Cases Help me find a case (Lian PC-B25F pics and benchmarks)

haha thanks man, cheers for all the advice through this difficult time *sob*

aye nothing wrong with a bit of perfection imo you say you have grown to like it the blue ring? not sure whether ima plug it in or not will see when it gets here, im also hatching a dastardly plan to run it through the fan controller so i can dim it, we'll see if its feasible on arrival.

 

I'll be intersted in seeing your reaction to this when you get it mate, because I'm re-casing one of my most used machines shortly and your thread just put the B25 on my shortlist of cases to choose from Whichever one I choose needs to handle an i7 930 on a hefty overclock, a bank of 1900MHz DDR3 RAM and a couple of hot 260's

 

aye no probs im probably gonna do some temps and stress testing before and after. dont know how my rig will compare to yours tbh but it runs fairly toasty atm, hence the new case.

 

Good luck with the build. I assure, you would be pleased with the case. do post the pics and results.

 

....
If the blue ring has LEDs, I'm not sure you can dim it simply, eg by reducing the voltage.
But if your dastardly plan works, please let us all into the secret.

 

ok people it arrived at 9.00AM, so been messing about since then (lots of cable management). i got the stealth bay cover, but not the fan controller which should be coming next week.

i have to say i really loved the case even from initial impressions, pictures cant give you any idea of the fit and finish and the natural beauty of the metal. its understated but still a real stunner, people in the know will know you've spent a few quid

first off i know you're all hungry for pics!!



before i started working on it, just to give an idea without the light on



k this is with the rig inside, ive actually decided i really like the blue ring in person, its not as in your face as the camera makes it look. would really like to be able to dim it or just turn it off from the front of the case when i want to.


ok interior shots







cable management probably isnt up there with the pro's but its certainly the best job ive ever done! the case makes it nice and easy too with holes in the mobo tray exactly where you want them.

BENCHMARKS

OK this was in no way scientific:

I took an idle reading about 20 minutes after the machine started up

Then i used Furmark set to burn in mode, and prime 95 set to small FTTs, ran them both together for 25mins then took a reading

The process was exactly the same for each case BUT, I did the Gigabyte in the morning and the Lian in the afternoon, according to the temp on my desktop it was 7c outside this morning and 12c this afternoon, there has been no heating on all day so i think its safe to knock 5c off the Lian Li's temps

Gigabyte IDLE temps



Lian Li IDLE temps



Gigabyte LOAD temps



Lian Li LOAD temps



So as you can see not a huge amount of difference for me,i have to say i did have a number of fans that i had to mod into the gigabyte case, so this ia a fair bit quieter.

Another thing to note is that the GPU temps at load are greatly improved, if you knock off the 5c especially the lian would be beating the gigabyte by nearly 10c, which is not to be sniffed at. The GPU just hit 85c and stayed there whereas the it was jumping about a fair amount before.

At the end of the day the case is not a wind tunnel, and im sure people looking for that will go elsewhere. thermal performance is certainly competitive though and probably what you expect from the design.

One thing that cannot be overstated is the presence of the thing, it really does look amazing, the tooless design is brilliant and I could harp on all day about it but there are reviews that describe that better than I could.

Overall very happy indeed, cant wait to get the fan controller installed and see how it looks, this case could quite easily last me the rest of my days

 

Couple of questions: How much of the top panel is actually plastic? I can't tell from any photos I've looked at on Lain Li's website or any reviews. Also, are the supplied fans speed adjustable like Antecs are?

 

the area immediately around the usb and power buttons is aluminium, the slope at the front with lian li on it is plastic and where is slopes upwards to the top fan grille.

if you look at the last image of the case you can see a raised box at the top front of the case, this is the aluminium area with the roof of the case off. honestly though man you'd be hard pushed to notice it, and the plastic is very high quality and solid feeling. i thought it may bother me and it doesnt

the fans arent speed adjustable although they are all three pin and come with a molex converter, so if you can run them all off your mobo, do. I have a few dials coming to do the job for me, i prefer direct control anyway. one thing that i did think was nice is that they supply a 3pin y-splitter, which i will undoubtedly use when the fan contoller gets here.

 

Great stuff mate. I am inclining to get one of the quiet editions now .

 

good to hear man, obviously im new to high end cases, but i cant really see how you could do much better for the size OR the money. if i had more room to play with i may have gone for a full tower, but now im not sure i'd ever need it, im not an SLI kinda guy and this fits everything i need with a bit to spare.

 

Yes i have the same problem. cannot fit the full tower in my desk so have to buy wisely. But Lian Li build cases to perfection.

 

its difficult to describe the difference between this and another case to anyone who hasnt worked on one. the entire structure just feels solid and fits together perfectly

 

Great pics and the temps look good too.

Any way you look at it Lian-Li cases are just pure works of art. Almost to beautiful to install hardware in them...

You might be able to answer a question for me, by the way. Is the front panel closed at the top? I was wondering if they could make a top panel like the one for the PC-8FI?

 

Im thinking of going for the version that has the window and the black interior. Silver chassis that have coloured outer panels look terrible to me (just a matter of personal taste) and getting the one thats already anodized in black is easier than buying one the same as yours, stripping it and getting it powdercoated. I've pretty much made up my mind on it now. It provides better cooling for my hot hot hot system than the PC-A05 which is another case I was considering. Definately think this one is the better choice for OCed components though

 

fair enough mate whatever floats your boat personally i didnt want a side window so interior makes no difference really

k so the fan controller arrived, got it in today (after re-routing cables *sigh*)



the camera accentuates the differences in aluminum tbh and in the flesh it looks pretty much identical unless you're really looking close.



looks pretty pro, very happy with it

started running it with the front panel light off now and tbh i much prefer it

 

not entirely sure about that mate but the screws on that pic look the same place as the ones on mine. ofc you would lose the top fans but i can certainly see the appeal of that cleaner look. personally though i find the top grille gives it a nice industrial feel.

 

Well, if you could pop off the front panel and take a picture of the top of it (the front panel, that is) it would help me greatly. The pictures I've seen of the front panel as yet don't clearly show if it's closed/solid at the top.

 

its solid and would look pretty good, will try and put a pic up later

 

No need to sully the thread. Just PM me with a link.

Anyway, I'm really glad to hear you're happy with your purchase!

 

That alone makes me want to get that case.