Outside

What makes the HAF XB stand out from everything else that we have had come into the office is its unique shape. With dimensions of 18 inches wide 13 inches tall and 16.7 inches deep its actually considerably wider than tall or deep. There are only a few cases with a similar size, almost all of them are actually open air test benches, and Danger Den also makes their water box in all acrylic. That is where the HAF XM is a little different. Cooler Master calls it a test bench / case. It has the layout of a test bench but gives you a full shell and case features like power buttons and front USB 3.0 ports.

Around front you have the full HAF treatment with its industrial look. You can see the case’s two front mounted 120mm fans through the large mesh area on the top half of the front. Below that you have the front I/O panel with two USB 3.0 ports, audio connections, and then large power and reset buttons. Unlike other cooler master cases, the power and reset buttons have a very short throw, previous cases normally require being pushed in farther for them to turn the computer on. The bottom half of the front houses two 5.25 inch drive bays and two hard drive hot swaps. They all have mesh covering them, so when they aren’t in use they provide extra ventilation.

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Up top I am reminded of the side panel on the Storm Sniper with a raised section and mesh. You can see a few extra fan mount holes on the panel as well.

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Both sides of the case are mirrored and share the same ventilation covering half of the side panel. Both side panels also have carrying handles built into them to make the XB easier to move around as needed.

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Around back we can finally start to see the XB’s layout. The power supply uses a bracket that sticks out of the back of the case a little under an inch. We have seen this before; it’s great that you can install the power supply from outside of the case. But I always feel like it was a little bit of an after thought with it sticking out like that. There are three fan vents, one 120mm and two 80mm as well as a vent over top of the PCI slots as well.  Speaking of the PCI Slots you have 7 total, with each being vented as well for the maximum airflow. If you need water cooling or if you have a motherboard that doesn’t support internal USB, Cooler Master did leave holes for those as well. But unlike the past they have left the knock outs in for now, giving the case a cleaner look, unless you actually need them.

You can also see from here how the top and two side panels all slide off after removing their thumbscrews.

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The bottom of the XB is much like any other case on the market, just considerably wider. Each corner has large rubber feet to keep the case firmly planted no matter what. You can also see the removable filter that slides in under the power supply as well. Ironically because of the power supply bracket, the handle is hard to reach without lifting the case up. It’s a good thing you shouldn’t have to get to it often. 

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #28425 13 Nov 2012 21:54
cooler masters latest offering
Myndmelt's Avatar
Myndmelt replied the topic: #28426 13 Nov 2012 22:16
Wow, that really would make a nice test bench case, with lots of room to work inside! B)

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