Introduction

I've always wanted a universal front bay where I can mount 12 cm fans, or a special bay that would allow me to mount a single row water-cooling radiator or even a watercooler. Well, I'm still waiting for the latter two, but the universal front bay is a reality right now.

To be honest, Lian Li have been making front bays with fans in them long before the EX-33, like the Lian Li EX-24 for example. However, I didn't consider the Lian Li EX-24 because it was just horrendously ugly and reminded me of MG cars from the 1950s.

At the same time the Lian Li EX-24 was released, Scythe from Japan also released a similar front bay called Karma. I have yet to review it, but it is a pretty ugly affair with gaps on the sides. Yes, some things are actually worth buying for their appearances!

The Lian Li EX-33 is a front bay replacement designed to accommodate 3 hard drives while providing cooling for them using a 12cm fan. It's also designed to lower noise levels from hard drive vibration, improve cooling and among other things, give you a better-looking bezel.

The Lian Li EX-33

The Lian Li EX-33 came in a pretty ugly box. Very much standard Lian Li fare. Quite like ThermalRight's plain brown cardboard box, but at least this box has pictures on it, and of course, color printing. Let's open the box up and see what's in there!

Inside, you will find the Lian Li EX-33 sitting there all alone. Lian Li did not even bother to protect it with styrofoam packaging or at least a plastic bag. There is also a pack of screws and grommets, as well as a fan adapter for the AMP Mate N Lok (known to most as Molex) connector.

Now, let's take a closer look at the Lian Li EX-33.