Hardware Lian Li PC-9

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/12/12/lian-li-pc-9-review/1

Lian Li is back with its latest all aluminium chassis, the PC-9. Cramming space for an ATX motherboard, and four hot-swap hard disks into a very compact design, we take a look to see whether the PC-9 is small and perfectly formed or the runt of the Lian Li litter.

 

you say the build quality is better in akasa or some other case manufacturer, how is it better?

 

I understand the consistency for the comparisons, but I wish you'd chuck in the 4 HDDs or whatever they claim the case can do then stress the thing for 24hours to see if i really can cope with all the heat!

 

£170??? A PC-7 is £70 ish. It has some very nice features, but I'm not a fan of having grills allover the front. My PC would be full of dust inside an hour.

 

No removable motherboard tray?! It is a godsend. Can't believe they'd do one without that, especially this small.

Been looking for a dinky little Lian Li to complement my Lian Li fulltower, I guess I can scratch this one off the list.

 

Lian-Li seem to be all over the place these days. I've bought two cases from them in the past, and both were excellent, so this is unfortunate.

They should probably stop trying to release a new case every other week, rein in their designers and start concentrating on a core set of products with the old emphasis on quality.

 

i love my PC-07B, but i wouldn't want to spend an extra £100 for what is essentially the same size case with merely hard drive case and bottom mounted PSU. Can't see where the extra £100 goes i;m afraid, the PC-07 would still be my first choice, even though i already have one!!!

 

Lian-Li = overrated. Too much money, not enough quality imo. Drop the prices a bit and I'll consider it. I would not pay over $120 for this even if it is all aluminum.

 

I don't see how this can score 4 on value, its £170 for a standard ATX case!!, its doesn't even bring anything new to the table really.

You would have to be stupid to spend that much on a case with such little room for expansion or cooling upgrades. Save your money and get the antec three hundred instead, it has much more room for expansion and better air flow capabilities, and it only costs ~£40.

 

Wow, I really can't see how this case is £140 better then my Antec 300. Sure it doesnt have a fancy lockable hotswap sata door but it does have a giant easily removable and cleanable dust filter that covers both the optional 120mm fans and the PSU on the bottom.

Which leads me to question, why didnt the 300 ever get a review?

 

Did I just read that you can get a Cooler Master case for 15 pounds? Or is that meant to say 15 pounds more..?

 

The ease of removing and refitting panels (the PC-9 was very stiff and scrapey), the quality of finish (Lian Li uses what I like to call "sticky" aluminium - when you run your fingers over it they stick and it's a finger print magnet), the Lian Li uses thinner aluminium than the competitors too making for a case which, while solid, you wouldn't want to knock about too much for fear of denting it. In fact our review sample had been slightly dented during transit, and it's precisely for this reason. Aluminium is a very soft metal and if it's not thick enough it'ss easily deformed.

In comparison the cases from Akasa and Coolermaster are much more hard waring and tougher thanks to the use of thicker and better finished aluminium.

Hope that answers your question

 

fixed - ta!

 

Lets face it save your cash and go back to a good old Lian Li PC 60

 

That's a bit disappointing really.
If you were in the market for a case of this size, but cheaper and better, what would you go for?

 

Antec Three Hundred, far better and retails for just ~£40(inc VAT) at the moment.

 

170 is sick... thats the price of a Lian Li A77...

 

qft. i just got mine from the post office, and it's pretty awesome. light yet solid, simple design with tons of airflow. now if i could just get my PSU working again so i could turn it on and see how loud it is.

the hot-swap bay on this lian is pretty sick. i want that. although i'm guessing that's where a large portion of the expense of the case comes from.

 

I was looking for a smaller case to build a PC in for my uncle, nothing overly powerful, this may be a contender or.

I think if you reverse the fan on the HDD rack so it is drawing from the left of the case and expelling from the right you would get better temps in the case. The air would "bleed" through the HDD rack and help to cool the other components slightly, you could always use a higher rpm fan for additional cooling.

 

But how much would you actually use it?