Lian Li's PC-V1000: A Case Exclusive
by Purav Sanghani on April 29, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
External Design
When first looking at the PC-V1000 out of the box, it seems like an ordinary chassis with a few custom touches. The entire front bezel as well as the bottom and a small section at the back of the chassis are covered with small round holes, which allow for increased air flow during system operation.
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There are a total of five 5-1/4" drive bays exposed, where the 1st bay is occupied by a matching CD-ROM bezel and the 5thbay is occupied by the 5-1/4" to 3-1/2" drive bay converter/bezel. This leaves three 5-1/4" drive bays free.
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Directly below the drive bays are the Power button and the power and HDD LEDs. Lian Li decided to leave the reset button out of this design, which will limit that functionality. The internal connector for the power button is also mislabeled as "reset sw", which could be confusing to some. The power and HDD LEDs are a bit small compared to those on their previous cases, but are bright and easy to see.
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At the bottom of the front bezel are the auxiliary connections for audio (headphones and mic), dual USB, and Firewire. They seem to blend in with the rest of the face quite nicely.
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The PC-V1000 also has aluminum wheels that allow users to roll the case forward and back. Since the wheel mountings are screwed on, they can be removed easily with a Philips head screwdriver if preferred. The back wheels can be locked to keep the chassis from rolling.
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The side panels are made of the same thick aluminum as the rest of the chassis and have rounded corners to fit the shape of the case. The edges of both panels also have a saw-tooth style cut to give the PC-V1000 an industrial look.
The minute we turned the PC-V1000 around to look at the backside, we noticed something different about it. It looked like the case was turned upside down, and this is where the realization of the new design came in to play. If you can visualize a standard case, the power supply is mounted at the top with optional case fans directly below it and the add-on card openings below that. With Lian Li's introduction of this new design, everything from the motherboard back is turned upside down: power supply mounted at the bottom with the motherboard above it.
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The panel to access the PC-V1000's internals is now on the right panel. To remove either panel, we unscrewed what looked to be traditional thumbscrews, but were surprised to find them attached to the chassis. We found that Lian Li has designed a locking mechanism for the side panels, making them easier to remove and replace than the traditional sliding panel design. We pulled on the thumbscrew to release the mechanism and remove the tray.
Click to enlarge.
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GokieKS - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
I second the notion that I'd rather get a real G5 chassis and build a PC out of it than get this. And there are just too many not-well-thought-out touches (lack of Reset button, inproper mounting of IDE drives, PSU area not large enough, etc) for it to be a great case.If I've got that much money to spend on a case, I'd still go with a Silverstone SST-TJ03 Nimiz for the time being.
Gromis - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
#6: That very same method of drive mounting has been used in HP servers for a good deal longer than G5 has been around... doesn't change the fact that 95%+ of cases out there cost <$30, and this monstrosity will sell *maybe* a few hundred units. It's no TNN-500, but for $270, one can get a whole *computer*.PuravSanghani - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
#8: We actually did benchmark the V1000 with a standard sized power supply, the TTGI 520Watt, in the pictures we wanted to show an over sized power supply like the TTGI TT-550SS, or any other for that matter, would not properly fit into the mounting.In general: While the V1000 does look similar to the G5's case by look, when you open the case up and look at all of its functionality and features, you'll notice 2 completely different designs.
nitromullet - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
Can we see a picture of the entire install? I'd like to see how the completed rig looks like with the side open. There are only closeups of certain places, a shot of the whole thing would help put stuff into perspective.LoneWolf15 - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
I'd argue that testing with that silly oversized power supply completely invalicates any cooling testing. Who is going to use one of these when they buy one of these cases, rather than a standard size that looks right and makes a proper seal against the back of the case? And why in the world doesn't Anandtech have a standard sized Antec, Enermax, or other power supply in their lab that would do this job?Mickey Mouse work, IMHO.
buleyb - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
What's the deal with the need for removable motherboard trays in ATX cases.Every case I've had that had a removable tray rattles now, its just another thing to vibrate and make noise.
Oh, and this is a pure G5 copy...no argument there
makron - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
Yeah, and the "screwless drive mounting, with special screws, is ripped straight out of the G5...I'd much rather get a surplus G5 case and put a pc in it....
Chuckles - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
It really tries to look like the G5 cases. I wonder how long it will take for a C&D letter to show up at headquarters.Based on it's lower temperatures, I would say that it validates both its and the G5's design.
00aStrOgUy00 - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
Yep, first thing when I saw this case, it reminded me of the "cheese grater" G5 case...WileCoyote - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
I am a big fan of Lian-Li cases - I've loved them from the start and still use my pc60. I think the internal case design is great - I fix a lot of computers and the hard drive bays are easy to swap drives in and out of. The only other good quality case with this feature is the Antec Sonota. I gotta admit... the case looks pretty ugly for Lian-Li. If it looked better, I would swap it with my Antec.