Change of case + some additions - HAF XB

GeezerButler · 30 Dec 2012 at 23:51

Just a few pics of my (re)build. Moved my existing rig into a HAF XB, added a second GPU and upgraded PSU. These pics show the rig with Kingston RAM which has now migrated to another rig and been replaced with Corsair Vengeance (still 16GB). Power supply is Seasonic 850W Gold and GPUs are 2 x evga GTX670SC 4GB. This is a great case for lazy builders like me as you can hide all the cabling mess in the bottom half under the mobo

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Anyway - here's the pics....

Also added a BitFenix Spectre Pro at the top (exhaust - but mainly there as a light source). Changed front fans for 2 x 120mm Silverstone Air Penetrators. Also fitted DEMCIFlex filters at the front. CoolIT also has a 120mm AP. All fans hooked to Lamptron fan controller. All drives Crucial SSDs - 1 x 64GB C300, 1 x 128GB C300 and 2 x 256GB M4. Still have to put my Asus Xonar back in...forgot about that

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GeezerButler · 3 Feb 2013 at 15:08

Thanks for the interest guys. Made a few changes so a few more pics which hopefully will help answer some of the points about rad space:

Have changed front fans to BitFenix Spectre Pros:

Changed mobo to ASRock Z77 Extreme4. The Gigabyte Z68 was doing my head in with double posting and would not run my RAM at 1866MHz. Plus I wanted to try out TRIM on the Z77 chipset with my 2 x 256GB Crucial M4 SSDs:

And this shot hopefully shows the clearance at the front panel for a rad:

The video cards are 9.5 inch cards. The gap from front panel to video card is 9.3cm. Gap front panel to mobo front edge is 11.5cm (but note the ASRock is slimmer than most ATX boards - only 21.8cm).

As for the hose length - not really sure how to quantify this. All I can really say is that on my mobo the distance from the front edge of the CPU socket to the front panel is 19.5cm - not sure if that helps or not.

Someone asked about the extension cables - they're a mixture of NZXT and BitFenix.

Also added in my Xonar in between the EVGAs. Changed the CPU rad fan to a Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm (currently running at 1100rpm). CPU maxes at about 64 degrees under IBT. Haven't measured GPU temps yet, but not had any instability and no undue fan noise.

Thanks for the compliments about the tidy build - however all credit is to CoolerMaster as all the cable mess is hidden in the bottom half

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GeezerButler · 3 Feb 2013 at 20:09

Xonar is PCI - came over from previous rig. Doesn't interfere with the fan intake on the primary GPU so doesn't seem to be causing an issue at present.

Noisier than previous - but then that was a Corsair 550D so wasn't expecting it to be quieter. Went for this case when I went SLI as thought I might get better airflow. Fan controller helps a lot as I can knock all the fans down to minimum when I want it silent.

GeezerButler · 4 Feb 2013 at 20:12

Gazanimal - yes Spectre 200mm Pro. Have to be careful with the top fan if you use one - the screw mounts are recessed and make the fan fit quite low in the case. That meant that I couldn't fit in my Megahalems Black

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The filter is actually 2 x 120mm filters that I already had. I would have used the one you linked to if I hadn't already had them. Actually, the front mesh on the case does a better job than I expected as the inner filters don't get very dusty at all - most of it gets trapped on the outside of the front panel.

Some good HAF-XB stuff here:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175871

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1730019&highlight=haf

And this guy's going radiator crazy with his:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1730485&highlight=haf