CeBIT 2008: The Best of the Rest

Lian Li

Wow, where do I start? We know you all hated the red Lian Li PC-P80, but everything here is in black, so hopefully this will reaffirm your love for LiLi.

Firstly Lian Li has a new V-series in the V1010 and V2010. They both feature a removable motherboard tray, front 14cm fan, copious amounts of anti vibration hard drive space and either a plain curved front akin to the Silverstone TJ-07, or with a ribbed door instead.

Both have wheels which are still fixed axle, one direction only but there's plenty of space in this stretched behemoth. The front connectivity has also been upgraded to include four USB ports and eSATA – probably because it'll take you a good hour to travel from the front to back.

If you want something that’s a lot smaller, Lian Li has the new LanCool PC-K9 (pictured) and PC-K8 which features more of the classic PC-60 look. The PC-K9 model shown had a locking cage which gives access to the hard drives for quick removal, and the rear fan could be mounted externally if the extra space was needed inside. In addition, the small case even supports longer, more powerful PSUs by offering an extended hard drive cage (purchased separately). The top is one big vent as well that is great for airflow, but not good when you've used it as a shelf for your cans of Jolt and Pizza.


The X2000 concept is significantly taller than your average case, but it's also shorter too. It's designed to fit better in living rooms next to bookshelf speakers, for example. The very clean, chic lines look modern and completely fantastic – not a single shaving of "gamer" tat here. The insides are separated differently than you'll usually find and we suspect finding cables long enough to reach the upper 5.25" bays down to the motherboard will be quite a task, not to mention the PSU cables. However, the three large 14cm fans in the front should make excellent cooling and in addition to plenty of shelf space could make a fantastic watercooling case to rival the TJ-07 or Cosmos S.


We saw a revamped Xbox 360 case with the 5.25" bay now at 90 degrees to the motherboard to create more space, Lian Li has included its own cables and connectors inside to compensate for the changes. The company has also included a more direct airflow, but to be honest we'd mod a large fan in the front and back to create a complete airflow tunnel, or, watercool. After all, there's enough space to fit it all inside and you're going to the effort of voiding the warranty of your 360 anyway.