A Closer Look - Outside

When taking a look at the enclosure for the first time, it is apparent that Lian-Li is behind the whole thing. The rounded design, perforated front and build quality is identical to the manufacturer's PC cases. The front is mainly perforated to allow for more air flow, while both sides are made of solid pieces. The rear aluminum sheet is also solid, only featuring cutouts for the fan and connectors of the console.


In front you will find three openings. The one to the left covers the optical drive. In the center are the memory card slots along with the pairing and optical drive eject button. To the right is another door, covering the USB ports. The power button is surrounded by a ring just like the Xbox 360, which also lights up accordingly. The large cover to the right of the chassis only protects the two USB plugs found in the front of the console. So if you open this cover, you are greeted by two bare plugs on the PCB, not a very nice sight.


The rear has all the openings for the various connections of the Xbox 360 console. Starting on the left, there is the power button and a large 120 mm fan. This unit replaces the two smaller fans found inside the original casing of the console. Using such a large fan hopefully has a positive impact on overall noise level. Right next to the fan are holes to route water cooling out of the chassis. Below that are two, somewhat crude square openings for the additional USB & Ethernet connectivity and the proprietary AV connector of the console. Lian-Li has provided a fairly solid sticker to place on this larger hole, as there are two variants of the console - one with HDMI and one without. We will be using the latter version for this review, which is also the older kind of the two.