Just ordered a Lian Li PC-V1000B case from Coolerguys.com

[Phish]

Since nobody seems to be talking about this case after the first reviews were released, I thought I could spark some debate on the subject.

I'm swapping an Antec Sonata out for this case, since I couldn't keep the components in the Sonata cool no matter what I tried. I didn't want to hack on the bezel or do any other irreversible mods, so I elected to instead purchase the PC-V1000, while hopefully selling the Sonata on Ebay for a reasonable price. I'm most likely going to keep the 380S power supply, depending on the noise signature it has in this case.

I'm theorizing that the large surface area of the vent holes in the case will minimize the "whooshing" sound that the 120mm fans would otherwise create in a more restricted vent system (aka Sonata!), allowing me to run the case fans at higher speed(s) with the same, if not less, noise overall. Now I realize that dust will be a major concern in a system as open as this, but I clean my system out monthly anyway, regardless of system filtering.

Anyway, what I'm asking is if my "theories" sound reasonable, or am I going to end up having a super loud dust sucking vacuum? (albiet a cool one!)

Also, if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to write a review of this case after I assemble the new system..

Anyway, I'm interested in people's opinions here. Fire away!

[utekineir]

Your fans should quiet down with less resistance as far as i know. I'm not too sure.

I may be interested in your sonata especially without the power supply. I love mine, it was great once i hacked up the front for the airflow and chopped off the back grill and replaced the powersupply fan. But then i went and cut a hole in the top for a dual radiator wc setup... really wishing i had went with just one rad right now. PM me with how much you want for the case if your interested.

[wumpus]

Yeah, the Sonata is kind of an anomaly for a "quiet" case.. you really have to mod the front bezel extensively to get decent airflow.

The good news is, you CAN do this without affecting the outside appearance at all; most of the necessary bezel cutting is not visible externally anyway. Still, I agree-- it's a pain, and the case should have been designed for better airflow.

Let us know how it goes with the new case.. airflow is king!

[bigred]

Yeah sounds good. You could always put a dust filter in if the dust becomes a problem.

I'm looking to get one of the new LianLi's as well. But I'm looking for the v1100, which is the one with the door. I wonder when they will be available in black..?

[Phish]

Yeah sounds good. You could always put a dust filter in if the dust becomes a problem.

I'm looking to get one of the new LianLi's as well. But I'm looking for the v1100, which is the one with the door. I wonder when they will be available in black..?

I'd imagine so, since every other version of this case yet released has both a silver and black model. I ordered the black model, in case the B at the end of the 1000B hadn't tipped out off to that

[bigred]

Ok, cool. But my question wasn't really if, it was when. Coolerguys doesn't even list the v1100 or v2100. Xoxide does have them listed but only in silver and only with an availability of July.

[daba]

Ooh, I love that case.

I'm hoping to buy one the end of this month! V1000B/V2000B is a beauty!

[ashtray_head]

Also, if anyone is interested, I'd be happy to write a review of this case after I assemble the new system..

Anyway, I'm interested in people's opinions here. Fire away!

YAY! Keep us informed

[Phish]

Well, I got the case last night, and quickly swapped my components to the new box.

First Impressions:
When I opened the box, I was amazed by the apparent quality of this case. I've never seen another Lian-Li case in person, so this may be common amongst all of their products, but the THICK aluminum side panels and case skin is very substantial feeling. The side panels are nowhere near as easy to remove as the side of the Antec, but I was expecting that. One thing that the few reviews I've seen haven't mentioned... the fans are both rubber mounted ultra quiet low speed models. I ordered a Panaflow fan to use with this case, assuming the rear fan run on high would be noisy, but to my surprise, the Lian-Li fans are actually quieter than the panaflow in free air at both 5v and 12v. They aren't massive air movers by any means, but they appear to be high quality quiet fans. The rear fan grill is rather restrictive, being composed of the same small holes that make up the rest of the ventilation in the case. Opening up that grill will be mod #1, although cutting into that beautiful anodized black aluminum will probably make me cry

Installation:

Motherboard installation was a cinch. The inside of this case is roomier than that in the Sonata, but a removable motherboard tray would still have been helpful. One warning here: I have a Zalman 7000 AlCu heatsink, and it JUST cleared the bottom partition divider.. I'm talking 10'ths of a millimeter here. For those of you with CPU sockets close to the upper edge of your motherboard, I'm afraid that this case and the 7000 (or any other large diameter HSF) won't be compatible without mods on one or both items. The hard drive carrier, while innovative and secure, doesn't lend itself to quiet computing. I can definately hear my drives much more readily that I could in the Sonata... especially seek noise. I think I might try to drill out the rivets that hold on the drive cage and attempt to mount the whole assembly onto rubber grommets. Hopefully this will isolate drive noise to some degree. If not, I'll suspend them with cords. All front panel wires were well labeled, and it appears as if Lian-Li has fixed the power lead that was mislabeled in all of the reviews.

Wiring up the case was fairly easy as well. The 380S PSU from the Sonata fit with plenty of room to spare. This particlar case model isn't that tall, so a power supply with shorter cables will lend itself to a much cleaner case. There are a number of areas on the side of the 5 1/4" bays to route wiring so that everything is both out of the way and hidden, plus Lian-Li supplied a self adhesive cable holder as well as several small clear zip ties to aid in routing. One potential "issue": I have SATA drives exclusively, so I didn't have to deal with routing large thick cables up through the case, but I'd imagine that flat PATA cables will be a bit of a chore to route neatly.

Use: The case, other than "enhanced" drive seek noise, is QUIET! I have both the front and rear case fans at 100%, and I hear very little if any airflow noise while sitting at my desk. If I get down on my hands and knees, yes I can hear a "whooshing" sound, most likely caused by the restrictive grill on the rear of the case, but overall this sucker is extremely quiet. In fact, IMO, it's as quiet, if not quieter, than the Sonata.. and that was with the Sonata having its 2 fans on the "Fan Only" PSU connectors. The loudest component of my system now is the PSU, which I'm replacing with the a 475W NoiseTaker ASAP. Overall I'm VERY happy.

Oh, I almost forgot. Funny, considering it was the whole reason I replaced the Sonata in the first place -- Temps! With ambient temps at ~26C, temps are as follows, accoring to MBM5:
Case is running at 36C
CPU idles at 36C with the HSF turned off.. 34C with it running at around 1900RPM
My Raptor is running at 32C

-- These temps don't appear to be affected by fan speed. If I hookup both case fans to the "Fan Only" PSU connectors, the temps didn't appear to go up at all. Also, these temps are with horribly sloppy cable routing - I am replacing the PSU in a couple of days, so I didn't spend the time or effort to hide and bundle everything.

The temps in the Sonata were:
Case ~39C
CPU ~40C when HSF was at 1900rpm. 41-42 otherwise
HDD - the Raptor ran at ~32C as well, so no improvement there.

So I've already dropped temps by at least 4C, and this is without any tweaking or airflow streamlining. The Sonata was tweaked as far as I could get it without extensively modding the case.

Overall I'm very pleased with this case, both in looks and in performance. With a few minor tweaks, this case will only improve.

If anyone would like pics, I'll take them once I get the case and wiring organized. Also, feel free to ask any questions if you have any.

[Ralf Hutter]

If anyone would like pics, I'll take them once I get the case and wiring organized.

You're joking, right?

Of course we want pics. Preferably ASAP!

Oh, and you'll be graded on your l33t W1r1Ng 5K1LLz so don't rush too much!

[davidstone28]

Are the white / aluminium bits visible behind the black mesh on your model or is it just a bad picture. I would like to get the B rather than the S version but not if doesn't match!

Also, does anyone know what the difference is between the 1000 and 1200 versions?

[Phish]

Are the white / aluminium bits visible behind the black mesh on your model or is it just a bad picture. I would like to get the B rather than the S version but not if doesn't match!

Also, does anyone know what the difference is between the 1000 and 1200 versions?

You might be able to see the silver if you were viewing the case directly from the front (with your eyes at badge level) with very direct lighting.. I, however, did not notice any of the silver color last night. I'll take a better look tonight when I get home and let you know.

[xarope]

good stuff, Phish. Been looking to replace my superflower case, and been considering the Lian Li PC6077, this looks like another alternative, considering the costs anyway - the 6077 I think is just over SGD$230 (I'm in Singapore. +$10 for black version). How much did the V1000B cost you?

[davidstone28]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know if Lian-Li do alu stealth covers for slot loading drives? (I dont want to spend £180 on a V1000 and then ruin the look by having beige drives)

[jinu117]

Phish, got a favor to ask you.
Can you open the side panel up and run the prime 95 and compare it with side panel on and see how much diff on temperature you get on CPU?
Thinking about possible upgrade but not willing to throw down $200 plus for quite new antec p160 I have right now. (Pretty satisfied but need better cooling and not sure if I want to spend another $30 worth of materials and trouble of cutting the case.

[Phish]

Phish, got a favor to ask you.
Can you open the side panel up and run the prime 95 and compare it with side panel on and see how much diff on temperature you get on CPU?
Thinking about possible upgrade but not willing to throw down $200 plus for quite new antec p160 I have right now. (Pretty satisfied but need better cooling and not sure if I want to spend another $30 worth of materials and trouble of cutting the case.

Well, after experimenting a LOT with this case, I've figured out the best configuration, at least for me. After initially recording relatively low temp numbers with the case, (as I reported in my previous post) I decided that I would try different fan configurations to see if cooling improved. First thing I did was cut out the rear fan grill which was increadibly restrictive. After doing that I noticed that most of the cool air was being sucked in through the vents along the back panel just above the exhaust fan. While this was providing cool air to the CPU, NB and all areas with temps reported by the BIOS, I noticed that my ram was warmer to the touch than it had been in the Sonata. This would make sense considering that very little air was being pulled from the front of the case across the front of the motherboard. To remedy this, I cut out a cardboard rectangle, half the length and equal to the width of the case, and inserted it between the exhaust fan and the graphics card, running horizontally across the length of the motherboard, effectively creating a barrier for air being pulled through the rear of the case, and instead forcing all airflow to run across the full length of the motherboard. Not only did this decrease temps on the RAM, it also cooled down the case temps another degree.
You'd think I'd be happy with this right?? Well, I was still not quite convinced that I had the case performing at its best, so I flipped the flow of the case fans backwards. Now the HDD fan is blowing OUT, and the rear case fan is blowing IN. The HDD fan was flipped because having both fans pushing in created a hamonic resonance similar to a musical instrument in the case, not because of any air flow reasons... Anyway, this makes sense in this case seeing that the cold air is being brought in at the low side of the case, and being expelled by the case perforations and the arctic cooler on the GPU. Doing this dropped temps yet another 2-3 degrees as well as allowing me to add a filter to the rear of the case effectively eliminating the entry of dust. I'm not sure if this could be considered a positive pressure or neutral pressure setup since the number of perforations in the case, in my opinion, would flow more air than the case fan could ever pump in.

Okay, so back to the question at hand, with the system in its latest configuration, the CPU is idling at 32C, and the system temps hover around 34C. Running two instances of Prime95, the CPU temp hovers right at 48C and the case at 38C with the case sealed. After removing the case side(s), both the CPU temp and case temps drop a whopping 1C. I can live with that. Remember, these temps are in a room with an ambient temp of ~26-27C..

Oh, sorry I haven't posted any pics yet, I am still waiting on a few more components (fan controller, wire looms, etc) to arrive before putting the finishing touches in the system. Once I do that, I'll take pics and show what I've done.

And to answer Davidstone28's question, yes you can see the aluminum bits if you get down on the floor and look directly into the box. It's not an issue if you're at all off axis from the front of the case though.

Hope this answers everyone's questions. Sorry for the extremely long/wordy post!

[DavidRa]

davidstone: The difference between the 1000 and the 1200 appears to be total length. The V1200 is about 100mm (4") longer than the 1000.

I can't tell where the extra length goes ...

[jinu117]

Ahaha... couldn't endure myself cutting on case anymore. Ordered one.
Not expecting any more over clock etc but it should give really cool air to upcoming Thermal right 120mm heatsink that I am waiting on.

[jinu117]

OK... got it and played with it for a while... Here is my take...
As every single reviewer who is into silencing commented.... the HDD seek is loud I guess I could try to isolate with some effort but not a big problem yet. Its in my bedroom so I care about its noise when I am not using it more than when I am.
PSU sounds quieter since its running slower speeed (just like when u do duct modding PSU intake and its furthest away from me)
Surprisingly enough the holes didn't cause more noise than enclosed case by much... maybe the fact CPU fan runs slower with lower temp helped as well as lack of case vibration... this thing is SO solid it feels sturdier than most of steel cases I've dealth with. I won't be cutting it anytime soon as it will be.... lengthy process with dremel.
Temerature is just nice. I can open side panel and notice no difference in temp other than maybe 1c which is well within margine of error.
More worried about potnetial dust build but time will tell.
Installation was an hassel actually as the room inside case isn't that great for MB installation.
Great case over all and well spent money on it for me at least.

[davidstone28]

Is themesh panel (on the entire front of the case) removable?

[oldabelincoln]

is at http://www.dansdata.com/pcv1000.htm. The reviewer appears connected in some way with an Australian reseller, but the review is thorough and objective, and his reviews have always been interesting.

My only complaint is that he doesn't address the puzzling lack of air flow between the PSU and the drives, a natural duct except for the blockage.

He has a good point about PATA drives probably requiring a longer than spec cable. Unfortunate, as the PATA drives are now going for a relative song in their final days as a salable product.

His level of detail will appeal to many SPCR readers, and if you click on the already reasonably sized pictures, you get gigantic versions.