External Appearance II
The top of the case is the odd-ball site for the external expansion ports for USB, FireWire and audio. Covered in a cool panel, a simple push latch reveals its contents. The cover is spring loaded and weighted on opening, so it doesn't snap open quickly. Another piece of nice engineering on Cooler Master's part.
A pair of USB2.0 ports, single 8-pin powered FireWire and ports for microphone audio input and front speaker line out. You hook them up to your motherboard (and/or discrete soundcard if you're using that as your audio device) with a set of supplied cables that connect to a custom PCB that lives under the ports. Cooler Master also supply you with a kit on late-model Wave Masters that let you use that top panel for cooling, swapping out the expansion ports for an 80mm cooling fan mount. Criticism of the Wave Master tends to fall on its cooling performance, so the chimney exhaust conversion kit is welcome, showing Cooler Master are listening to their customers. To make use of it however, the lid needs to be open constantly, somewhat ruining the clean lines of the exterior. While that's also true if you're using the expansion ports, it's more likely you'll be able to keep the lid shut for longer that way.
Craig claims the top mounted expansion ports are a poor design choice. That's only true if you keep your case on top of your desk. Surely the natural place for a mid-tower chassis is underneath? In that respect, the site for the ports is a clever one. It's swings and roundabouts, depending on where you keep your case.
Round the back things are little different. Clean design seems to be Cooler Master's ethos with the Wave Master.
Ignore the cardboard box placeholder inside the area where your powersupply will go, it contains your manual and bag of screws, along with the all important conversion kit for the top fan and a nice metallic Cooler Master case badge.
As you can see, it's thumbscrew city to get access to the innards. The screws are large and well grooved, allowing you to get decent purchase on them when attempting to unscrew, even when tight.
