Lian Li PC-B71 & Silent Force 650W

[Darksaber]

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/LianLi/PC-B71/

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[pentastar111]

Nice review...I am a really big fan of Lian Li cases. This case looks fantastic although I probably would not use the hdd feature.

[tonyd223]

Sorry, but not a good review - look, if someone is going to spend all that money on a case with so many drive bays, the LEAST you can do is review it accordingly. You put a mATX board into a case that supports EATX? Shame on you! Of course there's a lot of space. You put 1 HDD into a case that supports 10? SHAME on you! You put the smallest graphics card in the world into a case that will probably have top house SLI or Crossfire X setups? Shame on you thrice!

And let's get something straight - putting all the external connectors in a tiny metal box on top of a huge case is not a good idea - can it even fit under a normal desk? Having the USB ports with no space between them - how do you fit a fat device?

Where are the dust filters? Where's the top panel fans or watercooling radiator mounts? Why the ridiculous position for the fan controller? Why no fresh air vent for the power supply at the bottom of the case? How does it cope with longer heavier power supplies?

Where is the cooling statistics? The optical bezel doesn't work with your drive, and you still give it such a high score? And the price! My goodness - have you looked at what else you can buy for the money? Coolermaster must be laughing their heads off.

Final point - Lian Li used to be great - but for goodness sakes, they're over priced, under engineered and are changing too slowly...

Blue fans! for goodness sakes

[pentastar111]

Hmmm..... they do have dust filters
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ge_scroll_id=0. (See figure 17) I do use Lian Li's. the one I currently use, wich is similar in size to the one reviewed, does in fact have more than enough room for anything you want to put in it. As far as changing? These "newest" full towers from them have lots of neat things on them. For istance, I can throw the HDD's in the back the top of the case and unclutter the lower front of the case. Lots of room to work. Are they worth 279 to 300+? I think so.

[denice25]

very nice review!

[Darksaber]

Originally Posted by tonyd223

Sorry, but not a good review - look, if someone is going to spend all that money on a case with so many drive bays, the LEAST you can do is review it accordingly. You put a mATX board into a case that supports EATX? Shame on you! Of course there's a lot of space. You put 1 HDD into a case that supports 10? SHAME on you! You put the smallest graphics card in the world into a case that will probably have top house SLI or Crossfire X setups? Shame on you thrice!

First off: You are free to voice your opinion about the review, but there is no need to insult me. So I put in a mATX board, would it have made a difference if I used an eATX board? Would there be less space available? Would the case suddenly shrink in size?

Second: The case was filled with SIX hard drives...not one. (should I start with the whole "shame right back to you" thing now?)

And let's get something straight - putting all the external connectors in a tiny metal box on top of a huge case is not a good idea - can it even fit under a normal desk? Having the USB ports with no space between them - how do you fit a fat device?

Third: Do you own the case? Have you used the B71 or the A7010 or the X2000? Do you know how much/little space you have left under a desk? I did review all three cases, used all three of them under different desks. All of them fit with very little room above. Try reaching for that power button with half an inch of space under the desk.

Forth: the panel above the top drive bay is almost an entire inch high. Do you know how big standard cable trees with USB, eSATA, Firewire etc. are? They would fit easily.

Where are the dust filters? Where's the top panel fans or watercooling radiator mounts? Why the ridiculous position for the fan controller? Why no fresh air vent for the power supply at the bottom of the case? How does it cope with longer heavier power supplies?

The top panel is optional on ALL Lian Li cases. They even sell sets with double or triple rads.

The fan controller is still (kinda) accessible and a feature which other cases (even in this price class) simply do no have, so why is it a bad thing to have that?

Longer PSUs will go over the frame on the bottom, but cooling will not be a problem, it will still hold perfectly well. As for air:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/L...nishedrear.jpg
notice the air vent on the very bottom of the case? There it is.

Where is the cooling statistics? The optical bezel doesn't work with your drive, and you still give it such a high score? And the price! My goodness - have you looked at what else you can buy for the money? Coolermaster must be laughing their heads off.

We do not do cooling statistics on our cases. Why? Simple reason: I live in Europe, we do not have air cons, so we cannot keep a stable temperature within a room like americans.

The bezel is a nice addition, but once again: something you generally do not get in most cases. Stuff like this costs you extra most of the time and it will work with many ODDs, just not the (OLD) IDE DVD rom.

Why is the case expensive? Buy three SATA backplates cages at 80 USD a pop to stuff in a cheap 9 bay case and you are at the same price point as the Lian Li case - without any of the extra features. You may not know this, but I have been reviewing cases for years now from plenty of brands.

Final point - Lian Li used to be great - but for goodness sakes, they're over priced, under engineered and are changing too slowly...

Blue fans! for goodness sakes

Nobody forces you to buy Lian Li, but your comments are by no means objective.

This discussion is done.

cheers
DS

[tonyd223]

How do you feel personally attacked?

- Yeah it does make a difference which size of board you put into a case. 99% of the stuff this site does is great, but are you telling me you didn't have a bigger mobo lying around?

- You put six dirves in the case? Where's the pictures? Does it restrict the airflow from the front fans?

- The point about the USB ports being difficult to get to, and too close to each other still stands

- Optional top panel? You want me to spend more money on the case?

- So the Antec 1200 for example does not have a fan controller that's easy to access?

- I accept your point about the PSU air intake

Look - "Lian Li make great products" is a mantra within this industry and something virtually every site seems to take as gospel. It's just not true anymore. I do accept that it's a personal choice and not for me, but please, please, be more objective in your reviews - this isn't 3dgameman - this is techpowerup and you've got a reputation to uphold. I expect that you have been reviewing cases for a long time - so does the backplane work?

[Darksaber]

How do you feel personally attacked?

Because of this: "shame on you".

Has nothing to do with the review.

Yeah it does make a difference which size of board you put into a case. 99% of the stuff this site does is great, but are you telling me you didn't have a bigger mobo lying around?

Sure, an ATX board. Still won't make a difference...You tell me where this case could have made problems with a larger board?

You put six dirves in the case? Where's the pictures? Does it restrict the airflow from the front fans?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/L...es/install.jpg see the drives installed? 3 up top, 2 on the bottom, one additional one later on - not pictured.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/L...es/insthdd.jpg with the fans directly in front of the HDDs (see the fan to the left of the image, why would there be any restrictions?

This can easily be seen here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/L...efrontopen.jpg

It clearly helps to actually check out the images

The point about the USB ports being difficult to get to, and too close to each other still stands

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/L...sefronttop.jpg more than enough space on the very top panel to put the power/reset buttons there as well as the I/O. The I/O footprint will easily fit. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/L.../casetopio.jpg

Read the review again, I mentioned the fact, that the current location of the I/O is not good at all. I mentioned that putting the I/O in FRONT of the case would have been much better:

Originally Posted by Darksaber

The power button and the I/O are located on the top. This is certainly not the best place, as you will most likely not have a lot of free space under your desk. It would have been nice to see these somewhere else. Lian Li has placed a full set of connectivity here as well. These include one eSATA, one Firewire, four USB 2.0 and the usual pair of audio connectors which are hidden behind a small cover. You get five external drive bays, one of which has an ODD drop down cover while the bottom one has a 5.25 to 3.5 inch frame, so you may install such a smaller drive without having to spend more money. Note the small bar at the very top of the drive bays. This would be a perfect spot to place the power/reset buttons and the I/O.

Optional top panel? You want me to spend more money on the case?

If you wish, there is an option. Or do you want to go and cut fan holes out yourself on a case like this? How many people actually put water cooling into a case? It is certainly not the bulk of people. Sure having a top with the air vents included would have been a nice addition, but it is certainly not a must or really makes working with this case impossible.

So the Antec 1200 for example does not have a fan controller that's easy to access?

Sure, but as I have pointed out, the controller on the Lian Li is there (positive) but hard to reach (negative). So what is the problem? If it were not reachable at all, or in some way not functional, then I would have been like "why pay extra for this?".

I do accept that it's a personal choice and not for me, but please, please, be more objective in your reviews - this isn't 3dgameman - this is techpowerup and you've got a reputation to uphold. I expect that you have been reviewing cases for a long time - so does the backplane work?

You show me any case review, which is more in detailed than ours. ~50 images in a case review is plenty. I am being objective and I take it very serious if people say I am not. Give me one example where I was not. I can back up everything with a "why" and "because of this" statement. EVERYTHING!

What backplane do you mean? You mean the removable mainboard tray? It is a simple pull to the side and pull back design (no flip down, which tends to be problematic with CPU coolers). No reason that it should not work, but with the space given in this case, it is much easier to install the board right into the case.

So I hope this clears up everything.

[tonyd223]

Yeah it does - thank you for the frank discussion - it's why I keep reading this site!

[jeal]

I ordered the tower yesterday and I'm looking for transparent Side Panel. The fastening system has changed compared to the 7110, it's the same X2000, I believe that the proposed door does not fit. Can you inform me about this.
I think it's the same problem for the top panel
Sorry for my english
Thank you