to prioritize cooling or inside visibility in a showcase chassis that ably executes a design template paying homage to the Lian Li O11 household. The Aqua Extremely Combo is a aggressive decide within the not-quite-$200 showoff-build section.
The Design: Brief, Stout, and Shiny
Accented by the reflective coating of its entrance panel, the Aqua Extremely is a glass-on-three-sides case designed to flaunt your desktop’s inside parts with minimal obstruction. That is most likely why the unique model got here with solely seven of the ten followers seen right here: The highest fan bracket does not serve a lot goal with the glass in place above it.
A spoiler view of {a partially} disassembled Aqua Extremely exhibits top-panel air flow consisting of two vent slots on one aspect of the highest fan bracket and an open part on the rear. A bigger, much less restrictive airflow path is offered between the final 120mm fan and the tip of its mounting bracket, and that led to the highest panel recirculating its personal scorching air. Eradicating the fan bracket provides onlookers a greater view inside, anyway, so why did not Xigmatek depart it out?
The reply: Fairly than “repair” the case by eradicating the highest fan bracket, Xigmatek determined to make these fan mounts helpful by together with a vented metal panel in a revised package deal. The envelope seen upon it ought to comprise screws for the captured-screw holes, however these explicit thumbscrews merely fall out.
Additionally proven beneath is an set up equipment that features an extension panel for SSI-EEB sized (13-inch-deep) EATX motherboards, three of its smaller holes serving standoffs in the most typical configuration and a fourth gap matching a much less frequent different fitment. As the standard EATX fanatic motherboard is definitely lower than 11 inches deep, even probably the most highly effective prosumer-class PCs will hardly ever want this half.
Xigmatek’s resolution so as to add an elective vented high panel is prone to make the higher fan mount helpful in a method the unique glass panel could not. Conversely, those that’d relatively have a greater have a look at their parts from above can nix each the vented high panel and the higher fan mount just by eradicating 5 screws.
Prime-panel ports embody a USB Sort-C on a Gen 2×2 cable, two USB Sort-A on a Gen 1 cable, separate headphone and microphone jacks, and two USB 2.0 ports. Xigmatek bolsters its energy and reset buttons with an LED mode shift button and hides its front-panel hard-drive exercise LED behind a viewhole.
The proper-side panel is roofed in the identical sample of spherical vent holes as the extra high panel, providing you with a peek on the factory-installed aspect followers. Xigmatek additionally shoves an influence provide mount behind the motherboard tray and limits the house reverse that tray to only sufficient for a 120mm rear fan.
The rear panel options an exterior card holder tab, which is not very useful, as a part of a rotatable port panel that may maintain so-called “vertical” graphics playing cards with out the necessity for a separate mounting equipment. You may nonetheless want to purchase your individual riser cable, nonetheless, risers rated for PCIe 4.0 are typically very expensive.
The Aqua Extremely’s backside panel options two vented sections, one in entrance and one behind the motherboard tray. The previous has mounting holes and screw slots for 3 120mm or 140mm followers.
The chassis has no brace in its entrance left nook, and the entrance glass itself can also be frameless to additional improve the within view. Supporting as much as two 140mm or three 120mm followers, the aspect fan mount is offset round 55mm behind the 11-inch-deep motherboard tray and leaves round 40mm on the other aspect to permit thick radiators (as much as 400mm in size) to be positioned on both aspect.
A more in-depth have a look at the underside panel from inside exhibits two holes in entrance for mounting the primary of three 140mm followers (if wanted), in addition to a 25mm-thick aspect fan resting about 30mm behind the sting of the motherboard tray.
Eradicating the vented proper panel reveals what Xigmatek has completed with the house behind the motherboard tray: The 11 inches of tray house on one aspect turns into an 11-inch-deep energy provide bay on the opposite.
Two drive cages beneath the facility provide bay are designed to carry two 3.5- and two 2.5-inch drives—not in complete, per cage. Whoever would possibly nonetheless personal eight non-M.2 storage drives and need to disguise them someplace would possibly need to try the Aqua Extremely for that motive.
Constructing With the Xigmatek Aqua Extremely Combo
Whereas a construct equipment that features 25 M3 and 20 #6-32 screws, 4 standoffs, and 5 cable ties is filled with the EATX extension panel (see photographs above), the Aqua Extremely Combo additionally comes with Xigmatek’s eight-proprietary-device controller(s). The agency added a second controller after switching from seven to 10 followers as a result of every fan makes use of a proprietary 6-pin, 5-conductor cable. Xigmatek did not double the variety of LED mode buttons on the surface of the case, leaving mode management solely to the included distant controllers. Every controller additionally contains an ARGB enter cable handy off management to a special machine, corresponding to a motherboard ARGB header, and provides two customary ARGB outputs for non-proprietary gadgets.
In contrast to competing options that use the extra fashionable SATA-style energy enter, Xigmatek’s ARGB controller makes use of a 4-pin Molex-style connector frequent to classic ATA drives. Along with the remotes, every controller features a piece of adhesive-backed Velcro tape to maintain it in place in your construct.
If all of these wires sound like a cable-management nightmare, you could have forgotten that each one the top-panel connectors nonetheless must be, nicely, linked. These embody a hard-drive exercise LED, energy and reset buttons, an LED mode button (once more, for under one of many included controllers), an HD audio cable for the headphone and microphone jacks, a 9-pin USB 2.0 dual-port cable, a dual-port cable for the top-panel USB-A 3.2 ports, and a single-port USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 cable for the top-panel Sort-C port.
By filling all its fan holes with followers, Xigmatek left us no different alternative however to take away two followers to suit our dual-fan AIO liquid CPU cooler. However, being pressured to ditch a few the manufacturing facility followers to make room for our closed-loop cooler introduced the good thing about needing solely a single Xigmatek controller for the eight remaining followers.
The heatsinks that cool the motherboard’s CPU voltage regulator are discovered above and behind the CPU socket, making the highest of the case probably the most advantageous place to mount a small radiator and fan set in most top-vented builds. Xigmatek’s addition of a vented metal panel nonetheless makes this a viable configuration for the Aqua Extremely Combo, although we’ll additionally take a look at our construct with the glass panel to point out how nicely or how poorly the unique vent slots functioned.
The one lately examined chassis we may use for comparability that additionally used twin panels, although its swappable panel was on the entrance as an alternative of the highest, was the Cougar Duoface. The Hyte Y40 and the NZXT H9 Elite compete extra instantly with the Aqua Extremely’s design.
Testing the Xigmatek Aqua Extremely Combo
This is a fast recap of the elements we used for our take a look at construct, with our ATX motherboard because the central element:
Prime-mounting a CPU cooler is a worst-case state of affairs for a glass-topped case, however discover that the Aqua Extremely goes from final to second place in CPU temperature with its vented panel in place. The choices appear clear: A builder who likes the Aqua Extremely’s design ought to both ditch the highest followers and hold the glass, airing out the case by way of different means, or ditch the glass for the vented panel and hold the highest followers.
Whereas the highest followers seem to largely recirculate heated air with the glass high in place, that additional airflow seems to maintain the voltage regulator from overheating whereas the Xigmatek’s rear exhaust fan siphons off a number of the warmth. Placing the elective vented panel up high takes the configuration’s regulator temperature from a tie for final place to a tie for first.
The Aqua Extremely seems to build up CPU warmth with its glass panel blocking a lot of the outflow of our CPU cooler, and GPU temperature will increase as inside warmth accumulates. Including the vented high panels resolves that concern, however those that like the looks of the glass high panel could discover inserting the radiator behind these side-panel exhaust followers as a viable different.
We doubt that anybody can be shocked to see a case with three exhaust followers on its proper aspect produce extra noise when measured from its proper entrance nook, however the exceedingly low noise when measuring the Aqua Extremely’s glass-topped configuration from the entrance left nook is noteworthy. Whether or not you discover the Aqua Extremely noisy or quiet seems to rely almost as a lot on the way you place the case as on whether or not you go for the glass or vented high panel.
Verdict: A Truthful Trade with a Pair of Prime Panels
Xigmatek solved the issues of its unique Aqua Extremely case by including an elective vented high panel to the revision we obtained, however then launched some new issues by including three extra followers and a second ARGB controller. Since most customers who select to make use of the highest fan mount will doubtless be pairing it with a liquid cooling system that has followers of its personal, the additional followers and controller are most likely a redundancy that we might hate to pay for, then take away and conceal away.
As for the remainder of the package deal, you get a alternative of “all present and restricted go” with the glass high and no high fan mount, or “all go and restricted present” with the vented high panel and included mount. That appears truthful sufficient to us, contemplating that many builders rethink and reconstruct their PCs over the course of time. That flex could give this enticing chassis an extended sensible life for the construct after your present one. Simply do not forget the place you stash these followers away for whenever you want them once more.
