[Official] Cooler Master HAF-XB Club!

[Jamin280672]

Here's my 2 cents worth on this case, have to say, ive always used Coolermaster cases, but im especially loving this one, my last one also being a great water cooling case, the CM690 II, but will be sticking with this one until they come out with something better, however this one is gonna be hard to beat, The only mod ive made so far to the case is I removed the 5 bay 2.5" HDD cage from the case and also the small circuit board from behind the 3.5" bays, I didn't trust this too much after i'd heard a couple of stories of some drives being fried by it, I chose to remove it and go for the traditional hook up of my drives instead, ok so ive not got quick release on the drives, TBH, I don't need it.

Just to add one last thing, OMG it was extremely difficult to find a 2 x 80mm radiator for the lower back of the case here in the UK, I eventually found a store which only had 2 left and no intentions of re-stocking them, I quickly grabbed one.

My system consists of a Gigabyte G1 Sniper Motherboard (love this board soooo much), Intel Core i7 920 @ 4.2ghz, 8gb G.Skill Ripjaws (4 sticks) 2 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830's (I know they are old now but still play all the latest games so no need to upgrade yet) Gigabyte Odin 850W PSU, OCZ Agility 3 128gb SSD, WD 500GB Black HDD, Sony DVD R/RW/RAM Drive, Laing DDC pump with Alphacool Plexi Top, 1 x 160mm, 1 x 240mm & 1 x 120mm Radiators, EK extreme Black Acetyl CPU Block and finally a Zalman ZM-MFC2 Fan Controller.

 

[casetronic]

http://i.imgur.com/4YwuZTC.jpg
made a 3.5 HDD rack

Had no idea a case like this existed until a recent deal came up and couldn't pass it up. I'm not much of a gamer, I just like to tinker with new cases every now and then. Hows that 3.5 rack working out? Did you attach it to the case or just letting hang loose? I'm thinking about doing the same thing, or just installing one of these http://www.xoxide.com/evercool-armor-black.html but that'll mean no internal optical drive - not much of a change for me since I'm currently using a Silverstone FT-03.

 

[pathfindercod]

A few changes since my posting a couple months ago.

 

[atraub]

My first build with liquid cooling

Hey everyone,

My current PC is the XCLIO A380BK i.e. this full sized monster:

But, I'm moving to South Korea and I wanted to make my machine smaller and cooler, both in looks and temperature. I'm reusing most of my old components, but I'm upgrading the mobo and cpu because through a twist of fate, I have an i5-2500k cpu just collecting dust! My graphics card is a gtx 260 Black edition which still holds up very well today

Because I'm so excited about this new build, I want to implement a liquid cooling system. To keep it simple and cost effective, I'm going to use the XSPC Rasa 750 RS240 kit for this. But I'm new to this so I'm a little concerned. My plan is to put the radiator and fans in the front and then move the included fans into the back for exhaust. If I do that, will my other components suffer from lack of cool air flowing into my machine or will the tubes from my LCS absorb enough ambient heat to take care of that? Would it make sense for me to mount a fan to the top (I'm going with vent rather than the window) for cool air intake? What do you guys think?

This is my third pc build but I'm trying to plan this one out more carefully.

It's so awesome you guys have a fan club for this case. It looks amazing!

EDIT:
Also, sorry if you guys have answered these questions earlier in the thread... 10 pages is a lot to go through.

 

[bogmali]

Finally got mine put together....

 

[Spades]

Hi everyone! I'm new here and just bought my first desktop PC. Should receive the parts monday or tuesday ^^. Here are the parts I chose :

-AMD FX-8350
-ASRock 970 extreme4
-GTX 780 (Zotac, reference GC)
-8Go (2X4Go) Crucial Ballistix sport
-120go SSD + 1To Barracuda
-750 W Modular PSU

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

-HAF XB case! I just fell in love with this cube thingy (had to choose between this and the Prodigy from Bitfenix).

The big question I wanted to ask by coming here is : What do you use to paint the various parts of the case? I'm planning on painting it dark red or with a touch of dark purple, and paint a custom zombie owl design on the side panels. I do not have found any name for it yet, but as soon as the build is complete, I'll upload a bunch of pics. As for my question, what type of paint should I use? Spray paint? (Also, no custom part for me, like I've seen on the Harley Davidson build. I do not have the tools to make such parts ^^'). As for the lighting, I'll aim for something RED (yeah, red every-f***ing-where).

Thanks in advance for your answers ^^

 

[Jamin280672]

Hi everyone! I'm new here and just bought my first desktop PC. Should receive the parts monday or tuesday ^^. Here are the parts I chose :

-AMD FX-8350
-ASRock 970 extreme4
-GTX 780 (Zotac, reference GC)
-8Go (2X4Go) Crucial Ballistix sport
-120go SSD + 1To Barracuda
-750 W Modular PSU

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

-HAF XB case! I just fell in love with this cube thingy (had to choose between this and the Prodigy from Bitfenix).

The big question I wanted to ask by coming here is : What do you use to paint the various parts of the case? I'm planning on painting it dark red or with a touch of dark purple, and paint a custom zombie owl design on the side panels. I do not have found any name for it yet, but as soon as the build is complete, I'll upload a bunch of pics. As for my question, what type of paint should I use? Spray paint? (Also, no custom part for me, like I've seen on the Harley Davidson build. I do not have the tools to make such parts ^^'). As for the lighting, I'll aim for something RED (yeah, red every-f***ing-where).

Thanks in advance for your answers ^^

Nice set up, if you want to paint the case, I suggest you get it powder coated, a lot of places will do it very cheap if you strip it down for them, £24gbp for mine to be done, as for your system setup, I would avoid ASrock like the plague, nearly every system issue ive had to deal with has had an asrock board involved, serious memory compatability problems, send it back and change it for a Gigabyte or ASUS board is my advice.

 

[Spades]

Nice set up, if you want to paint the case, I suggest you get it powder coated, a lot of places will do it very cheap if you strip it down for them, £24gbp for mine to be done, as for your system setup, I would avoid ASrock like the plague, nearly every system issue ive had to deal with has had an asrock board involved, serious memory compatability problems, send it back and change it for a Gigabyte or ASUS board is my advice.

Are you sure? Do you think I might get any problem in the future? I mean, I'm not planning on OC any component (never tried actually), and this build is for creation mainly (adobe suite, 3DSmax, video editing, ...). I'll change the motherboard if there is any problem (I chose this one for its features and its price, not for its quality... >_<). This build is not meant to become a beast or anything, just a computer that will be good enough for 4 or 5 years (the length of my studies in fact). As for the paint, I'll check for that, thanks !

 

[Jamin280672]

Are you sure? Do you think I might get any problem in the future? I mean, I'm not planning on OC any component (never tried actually), and this build is for creation mainly (adobe suite, 3DSmax, video editing, ...). I'll change the motherboard if there is any problem (I chose this one for its features and its price, not for its quality... >_<). This build is not meant to become a beast or anything, just a computer that will be good enough for 4 or 5 years (the length of my studies in fact). As for the paint, I'll check for that, thanks !

Cheap boards for a reason, good to look at but that's about as far as it goes, i'd never buy one through my experiences of trying to fix other peoples, just either make sure your RAM that your buying is on the boards memory compatibility list on the boards manufacturing site ie ASrock, or get another board.

 

[Spades]

I checked the compatibility of the board with the RAM I bought. Everything seems to be ok, so I guess I'll keep this motherboard for now. I'll have to change when I swap my FX 8350 with a i7 anyway, so it can wait . But thanks again for the warnings ^^ I'll make sure to choose a MSI or ASUS one (Gygabyte too, maybe .)

 

[Jamin280672]

I checked the compatibility of the board with the RAM I bought. Everything seems to be ok, so I guess I'll keep this motherboard for now. I'll have to change when I swap my FX 8350 with a i7 anyway, so it can wait . But thanks again for the warnings ^^ I'll make sure to choose a MSI or ASUS one (Gygabyte too, maybe .)

I only buy Gigabyte boards

 

[simroz]

My first HAF XB watercool loop

Im a noob here but wanted to show off my haf xb (Which is the best pc case i have purchased, compact, water cooling support, fits full size mobo, looks cool, etc....)

Running an i7 3770k (@4.4Ghz)
Asrock z77 OC Formula Mobo
16Gb Gskill Trident-X 2666Mhz CL11 (@1600 CL8 due to cpu limitation....)
120Gb Kingston SSD (OS), 500Gb 2.5 SATA3 HDD (Storage)
Gigabyte windforce 7970 OC (Crap cooler, crap custom pcb with no full cover water block) 1000/1375 stock, currently 1050/1500 (need to flash BIOS to unlock voltage control)
Corsair GS800 V2 PSU
XSPC Raystorm 750 EX240 water cooling kit with XSPC universal GPU block and a RX120 radiator (60mm thick)
Aerocool Shark Fans throughout...
Custom cowling to channel airflow as Shark fans have high CFM but not focused flow so air comes out in a 'V' pattern and i needed to try to cool VRMs, caps and VRAM modules, second duct is an exhaust with 2x 50mm fans.

This is my first attempt at a custom water loop.

Incidentally I was running the RAM at 2666 with an i5 3570K, so maybe my 3770K is a dud?

 

[Killer_Rubber_Ducky]

I'm thinking of switching to the XB from my 600T. I need portability and size reduction. How do they compare in size? My 600T next to the HAF XB. I want to put the XB on my desk so I would like to know roughly how much room it takes up. Also, is there a way to replace the 2.5" cage with a 3.5" cage? I have more Platter drives than SSDs. I would love a Prodigy but I still use ODDs and I have an H100i.

 

[Sasqui]

Rig is packed! Whats with the yellow shroud?

Incidentally I was running the RAM at 2666 with an i5 3570K, so maybe my 3770K is a dud?

Could be voltages or XMP loaded profiles. What did you try?

 

[simroz]

Rig is packed! Whats with the yellow shroud?

That is to channel as much airflow as possible over the video card. This is because i rma'dd a ref card (msi oc) and got a gigabyte windforce 7970 back (was not very happy) hence had to use a universal water block and heatsinked the VRAM. Luckily the VRMs already has a heatsink but airflow was the issue. I have learned heaps by doing this pc (its a test run for my bigger project) but i should have gotten focused airflow fans, Aerocool shark fans have high cfm but push air out almost sideways, that is why i put channels in the shroud. VRAM dropped by about 10C by doing this.

Could be voltages or XMP loaded profiles. What did you try?

This is the story (don't judge me....lol), i tried to delid my i5 3570k (awesome cpu but ran hot, bout 70-75C under prime 95) so basically i F***ed it! not sure exactly what i did wrong, was doing the blade method and i think i may have put too much pressure on it or maybe static (room had carpet?). So i figured i would do an upgrade as i needed a cpu. Previously the i5 used xmp profiles no problem, 4.5Ghz on the cpu, 2666Mhz RAM, stable and happy days! When i put the 3770k i think it worked ok for an hour or so until i started over-clocking the 7970 (only clocks, no volts - had hwmonitor to check but gigabytre wf oc 1000_1375 is volt locked in bios) then after a crash the pc would not post anymore.
Power on, no post, would auto reset, pwr on, no post, auto reset, pwr on, bios option w/ message saying had failed multiple posts. Go into bios and ram set to standard config, trying to run it at 2666 yeilds same results every time - no post. so i figure F*** it, and just ran it at 1600 (shouldnt matter for games right?) but ran quicker timings (CL8 8 8 21 i think) so it seems quicker (original timings CL11 12 11 - i do not have the pc in front of me). But no xmp profiles will work. I was wondering if i turn hyper threading off will that give me a chance to run ram faster? Literally i just swapped cpu over but now in device manager there is a video related device (CPU onboard VGA?) but i have just disabled it. I know CPU come out with different oc ability and my 3770k IMC seems a bit weak (running it @ 4.4Ghz w/1.25V), not sure but im spewin i tried to delid my i5, that CPU was a trooper!

Also ram runs @ 1.65V and i read somewhere 3770k IMC does not like Volts over 1.5, but is running ok, im sure the problem is frequency related.

Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated...

 

[effa114]

Cooling questions

Hey everyone,

Planning my HAF XB build. Loving the case concept and construction.

As for cooling, I'd thought I'd decided on the Noctua NH-D14, but now I'm wondering about closed-loop. Would the Kraken X40 fit? I understand it's a single 140mm fan, and from what I can tell there's no single 140mm fan position on the case, only one that says you can mount 2x140mm on the front. (according to official specs here: http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/case/lan-box/haf-xb.html)

I ask because the X60 is much pricier.

If the X40 doesn't work, would the H100i be a better alternative than the Noctua?

Thanks so much!

Cheers,
Ben

 

[GreiverBlade]

little change

 

[k1llc0r3]

My little build

My amazing cube sports a Amd 8350 auto tuned at 4 Ghz per core, Asus Sabertooth 990fx rev 2.0, 32 Gb Corsair Extreme performance ddr 3 18000mhz 4x8 gb, 2x Amd 7850 in crossfire, cooling i went with a thermaltake water 2.0 cooler with a few extra fans i have added to ensure it stays cool but quiet. i also have this running on a lg 47" led 120 Hz tv.
120 mm fans
3x be quiet fans
2x stock thermaltake fans
3x coolermaster stock fans
2x 80 mm thermaltake fans

hdds
3x seagate 4tb hdd
2x samsung 845 ssd 256 gb
2x western digital 3 tb black caviar

steelseries merc kb for at home
razer tarlantula for my lan partys
steel series karma mouse and steel series mouse pad for home
razer tron mouse and mouse pad for lan party

platonics headset, afterglow wireless and beats headphones for jamming out

tell what yall think? i think i am going to start to cut some of the honeycomb mesh out and place in some uv reactive plexi and dremel a honey comb design with the plexi and repaint the case as well. i think i may also change the leds to the fans and replace fans to be quiet series fans. the color change inside may stay with blue possibly.

 

[t77snapshot]

OP UPDATE:

Welcoming our new members to the XB Case Club!

Jamin280672

bogmali

Spades

simroz

GreiverBlade

k1llc0r3

Thank you for sharing

~T77~

 

[Shou Miko]

last weekend i took my computer apart and moved alittle around and tried doing some more cabling even i sucks at it tbh

but this i how it turned out:

the specs can be seen under System Specs

 

[GreiverBlade]

last weekend i took my computer apart and moved alittle around and tried doing some more cabling even i sucks at it tbh

but this i how it turned out:

http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac53/puma99dk/HAF_XB/CAM00039_zpsc7ffb9c6.jpg

the specs can be seen under System Specs

nice use of the place left on a mATX board for the SSD i've put my mATX "nostalgia" build in my HAF XB too thanks for the idea

 

[Shou Miko]

thx GreiverBlade, i got the Windowed top so i was like, why not just show it off even it's only 240gb

 

[kithylin]

I've almost been a little afraid to post this and write this publicly as I'll probably be laughed off the internet but whatever.

I've been wanting to do a custom computer build for quite a number of years. Most of the reason I never got in to it was the time factor. Then money. But now a days lots of custom computer options are actually -QUITE- a lot cheaper than they used to be years ago. And I have more spare time than I know what to do with now a days, so.. the time is right and I'll be building a really customized custom computer.

Recently I went to my local Fry's Electronics (large warehouse-style brick`n`mortar store like best buy) and I went to their computer cases and spent several hours just looking through the different cases. Sticking my paws inside, taking the panels off, taking the bezels off. Trying to envision in my mind how water cooling setups would work in various cases.

After all that time and all the different cases out there, I finally settled on the Cooler Master HAF XB as my choice. I don't know why.. I think it's cute and I fell in love with it. I like the little SSD rack in the bottom, I was thinking I could put 4 x 32 GB SSD's in there and raid-0 em for OS drive. A 2 x 5.25" resivoir+pump combo one side, and two large-capacity 3.5" hard drives (I'd probably remove and won't even use that hotswap thing) It's just.. the layout, the airflow design.. the radiator placement, everything is just perfect with the HAF XB. Not to mention the carrying handles!

I'll probably be buying it in about 2 months and start down the path of building this thing.

Now the laughable part... what I plan to put in it: P45-based motherboard (That's right, LGA-775 with DDR2). And I plan to paint it internally and externally. And the other laughable part, what I plan to paint it with: Probably a high-gloss aerosol can of some color or other from walmart. I know you're usually supposed to sand it and strip it down and stuff, but I was probably just planning to do it cheap and just paint over the black that it comes in and go with it.

I plan to go dual-rad custom-loop water cooling, and aim for some significant overclocking of various 775 chips, dual cores, quads.. try a few xeons and desktop chips. You can buy these quads for < $30 each used on ebay these days. The dual cores are < $20 each. I know I can get 5ghz at least on a couple dual cores I already have, and just maybe see 4.8 - 5 on some quads depending how well it cools. I thought it'd be fun to throw a few various 775 chips in there and try to clock the ever-living crap out of em and see what they can do.

It's just for fun and giggles. Also I have a pair of mis-matched HD 4890's to use in it.

I might consider starting up a separate build thread, depending on the response to my post here. We'll see.

 

[micropage7]

I'm thinking of switching to the XB from my 600T. I need portability and size reduction. How do they compare in size? My 600T next to the HAF XB. I want to put the XB on my desk so I would like to know roughly how much room it takes up. Also, is there a way to replace the 2.5" cage with a 3.5" cage? I have more Platter drives than SSDs. I would love a Prodigy but I still use ODDs and I have an H100i.

you can make it ghetto hdd slot, or do modding a little
i guess its like 2 and half desktop case
so it takes much space but i like it

 

[GreiverBlade]

Now the laughable part... what I plan to put in it: P45-based motherboard (That's right, LGA-775 with DDR2).

laughable part?

my HAF XB currently have a mATX Asus M3N78-CM AM2+ board with a Phenom X4 9600B, 4gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800Mhz and a MSI N460GTX Hawk. (note: the Macho isn't in currently i need to find a new cooler)