[Official] Cooler Master HAF-XB Club!

[t77snapshot]

Thanks p_o_s! These are my first ssd's ever and I am looking forward to the performance jump from those ancient hdd's.

Awwwwww the CU plated rad would have looked so unique , well it's probably for the better when it comes to a hassle free build. I am going with a slim rad for the front fans as well, I also plan on having a 120 rad at the rear and maaaaybe thinking of an 80mm dual rad? Yes!! thats right... an 80x2 radiator on the bottom.

 

[p_o_s_pc]

Not sure that dual 80mm rad would be much good or usefull, may just add restriction.
I will see once i have the case in front of me if i will get the CU rad in the near future.

I some how doubt that just a slim dual 120mm rad is going to give me the temps that I want once i get the GPU(s) in line also, So adding a single 120mm or going to the thick CU rad maybe having to happen.

I look forward to seeing your build when its done. Do you have the case yet or just getting the goodies together right now,as I am?

 

[t77snapshot]

Not sure that dual 80mm rad would be much good or usefull, may just add restriction.

I look forward to seeing your build when its done. Do you have the case yet or just getting the goodies together right now,as I am?

Yeah I was told by others that the 80mm radiator might just be a waist of money, but I really want to do something with those vintage 80mil fan mounts, lol!

Same here. I wanted to make the club when the case was in my hands, but I just couldn't wait. I was going to buy the Xb the following week after it's release, but Newegg removed the free shipping which totally sucked. But it's cool cause I still need a gpu/ block, cpu block and some other hardware as well. I do agree that it would be much easier to have the case so we can do more thorough planning. I am surprised Amazon is lagging so hard on restocking :shadedshu, have you seen Tiger Direct? they have it for $115 w/ free shipping (not sure why there site doesn't have pics up yet though).

 

[p_o_s_pc]

I have had it in my tigerdirecct cart all day trying to bring myself to click the order.

 

[1ceTr0n]

Got mine finally all set up, this thing is a real treat to work with! I just wish the toolless drive bay holders were a bit sturdier, they don't hold my optical drive in real well. I've more parts and plans for the case in the near future including window, more lights, possible paint job, new fans, decals and other ideas but for now, this will have to do. My mATX mobo sure looks small and puny inside this case, but owell...


Well figures, I get my new toy and someone already claims before I even get to open it lol! But its here!

Even the box itself is sexy and rich feeling, has a smooth, slick texture to it! The case is well protected by the stiff cardboard box and plenty of styrofoam padding all around, UPS/FedEX would have to try hard to damage the case

Oooh very nice! First thing I noticed is that the cases paint texure has a very durable feeling to it, almost like a spray on truck liner, you will have to try to scratch it! The unit feels incredibly solid when I took it out, gotta freaking love cold rolled steel, aluminum can never beat the tight, strong and firm built of a quality steel case!

The handles feel GREAT and makes moving the XB is so SMOOTH and easy! They are supported by the steel chassis behind the panel, so even fully loaded, this sucker aint gonna fall apart on you transporting it around, LAN partying with this thing in the future is gonna rock!

I didnt' realize exactly HOW big this XB was until I put it next to "Night Fire" my Antec mini-P180. The pictures speak for themselves! Thats a 20'' Viewsonic monitor for comparison sake to give you an idea of this bad boys size

Moving inward, my faithful furry assistant decides this cases needs a complete check through with cat senses!

Again, the interior paint job feels awesome, VERY solid and well done! Again, it reminds me a spray on truck lining, thats how tough it feels, it has a very nice rough feeling to it but not sandpaper like. Corsair could learn something of how to paint/powerdcoat their cases from coolermaster, their interior paint jobs are easily damaged/scratched in my experience with them

Yep, looks kitty approved!

Ok, time to take it apart and see the inside of this ultimate bady boy cube!

With the side panels removed, the front comes off with 7 tabs fairly easily. The plastic feels durable enough the front benzel doesn't flex much, but be mindful, it feels like it could be easily scratched. The front panel Power and reset buttons ARE NOT spring loaded, they are more modern "tap" style button which you find on todays tablets and smartphones and frankly, I like this as a nice change from decades of spring loaded buttons on computer cases, time for a change.

Weird, how they have enough room for a PCB to have 4 USB jacks, but only went with 2 *shrug* Owell, I never use more then one at a time in my usage.

Moving on, the typical part bags, screws andzip ties are here, but a rare thing, an optional speaker for those who really want to hear the troubleshooting mobo BIOS beeps. You can see the insulation foam to keep PSU vibration down into the case, a simple but nice touch, stuff like this helps case makers and their products stand out from the competition and we, the case consumers really look for this kinda stuff.

The case panels like the rest of the case chassis have a tough powder coating all over. They slide on and off with a nice smooth feeling and attach with a nice solid "thud" and are hard to flex, meaning the chances of vibration and reverberation in the case are low. Again, quality steel just flat out beats aluminum in this department, especially in the cost department and Cooler Master does a great job in this. Corsair, are you taking notes?

Outa curiosity, I wanted to see if recycling my Antec Big Boy was possible with the top panel mesh. Sadly, it was a no go. I looked into why the mesh panel didn't have mounts for 120/140mm fans for radiator setups and the CM rep stated because the weight of using radiators would cause the mesh panel to dislodge because its only using push down based tabs to hold it in place. So that basically means it would require installing nuts and bolts if you really wanted to use the top mesh panel for a radiator and modding the mesh as well.

And of course, I can't overlook something this rare in most cases nowadays, the removalable mobo tray. Some people truly desire/live for this *cough, 3DGAMERMAN* I personally have never cared or had use for them as I always chose cases over the years that makes it easy to install mobo's in and out. Last case I had with a removable mobo was a Lian Li PC-68 way back in 2002 and I think I used it "once" just cause I was bored.

Anyway, with 4 simple thumbscrews, the tray comes right out. Like the side panel, it feels very rigid and hardly flexes at all. Again, you can only get this very nice firm feeling with quality steel cases, aluminum just can't touch it. The tray fits in nice and snug with the thumb screws, so its not possibly for it to vibrate into the chassis itself at all.

Looking more into the interior, thankfully, all the cables are a nice even black, so no worried gawd awful rainbowed colored calors ruining the interior case look, well, except for that stupid legacy sound connector which im just gonna cut off personally. The stock front intake fans are 3pin with molex convertors. Dunno how great they are but i'll be replacing then with my Gentle Typhoon 120mm's anyway and or using a new 200mm intake fan on the top if I decide against ordering the top panel with built in window that I may end up making my own anyway. Decisons, decisons....

My furry assistance spotted something as I went along. Removing the exterior PSU holder reveals that you CAN NOT install a PSU without it as the chassis doesn't have any mounting holes without the extended bracket. This kinda sucks, considering I have a standard sized modular PSU, I wanted to keep the back flush but I guess not anymore, so keep this in mind.

Finally, I wanted to see how much spacing I had between the panels and mobo tray itself. Thanks to this chassis unique design, there is well over 1'' space between the side panels. I'm thinking of adding some sound insulation material for "Night Fire II" so this gives me plenty of room to add this. Also noting that if someone was really in the mood, you could easily cut out the side panel mesh and add your own side windows for a trick look. Hmmm........

To round this unboxing off, I asked some burning questions to the CM rep at the OCN boards about a few things on the case and I got a quick response back, major kudos to them!

http://www.overclock.net/t/1327014/various-cooler-master-haf-xb-reviews/90#post_18631574


Me: Why bother putting in a front fan filter when it requires the user to manually have to remove all 3 side panels and then unclip 7 freaking clips to remove the entire FRONT benzel to get at? Why was there no simple design to slide the filter in and out from the sides like Silverstones SG08 Tamjin?

CM rep: The reason why is we had to stay true to our roots as DIY enthusiast chassis. One of the mockup HAF Xb's last year had a removable filter frame that was in the front panel and pulled out the top, on paper it was great but in reality some of the mechanical engineers brought some issues to our attention. If we kept the front filter we would lose 140mm front fan support. Some of our international focus groups complained they needed much more space to mount fans outside the frame of the chassis. The people who complained the most used 27-30mm thick radiators which need fans on both sides for acceptable performance. So we kept the massive room for a radiator and 2 sets of fans on both sides. We had to put the filter on the front panel because there was nowhere else to put it.


1ce: I honestly don't see why you couldn't have made the secondary drive cage to hold 3.5'' and 2.5'' HDD's and simply give the user the OPTION to user either drive size with rails and or adapters. SSD's still aint cheap and most people still use standard 3.5'' HDD and will for the forseeable future.

CM rep: There isn't enough space to do two 3.5" drive cages in the area you mention. Once you get your HAF Xb, try to take some measurements. We reserved the space so you will have just enough cable management if you can't afford a modular power supply. As it is now, we had to make the 2.5" HDD cages removable because some PSUs have huge masses of cables.

1ce: More cable routting holes in the motherboard would have made obvious sense, so why only one?

CM rep: Its a TRAP!

Seriously, this cable management hole was added at the last revision before production by our engineers. Their reason was that if you never removed the motherboard tray, you could use the port for some audio or USB cable. Functionally, we have more than enough cable tie downs on the side of the rail that you should never need to use this. We joke its a trap because whatever you stuff through that hole, you have to unstuff it because it will block the motherboard tray from being removed. You should never be using this hole if you want to use the HAF Xb removable motherboard tray since it will cost you 5 mins of time.

1ce: Why not give users the option of just buying the window itself for the top panel instead of requiring people to pay for an entire front panel at a higher price?

CM rep: We're a big company and tiny pieces of acrylic wander off by themselves.

1ce: For the watercoolers, why didn't you allow the top panel mesh to have 120/140mm fan mounts like you have in so many other cases? I really don't find any reason to leave that out

CM rep: Its an issue of the strength of the mesh attachment. The top panel mesh attaches in the same way as an acrylic window would with plastic push pins. These pins could fail if you put a heavy weight on them like a radiator. There are plenty of other good places for radiators.


1ce: Couldn't you have thrown in some rubber seals so if people do use the rear water cooling holes after punching out the covers, the bare metal won't possibly cut the tubing?

CM rep: Nobody we surveyed wanted to pay for the rubber grommets on the holes in the back. Our research found people use these holes for things we don't intend, and don't use them anymore. Remember Olivia Munn and G4TV?

Cyberpower Gamer Xtreme PC Review - YouTube

 

[Athlon2K15]

finally someone who actually has the case

 

[...PACMAN...]

This case is awesome, it takes ATX right? When I go to an FX 8350 this is the case for me!! Great pics by the way, love the cat sitting on the box

 

[t77snapshot]

Got mine finally all set up, this thing is a real treat to work with! I just wish the toolless drive bay holders were a bit sturdier, they don't hold my optical drive in real well. I've more parts and plans for the case in the near future including window, more lights, possible paint job, new fans, decals and other ideas but for now, this will have to do. My mATX mobo sure looks small and puny inside this case, but owell...

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b573/coldhoth/Computer/cm28.jpg

Welcome to the Haf Xb Club 1ceTr0n

Your name was been linked to you Xb rig in the OP, thanks for sharing, it looks soooo awesome! and what a beautiful kitty

finally someone who actually has the case

Haha you funny guy , well I create the same club on OCN and it's getting a lot more attention over there then here.

Btw, there is guy there that modded his psu bracket which looks nice and clean for those interested in a flush case rear design.

This case is awesome, it takes ATX right? When I go to an FX 8350 this is the case for me!! Great pics by the way, love the cat sitting on the box

Yes, it supports ATX mother boards

 

[1ceTr0n]

Haha you funny guy , well I create the same club on OCN and it's getting a lot more attention over there then here.

I'd join there also, but I've basically been permabanned from OCN. Owell

 

[Athlon2K15]

My PSU would never fit with a flushmount PSU adapter,lol

 

[1ceTr0n]

Well I wasn't happy with the original wiring job and I had some new fans to install so I set back to work tonight to make everything interior wise better.


As I said, the stock Cooler Master 120mm fans do move good air but they are loud as hell and its nothing I can stand with this case sitting next to me and try to web surf, email, work and listen to music with those twin turbines spinning. So, out they went and I replaced with with the now rare and no longer made AP-13 from Gentle Typhoons. Good airflow and MUCH more quieter at their stock 1150 RPM. I had to look all around the web for a single extra AP-13 as they are now discontinued, sad day.

As stated earlier, I wasn't happy with out loose my optical drive was in the tooless drive bay in the XB so I wanted to see if I could do anything about it. The snap on adapters come off easily so you can screw drives or adapters into that side, but the other side has no attachment point.

Anything you put into the 5.25'' bays is held by nothing but tension bars from the steel cage itself on the right side. Well, with a moments bit of thinking, I simply flexed them inwards more by about 1/4'', put bay toolless clips back on and slipped my optical drive back in and now it fits very nice and snug, no modding required!

In case you were wondering/worried about my HDD sitting on that bare steel surface, I'm using a trick I thought up a few years ago for my old case. Using some very soft silicon grommets from my old Antec Sonata 2, I use heavy double sided tape and attached to the bottom of drive. This all but eliminates any noise and vibration into the case itself and works just as well in the HAF XB.

Some day im gonna have a fully modular PSU so I have no excess cables to deal with ever again. But thankfully, the XB with all its awesome crevices, nooks and wire tie downs, I can deal with it.

Again, the ability to make clean wiring in this case is just beyond easy and simple. I decided to route my GPU power leads into the front for a cleaner appearance instead of the mobo tray. Also redid all the SATA and fan cabling for cleaner look and this case makes is so easy, its actually fun to see how clean you can make your cables with this sucker!

The outside steel amazingly is a finger print/oil magnet on this case, so i'm constantly wiping it down after handling it. I decided to continue with my ROG color theme for now and added some simple outside bling to the case. I'll later be installing a window on the top panel and possibly more lighting along with painting some parts and adding plastic washers to the thumbscrews. I may look into replacing the Dark Knight for the new Night Hawk edition or possibly a Corsair H80i for the fun of it. The case is MUCH quieter with the Gentle Typhoon AP-13's and I dont bother removing the front benzel to dust, its a pain. I just use a swifter duster every other day and wallah, no more dust on front panel! I have other others floating in my head but for now, i'm a happy camper!

 

[Athlon2K15]

It looks so empty with a mATX in there,mine is stuffed and weighs a good 60lbs

 

[p_o_s_pc]

that case looks good, I got all of the watercooling hardware for the CPU loop and a Hyper X SSD coming to me next week. Seeing these few pics of built rigs in this case makes me want Amazon to get them back in stock NOW. If by Wednesday (5th) I will spend the extra money on newegg or Tigerdirect just to get this case in my hands.

Thank you all that have provided pics,it has helped me get a mental image on how i'm going to install watercooling. Seems like my pump is going to be a tight fit, I may have the use the XSPC dual bay res and pump (x20 750 rev 4) that i first planed to use.

(i have a couple of pumps and res's,rads and even CPU blocks to mess with to see what fits the best. Great part about building 2 water cooled computers around 2 different cases, I get to mix and match to find the best fit)

 

[1ceTr0n]

It looks so empty with a mATX in there,mine is stuffed and weighs a good 60lbs

Yeah, but I simply can't justify spending the money just to replace the mobo on the account its too "small" inside the case. I can't justify the cost of going SLI for another 670 FTW and upgrading the PSU either, im just not that hardcore PC gaming anymore

 

[t77snapshot]

***awesomeness pictures with excellent build log info***

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b573/coldhoth/Computer/cmredo12.jpg

Great detailed log of your re-build 1ceTr0n, I like your tip regarding the 5.25" bay tension tabs. Also your overall red/black theme turned out awesome. That asus decal goes perfect with it too!! Thanks for sharing, I will update your linked name with the new pics.

 

[Rage33]

My Haf XB Build

I got one of these as soon as I saw it unboxed.

This was one of the more challenging cases I've built into, simply for the fact that everything has to be thought out accordingly before final install. the was no room for error after you put the motherboard back into the case, if you forget one cable or misroute a connector, you basically need to pull the MB back out to fix the issue.

I did swap all the stock fans with some cougar vortex 120mm, that I had in my last case, the stock fans are cheap and loud.

The top 200mm fan was surprisingly difficult for me to install, I have a Antec Kuhler 920 with Push/Pull and had to remove one fan on the radiator in order to squeeze the top panel back on. However I highly recommend buying the optional top fan made a big difference in overall temp, plus it looks awesome IMO.

It fit my HD7970 easily. Cable management was a bit tricky, although because of the great design airflow is absolutely top notch over the primary components. Plus Overall this case looks and performs exceptional.

 

[Crow47]

Hey all, first post but I am thrilled to see a thread for this case on here!

Just got my case last night and spent a good portion of the night transferring my computer from my old case to the XB and I have to say I freakin' love this thing!!!

I also have to say that one thing I love about this case are the dedicated 2.5" mounting bays for SSD's. This allowed me to easily mount my SSD as well as a spare 500GB notebook HDD I had laying around for extra space.

 

[1ceTr0n]

This was one of the more challenging cases I've built into, simply for the fact that everything has to be thought out accordingly before final install. the was no room for error after you put the motherboard back into the case, if you forget one cable or misroute a connector, you basically need to pull the MB back out to fix the issue.

Surprised to hear you say that, just don't attach the mobo tray screws until your sure all is in order as well as mobo cable connections, then you can simply just slide out the tray/mobo if you forget something. Lol of course, like I did, once you learn that the "hard" way you remember from that point forward. Have "layered" PC cases is something new after freaking decades of standard ATX cases, but methinks we will adapt

I did swap all the stock fans with some cougar vortex 120mm, that I had in my last case, the stock fans are cheap and loud.

Yeah, they are loud, I swapped mind out with Gentle Typhoons, its nothing new with cases have subpar included fans....

The top 200mm fan was surprisingly difficult for me to install, I have a Antec Kuhler 920 with Push/Pull and had to remove one fan on the radiator in order to squeeze the top panel back on. However I highly recommend buying the optional top fan made a big difference in overall temp, plus it looks awesome IMO.

I was tempted also, but the amount of dust/cat hair that would suck into my case would be insane, not to mention my cat also sits on top of my case at times. I'm going for a window for my setup, dunno if i'll buy Coolermasters or just make my own. I'll need something tough so it can take the weight of my kitty

 

[1ceTr0n]

Great detailed log of your re-build 1ceTr0n, I like your tip regarding the 5.25" bay tension tabs. Also your overall red/black theme turned out awesome. That asus decal goes perfect with it too!! Thanks for sharing, I will update your linked name with the new pics.

Thanks, yeah im sticking with the ROG Red/black/white/silver theme for awhile still as I've had WAAAAY to many blue themed cases over the years, i'm so sick of everything on my setup being blue so I changed it up last year on "Night Fire"

 

[Crow47]

I'm really liking the color of the red fans in the front of the case. Does anybody have a good recommendation on what I should buy? As many have noted the stock fans aren't that great and the noise level is already bothering me.

 

[t77snapshot]

Thanks, yeah im sticking with the ROG Red/black/white/silver theme for awhile still as I've had WAAAAY to many blue themed cases over the years, i'm so sick of everything on my setup being blue so I changed it up last year on "Night Fire"

wth? you replied to my quote, but it states Rage33 said it? Identity Theft!


Original quote:

Great detailed log of your re-build 1ceTr0n, I like your tip regarding the 5.25" bay tension tabs. Also your overall red/black theme turned out awesome. That asus decal goes perfect with it too!! Thanks for sharing, I will update your linked name with the new pics.

 

[1ceTr0n]

The qoute system musta got outa hand and edited the wrong one, happens all the time with this kinda forum database i've seen on lots of website.

 

[1ceTr0n]

I'm really liking the color of the red fans in the front of the case. Does anybody have a good recommendation on what I should buy? As many have noted the stock fans aren't that great and the noise level is already bothering me.

You talking about my gray fans that have the red LED strip in the back of case or Rage's that are actually orange plastic, not red? No shortage of red LED fans if thats what you want, look on reviews on frozencpu and newegg to see what will be the quietest model. I've already tried Coolermasters waveflow LED's fans and they ARE NOT quiet in the least

 

[Rage33]

re:

Surprised to hear you say that, just don't attach the mobo tray screws until your sure all is in order as well as mobo cable connections, then you can simply just slide out the tray/mobo if you forget something. Lol of course, like I did, once you learn that the "hard" way you remember from that point forward. Have "layered" PC cases is something new after freaking decades of standard ATX cases, but methinks we will adapt

Quote:
Yeah, they are loud, I swapped mind out with Gentle Typhoons, its nothing new with cases have subpar included fans....

Quote:
I was tempted also, but the amount of dust/cat hair that would suck into my case would be insane, not to mention my cat also sits on top of my case at times. I'm going for a window for my setup, dunno if i'll buy Coolermasters or just make my own. I'll need something tough so it can take the weight of my kitty[/quote]

Lol, yes definitely, I've gotten so used to standard tower cases that it took me minute to sit back and think outside of the box. I'm sold on this type of case now however, for performance and pure visual aesthetics.

Agreed, I've never bought any case expecting good fans

The window is a great idea! I've seen a couple of pics of the factory windows, but I gotta say a custom window I think would look exceptional. I have my top 200mm fan exhausting air out and the front and rear fans in-taking air, seems to do the trick.

 

[t77snapshot]

I got one of these as soon as I saw it unboxed.

Hey all, first post but I am thrilled to see a thread for this case on here!

Welcome to the XB Case Club Rage33 & Crow47 I have added your linked names to the OP, thanks for sharing!


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On another note, check out this sweet XB build log that 1ceTr0n found for us!

Click here