First Look: Lian Li XB01 - Xbox 360 Case

Lian Li XB01 Unboxing

At full speed that's not silent, but it's a decent airflow for something a lot quieter than the original 70mm 360 fans. It's worth noting though that the 360 dynamically scales the speed according to the internal temperatures anyway, so it'll likely often run a lot less than full.

Our initial impressions of the XB01 are pretty positive - it looks pretty pimp and should fit much better into a home theatre environment than the vanilla Xbox 360, though we do have a few immediate concerns. The case is made of the same durable black brushed aluminium as many other Lian Li cases we've reviewed recently like the Tyr-X2000 and Lancool K7, so it is still very susceptible to finger prints and scratches and no microfibre cloth is thrown in.

The entire front section of the case is black mesh to help improve on the 360's infamously limited airflow, and the single 120mm cooling fan gets a cooling "hood" to hopefully silence your console while still keeping it cooler.


Both the rear and the front of the case have all the necessary pre-cut slots for power and external connectivity and Lian Li also include pre-cut holes for watercooling if you want to take modding your Xbox 360 to an even higher level. One concern however is that not all the hatches for access to the front sockets are sprung and to be honest after the initial novelty has worn off they do come across very shoddy and appear to be made without much thought.

The two USB ports for example are so far recessed you may need a torch to see what you're doing, and the flap that hides them is twice as big as it needs to be. It's obviously been built to a cost - a very reasonable cost, but it doesn't feel like the usually high Lian Li level attention to detail.


However, other than our concerns about fingerprints and sprung hatches, the XB01 certainly seems to be a very strong, durable case on the face of things. Every panel fits together securely and all edges are all well machined. While we criticise the flaps, we have to admit they fit well and are magnetically held in place keeping things neat and flush.

Rich: Having watched Harry literally just finished building it and turning it on, our initial impressions to the noise are that without a game in the drive the Xbox is finally, truly silent. It's incredible. Drop a DVD in and it's also very quiet. As soon as you drop a game in the DVD drive though then it spins up and the whole thing deafens you again. Until Microsoft allow games to be played off the hard drive, there seems to be little cure for the inherent DVD issue. It's already known that you can't swap it for a new drive.

Come back in a few days time to check out our full review of the XB01 - including a photo guide to how we disassembled an Xbox 360 and transplant it into its new aluminium home, as well as temperatures and further thoughts on our experiences with it and potential ways to mod it further!

Wish us luck and drop your thoughts and initial impressions in the forums.