Lian Li PC-V1200B
Written by Byron Blunk on 2/16/2005 for
PC
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Lian Li PC-V1200B
With so many computer cases out in the market, sometimes it is easy to buy a case that looks pretty from the outside, but crappy interior design. Computer cases have come a long way since the invention of computer. With the ever increasing speed of the processors and high performance components, tremendous amount of heat can build up fairly quick in a poorly designed case. The type of material also plays a critical role. For enthusiast who enjoy overclocking their systems, often find themselves in the mercy of heat build up. Aluminum cases have gained it’s popularity due to their light weight material, but also it’s good heat dissipations factor.
When my Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case first arrived, I found that it was packaged very nicely. There were no scratches or dents on my case. This black anodized finish case rivals my silver Apple G5 Dual 2.0 GHz nicely. The black anodized finish was easy to clean up with a damp cloth. Actually, both the Lian Li PC-V1200B and the Apple G5 look somewhat similar from the front. From the outside, the appearance of the Lian Li PCI-V1200B looks unique. The almost completely perforated front (Multi-ventilator) and the rounded top and bottom look like no other PC in the market. The idea of the almost completely perforated front helps improve the ventilation and airflow. The case also sport up to five 5.25” bay with an aluminum CD/DVD bezel and a 5.25” convert to 3.5” bay with aluminum FDD bezel. This is really nice if you have an off color bezel, the aluminum bezel hides it from the people and match the color of your case.
Moving down below the 5.25” drive bays, there is the stainless steel power button and two bright power LED and hard drive LED. Unfortunately, there’s no reset button! Below that is the Lian Li logo and all the necessary I/O ports for accessing. It includes 1x IEEE 1394 port, 1x MIC, 1x EAR, and 2x USB 2.0 ports. Everything can be easily accessed from the front of the case, no more holding a flashlight and fumbling in the back of the case. The case sits on four aluminum casters with brake lever connected to the rear casters. It also comes with four skid resistant rubber sleeves for the casters so it doesn’t slip easily.
Another feature I love about the PC-V1200B is the ease of removing the side panels. Each side of the panels has a unique thumb screw central locking mechanism. To open the side panel, just unscrew the thumbscrew, and pull toward you about half an inch. That unlocks the side panel. It only takes few seconds for me to remove and put back the side panels. The thumbscrew locking mechanisms also with an option that allows you to padlock in the loop below.
Another unique feature of this case that sets apart from other cases is that while the case is facing you, you remove the right side panel instead of the left side panel. Most if not all other cases open on the left side panel. And when you look at the interior of the case, things look somewhat reversed.
Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case is an exceptionally well designed case for any high performance nuts out there. Don’t let the box fooled you with the word “Value”. This isn’t really your normal value case, it has many features that are not always easy to find in other low end budget cases. One might think mid tower is small and not enough room for their components. But this isn’t true with this case. This case is big enough to fit an extended ATX motherboard (Max Size: 12”x13”). It is big enough to fit a Dual Xeon EMT64 motherboard easily. In this illustration, I have installed an extended ATX motherboard, the Supermicro X6DA8-G2 (12”x13.05”).
As I mentioned earlier, the interior of the case is somewhat reversed. The power supply compartment is actually at the bottom of the case. This configuration is somewhat resembled to the Intel BTX form factor. The interior of the Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case is divided into 3 zones design for better heat dissipation. There is a zone for the motherboard, a zone for the hard drives and a zone for the power supply. Each zone isolates the major sources of heat and helps dissipate quickly.
For the Motherboard zone, there are hardly any sharp edges inside the case, and are protected by plastic molding to route and protect cables. All the screws and tools are neatly packed in small clear plastic bags and in a small white box that is taped inside the case. Located in back of the motherboard zone, there’s a 120mm ball bearing exhaust fan with dampening shield mounted on rubber grommet to dampen vibrations. The exhaust fan sucks cool air from the perforated front of the case to the back, drawing any heats produced by the processors out. To further dampen fan vibrations, it has a removable sound damping cover for the fan in the rear.
At the power supply zone, to ease the installation of a PSU, it introduced a PSU plate. The PSU plate is held by four thumbscrews. All a user need to do is to attach the plate to the PSU then slide the whole unit in and tighten the thumbscrews. This zone also incorporated perforated floor that allows cool air to be sucked in by the power supply and ventilated out to the case. This design allows the power supply to be cooled.
The hard drive zone is nicely designed so that it can accommodate up to six 3.5” hard drives. It features sliding tracks for easy assemble hidden H.D.D. The sliding tracks are made of durable impact resistant plastic with locking mechanism to secure the drives in place. The design allows easy RAID setup.
To install hard drive in the sliding tracks, first install the special screws onto the hard drive that came with the case. Slide the hard drive in the sliding tracks and lock it in place.
In front of the hard drive zone, there’s another 120mm ball bearing exhaust fan sucking cool air from the front of the case thru the hard drives and out to the perforated floor. Again the 120mm ball bearing exhaust fan kept itself from vibrations with a rubber grommet between the fan and the chassis. It evens come with an air filter.
The design and the construction of the Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case is impressive. The case is well engineered with a solid feel to it. The case is constructed with 2mm thick aluminum, yet solid but light weight. The 3 divided zones performs it’s job nicely, while with dual 3.0Ghz Xeon EMT64 running with full load, the internal temperature stayed below 39C. Aside from the high price, no reset button and comes with no power supply, I would still recommend this to anyone that is looking for a high quality case.
When my Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case first arrived, I found that it was packaged very nicely. There were no scratches or dents on my case. This black anodized finish case rivals my silver Apple G5 Dual 2.0 GHz nicely. The black anodized finish was easy to clean up with a damp cloth. Actually, both the Lian Li PC-V1200B and the Apple G5 look somewhat similar from the front. From the outside, the appearance of the Lian Li PCI-V1200B looks unique. The almost completely perforated front (Multi-ventilator) and the rounded top and bottom look like no other PC in the market. The idea of the almost completely perforated front helps improve the ventilation and airflow. The case also sport up to five 5.25” bay with an aluminum CD/DVD bezel and a 5.25” convert to 3.5” bay with aluminum FDD bezel. This is really nice if you have an off color bezel, the aluminum bezel hides it from the people and match the color of your case.
Moving down below the 5.25” drive bays, there is the stainless steel power button and two bright power LED and hard drive LED. Unfortunately, there’s no reset button! Below that is the Lian Li logo and all the necessary I/O ports for accessing. It includes 1x IEEE 1394 port, 1x MIC, 1x EAR, and 2x USB 2.0 ports. Everything can be easily accessed from the front of the case, no more holding a flashlight and fumbling in the back of the case. The case sits on four aluminum casters with brake lever connected to the rear casters. It also comes with four skid resistant rubber sleeves for the casters so it doesn’t slip easily.
Another feature I love about the PC-V1200B is the ease of removing the side panels. Each side of the panels has a unique thumb screw central locking mechanism. To open the side panel, just unscrew the thumbscrew, and pull toward you about half an inch. That unlocks the side panel. It only takes few seconds for me to remove and put back the side panels. The thumbscrew locking mechanisms also with an option that allows you to padlock in the loop below.
Another unique feature of this case that sets apart from other cases is that while the case is facing you, you remove the right side panel instead of the left side panel. Most if not all other cases open on the left side panel. And when you look at the interior of the case, things look somewhat reversed.
Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case is an exceptionally well designed case for any high performance nuts out there. Don’t let the box fooled you with the word “Value”. This isn’t really your normal value case, it has many features that are not always easy to find in other low end budget cases. One might think mid tower is small and not enough room for their components. But this isn’t true with this case. This case is big enough to fit an extended ATX motherboard (Max Size: 12”x13”). It is big enough to fit a Dual Xeon EMT64 motherboard easily. In this illustration, I have installed an extended ATX motherboard, the Supermicro X6DA8-G2 (12”x13.05”).
As I mentioned earlier, the interior of the case is somewhat reversed. The power supply compartment is actually at the bottom of the case. This configuration is somewhat resembled to the Intel BTX form factor. The interior of the Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case is divided into 3 zones design for better heat dissipation. There is a zone for the motherboard, a zone for the hard drives and a zone for the power supply. Each zone isolates the major sources of heat and helps dissipate quickly.
For the Motherboard zone, there are hardly any sharp edges inside the case, and are protected by plastic molding to route and protect cables. All the screws and tools are neatly packed in small clear plastic bags and in a small white box that is taped inside the case. Located in back of the motherboard zone, there’s a 120mm ball bearing exhaust fan with dampening shield mounted on rubber grommet to dampen vibrations. The exhaust fan sucks cool air from the perforated front of the case to the back, drawing any heats produced by the processors out. To further dampen fan vibrations, it has a removable sound damping cover for the fan in the rear.
At the power supply zone, to ease the installation of a PSU, it introduced a PSU plate. The PSU plate is held by four thumbscrews. All a user need to do is to attach the plate to the PSU then slide the whole unit in and tighten the thumbscrews. This zone also incorporated perforated floor that allows cool air to be sucked in by the power supply and ventilated out to the case. This design allows the power supply to be cooled.
The hard drive zone is nicely designed so that it can accommodate up to six 3.5” hard drives. It features sliding tracks for easy assemble hidden H.D.D. The sliding tracks are made of durable impact resistant plastic with locking mechanism to secure the drives in place. The design allows easy RAID setup.
To install hard drive in the sliding tracks, first install the special screws onto the hard drive that came with the case. Slide the hard drive in the sliding tracks and lock it in place.
In front of the hard drive zone, there’s another 120mm ball bearing exhaust fan sucking cool air from the front of the case thru the hard drives and out to the perforated floor. Again the 120mm ball bearing exhaust fan kept itself from vibrations with a rubber grommet between the fan and the chassis. It evens come with an air filter.
The design and the construction of the Lian Li PC-V1200B Aluminum Mid Tower Case is impressive. The case is well engineered with a solid feel to it. The case is constructed with 2mm thick aluminum, yet solid but light weight. The 3 divided zones performs it’s job nicely, while with dual 3.0Ghz Xeon EMT64 running with full load, the internal temperature stayed below 39C. Aside from the high price, no reset button and comes with no power supply, I would still recommend this to anyone that is looking for a high quality case.
A few minor flaws but otherwise, this is a great case in a long line of great cases from Lian Li.
Rating: 9.2 Excellent
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
