Lian Li PC-V600F Case Review

[siopao1984]

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IntroductionWhen considering the purchase of a PC chassis, cases from well known Taiwanese manufacturer Lian Li will often come up for consideration. They offer a whole range of models covering everything from the smallest mini ITX cases to huge full tower cases and everywhere in between. Of course Lian Li offer a variety of Micro ATX cases for different target markets. Here for review we have the PC-V600F, the primary design goal of which is to fit the largest components available into the smallest possible case while keeping compromises to a minimum. It is available in the black color we have here as well as silver or red.

The PC-V600F is compact even by mATX case standards. Looking at the dimensions, a height of just 390mm is as small as it is reasonably possible to make a mATX case without major compromise. At just 190mm wide it's also thinner than you'd expect, so much so that there isn't space at the back for a standard 12cm exhaust fan. Lian Li presumably opted not to use a 80mm fan for noise reasons.The PC-V600F may be small for a mATX case, yet it can take an oversized PSU, a very long dual or triple slot graphics card and up to five 3.5" and two 2.5" drives within its compact frame.

Specifications

Model	PC-V600F
Case Type	Mini Tower Chassis
Dimensions	(W) 190mm x (H) 390mm x (D) 470mm
Front Bezel Material	Aluminum
Color	Black / Silver / Red / Black ( Internal Black )
Side Panel	Aluminum
Body Material	Aluminum
Net Weight	5 KG
5.25" Drive Bay (External)	2
3.5" Drive Bay (External)	None
HDD Bay	3.5” HDD (Sata hot swap) x 5 / 2.5” HDD x 2
Expansion Slot	4
Motherboard	Micro-ATX / Mini-ITX
System Fan (Front)	120mm LED Fan x 2
System Fan (Top)	140mm Fan x 1
System Fan (Rear)	None
I/O Ports	USB 3.0 x 2 / e-SATA x1 / HD Audio
Maximum Compatibility	VGA Card length: 370mm PSU length: 240mm CPU cooler height: 150mm

Read more: Lian Li PC-V600F Case Review by VR-Zone.com

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Packaging

This box looks like it's been around the world a few times. A retail box shouldn't have the amount of wear that this review sample box has. The case is well protected on the inside however and displays none of the wear of the courier abused box.



Accessories

Included in the package, but not seen here is a very large fold out installation guide in multiple languages. It covers all screws and configuration possibilities in an easy to follow, yet comprehensive format. The case comes with a whole array of screws, a set of rubber insulation pads for SSD's and a small alert speaker. The strips to the right are for attachment to HDD's to allow them to slide into the SATA drive bays. The small adapter cable is for converting the USB 3.0 front panel connectors to older motherboards with USB 2.0 support only.

[siopao1984]

Case Exterior

The case exterior is a traditional all aluminium Lian Li design with subtle and minimalist styling. You typically won't see cases that look like they belong in a Transformers movie from Lian Li. The case side panels are held on by push pins that fit securely and firmly without being difficult to remove.

Overall the build quality is excellent with solid construction and no sharp edges.





Judging by the positioning of the connectors and buttons, it would be safe to assume the case meant to be placed under a desk. The case connectors are, from left to right, one eSATA port, two USB 3.0 ports, microphone and headphone jacks. On the right are the reset button and the power button.






Note the lack of a rear exhaust fan. There simply isn't room for a 120mm fan here. This gives a clear indication that the case is designed to keep the dimensions to a minimum above all else. Lian Li obviously felt that the top 140mm fan would be sufficient as the sole exhaust. There aren't any holes for watercooling tubing either. Cooling ability was obviously not the top priority when designing the case.

[siopao1984]

Case Interior

Many mATX sized cases tend to compromise in terms of the components that can be installed. The PC-V600F impresses with its ability to accept a PSU up to 240mm in length, up to five HDD's plus two SSD's or a very long graphics card up to 370mm in length while still being able to use two HDD's and a SSD.

Below is the case with all drive bays attached. The middle section can be removed to accommodate very long graphics cards up to triple slot width. The case to motherboard cables include the standard power & reset etc as well as connectors for audio and USB 3.0 with an included adapter for USB 2.0 compatibility. The eSATA cable plugs into a standard SATA port.

The cut-out on the motherboard tray is for attaching coolers without needing to remove the motherboard tray. Also worth noting is the single cut-out on the right of the tray. That's about it as far as cable management options go although it is possible to route cables neatly up the side of the tray with cable ties. The holes for cable ties are placed along the right side of the tray slightly hidden by the cables in this picture. There is some room behind the motherboard tray for cables but beware of packing too much there as the side of the case may pop off.



Here we see the included SATA backpane. They are compatible with 3.5" hard drives only unless used with adapters. A pair of plastic strips need to be attached to the sides of the drives in order to slide into the bays. In total a very nice five 3.5" drives can be fitted to these bays along with another two 2.5" drives for a total of seven drives. This much HDD capacity is as good as you will see in a mATX case. Thanks to the adjacent 120mm fans, a full load of seven drives won't encounter any overheating issues.





Here is the rear of the SATA hot-swap bays. The molex power connectors supply power to the hard drives. It would seem logical to have used SATA power connectors for these however most modern PSU's still come with several molex plugs so there shouldn't be an issue.





There are three fans shipped with the PC-V600F consisting of a pair of 120mm blue LED intake fans and a 140mm top mounted exhaust fan. This means the case will have positive air pressure which should help to reduce dust build up. The three fans and the bottom intake all have removable dust filters. The fans can be connected via three pin fan headers or with molex connectors.

The front fans are both 120mm Lian Li model LI121225BL-B4-C and are rated at 0.29A. One of them is seen below on the left with its dust filter attached.

The fan on the right is the top mounted 140mm fan with the model number LI121425BE-4-A. It is rated at 0.14A, much lower than the 120mm fans and is therefore quieter as we found during our testing.





At the bottom of the case there is a fan intake with its dust filter for PSU's with bottom mounted fans. There are rubber strips for vibration protection.

[siopao1984]

System Build

Since this is a case designed to be as compact as possible while still allowing high end and full sized components, we used the following setup. These are pretty close to the best available components that are likely to be used in a case of the size of the PC-V600F.

Case Lian Li PC-V600F
CPU Intel i7 3960X
Motherboard Asus Rampage IV Gene
Memory Kingston DDR3-2400Mhz CL11 (4 x 2GB)
Graphics Card Asus HD7970 DirectCu II TOP (1000/1400)
Power Supply Antec HCP-1200
SSD Kingston HyperX 120gb SATA III
Optical Drive LG DVD burner
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-C14

As we can see, this is a high end system that you would be more likely to find in a much larger case. To fit a long graphics card such as a 7970, the top drive bays need to be removed. With these bays removed, three of the available four slots can fit cards of practically any length. A pair of long dual slot cards will not fit.

The cable management isn't the greatest here. Although the Antec HCP-1200 is one of the best PSU's on the market, it has very stiff cables that aren't the best for tight fits. Extra, unused cables such as these would need to be coiled and tied up.

The picture below also illustrates the tight fit of the components. Now imagine the full five HDD's plus two SSD's and another optical drive. There would essentially be zero free space inside the case. To fit all this plus a pair of dual slot GPU's into a case just (W) 190mm x (H) 390mm x (D) 470mm is quite something. Take that to a LAN party and watch the surprised looks you'd get when listing specs they would expect to require a full tower case.



We did a quick test for noise levels using a Digitech QM-1589 sound level meter placed about 60 to 70cm away from the front of the case to approximate a typical usage scenario as well as minimize the noise contamination from the other components. We measured a peak sound level of 38.6 dBA which is not what you would call silent, but certainly not obtrusive. If the case were placed on the floor then the case would barely be noticed. The top fan is definitely quieter and was indistinguishable from the noise generated from the CPU fan.

We ran a couple of temperature tests with the 3960x CPU at a safe OC at 4.1ghz. After running linX at ~1.29v loaded we saw a peak temperature of 72c. This is quite high for a mild overclock and shows the lack of fan exhausts affects peak temperatures. It must be said that a 3960x runs much hotter than a Sandy Bridge system when overclocked but still we would have to recommend against using the PC-V600F for a heavily overclocked system. A tower cooler with the output pointing towards the top exhaust would probably fare better, however we tried a Noctua NH-D14 and Coolermaster Hyper 212+ and both were too tall to fit.

The Asus 7970 DCu II TOP used for testing saw no significant change when moving from an open bench setup to the confines of the case. This is because the two intake fans provide plenty of fresh air for graphics cards.



The dual blue LED fans provide a little bit of bling.

[siopao1984]

The PC-V600F impressed us with its traditional Lian Li top notch build quality and understated, classy good looks. Its strength is its compact size, even by mATX standards, yet it can still hold oversized graphics cards, PSU's and can handle up to seven hard drives. This is a case for those wanting build a mATX system with the ability to fit the largest sized and numbers of components in the smallest possible case with the added value of five SATA hot-swap bays and USB 3.0 connectivity.

However, to meet this design goal, Lian Li has had to compromise, meaning the PC-V600F isn't a case for everyone. For example, its slim width means full tower heatsinks will not fit. It's not watercooling friendly, lacking tube holes or a suitable way to mount a radiator internally. Also its lack of a rear fan won't help with temperatures, particularly with an overclocked system. Users wanting a case to meet these requirements would do best to look elsewhere. We don't consider these to be flaws so much as deliberate design choices. Lian Li does offer plenty of alternative cases for users to suit. They also offer the PC-A04 which is similar but with a lesser spec for cheaper.

Users looking for a to build a system to suit a limited area or a high spec gaming HTPC will want to consider the PC-V600F. LAN goers wanting a small and portable, yet high end system with a stack of hard drives will find it's worth a look. As case for the mATX fan with a heap of components and hot-swappable drives, if not a heavily overclocked CPU, the PC-V600F comes recommended. It is available in the US for approximately $220.



Pros
Excellent build quality
Fits up to five 3.5" drives plus two 2.5" drives
Can handle very long graphics cards & PSU's
SATA hot-swap ability
Compact dimensions
Traditional subtle and understated Lian Li good looks


Cons
Pricey, especially compared to the similar, but lesser spec PC-A04
No rear case fan
Not watercooling friendly
Tall CPU coolers may not fit