Xidax X-8 Gaming PC Review: Skylake-X And Dual GTX 1080 Ti Cards For The Win
Xidax X-8 Gaming PC: Design And Build Quality
When configuring an X-8 desktop, buyers can choose between an Intel Core-X series or AMD Threadripper foundation. There are more motherboard options if going with an Intel build, though either starting point can be loaded to the hilt with high-end hardware, depending on your budget. The part selection process is straightforward, with pictures and specs of each component to help guide buyers along the way. You can also bring up a chat box and ask a sales rep any questions you might have.
You've probably heard that you should never throw stones if you live in a glass house, which is sound advice for obvious reasons. Likewise, building a PC inside a mostly glass tower is a foolish endeavor if your cable management skills are lacking. After all, the whole point of a tempered glass panel is to turn your build into a high-tech showpiece. That's exactly what Xidax did with the configuration it sent us for review.
For this setup, Xidax opted for its "Glacier" case, which is really a Thermaltake View 71 (a newer entry to Thermaltake's chassis line-up). On Xidax's website, the thumbnail image for this enclosure shows the company's branding prominently displayed in big white letters running vertically, starting at the top-right corner. What we received, however, was much more subtle—Xidax stamped its name on the case, but the lettering is faint and scrawled horizontally along the bottom right. It's tastefully done and, more importantly, is not a visual distraction.
Building a PC isn't difficult if you know what you're doing, but making it pop? That requires a bit more skill and knowledge, both of which are on full display in the X-8. For one thing, the copious lighting from the various components brings this setup to life without looking tacky. There is also the immaculate wiring, which is no easy task when connecting dual graphics cards, multiple storage drives, LED light strips, and seven cooling fans to go along with the three that are attached to the all-in-one liquid cooler. At least that's how it looks in the front. The area behind the motherboard tray isn't quite as pristine, though Xidax did make an effort to tidy things up by bundling excess cables and routing them down the spine where possible. There's also a 2TB hard drive tucked away behind the motherboard tray to supplement the 512GB NVMe SSD that's plugged into the motherboard.
Speaking of the motherboard, the foundation for this build is an ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme that is brimming with bells and whistles, including a customizable underglow and other flashing bits. For those who want even more lighting, it also has a few RGB headers to add and manage LED fans and light strips.
You could see this sucker from space if you were to take advantage of all the lighting features.
Beyond the bling, this board offers a ton of high-end amenities, including both 802.11ac and 802.11ad Wi-Fi, three M.2 slots, Intel Optane Memory support, and even a built-in OLED display that shows a choice of vitals (CPU temp, fan speeds, etc) or an animated GIF. That's right, this mobo has its own display. Out in the real world, the Rampage VI Extreme runs $650 all by itself, which helps put the X-8's pricing (as configured) into perspective.
Accessing the innards of the X-8 is super easy. Each of the side panels are held into place with two thumb screws. Once removed, the panels swing open, as opposed to having to carefully remove them as with most cases that have tempered glass sides.
Swinging open the side left-side panel gives us a better look at Xidax's adept cable management capabilities. The ROG Rampage VI Extreme is a power-hungry motherboard, and of course both graphics cards need to be plugged into the power supply as well. Since it's impossible to hide all the cables completely, Xidax used green sleeved cabling for the motherboard and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti cards. The sleeved cables have a nifty neon glow under the hue of the various lighting, turning what could be an eyesore into a wonderfully geeky work of art (other color options are available as well).
Even with two graphics cards wired up to the PSU, there is a lot of empty space inside the X-8, which is a credit both to the physical size of the case and Xidax's ability to keep the interior nice and tidy. This ensures a steady flow of air throughout the case, without any notable areas of obstruction.
One of the more subtle design choices Xidax made was to not sleeve the other cables coming out of the power supply. By leaving these bundles of wires black, they blend in with the case and are virtually unnoticed, unless specifically looking at them. The other sleeved cables and various lighting draw your attention away from the nest of wires that sit at the bottom, which are exposed without the benefit of a PSU shroud. Whether or not that was Xidax's intention we don't know, but it works well either way.
Xidax offers a few different cooling options. Our setup came with an Alphacool Eisbaer 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler with the stock tubing switched out for clear hoses. Kudos to Xidax for swapping out the black tubing. When the system is lit up, the clear liquid takes on the color of the lights and really highlights the build. The only minor flaw is that we noticed a medium-sized air bubble near where the tubing connects to the pump. This didn't go away over time (though it did shrink) and ideally would have been bled out prior to shipping, though it didn't seem to affect cooling performance.
This cooler is tasked with keeping the Core i9-7900X processor from overheating. At stock, the CPU has a 3.3GHz base clock and 4.3GHz boost clock, though Xidax tweaked the multiplier in the BIOS to run the chip at a constant 4.1GHz, with that speed setting synced across all 10 cores.
The two graphics cards are both Founders Editions, connected with a high-bandwidth (HB) bridge for better SLI performance compared to using a regular SLI connector. Xidax opted for MSI's HB bridge, which is a flashier version than the one NVIDIA offers. It has a metal cover and an illuminated dragon.
For this setup, Xidax opted for its "Glacier" case, which is really a Thermaltake View 71 (a newer entry to Thermaltake's chassis line-up). On Xidax's website, the thumbnail image for this enclosure shows the company's branding prominently displayed in big white letters running vertically, starting at the top-right corner. What we received, however, was much more subtle—Xidax stamped its name on the case, but the lettering is faint and scrawled horizontally along the bottom right. It's tastefully done and, more importantly, is not a visual distraction.
Building a PC isn't difficult if you know what you're doing, but making it pop? That requires a bit more skill and knowledge, both of which are on full display in the X-8. For one thing, the copious lighting from the various components brings this setup to life without looking tacky. There is also the immaculate wiring, which is no easy task when connecting dual graphics cards, multiple storage drives, LED light strips, and seven cooling fans to go along with the three that are attached to the all-in-one liquid cooler. At least that's how it looks in the front. The area behind the motherboard tray isn't quite as pristine, though Xidax did make an effort to tidy things up by bundling excess cables and routing them down the spine where possible. There's also a 2TB hard drive tucked away behind the motherboard tray to supplement the 512GB NVMe SSD that's plugged into the motherboard.
Speaking of the motherboard, the foundation for this build is an ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme that is brimming with bells and whistles, including a customizable underglow and other flashing bits. For those who want even more lighting, it also has a few RGB headers to add and manage LED fans and light strips.
You could see this sucker from space if you were to take advantage of all the lighting features.
Beyond the bling, this board offers a ton of high-end amenities, including both 802.11ac and 802.11ad Wi-Fi, three M.2 slots, Intel Optane Memory support, and even a built-in OLED display that shows a choice of vitals (CPU temp, fan speeds, etc) or an animated GIF. That's right, this mobo has its own display. Out in the real world, the Rampage VI Extreme runs $650 all by itself, which helps put the X-8's pricing (as configured) into perspective.
Accessing the innards of the X-8 is super easy. Each of the side panels are held into place with two thumb screws. Once removed, the panels swing open, as opposed to having to carefully remove them as with most cases that have tempered glass sides.
Swinging open the side left-side panel gives us a better look at Xidax's adept cable management capabilities. The ROG Rampage VI Extreme is a power-hungry motherboard, and of course both graphics cards need to be plugged into the power supply as well. Since it's impossible to hide all the cables completely, Xidax used green sleeved cabling for the motherboard and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti cards. The sleeved cables have a nifty neon glow under the hue of the various lighting, turning what could be an eyesore into a wonderfully geeky work of art (other color options are available as well).
Even with two graphics cards wired up to the PSU, there is a lot of empty space inside the X-8, which is a credit both to the physical size of the case and Xidax's ability to keep the interior nice and tidy. This ensures a steady flow of air throughout the case, without any notable areas of obstruction.
One of the more subtle design choices Xidax made was to not sleeve the other cables coming out of the power supply. By leaving these bundles of wires black, they blend in with the case and are virtually unnoticed, unless specifically looking at them. The other sleeved cables and various lighting draw your attention away from the nest of wires that sit at the bottom, which are exposed without the benefit of a PSU shroud. Whether or not that was Xidax's intention we don't know, but it works well either way.
Xidax offers a few different cooling options. Our setup came with an Alphacool Eisbaer 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler with the stock tubing switched out for clear hoses. Kudos to Xidax for swapping out the black tubing. When the system is lit up, the clear liquid takes on the color of the lights and really highlights the build. The only minor flaw is that we noticed a medium-sized air bubble near where the tubing connects to the pump. This didn't go away over time (though it did shrink) and ideally would have been bled out prior to shipping, though it didn't seem to affect cooling performance.
This cooler is tasked with keeping the Core i9-7900X processor from overheating. At stock, the CPU has a 3.3GHz base clock and 4.3GHz boost clock, though Xidax tweaked the multiplier in the BIOS to run the chip at a constant 4.1GHz, with that speed setting synced across all 10 cores.
The two graphics cards are both Founders Editions, connected with a high-bandwidth (HB) bridge for better SLI performance compared to using a regular SLI connector. Xidax opted for MSI's HB bridge, which is a flashier version than the one NVIDIA offers. It has a metal cover and an illuminated dragon.
