Lian-Li PC60 USB Case

Note that most casings you buy out there do not come with a power supply. So make sure to get one when ever you order a casing or you’ll be in for quite a surprise when you receive the casing. For our review we’ll be using a 350W Enermax power supply. Remember that having a good power supply is equally important to have a reliable computer. If the power supply is not adequate for your system, irregular flow of current will damage your components greatly. So don’t ever think just because all your cooling fans work with a normal power supply (PSU) that everything is fine.

Next you need to remove the motherboard tray from the casing. Also unplug the motherboard connectors so that you could attach them as well. All required nuts and bolts are provided with the casing, so it’s just a matter of putting them together. When attaching motherboards onto casings always make sure that you do not tighten them too much, always leave some flexibility between the casing and the board to prevent damage. Next I proceeded to attach all the required components onto the board. This motherboard tray is so darn cool folks, you no longer need to work within the small enclosures of the casing. Next up were the motherboard connectors. Look at your motherboard manual if you aren’t sure as to what goes where. Before inserting back the motherboard, make sure you have installed all your drives as well. For this casing I used a IBM 60GXP drive, a VeloCD writer, a DVD ROM and also I attached the smart card reader of the SOYO dragon plus. No floppy drives for me folks, I hate them.

The case includes punch holes for all required I/O ports. I didn’t think it would have punch holes for the built in Network adapter, however it does. It’s great to see Lian-Li staying abreast with happenings in the motherboard world. This more or less sums up the installation procedure. All you need to do next is, simply attach all the fans and power connectors to their respective components. I’ll be using an Athlon XP 1600+ CPU overclocked to 1600Mhz. Now in my earlier casing, I could not close the casing totally as the system got too hot. I also needed more fans than in this case, and they were much louder as well. In my earlier casing, if I would have closed it totally the temperature reached 45C in a matter of minutes and I lost stability of the system as well. However with the Lian-Li PC60 USB, my system temperature remains at 33-35C at all times. The CPU runs at 37-40C at full load. One of the really cool things about the fans used in this case are very silent. They just give a small murmur even at the highest speed setting.

Conclusion

Frankly I cannot find any fault with this casing. Okay, may be just one. It would have been nice if the casing came with a PSU, even though some of you might not ever use it. Other than that, I don’t see any drawbacks with the case. It’s one of the best built casings in its range without a doubt. The 4 USB ports in front are a very welcome feature, and give users great flexibility in terms of expansion. I cannot stress enough as to what a cool feature the removable motherboard tray is. Anyone who ever uses this, will never ever go back to any standard casing ever again. Furthermore its light weight allows you to take it to almost anyplace you want without much hassle at all. Its high price may be some what a drawback to most users, however considering the performance benefits you get, I think it’s well worth the price. However $189 is still a hefty price to pay; consider this as a long term investment. The case has more room for your own modding experiments as well; therefore putting all things together I would say it’s a good deal.

Pros

• Light weight and well built
• Motherboard tray feature
• thumbscrews
• front panel wiring plug
• good performing and silent fans
• fan intake filter

Cons

• expensive
• no power supply