Xigmatek X7 PC Case Review

Xigmatek has sent us an X7 PC case via Texon-Ware for review and a custom loop test build. The X7 is the premium PC case from the manufacturer providing an interesting perspective for the gamers and the modders alike. While they are saying that this case is for the gamers and professionals, I can spot another use case scenario with its all open-frame layout style. This case can also be employed for the open-air test bench though its weight and size would be of consideration.

Xigmatek has listed X7 case as Super Tower which in my opinion is not the case as this case sits somewhere between the mid-tower and the full tower closures. Despite having a spacious layout, we have spotted some limitations which we will cover later in this Detailed Xigmatek X7 Review. For now, let’s not start with Cons! Here are salient features of the case:

• High-End Flagship Super Tower PC Case
• 2mm Thickness Chassis Structure
• Precision CNC & NCT Craftsmanship
• Two Side Tempered Glass Design
• Superior Airflow and Ventilation Chassis Design
• Easy Cable Management & PSU Shroud
• Full-Size Vertical PCI-E Slots
• Multiple Cooling Fan placement up to 8 x 12cm Fans
• Liquid Cooling Radiators Compatibility: MB Side 360mm,Top 360mm and Rear 140mm

Xigmatek X7 Packaging and Unboxing

The chassis is shipped inside a standard brown color cardboard box. This is a large size case and it comes in a flatbed style packaging box.

The salient features of the case are printed over here. The lighting is compatible with the:

• MSI Mystic Light Sync
• ASUS AURA SYNC
• GIGABYTE FUSION 2.0 RGB
• ASROCK POLYCHROME SYNC

The X marks the X7 ideology of the case. Since the case has two 4mm thick tempered glass panels, the Fragile sticker is cautioning the handler to handle with care.

The TG panels are placed separately on top of the case which is kinda surprising as even a small hit on this side, could shatter the glass.

The chassis is in a cloth bag and tucked between two white colors Styrofoam pads.

Now we can see the cloth bag clearly. This packing reminds me of the Cooler Master H500P Mesh which we tested earlier. It also came inside a bag. A standing cloth bag! Pun intended.

Contents

Following are included in the box:

• A few Zip-Ties [More are needed]
• 1x container of the screws.
• A user guide
• Rubber washers and large head screws for the side panels

There is also an RGB Hub along with a remote controller provided in the accessories.

There is a motherboard sync cable that connects the RGB hub with the motherboard 5V RGB light header. The VDG connector is for the older motherboard from GIGABYTE.

The user can connect up to 8 fans (Only Xigmatek supported fans) with the hub. Each port is clearly labeled. LED Speed button controls the speed of the dynamic modes. Mode changes the light modes. The Fan Speed button changes the fans’ speed to either full or low. That is all. There is no fine control for the speed of the fans. We highlighted the same when we tested the Xigmatek AIO cooler.

Each port is a 6-pin interface making it a proprietary design which is very why we mentioned Xigmatek supported fans only. The user can also connect a standard 5V 3-pin interfaced RGB LED strip to the hub.

The user can optionally connect the Reset button or RGB LED button on the case front IO with the hub. The motherboard sync cable goes into the port labeled DATA.

There is a cable coming from the other side of the hub. It has a MOLEX connector on the end. I wish it was a SATA connector!

The user can also control the lighting modes and speed using the bundled remote control or can switch the control to the motherboard which is of course optional.

Closer Look at Xigmatek X7

The Xigmatek X7 has a dimension of 626x288x580mm (LxWxH). It is made of 1.2mm steel cut on Precision NCT and CNC machines for perfection. It is time to dive in deep and see what XIGMATEK X7 case is all about.

The front side of the case gives away the overall layout and looks. The case is fully dismountable. It is like we have three-layer placed in a vertical layout and interconnected forming a case. There is a removable panel with X branding in its center. This design is not obstructing the airflow and airflow may not be of concern at the front given the fact that we can’t mount any fan or radiator on the front. The two large openings have enough spacing for airflow. There is no front panel which we are used to observing in the standard case layout.

The IO panel is on the top of the front side. We have:

• Power Button
• Reset Button
• LED Button
• 2x Audio Jacks
• 2x USB 2.0 ports
• 1x USB 3.0 port

The power button has a nice feel to it upon pressing.

The rear of the case also shows the different design and layout. The complete case is interconnected using 4x black color rods. These rods are going through the frame of the interconnected plates or panels.

We have an opening for the motherboard’s IO shroud. There is a vented portion with a 120mm and 140mm fan mount in a fixed location. This would mean we can’t adjust the height of the fan on the rear.

We have 7x PCIe slot covers in horizontal and 3x in the vertical layout. They all are reusable and removable covers with vents.

Oh, wait! Where is the PSU mount? We have a fully blocked solid panel on the base here. The PSU is mounted on the base of the case and the power cable has to be routed from the cutout layout at the base of the case on the rear. Strange but it is part of the layout. There is a large gap between the PSU shroud and the rear of the case.

The base of the cooler shows the planar view of the frame and the interconnecting panels. One big downside of this particular layout is the lack of dust filtration all around. The four feet have anti-slip black color pads.

Looking at the top of the case, there is a solid steel panel covering most of the case here. But it is still an open-frame layout. The removable panel is there more for an aesthetic reason.

There is an opening towards the front of the case on the top. we can see the pre-installed 120mm A-RGB fan through this opening.

Removing the top panel cover, we can spot 3x 120mm A-RGB fans pre-installed. The left and right sections have a rail mount allowing the user to install up to 3x 120mm fans or a 360mm radiator on the top. We have a clearance issue when it comes to the 360mm radiator mounting on the top as the thickness of the radiator can be an issue which is also related to the high amount of the motherboard in XIGMATEK X7 PC case. There is not enough room to adjust the position of the fans/radiator.

Strange that we are looking at the backside before the main area! There is not much going on at the backside hence we have only one picture of it and covering it first. First thing first, there is absolutely no support for cable management. There is not even a single cable tie point here which is a must-have for this open frame styling. The backside also gets a tempered glass panel and still leaves this side an open design. Now, this has created a challenge for the builder on how to route and tuck the cable for a neat look here. My suggestion is to deal with the cables first then the build itself and for that one needs to be crystal clear for the overall layout of the build. The user can install up to 2x 2.5”/3.5” drives on the back of the motherboard tray. We have openings all around and take them as your friend when handling cables.

It is time to take a look at the main element of the Xigmatek X7 which is the PC building area inside the case. The case has a 4mm thick tempered glass panel which is to be mounted on the black color steel rods.

Xigmatek has provided rubber washers and large head screws to install the glass panels on the frame.

To install the glass panel, the user needs to place the 4x rubber washers on the tips of the black columns or rods whatever you call them.

Use the large head screws to secure the panel on the frame.

The inner side of the case measures 507mm by 460mm. The case can house up to E-ATX size motherboards. The CPU air cooler of up to 190mm height can be installed. We have a clearance of up to 480mm for the graphics card without a motherboard side liquid cooler. This clearance reduces to 340mm when the liquid cooler is installed on the side of the motherboard. There is no such restriction when the graphics card is installed in a vertical layout.

The standoffs are pre-installed. These standoffs have more height to them as compared to the standard standoffs. Some standoffs have a shorter height.

The above picture shows exactly that. One standoff has more height as compared to the other two. Xigmatek has provided brass color standoffs for the shorter height standoffs.

We installed the required 3x brass color standoffs on the required shorter height standoffs. This is as strange as it could but we have more gap between the motherboard and the tray as compared to the standard layouts in the other cases and this gives room to route the cables under the motherboard.

Plus I don’t think people are going to buy this large size closure for an mATX or mini-ITX build anyway so what is the point of not making all the standoffs equal length!

I digress, coming back to the motherboard tray, we have a large cutout for the easy installation of the CPU cooler. we have a clearance of approximately 60mm from the top of the case to the motherboard’s top side. There is a clearance of approximately 46mm for the RAM mount.

There is no flex in the motherboard tray itself but overall there is a bit of flex in the case which becomes apparent when we removed the front X panel cover and the top cover. Seems like everything is holding itself and the others in this design.

The above picture shows a look at the base of the case. We have a PSU shroud that has a vented portion on the top and Xigmatek branding on the side. It is resting on the two plates which are interconnecting the sides. The user can install a 120mm fan on the base though this has consideration for the fan as the cables from the PSU also take some space and may obstruct the 120mm fan mount if a PSU of length above 160mm is used.

This angle is giving a clear idea of the overall layout and when I mentioned it, XIGMATEK X7 case has no airflow considerations as such. We have large openings all around. Notice the gap between the PSU shroud and the rear of the case. The power cable has to be routed from the underside of the rear of the case. It is challenging connecting that cable as well. The PSU of length up to 220mm can be installed in this case.

Pre-Installed Fans

A downside is that the PSU can only be installed with the fan side down. I am not sure what Xigmatek was thinking when designing XIGMATEK X7 case. They should have left this option to the user.

There are 3x 120mm A-RGB fans pre-installed on the right of the motherboard tray. They are installed in the exhaust layout. This is the only side in the case where we can push some air inside and I would suggest the user reverse the side of these fans to make as intake. We can install up to 360mm radiator here as well.

There is a mounting plate that can house up to 2x 2.5” or 3.5” drives.

We have 7x PCIe slots in horizontal and 3x in the vertical layout. Please note that there is no supported bracket for the vertical slots and the graphics card will be hanging off the wall of the case with only support coming from the PCIe slot frame of the case.

There is a 120mm A-RGB fan on the rear. The user can also install a 140mm fan here. This is the only side of XIGMATEK X7 case that can house a 140mm fan.

We have 3x 120mm A-RGB fans on the top as well. All 7x fans are exhausting. These fans have a 6-pin proprietary connector that can only be used using the provided hub. This is a sort of design I am totally not up to. Should there be any issue with the hub, say bye-bye to the cooling and lighting.

We have USB 3.0, 2.0, and HD Audio connector cables.

We have system panel connector cables. The LED connector is to be connected to the RESET SW port of the hub. This would allow the user to control the lighting using the LED button on the front IO panel.

Xigmatek X7 Test Build and Experience

The following configuration is used:

• Intel i7 10700k at 5.0GHz using 1.325V
• MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK
• T-Force NightHawk RGB 16GB 3200MHz Kit
• MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio 24G
• addlink S70 256GB NVMe Drive
• CORSAIR AX1200i PSU with CORSAIR Custom Sleeved Cables
• Alphacool Cooling Gear

I started with installing 3x brass color standoffs. They were not a proper fix anyway which is strange.

The motherboard was installed then.

The PSU was installed next and the cables were routed and connected to the motherboard.

I used the PSU with the fan side up. The PSU could not be secured from the back of the shroud as the design only allows the fan side down.

I could not install a 360mm Alphacool NexXxos XT45 radiator on the top as the overall thickness of 70mm was hindered by the VRM heatsink of the motherboard. This has more to do with the raised height of the motherboard in the case. Should Xigmatek have used the standard low height standoffs, there would not have been this issue. The only other option was to use the 360mm radiator has a thickness of 30mm but I had to do with what I have.

As a recourse, I put a 120mm radiator (30mm) on the rear. All the cooling gear is from Alphacool.

The MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio 24G is used in the build with Alphacool Eisblock GPX block on it. The card was installed in a vertical layout. The cooling engine is also from Alphacool which is Eisblock XPX Edge AURORA.

There is no provision to install the reservoir/pump combo in XIGMATEK X7 case. I ended up connecting the unit with the 360mm radiator on the side. So far so good.

The above pictures show the black PVC tubes.

The above picture shows the backside of the case.

Here are some pics of the build.

Is Xigmatek X7 Worth Buying In 2022?

The X7 from Xigmatek has a different footprint compared to the other PC cases in the market. This case is best suited for the modding in my humble opinion and open-frame layout styling for the test bench setup. Nevertheless, this can be used by any user in the market and the manufacturer is aiming at the gamers and the professionals.

This is not a super tower by any means and it sits between the mid-tower and the full tower. The case is made of 1.2mm Steel and measures 626x288x580mm (LxWxH). The case can house a motherboard of up to E-ATX size. The weight is around 14Kg or so and it has two 4mm tinted tempered glass panels.

The case has a steel cover on the front with Xigmatek branding which is obviously X mark. There is another steel cover on the top. These covers are there to provide additional support to the structure and fulfill the aesthetic requirement of the overall layout.

The case features 7x 120mm A-RGB fans pre-installed and an RGB controller.

Cooling Provision

Following are the fan mounting possibilities:

• Up to 3x 120mm fans on the side [pre-installed]
• Up to 3x 120mm fans on the top [pre-installed]
• 1x 120mm/140mm on the Rear [120mm pre-Installed]

Following is the radiator mounting support:

• Up to 360mm radiator on the side.
• Up to 360mm radiator on the top.
• 120mm radiator on the rear.

Surprised! Yup, there is nothing on the front except that it has an open layout with only a plate that can house up to 2x 2.5” or 3.5” drives.

Storage Provision

• Up to 2x 2.5” or 3.5” drives on the motherboard tray backside.
• Up to 2x 3.5” or 3.5” drives on the front.

Clearance

• CPU Cooler of up to 190mm height is possible
• Graphics Card of up to 480/340mm length is possible
• PSU length of 220mm

There is no dust filtration anywhere in XIGMATEK X7 case. This is because of its all-around open-frame layout design. The PCIe slots are in 7+3 configuration with vented and reusable slot covers. There is no supportive bracket for the vertical mount and the graphics card would be hung from the frame of the case. The PSU can only be securely installed with the fan side down. There is a gap between the rear of the case and the shroud. The power cable has to be routed through the open areas on the rear base. The removal of the PSU shroud is trivial as well.

There is no cable management support in XIGMATEK X7 case. There is not even a single cable tie point on the back. There are no rubber grommets on the cables pass through cutouts which should have been provided in this price range. On the other side, it is understandable given the overall open style design.

Xigmatek has provided an RGB hub/controller for the 7x fans. These fans are using 6-pin proprietary connectors and they can only be used with the provided hub. This is Xigmatek’s approach to their ecosystem. Personally, I prefer the standard 5V 3-pin interface for the A-RGB lighting and a 3-pin or 4-pin interface for the fans. The user can’t regulate the speed of the fans as we can only set them to run at full or at low. The hub can be synced to the motherboard as well.

The standoffs have more height to them which raises the motherboard inside the case. This has consideration with regard to the radiator and fans on the top. I was not able to put a 45mm thick radiator on the top (360mm length) as the motherboard obstructed it. There is no provision for the reservoir/pump unit on the base either. Other than that, it was a smooth experience. The stock fans are not strong enough for the water cooling experiment and you would want to use more powerful fans. Under the AIDA64 Extreme FPU test, the Intel i7 10700k with all cores set at 5.0GHz using 1.325V was doing 72°C whereas the Graphics card under the Time Spy Stress test was doing 47°C. The ambient was 17°C.

We are grateful to Xigmatek for the provision of X7 for the review.

• Design: 8.5
• Build Quality: 9.0
• Features: 8.0
• Cooling Provision: 9.0
• Dust Protection: 0.0

Pros

• Distinctive Design
• Stylish and bold outlook
• Rugged build
• Dismantable
• Spacious layout
• 7x A-RGB 120mm fans pre-installed
• 2x 4mm thick Tempered Glass Panels
• Up to 4x 2.5”/3.5” drives

Cons

• Pricey
• Lack of Cable Management Support
• PSU installation is limited to fan side down only

The Xigmatek X7 is a different class case with a distinctive footprint. It is built around an open frame layout making it a potential candidate for modding and high-end builds.