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Lian Li PC-V600 Mid-Tower Case
Introduction
Hushed tones. That what people use when they say Lian Li. They're a strange eastern company with peculiar, often exotic designs carved out of aluminum sheets. They also make normal cases. I had a little love at first sight moment with the PC-V600. I heart efficient cases, see. I like the idea of using all the slots on a motherboard--CF and SLI predate over me like that. So while I see and appreciate big, breezy cases with room for a dozen hard drives, I really want the little ones, like Silverstone's SG-03, because you can use the whole thing. Of course, anything Shuttle is a given that way. Lian Li's PC-V600 has a lot in common with those cases, because it's compact. It has just enough room for an ATX computer, nothing more, nothing less. Well, I guess mATX'll work, too. This is not really an exotic case. It's reverse-ATX, with the expansion slots above the processor and the door on the wrong side. It just doesn't have a lot of free space--an elegant proposition, if done correctly--something that can sometimes end disastrously. This case is about precise design, and having a computer that you can stick on top of the desk. Ah, yesteryear. It doesn't hurt that it's all-aluminum and class. First Looks The whole case weighs about 12lbs. That's pretty cool, actually--it's definitely strong, just very, very lightweight. The case isn't much larger than a mATX mid-tower. A little fatter, mostly. It has four external 5.25" bays and one 5.25"-to-3.5" adapter, some buttons on the front, and a lot of mesh. The swept lines are contrasted by the case doors, which are toothed like gears all the way 'round. They're thick, too, about 1/8". You can easily see through the blackened exterior into the reflective, raw aluminum insides. The bay covers are thin and there are slight gaps between them. They're also not screwed in place before shipping, and one had loosened and bent--not a huge deal, since there are only so many people who need all four, but not an inspired effort-saver.       On the working door (the other's removable, you just don't have to) there are two large meshed-over openings. The lower is an air intake for the power supply and the the upper the vent for the case's only exhaust fan; the intake is at the front and blows at the hard drives. About every non-load-bearing surface is hole-punched: the bottom and back of the chassis are all see-through. The front I/O panel is, er, on the top. The power and HDD activity lights are just below the power and reset buttons, both metal set inside chrome rings. The lights just sit behind the mesh front, above the Lian Li case badge, which isn't so large as to uglify the front any. The case door is held on by a latch that's secured with a server-style thumbscrew that won't completely unscrew; it hangs in place so you don't lose it. The latch, though, I was a bit worried, because it took a lot of force to open the door, and then once the latch was released, it took even more cajoling to pull the door off. It's that there are very low tolerances, and everything fits, you know, snug. The only plastic inside the case are the hard drive rails and the cable-ties. Foreseeing serious cable management issues, Lian Li includes two more with the accessories. The accessories are pretty complete, even going so far as including a screwdriver for the motherboard stand-offs--that's a keeper for sure. There are no extras, unfortunately. I always like to see spare screws. The feet are chrome disks with aluminum caps and rubber pads. No expense spared. Both fans are average; not too fast or loud, not silent, but they are, conveniently enough, 3-pin fans with 4-pin Molex adapters, so it's easy to run them quiet through motherboard headers.
Page 1: Introduction and First Looks
Page 2: Inside the Case Page 3: Cooling, Quality Check & Conclusion 
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