Cooler Master HAF XB Review 12

Cooler Master HAF XB Review

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Value & Conclusion

  • The Cooler Master HAF XB sells for just around 90 euros including Taxes, or 100 USD excluding them.
  • Very good price
  • Well shuffled interior
  • Large handles make it quite easy to transport
  • Three panels of the case can be removed
  • Removable motherboard tray
  • Two hard drive hot-swap bay with well-engineered trays
  • Can hold four additional 2.5" and two 5.25" drives
  • Can fit 120 or 240 mm radiators
  • Front drive-bay covers easily removable
  • Two 120 mm fans, well-balanced in terms of noise/air flow
  • Plenty of zip ties and routing possibilities for cables
  • Large power button
  • PSU dust filter
  • Not as accessible as pure test benches
  • 2.5" bays hard/nearly impossible to fill
  • No USB 2.0 - may be of interest for testers
  • Screw-less system does not work that well for ODDs
  • No dust filter on some intake fan locations
  • Rear motherboard area recessed
  • No 140 or 280 radiator support
  • No external 3.5" bay
  • No internal 3.5" bays
The Cooler Master HAF XB clocks in at a good price right out of the gates - even as a traditional chassis and not a test bench. The fact that it is also intended as a bench means that Cooler Master aimed to combine the best of both worlds, and they have done so quite well, I might add!
On top of that, you may carry the system around easily thanks to the handles - while its internals are still protected. Try doing that with a Dimastech unit. Granted, traditional, completely open benches will remain the choice for hardcore enthusiasts and tinkerers, but the HAF XB pretty much finds the golden middle and offers a very good set of features on top of a great implementation.
The two hot-swap bays and its tool-less assembly and radiator support are the perfect feature set for this case. I only miss USB 2.0 connectivity and a real 3.5 inch bay with 140 or 280 mm radiator support. Luckily, all of these points - besides large rad support, which is quite niche anyways - can be remedied. A 5.25" card reader with USB 2.0 ports can be had on the cheap and will fit nicely into the second drive bay. Having to buy such an extra hurts even less considering that the HAF XB clocks in at 50 Euro less than pure, open bench tables of this type.
The original Cooler Master Lab Test Bench was no good, but this Cooler Master HAF XB does pretty much everything right - well done!
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Jan 7th, 2025 06:09 EST change timezone

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