Gather 'round, good folk. 'Tis time for a tale of new cases from Lian-Li. Well, actually they're not *that* new as I spotted them a couple of weeks ago. For some reason or other I just couldn't manage to put up a new thread before now. First up is the PC-Z60. Of course, this case needs a big brother, so enter the PC-Z70. I have to admit that I'm not really crazy about the new front. And don't get me started on the case feet of the Z70. First time I spotted the Z60 it also had those feet, but apparently Lian-Li settled on the traditional HiFi-style case feet. Last, but not least, there's something for the M-ATX/ITX crowd, the PC-U6. They've actually done something like this before, but that goes back 5 or 6 years. And back then the case was midi tower-sized. In any case, it's what I'd diplomatically call "an acquired taste".
Re: the Z60 & Z70, I really don't get why Lian Li do that with the sideways cooling for the hard drives, they don't need two 120mm fans to cool them, the fans need to be intakes to the rest of the case. I'd bet that the GPU and CPU don't get enough air. The U6, well, umm, errr, best left unsaid isn't it...
what Fingers said while i love the look of the Z60 I very much doubt it cools very well (probably not as well as my B25). its awesome that the conch is making a comeback I always loved that. when will Lian finally just make a high airflow wind tunnel? they need one on their line up
TBH I like the U6 the most, it would look pretty attractive on a desk. ...It'll likely cost a fortune though, if we can go by the previous spiral-y case. I really like the wedges chopped off the front of the other two normal towers, nice design feature.
That's exactly what I don't like... The design used for the PC-P50 and the PC-B25F I like, but not this new design. Also, Lian-Li apparently insists on not putting any type of button or connector on the front of their cases. While this is nice if you have your case standing on the floor, it's quite the opposite if the case stands next to you on your desk.
I still can't decide whether I like the U60 as much as the previous snail case. Something about the feet just doesn't look right. Knowing Lian Li's recent pricing, it'll probably be over £100 too...
On the contrary, I prefer this newer design. The P50 looks like any other case from Antec et al. with that meshed front bezel and I wasn't keen on that front LED on the B25, it just seemed a little tacky. Cases don't need LEDs to look nice. If you're going to buy a Lian-Li over any other case on the market, then you're probably going to do so because of the build quality and the classy looks, and to my mind the newer cases are classier than many of their other recent designs.
I agree on the P50, i think it was a little bit "antecy" the B25 however looks much nicer in person than pictures. I run the leds through a fan controller and dim them to a soft glow which looks much better. I agree cases don't need LED's but used right they can look classy and not too in your face. I've just noticed the Z60 doesn't have any vents down the front of the fascia either, its going to be seriously struggling for airflow, plus that grilled wedge at the bottom is going to be very close to the carpet and will get dusted up pretty quick I would imagine with all that airflow coming through it
Due to the front fans being on the side of the hard drive cage, there is no intake on the front panel so it won't suck anything in. This is what I meant in my earlier post about lack of airflow into the m/b & GPU area of the case. All I can think of is that the top fan might be an intake? This is what is behind the front panel:
Looking at the website the fans can be used either on the side panel blowing into the HDD rack (erm, why?) or as normal intakes behind the fascia. But when you think about it the fan holes on the side of the case are not in a position where the intakes could draw air from them if they were in the typical front mounted position. EDIT: or have i misunderstood the removable fan mounting? looking at the pic i reckon so. That's even worse then! EDITEDIT: Why do manufacturers seem to worry so much about cooling HDDS? even to the stage where they sacrifice ariflow to main components? i know HDs need a bit of air over them but 2 120mm directly on top of them is overkill
You have, the "front" fans can only be mounted on either side of the HD cage. Exactly (see my first post in this thread).
the pc-u6, featuring snail design, to complement the speed of the atom processors. the pc-z60 isn't too bad looking, with a little modding to add some airflow it would be a good case, i prefer their pc-x900 over it though.
Z60: http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...ex=574&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=f Z70: http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...x=576&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=138&g=f P80N http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...x=572&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=138&g=f
