Xtender's Cystal XBOX Case Review

By Brakken, November 2005
Introduction

I have been reviewing a overabundance of custom molded replacement cases in the last few months and have gotten a pretty good feel for what to expect when it comes to the good and the bad, but after installing Team Xtender’s Crystal Blue XBOX case I began to wonder what the other companies had done wrong as it is the most well built, compatible and easy to install case I have ever laid my hands on.

Team Xtender, well known for their line of very successful XBOX modifications has recently released a series of Crystal replacement cases for the system which come in red, white and blue varieties. In this review I will be focusing in on the Crystal Blue version that I obtained from Extreme-Mods.

Features

Full Replacement Case
Compatible with all XBOX versions (JAP/NTSC/PAL)
Superb Quality Design in Parallel with the 'Real Thing'
Unique 'XCM' DVD Panel and Jewel Fixtures

Contents

Top Half of Case
Front Panel
Bottom Half of Case
DVD Front Panel
Custom Transparent XCM Jewel
Bottom Pads

Assembly

To take apart the XBOX you’ll be in need of Torx 10 and 20 bits which can be found at any local hardware store. Once locating the screws which are conveniently located underneath the warranty stickers and case feet (pads) I simply lifted the top off. After this I removed the internal contents of the XBOX and set them aside.

Next I removed the metal shielding from the original case bottom and fitted it into the new case. I found it easier to do this by temporally bending up one of the small metal pins that attach to each peg, moving over the shielding and then bending the pins back into place. Unlike any other case I’ve installed so far I had not run into any issues such as alignment or incompatible screw posts that needed to be removed.

After this I took the old front panel off of the original case and moved the reset and power mechanism into the new blue panel. I was also very impressed to see that the blue control panel comes with its own custom buttons so there was no need to use the old silver ones.

Now I replaced the motherboard, power assembly and then controller ports. Each fit and screwed down with no issues. After this I snapped off the old DVD drive front and snapped the new one on. Next came the DVD and hard drive; still with no issues. Finally the top was set on and then screwed on.

It was a simple process and everything went smoothly. Unlike other replacement cases the final screw posts used to secure the last six screws down with came with safety threading in them so there would be no issues with stuck and/or misaligned screws.

In the end the case installed without one single problem and looked fantastic, but due to my extensive collection of modifications I wasn’t far from done. Extreme-Mods had also sent me a matching Xecuter Control Panel which I set off to install.

Modding Madness

Xecuter’s Control Panel is a custom panel that interfaces directly with their Xecuter 3 CE modchip and will let you control various functions by external switches including which BIOS to boot from, the ability to lock your modchip and it also has LED’s to display the hard drive, LAN and modchip status. The control panel also comes with two built in USB ports and a 4 line LCD display for applications which can output to this device such as the XBOX Media Center (XBMC).

If you’re interested in learning more about the Xecuter 3 CE and/or the Xecuter Control Panel make sure to read my separate reviews of each unit. As I’ve already reviewed them I will skip most of the technical details, but give you a brief overview of the process then present to you the finished product.

Once I was satisfied with the original Blue case I took the top back off and then removed the old front panel. Even though I was impressed with the blue buttons I wanted to use the silver ones from the original case. I switched over the buttons and the power button assembly. After connecting the required wires to interface the control panel with the modchip I snapped it onto the blue case and put the top back on.

I turned the system on and the Control Panel worked like a charm. I tested it out using XBMC and the LCD worked fine. Then I booted the newly released SXB Linux distribution to test out the USB ports and both my keyboard and mouse operated flawlessly. I made sure to check out this ISO-420 Reviews website using FireFox from the XBOX and the page displayed perfectly.

Well, I could of stopped there, but I said “what the heck” and decided to install Team Xtender’s Xtender kit which if you weren’t aware of will let you switch between hard drives allowing you to use three of them in your XBOX which is really handy if you would like to keep your stock hard drive for XBOX Live gaming and then throw in an additional terabyte or so of storage space.

Conclusion

Due to the fact that I have had my fair bit of experience with replacement cases in the last few months I have grown accustomed to their ups and downs, but after installing the Crystal Blue XBOX Case by Team Xtender I still wonder what the other companies are doing wrong as it’s the most well built, compatible and easy to install case I’ve ever laid my hands on.


Links

Team Xtender's Homepage
-=[ Xtender Crystal Case Review Discussion Thread ]=-

Product(s) were received from the website above. ISO-420 will always link back to whomever sent the product(s) *respect*, but please remember that the reviews are independently written by our staff and are not subject to alteration by whomever supplies us with the review product(s).