[review] Lian-Li PC-V2000B

[thermal+paste]

INTRODUCTION

This case wasn't that expensive. 250 bucks from newegg.

BOX

No damage. In plastic bag. Good instructions.

CASE

Painted. Smells like paint for a bit. Very very light. Almost feather light.

The doors prob. weigh more than the case

INSTALL

No probs. The 80mm fan area on the back I had to drill out because

the supplied holes weren't big enough.

Clearance for the doors is tight. They lift up after unlocking uptop.

The 5.25 bays come off (faceplate) with no screws.

The 3.25 bays are solid. Method of install great.

CONCLUSION

As a reviewer on newegg said just buy it don't think.

[chconline Veteran]

Nice... longer, more detailed and grammatically correct reviews please next time :p

[thermal+paste]

Nice... longer, more detailed and grammatically correct reviews please next time :p

jerk

[chconline Veteran]

What? Thats my suggestions and I was asking nicely ;)

[Gerardo]

awesome review, i might buy one for my next built. thanks.

[Mx]

jerk

hehe, your reply was a bit strong, but he was a bit rude. I personally say great review, pictures say a thousand words and your pictures were great.

[Achal]

jerk

he is right :pinch:

[gummyz]

my caes too. btw, what screws did u use to install the rear 80mm fans? I had to use rubber silicon fake screws that came with my SilenX fans. I have the V2100 Plus version so not sure if it makes any difference

[Dom]

Wow, those are long sata cables

[vip]

I don't see how the guy was a jerk, he's right ... you didn't tell us anything interesting. We could have read that information at newegg. Also, if you're reviewing something for people, proper grammar isn't much to ask for. If it wasn't for the good pictures (which was the selling point of your post, certainly not your "review") I don't think I would buy the case... but since the pictures show how nice the case is, I might consider. Now, take this how you want, but just remember, the truth hurts.

[one321]

jerk

Haha, that just made my day! What a wonderful response.

I was thinking the same thing. It wasn't much of a review, but I did like all the pictures. I have a 1200 and love it. I would recommend Lian-Li cases to any and everyone.

[chconline Veteran]

lol thanks for the support ^^ yeah the pics were nice enough though.

Sorry I just had to comment because I am a reviewer.... :D

[youm0nt Veteran]

nice..nice. good review.best case out at the moment in my opinion :yes:

[thermal+paste]

my caes too. btw, what screws did u use to install the rear 80mm fans? I had to use rubber silicon fake screws that came with my SilenX fans. I have the V2100 Plus version so not sure if it makes any difference

For some reason the screw holes above the power supply that allow you to secure the fans or a cooling radiator were too small in diameter. I had to take a drill and widen the holes so I could get the screw to go through the hole and attach the fan. I used the screws that came with the 80mm antec fans I bought. They were the standard fan screw, you know with the little notch and about 1 cm long.

[rpl318]

Sweet case! I might have to pick one of these up for my next build.

[thermal+paste]

I don't see how the guy was a jerk, he's right ... you didn't tell us anything interesting. We could have read that information at newegg. Also, if you're reviewing something for people, proper grammar isn't much to ask for. If it wasn't for the good pictures (which was the selling point of your post, certainly not your "review") I don't think I would buy the case... but since the pictures show how nice the case is, I might consider. Now, take this how you want, but just remember, the truth hurts.

I see what your saying. I know that more explanation would of been good. But I also figured some of the treasures of the case would remain unsaid for the purchaser to discover.

[chconline Veteran]

Well... as a reviewer, you are supposed to reveal everything, not to what the end user to discover :)

[thermal+paste]

Well... as a reviewer, you are supposed to reveal everything, not to what the end user to discover :)

That's a good point.

Well, here's some more info

AIRFLOW

The case was designed to pull air from the front of the case to the back of the case. There is a single 120 MM fan at the front cooling the HDD array area. This air then passes to the power supply area witch can be exhausted by the power supply or if you want you can install 2 80mm fans above the power supply witch aid with air dispensing.

I'm running 6 sata disks all at 7200 rpm. The temperature is currently 85 deg F in the HDD area.

The upper part of the case I was worried about cooling because there is only a single 120 MM exhaust fan placed below the pci area and adjacent to the io area.

Temps currently are all about 85 deg F, well within range. (The CPU, SYS, and HDD temps.)

HDD MOUNTING

HDD mounting is easy. Attach 4 screws and slide into rail. Then slip down the cover to lock the drive into place. The lock down snap things are plastic and lock well. There are two locks per drive slide.

The nice thing about this is you never have to mess with hdd mounting. Just attach the 4 scews and then slide into place. Removal is equally easy. Just lift the locks, slide out.

:)

5.25 MOUNTING

The upper 5.25 Slot has a CD bezel. The bezel works fine. The button is plastic and the rest of the part metal. The button may be a problem if the drive you are using does not have a standard button location.

Many of these devices extend a plastic bar across the drive/bezel face to hit the button if it's off the regular location. This cd bezel does not have that. Your button needs to be in the right location to get the bezel button to hit the cd button.

The faceplates are not secured by a screw so they are easy to remove with a push of a pencil or something.

The bottom 5.25 area has a floppy cover. This can be removed and the 5.25 faceplates will function in any of the other locations if you wish to rearrange things.

MOBO MOUNTING

The mobo is INVERTED. My power connector is on the top and had to use an extender to reach the connector. The mobo installed with no problems. Had to drill my own standoffs because of the non spec board.

Because I drilled my own standoffs the rear door behind the mobo will not reseat because there is zero clearance. So the case is now running with one door off. This may be reducing temps.

The PCI bay covers are made out of nice metal and not cheap aluminum. The screws for the PCI cards are also nice and heavy not light and flimsy.

This was nice to notice

FIT AND FINISH

The case work is good and the raised power supply is nice. There are many small holes all over the case in pattern mimicing the G5 case. This is nice.

NOISE

Since I removed the adda fans I don't know how it would be a stock. It's not loud and I slept with it on last night crunching seti@H work.

The hdd don't vibrate the case at all and hum. The loudest thing I can hear right now is the fan on my 9800 pro 256 mb. That fan is noisy.

Oh well.

DOORS

The doors seat by sticking down into rail and then locking up top. Only one door has a lock adapter so the other door can be opened without monitoring. They are heavy and probably add much weight to the case.

WHEELS

I was previuosly using a SSTJ07 case. This was nice but was very dusty, heavy, and had no wheels. These wheels on this (lian-li) case are very nice. The rear wheels have a brake so basically you can activate the break and the case won't roll forward or backward. Remove brake and case rolls.

The case comes with tires for the wheels. These are rubber and slide over the metal wheels for protection.

EXTRAS

Lian-Li makes a see through door and also some different adapters for the power supply area if you want to run different stuff. Forget what buy it seems for redundant power supplies. Check their site for more info.

COLOR

This case comes in black and silver. I went for black because black is a much better neutral color for the eye to see compared to any other color. It doesn't blare out now because it's more stealth in appearance. I went for a red/black theme with some UV lights.

The UV lights can be mounted pretty much anywhere and there are options for mounting you will find when placing the lights for a test run.

SIZE

The case isn't that big as you will read. It is very very light. I was so surprised. I mean with the doors off it maybe weighs like 5-10 pounds. That's it. Yet is not noisy or rattling.

OTHER THOUGHTS

This case was fun to work with. I used a drill to attach all screws at the lowest torque setting. The power runs were long and you will want to consider a large power supply like the pcp+c 850/1kw if you are running multiple procs, dvd burners, overclocked, two sli/crossfire video cards because in total you could run a bunch of hardware.

The HDD cages are removable for what purpose I don't know. But this will reduce the structural ridgitiy of the case and I decided not to remove anything.

Bout it for now.

[Hidea]

I have the V1000A Plus, it's a smaller version of the V2000. It is indeed a VERY nice case. Solid build, light, good airflow system.

[thermal+paste]

here are some higher res images

[Martyn]

Awesome case, we need more front shots though because it is quite sexeh!

[Aud]

Lian Li cases are always impressive. Does the V2000 have a removeable motherboard tray, and if not, does it feel confined when you're working inside it?

[oddcrap]

Looks like a nice buy hope you're enjoying it :D

[thermal+paste]

Lian Li cases are always impressive. Does the V2000 have a removeable motherboard tray, and if not, does it feel confined when you're working inside it?

It has no removable mobo tray. I don't feel confined. This case is giant and will support 9 inch long sata mobile racks because of the space in the 5.25 inch area.

The ONLY problem is with sata disks on the lowermost position in the stack. The sata cable kind of messes with the door getting on quickly. I'm sure if you zip tied the sata cables to an anchor this would be no prob. but considering sata cables are very easily unseated it is a prob.

Compared to the SS TJ07 I have the clearance for the door on this case is much better. Much better.

The SS TJ07 was stupid design because sata cables and molex power connectors hit the door like hit it literally.

The Lian-Li case took that into consideration and gives you a couple of inches for the cables to come off any disks before it meets the door.

SilverStone didn't' consider this it seems.

Other than that the case is big and I feel I could add a hampster wheel if I wanted to, except I don't like pets (too much work, plus what do they do if you work all day :( )

:laugh:

[Axel]

I find it hard to believe that out of all the pictures, you haven't shown one of the front of the case!!!!!!!