Another day at Computex 2011 sees another round of new products and this time it’s Lian Li showing off two new cases: the PC-90 and the PC-100.
Both cases are made out of Lian Li’s customary aluminium, but feature some truly innovative internal design elements.
The PC-90, for example, mounts its hard disks vertically along the right-hand side of the case, a mechanism that when fully loaded with hard disks creates a bizarre looking wall of storage.
Lian Li claims that mounting the disks in such a way frees up room at the front of the case where the disks would classically be mounted. This allows Lian Li to either place more fans at the front of the case, or to shrink the size of the case.
On the down side though, mounting the disks in this way essentially blocks off access to the rest of the PC meaning you’ll need to remove your disks every time you needed to fiddle with your components. We also can’t help thinking that mounting the disks in such a way is a cable routeing nightmare waiting to happen. We’ll wait until we see the PC-90 in our labs before making any firm judgements, however.
Lian Li also showed us the PC-100, which features an innovative back-to-front design whereby cold air is drawn in at the rear of the case and hot air exhausted out the front. Not only this, but the motherboard is also mounted back to front, meaning its rear I/O panel is actually located at the front of the case.
To accommodate this design Lian Li has had to place routeing holes for things such the DVI cable you can see in the pictures. There's also a number of small holes around the aluminium fascia of the case, which unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of (though it’s similar to that of the PC-90), for things such as mouse and keyboard wires to pass through.
Such a design is obviously a radical departure from what we’re used to seeing from Lian Li, which should be applauded for attempting something new. Whether the design actually offers any thermal benefits remains to be seen.
Both cases are still in the development phase but should be hitting the market later this year if all goes to plan, Lian Li said.
Do you fancy a mental mirrored case, or do you think the design will fall flat? Let us know your thoughts in the forum.
Both cases are made out of Lian Li’s customary aluminium, but feature some truly innovative internal design elements.
The PC-90, for example, mounts its hard disks vertically along the right-hand side of the case, a mechanism that when fully loaded with hard disks creates a bizarre looking wall of storage.
Lian Li claims that mounting the disks in such a way frees up room at the front of the case where the disks would classically be mounted. This allows Lian Li to either place more fans at the front of the case, or to shrink the size of the case.
On the down side though, mounting the disks in this way essentially blocks off access to the rest of the PC meaning you’ll need to remove your disks every time you needed to fiddle with your components. We also can’t help thinking that mounting the disks in such a way is a cable routeing nightmare waiting to happen. We’ll wait until we see the PC-90 in our labs before making any firm judgements, however.
Lian Li also showed us the PC-100, which features an innovative back-to-front design whereby cold air is drawn in at the rear of the case and hot air exhausted out the front. Not only this, but the motherboard is also mounted back to front, meaning its rear I/O panel is actually located at the front of the case.
To accommodate this design Lian Li has had to place routeing holes for things such the DVI cable you can see in the pictures. There's also a number of small holes around the aluminium fascia of the case, which unfortunately we didn’t get a picture of (though it’s similar to that of the PC-90), for things such as mouse and keyboard wires to pass through.
Such a design is obviously a radical departure from what we’re used to seeing from Lian Li, which should be applauded for attempting something new. Whether the design actually offers any thermal benefits remains to be seen.
Both cases are still in the development phase but should be hitting the market later this year if all goes to plan, Lian Li said.
Do you fancy a mental mirrored case, or do you think the design will fall flat? Let us know your thoughts in the forum.
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