Lian-Li V350

Everything’s broken but you

As I said, we had a whole host of problems with the software in this review, none of which can be attributed to the case but which was a pain nonetheless. I had all types of hassle getting the hardware in, only to find that various pieces had failed or didn’t fit.

After that things only got worse, with a broken OS and drive formats which never seemed to quite do the job. It took the best part of two days just to get the system running and I’ve got no idea how Rich coped with me asking him for help every ten minutes. By the end I was itching to get back to some game reviews.

Anyway, when we finally got the system finished, this is how it stood:

CPU: Intel Pentium XE 955 (dual-core, 3.46GHz)
Graphics Card: Radeon X1650 Pro
Motherboard: MSI G965 MDH
RAM: 2x 512MB Corsair XMS2-667
Hard Drive: 1x 250GB Western Digital WD2500 7,200 RPM
Heatsink: Intel Stock Heatsink

All of it was running under an install of Windows XP Professional SP2 and was prepped to run the usual gamut of tests. The first stage in this is just to leave the PC running for a bit at the Windows desktop and to monitor the idle temperatures. Next, we bombard the system with different calculations using specialised software designed to stress test both the RAM and CPU.

After this we have one more program to use; a real-time high dynamic range image-based lighting demo. This demo stresses the graphics card rather than the CPU and will push the temperature on that device higher. Normally we’d have a good heatsink in the system too to try and fairly cope with what is a deliberately hot system, but that wasn’t an option in this scenario.

Why? Thunk, that’s why. So, with that in mind check out the results table below.


The results are a little hard to judge because we don’t have a reliable back catalogue of mATX cases which we’ve tested in this manner at the moment. However, we can form some general impressions.

The most worrying result is the performance of the CPU in the CPU stress test. The thermal envelope of this processor is around 70°C, which means we came close to overheating in this test. When you look at how the air is likely to be moving in this case though, that isn’t very surprising. Hot air is funnelled up and away from the CPU, only to be forced directly against the PSU.

The GPU held up quite well in the tests, but whether that’s because the graphics card is good or the case allows efficient cooling isn’t something we can reliably decide on at this point of time. Either way, it’s definitely true that the case was having some hot flushes – there’s no other way to describe a +6°C temperature difference between the ambient and the case temperature when it’s idle.

Conclusions

With the testing all out of the way, it only remains for us to wrap up our review and issue out our final scores like the cold, judging journalists we are.

The V350 is a tough case to adopt a final position on and it's not made any easier by the fact that there isn't any pricing info available until the case launches in the next month or so. The only pricing info we have is that the RRP is around $169 in the US or 110 Euros, which is impressively cheap. However, bear in mind that this price could change dramatically when the case finally does hit the shelves.

The V350 is a good looker which is both inoffensive and stylish, something which is a bit of a rarity for fashion nowadays. At the same time though it’s not easy to install a system in and could be described as a headache in a box. The performance isn’t great either and the limitations imposed by the design cause further problems by restricting what hardware can be used.


However, at the same time those limitations aren’t really a fault and the less-than-optimal performance is to be expected from a case which is designed to be small. Someone building a rig in a case like this isn’t likely to stress their GPU with hardcore gaming or to push their CPU to combustion point. A case like this is much more likely to be used in an office for simpler tasks, with gaming and the like as an aside.

So, when scoring the V350 we have to keep that in mind and recognise that the person likely to be buying a V350 is going to be looking for small size and a good design over anything else. In this respect, the V350 performs quite well and has an excellent, high quality finish which is sure to impress anyone. It’s not the best looking case, nor is it the best performer or the most easy to use – but if you can cope with the hardware limitations and the fiddly innards then the V350 won’t let you down. Just don’t push it too hard.

• Build Quality
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• 9/10

• Ease of Use
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• -
• 4/10

• Features
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Performance
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• -
• 7/10

• Overall
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• x
• -
• -
• 8/10

What do these scores mean?