I can see that there is a lot more area for the motherboard, but you just used a very small one. Second, I see a 750 watt power supply is installed. Why exactly was 750 watts required? Are you installing SLI in there or something? I can't even see a video card.
This review really looks half assed. Which is really lame, because I have a particular interest in small and light cases which can handle a full sized ATX board and maybe even a video card... 10kg and carry-on luggage sized are my requirements for a new machine.
I just wish you'd made a better effort for this review.
Your kidding me right? 6 different pages of information and that's not enough for you... How about you be greatfull someone went to the trouble to review it in the first place and at least say thanks
Does this configuration of a micro atx without a graphics card and a 750 watt power supply unit at all look like a realistic configuration? This article fails in so many ways. I really hope the author reconsiders this article and considers taking this review a bit more seriously. Maybe actually try to make a decent build for testing rather than this rather thoughtless configuration.
ie., You could probably throw in an AMD E350 and complementary board, fill up the harddrive bays, and try some home server task related work at it, and then check out temperatures, etc. You know, configure it like it is meant to be configured rather than what was done. Just using the number of pages is not a useful metric to gage the quality of an article.
I'll tell you what. If you want to ship me the hardware you feel would make for an ideal build for this case, I'll happily retest it.
Until then, may I remind you that we standardize on this testbed for a reason. Because I'm trying to figure out what sort of difference in the end results using a smaller power supply would really have.
If he actually read the review he would understand why that exact PSU was used for the review (which is different than their usual reference configuration).
Also, Dustin explains that there are no results for noise and cooling with a GPU in the case because the GPU from their standard test system uses the stock Nvidia reference design and the power connectors on this model do not line up with the cut-outs on Lian-Li's case.
If wordsworm actually read the 6 PAGE review, instead of just staring at the pretty pictures and graphs he would understand this.
If you read the testing methodology, you will see that this is one of the two standard configurations AT is using in their reviews. Agreed that the part selection seems a bit odd, but it is all to keep it as uniform as possible.
The case supports up to mATX so you can grab a Asus ROG Gene board and a pair of GTX 560Ti in SLI. I've mentioned the GTX 560Ti because they're short in length which is what these cases are made for.
Just an FYI the height of the vid card is also very important. any heatsink pipes that go even a little higher than rest of the card will screw you up with this case. The height given at the Lian Li website is not conservative. You need to allow for thickness of mobo.
the new gtx 570 are shorter and would fit, you could run them in SLI although they recycle air with the centered fan (vs venting out the rear) they would fit. That would be quite a power house. I have a PC-Q11R (Red) with a 2600k and a GTX 570 in it. Now that's compact firepower.
Even if they would fit, though, running such a config in this type of case is just asking for problems. I have 5870 CrossFire in a normal size Lian Li case (PC7 I think), and the mobo slots are only separated by a single PCIe x1 slot. The top card gets up to 100C during gaming and ends up overheating and throttling, and often crashing the games. I had to underclock to get things stable. I can't imagine what would happen in a cramped chassis like this running two adjacent high-end GPUs (without doing something like water-cooling).
Agreed. What a stupid comment. How about I reply in kind and call it a typical PC (no pun intended) comment by a middle class white wimp. I'm thinking you probably don't swing your legs over a dirt bike at the end of the day and spend a few hours racing in the dirt with a bunch of middle class white guys. Or strapping on some skates and banging bodies with a bunch of middle class white guys hitting a rubber slab with a stick. Me thinks somebody at AT fancies himself more than a tech writer.
Or a Human, since being afraid of the unknown is human nature. It's why kids are afraid of the dark and the eldery prefer a rigid daily routine. We wouldn't want common sense to get in the way of a good jab though, right, Illll?
Yeah, when I saw that line too my thought was why is a guy like this writing a PC case review? I don't know if it was an attempt at some kind of humor or what but it makes Dustin look bad as a person and a reviewer. Kinda kills his credibility IMO.
Edited sentence. I'm a middle class white male as well, and it didn't offend me, but I was also tired -- our admin section was down for several hours yesterday so my final read of the last two pages was a little later than I wanted. But seriously, to say that a statement like that "kills his credibility"? Please. It might make you not like him I suppose, or think he's completely politically incorrect, but it doesn't change the content of the review.
That line had me confused as well. Anyone who knows anything about Lian Li cases should realize that the all-aluminum construction is practically their main selling point.
But the part that bothered me was the conclusion. "It's a nice and unique piece of aluminum, tremendously light and easy to move, but this case honestly would fare a lot better with fans." Dustin, I think you're missing the point of this case. It's designed to be a silent case, so it'd probably be wise to use a fanless PSU (Seasonic SS-400FL, anyone?), large, passively cooled CPU heatsink (or a really quiet one like the Scythe Big Shuriken or Zipang 2), and a passively cooled graphics card. Or better yet, install a Llano A8 chip.
I do agree that Lian Li didn't make the best use of space in the V353, as with most/all of the V3xx series, but the end result is a pretty slick looking microATX rig.
How about "quiet case" as opposed to silent, because small and compact with no sound dampening but still using a CPU fan (necessary given the cramped quarters) means that this won't be "silent".
For example, a low power Zacate, Llano A4, or dual core Sandy Bridge chip would be able to get by with a large, passive heatsink. The ventilated case would be enough to keep those chips from overheating. With no case fans, a fanless PSU, and an SSD, the system would literally be silent (save for possible capacitor squeal).
On the other hand, a higher power CPU/APU could use a heatsink with a large, low rpm fan. In that case it would be "quiet," but having case fans would still add to the noise.
Either way, Lian Li designed this case to be cooled passively.
first, i am admittedly a lian-li fan. however they don't have a single matx case i would really like. all their matx cases are too strange.
lian li has some itx cases that would be better built for the purpose of fitting itx hardware (which is what you use) and thus be considerably more suitable. i've assembled a couple of systems with mid-high video cards into their pc-q08 that is frankly excellent for its size. anything without a gpu (or large/hot gpu) will also fit into and stay cool in their smaller cubes just fine (pc-q07 and pc-q11 are the current ones if my memory server me right).
considering the noise/heat situation bad for a case with no fans compared to case with a large 18cm fan is not very fair. 73w processor on an itx board is not a smart thing to do if you're assembling a quiet system. when comaring to temjin, i would be a lot more interesting in how pc-v600f fares - similar size, more traditional layout. or maybe pc-v354.
quibbles, to answer your question about atx case - as we are on the subject of lian li, pc-a05 and its newer derivatives are quite excellent at being simple, light and fairly reasonable size atx cases. price is naturally somewhat outrageous for what you get though (as with anything they produce). the first time i bought one, i had to open up the box immediately as i was afraid it was empty :)
You might want to give the PC-A04B a look. I built one about a month ago and it is literally a shrunken down standard ATX case with a removable hdd cage that allows it to support a full length vga. Extremely quiet with three removable fan filters too...at a very reasonable price.
I've got a PC-V351 case, which is very similar to this one but a couple generations older. It's got several fans throughout the case, so the cooling is probably better than this one. It is a relatively light case due to its aluminum construction, but I also think it's rather flimsy. For example, it is very easy to bend one of the side panels when it is taken off the case -- it's just a thin aluminum sheet.
Like the review states, if a video card has a top-oriented power connector, it absolutely won't work. I had to return one video card (luckily to a local Microcenter) because of this.
Also, the review suggests that the panel could be attached with screws instead of the clipping mechanism. The PC-V351 uses screws. It uses about 6 tiny flat-head machine screws per side. The case has a clean look, but it's a pain to disassemble vs. something with clips.
The form factor of this case is also a bit strange. It's not a small cube case (it's wider than most full-tower ATX cases that I've seen), but it is much shorter in height. I still think the case looks nice, but after living with it I realized that the extra width (3-4 inches vs. a mid tower) make it less convenient to put under or on a desk -- I think most people could spare an extra few inches in height, but might not have a few extra inches in width beside or on top of their desk for a computer case.
Very nice review. I've owned a few LianLi cases and have always been impressed with them. One thing: In the Cooling area of the Specifications chart...I highly doubt this tiny case has 4x120mm fan mounts. Just sayin'.
I own a few older (about circa 2007), larger Lian-Li cases, and let me tell you. If an intruder comes into my home, I'm just going to take the side panel off my PC-V2000B+ and use it to ward off said intruder. It almost seems like a psychological thing, because the side panels are what we typically work with a lot on a PC, and if they seem flimsy and cheap... what about the rest of the case?
My main desktop uses a Corsair Obsidian 800D, and the flimsiness of the side panels is rather bothersome. Although, I think Corsair did that because of the horridly poor design of their (much lauded) cable routing, and the flimsy side panels allows for some flex. The flex is almost necessary as the 24-pin ATX power connector is simply too thick to be routed behind the motherboard. Why don't case manufacturers give us more room in the back if they expect us to route our power cables?
Try adhesive velcro strips for holding down the 24-pin ATX cable. Corsair's 600t case has zip-tie holes punched into the rear plate; I had almost 1-inch of clearance after tying down the power cable.
I have the v352 which is almost the same as this new version. The differences are cosmetic, there is a lot more ventilation with all the tiny holes on the v353. V353 have snap on side panels while mine has a lot of tiny screws. I prefer the tiny screws just for peace of mind and since I won’t be swapping out components, but I prefer the exterior look of the v353 over mine.
It took me almost a week to put mine together. I spent an hour every evening to work on it and cable management took the longest time. The most painful part of the install is having to almost always remove the motherboard panel completely to get inside the case which also meant I had to unplug almost all the cables.
After the install however I have to say I am very happy with the look and size of the case. Now I can put it on my desk and it looks very nice. Actually would have loved to consider the Silverstone case mentioned in this article. But I had the impression Silverstone is too expensive and I had a budget with this build.
I think the reviewer would have given a much more favorable review if he was able to consider every component going into the tiny case and make it a complete new build with a decent graphics card. I had a lot of fun filling up this case even tho it took awhile.
I think AT case reviews are too concentrated on ease of assembly and performance, not that it's a bad thing but I'd like to see more on practicality. Smaller cases should all scale down to a smaller, quieter PSU. Same with the HSF, a high performance low profile fan like the Scythe Shurikan should be standard to maximize clearance and airflow. I understand the reasoning behind using the same parts for generally all the tests, but I think using more ideal hardware gives a better ceiling of performance one can expect from the case. And one last thing I'm always fretting over: how easy is it to clean the case?? Perforated panels are the worst to clean, and how effective can we expect the filters to be where they are present? I know this is difficult to quantitatively assess, but any insight would be much appreciated.
The difficulty with doing "customized builds" is that we'd then have to custom build *every* case to come up with a "best-case scenario" (pun intended). And then what are we reviewing? Most people will use the case as it ships, so disabling fans, or changing orientation of the DVD, or adding fans, etc. is beyond the scope of what they would do. A system builder could do all those things, sure, but they're the ones who would most likely care about ease of assembly.
Performance is a tricky thing to analyze; obviously we're only looking at temperatures and noise levels, but with the same core components we can at least say that a particular chassis runs hotter/louder or cooler/quieter than other cases. Any case with no fans can be "silent", but I'd rather have "nearly silent" with a very low RPM fan that can ramp up to audible levels if things are getting too toasty. This case would work fine for someone that wants small and quiet and is willing to give up some performance options. I can't really see that being worth $150+, especially when others are doing it for less.
I have a previous generation of this case and I absolutely love it. The side access optical drives are weird, but I used the space for hard drives anyways. Working sans CD/DVD was a little difficult at first but I wanted to force myself to make the shift.
This is a beautiful case in a form factor that fits perfectly into my entertainment unit in the living room while being just large enough to support a good graphics card. I've been extremely happy with it.
It is a shame that review like this can get published, but guess this happens a lot in the age of internet.
The author failed to familiarize with the Lian-li brand and their entire product lines. Lian-li is known for their using entirely aluminum and being light. Their product are generally on the more expansive side than other brands that use mostly steels.
The author pulled an unfair comparison using Silverstone TJ08-E when they are not in the same form factor category despite both being m-ATX cases. Using Lian-Li PC-A04 would have been an apple to apple comparison to the Silverstone TJ08-E.
The Silverstone is something we have reviewed, and Lian Li didn't send the A04 for review (yet?). The majority of the review isn't focused on the Silverstone but is instead a look at the PC-V353. As always, we compare in graphs to what we've reviewed, but we look at other elements as well.
Just because we know who Lian Li is and what they're cases are like doesn't mean they are advertising the aluminum materials, and pretending that we aren't "familiar with the brand" when Dustin states that we've been trying to get their kit in house for a while is typical Internet chest-thumping. Most importantly, you appear to miss the point that this is a review of a specific case. Whether the PC-A04 is a good product is irrelevant to how the PC-V353 stacks up.
The fact is, this particular unit is one of compromise. If you want to use it with a passively cooled CPU and PSU, along with an SSD and no discrete GPU, you can create a silent system. You can do that with just about any case if you want to. Quirky aspects like the interior layout however are just that: quirky. Dustin has handled dozens of case reviews, and knows the market quite well. The bottom line is that this is a small and light case that costs an awful lot of money for what you get, and we feel it's overpriced.
It's a shame that a review like that can get published, because clearly this... what? Is the case expensive or not? Does it require more effort to assemble or not? Does it have limitations in what sorts of hardware it can reasonably support or not? I'm not sure what your real complaint is, other than not being happy that we didn't find a lot to like in the PC-V353. You know what they say about opinions...except we also have some facts to go along with the opinion that this case isn't particularly noteworthy. Higher temperatures, thin materials that can flex, and a difficult assembly are all facts of life with this chassis. You can disagree about whether those things are a deal-breaker if you'd like, but I can't see any of those items being net positives.
As Dustin mentions, we have a couple other Lian Li case reviews coming. Very likely they'll be better than this case, though with the Lian Li brand there's still a good chance they're in the "expensive" category.
This is the 4th iteration of this case design (V350,351,352...) and it's actually pretty awesome. I had a V351 and the side panel and internal design of the 353 SLAAAAAYS it. Yes it's different. If that's really your dealbreaker don't waste people's time reviewing and complaining about non-standard cases.
Being different is fine, if the difference is worthwhile. Here, we don't feel there's any advantage to the changes. Changing the internal design to something that requires more assembly time would be fine if there was a clearly superior end result. Allowing the user to switch the sides for the ports and optical drive, however, is a customization that many would be happy to do without. I'll wager that 95% of users go with the stock configuration, with the DVD/ports accessed on the right, because that's how the case ships. So for 5% of users--or even 10%--everyone gets extra cutouts that are covered by a plate, with other compromises as well. It might still be better than the PC-V351, but that doesn't make this perfect.
I might not be in the market for this case, which is like the PC V351 peppered with buckshot, but I am a fan of their 'unique' designs. Unique is great if it works and ridiculous if it doesnt. I went for a Lian Li with no ventilation - one that I could wallpaper with acoustic foam. I traded cooling ability for quietness, but the 353 takes it a bridge too far.
I loved the time I spent with the V351 though. It's such an excellent uATX case for the full spectrum. Its main flaw being the inability to use video cards with heat pipes, like MEL's cyclone cards or anything with top mounted PEGs. I loved the side optical bays with that case, cable management was... insufficient ...but it worked. Its nice to see a different take on those elements, but then Lian Li is the prince of weird-ass cases so its actually kinda staid. They either give you a plain aluminum box or a conch shell (no, its a nautilus?)tower...what's not to like?
The first system ever built was with the very first sonata revision. The day I walked into a friends house and saw three Sonatas was the day I decided I was going to use a different kind of case from then on. That's why I'm a fan of the extra-funky Lian Li's.
Dustin, please tell me you have one of those seashell uATX cases on the way...
I don't entirely agree with Dustin's methodology (not that I really care about it) or the parts he uses (really using one of those Zalman circle loop coolers?) a lot of the time but I'm actually really glad that for the first time someone said something bad about Lian Li instead of singing praises every time.
I've dealt with a lot of aluminum cases from Lian Li when I did work for a computer store and frankly every single one larger than mITX has been a huge disappointment. A lot of the design features in their spacesaver mATX cases range from somewhat understandable to downright stupid - building a few systems in the previous models, I know a few simple changes that could be made to make the case 100% better for quiet computing or high powered systems. Their ATX chassis haven't changed at all since the dawn of time and have long been surpassed by Corsair. The only quality about them is that they make shit about of the lightest materials possible.
Don't get me started on their ultra high end chassis, where their exterior paintjob is pretty much the only thing high quality about them. If you can't build a system well enough in aluminum, stick to steel. Yes its heavier but at least it dampens sound better and isn't flimsy - the Mac Pro chassis is pretty much the gold standard of aluminum cases still and if you can't get side panels as rigid as Apple, don't bother with the material.
"Don't get me started on their ultra high end chassis, where their exterior paintjob is pretty much the only thing high quality about them."
My V2120X's interior is superb. Everything about it is superb. Airflow, layout, ease of installation, features, build quality, style.
"the Mac Pro chassis is pretty much the gold standard of aluminum cases still and if you can't get side panels as rigid as Apple, don't bother with the material."
Again, try telling that to my V2120X. The side panel is so thick I cannot even bend it when I try.
Besides, why is it crucial to have side panels built like titanium plates? That ramps up the cost of materials. As long as they're sufficiently thick to not break under normal use, does it really matter?
"A lot of the design features in their spacesaver mATX cases range from somewhat understandable to downright stupid"
I absolutely agree with you on this point. A lot of the micro ATX and mini ITX cases have illogical layouts (especially for the PSU), but Lian Li has been improving on this, as seen in the V353.
Lian li clearly thought about where a computer would be when putting this design together.
It is, as a concept, perfectly suited for people who have a computer on their desk rather than under it. Having a side ways facing optical drive is a good design choice for those type of people.
But when it comes to the reality of the design there are lots of fail points here.
For starters, do people really need lots of HDs in a computer that is on top of desk and presumeably next to the keyboard? I am sure that many people will not agree with me but I would design it to hold a maximum of 2 HDs.
I am not convinced by the horizontal MB tray either.
I think on balance I would prefer a 200mm fan up front (with dust cover), one optical drive bay and 2 HD bays would be better airflow and still very quiet. Being a water cooling fan that would allow for a rig with decent airflow to cool everything bar GPU and CPU and a 200x2000 radiator to cool the GPU and CPU which would be very quiet
I'm half through the review, nice stuff. But I'm personally not a fan of cubes anymore. I got myself a Lian Li V352, the predecessor. It is a good case, but in my opinion fairly limited. It collects dust like crazy. Because of the cube shape you cannot put anything on the floor of the caes since the motherboard covers that. Overall, the Temjin TJ08-E sounds like a much better package for me and I'm going to be buying one next year and mod it a bit for some water cooling.
I'm curious to see what other models you got from them. My A77 is a joy, immense build quality. And yeah, Lian Lis are all aluminum cases and they're not cheap.
I'm sorry to say that I have to completely disagree with the review posted here. I'm not meaning to offend, but as a long time case-builder I have found that the PC-V353 case is rather nice, and that the reviewer here really didn't seem to put much effort into the build. For a real review, and pics of this case with a full build with EFFORT, head over to whatthetech.info - it's in the main navigation bar.
This may be a pretty old review now, but being something of a fan of Lian Li's aesthetics and quality, I can't help noticing just how many of their cases have serious flaws in details, layout and cooling concept.
When they introduced that little computer case in the shape of a locomotive, I became convinced, that at least one of their case designers was an adorable dreamer - but without much care for really designing the cases for efficient placement of components or a truly optimized cooling concept. If they could at least firmly adopt the positive air pressure idea, it would alleviate a lot of issues. They do manufacture the NCASE M1, but that design was done by people who actually build systems with a clear intent to get the most fps from the smallest size box without it overheating or being noisy.
/pointless rant on an ancient 2011 review
Thanks for the review anyway, I will check out the V354, which you said you liked better :)
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57 Comments
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wordsworm - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I can see that there is a lot more area for the motherboard, but you just used a very small one. Second, I see a 750 watt power supply is installed. Why exactly was 750 watts required? Are you installing SLI in there or something? I can't even see a video card.This review really looks half assed. Which is really lame, because I have a particular interest in small and light cases which can handle a full sized ATX board and maybe even a video card... 10kg and carry-on luggage sized are my requirements for a new machine.
I just wish you'd made a better effort for this review.
TommyAU - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Your kidding me right?6 different pages of information and that's not enough for you...
How about you be greatfull someone went to the trouble to review it in the first place and at least say thanks
wordsworm - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Does this configuration of a micro atx without a graphics card and a 750 watt power supply unit at all look like a realistic configuration? This article fails in so many ways. I really hope the author reconsiders this article and considers taking this review a bit more seriously. Maybe actually try to make a decent build for testing rather than this rather thoughtless configuration.ie., You could probably throw in an AMD E350 and complementary board, fill up the harddrive bays, and try some home server task related work at it, and then check out temperatures, etc. You know, configure it like it is meant to be configured rather than what was done. Just using the number of pages is not a useful metric to gage the quality of an article.
Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I'll tell you what. If you want to ship me the hardware you feel would make for an ideal build for this case, I'll happily retest it.Until then, may I remind you that we standardize on this testbed for a reason. Because I'm trying to figure out what sort of difference in the end results using a smaller power supply would really have.
zerockslol - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link
http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/1409/cardcle...What does this look like? GTFO before you flame someone who's spending their time writing reviews of hardware for us, dipshit.
lrawrl - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link
If he actually read the review he would understand why that exact PSU was used for the review (which is different than their usual reference configuration).Also, Dustin explains that there are no results for noise and cooling with a GPU in the case because the GPU from their standard test system uses the stock Nvidia reference design and the power connectors on this model do not line up with the cut-outs on Lian-Li's case.
If wordsworm actually read the 6 PAGE review, instead of just staring at the pretty pictures and graphs he would understand this.
SquattingDog - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
If you read the testing methodology, you will see that this is one of the two standard configurations AT is using in their reviews. Agreed that the part selection seems a bit odd, but it is all to keep it as uniform as possible.Etern205 - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
The case supports up to mATX so you can grab a Asus ROG Gene board and a pairof GTX 560Ti in SLI.
I've mentioned the GTX 560Ti because they're short in length which is what these cases are made for.
Flagrant - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Just an FYI the height of the vid card is also very important. any heatsink pipes that go even a little higher than rest of the card will screw you up with this case. The height given at the Lian Li website is not conservative. You need to allow for thickness of mobo.Etern205 - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Just buy a card without the nonsense and you'll have no problems.Looking at one of the pics a standard GTX580 fits.
Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
The perspective in that pic is a little off. A standard GTX 580 does not fit, and in fact I mentioned this in the review.Hargak - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
the new gtx 570 are shorter and would fit, you could run them in SLI although they recycle air with the centered fan (vs venting out the rear) they would fit. That would be quite a power house. I have a PC-Q11R (Red) with a 2600k and a GTX 570 in it. Now that's compact firepower.JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Even if they would fit, though, running such a config in this type of case is just asking for problems. I have 5870 CrossFire in a normal size Lian Li case (PC7 I think), and the mobo slots are only separated by a single PCIe x1 slot. The top card gets up to 100C during gaming and ends up overheating and throttling, and often crashing the games. I had to underclock to get things stable. I can't imagine what would happen in a cramped chassis like this running two adjacent high-end GPUs (without doing something like water-cooling).onetwistedsoul - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Dustin, after reading your article I was thinking "Hmmm, well done". At least until I reached this particularly insightful sentence:"Like most middle class white males, I fear change and the unknown, ..."
Really? How stupid a comment can one make and not be edited out by a superior?
BPB - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Agreed. What a stupid comment. How about I reply in kind and call it a typical PC (no pun intended) comment by a middle class white wimp. I'm thinking you probably don't swing your legs over a dirt bike at the end of the day and spend a few hours racing in the dirt with a bunch of middle class white guys. Or strapping on some skates and banging bodies with a bunch of middle class white guys hitting a rubber slab with a stick. Me thinks somebody at AT fancies himself more than a tech writer.IlllI - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
you must be a republicanMonkeyPaw - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Please no.MilwaukeeMike - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Or a Human, since being afraid of the unknown is human nature. It's why kids are afraid of the dark and the eldery prefer a rigid daily routine. We wouldn't want common sense to get in the way of a good jab though, right, Illll?Skott - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Yeah, when I saw that line too my thought was why is a guy like this writing a PC case review? I don't know if it was an attempt at some kind of humor or what but it makes Dustin look bad as a person and a reviewer. Kinda kills his credibility IMO.JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Edited sentence. I'm a middle class white male as well, and it didn't offend me, but I was also tired -- our admin section was down for several hours yesterday so my final read of the last two pages was a little later than I wanted. But seriously, to say that a statement like that "kills his credibility"? Please. It might make you not like him I suppose, or think he's completely politically incorrect, but it doesn't change the content of the review.Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
It never ceases to amaze me what some people find offensive.IlllI - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
i find your post offensive!!i DEMAND you change it because i find it offensive! you have lost all credibility with me because you spoke your mind!
actually i agree. some people get too damn butt-hurt over the littlest things
JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
+1cjmurph - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
"but surprisingly they don't advertise what may be one of its more interesting aspects: the enclosure is comprised almost entirely of aluminum"Umm, it's a Lian Li case dude, what else is it going to be made out of, chicken feet?
aznofazns - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
That line had me confused as well. Anyone who knows anything about Lian Li cases should realize that the all-aluminum construction is practically their main selling point.But the part that bothered me was the conclusion. "It's a nice and unique piece of aluminum, tremendously light and easy to move, but this case honestly would fare a lot better with fans." Dustin, I think you're missing the point of this case. It's designed to be a silent case, so it'd probably be wise to use a fanless PSU (Seasonic SS-400FL, anyone?), large, passively cooled CPU heatsink (or a really quiet one like the Scythe Big Shuriken or Zipang 2), and a passively cooled graphics card. Or better yet, install a Llano A8 chip.
I do agree that Lian Li didn't make the best use of space in the V353, as with most/all of the V3xx series, but the end result is a pretty slick looking microATX rig.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Having lots of ventilation (and no sound dampening) flies in the face of building a silent PC.aznofazns - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Lack of sound dampening seems irrelevant when the components inside are silent, don't you think?aznofazns - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Just to hammer this point home, read Lian Li's own description of the PC-V353:http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php...
"The PC-V353 is designed to be a silent case.
To use lots vents instead of fans to cool components."
JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
How about "quiet case" as opposed to silent, because small and compact with no sound dampening but still using a CPU fan (necessary given the cramped quarters) means that this won't be "silent".aznofazns - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Well it depends on what components you're using.For example, a low power Zacate, Llano A4, or dual core Sandy Bridge chip would be able to get by with a large, passive heatsink. The ventilated case would be enough to keep those chips from overheating. With no case fans, a fanless PSU, and an SSD, the system would literally be silent (save for possible capacitor squeal).
On the other hand, a higher power CPU/APU could use a heatsink with a large, low rpm fan. In that case it would be "quiet," but having case fans would still add to the noise.
Either way, Lian Li designed this case to be cooled passively.
etamin - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
+1. The light weight is just as obvious...there was no need to make such a big fuss about it like this was the first small all aluminum box madekevith - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Strength comes from the inside, Dustin, from the inside:-)Nice review.
londiste - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
first, i am admittedly a lian-li fan. however they don't have a single matx case i would really like. all their matx cases are too strange.lian li has some itx cases that would be better built for the purpose of fitting itx hardware (which is what you use) and thus be considerably more suitable. i've assembled a couple of systems with mid-high video cards into their pc-q08 that is frankly excellent for its size. anything without a gpu (or large/hot gpu) will also fit into and stay cool in their smaller cubes just fine (pc-q07 and pc-q11 are the current ones if my memory server me right).
considering the noise/heat situation bad for a case with no fans compared to case with a large 18cm fan is not very fair. 73w processor on an itx board is not a smart thing to do if you're assembling a quiet system. when comaring to temjin, i would be a lot more interesting in how pc-v600f fares - similar size, more traditional layout. or maybe pc-v354.
quibbles, to answer your question about atx case - as we are on the subject of lian li, pc-a05 and its newer derivatives are quite excellent at being simple, light and fairly reasonable size atx cases. price is naturally somewhat outrageous for what you get though (as with anything they produce). the first time i bought one, i had to open up the box immediately as i was afraid it was empty :)
etamin - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
You might want to give the PC-A04B a look. I built one about a month ago and it is literally a shrunken down standard ATX case with a removable hdd cage that allows it to support a full length vga. Extremely quiet with three removable fan filters too...at a very reasonable price.RandomUsername3245 - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I've got a PC-V351 case, which is very similar to this one but a couple generations older. It's got several fans throughout the case, so the cooling is probably better than this one. It is a relatively light case due to its aluminum construction, but I also think it's rather flimsy. For example, it is very easy to bend one of the side panels when it is taken off the case -- it's just a thin aluminum sheet.Like the review states, if a video card has a top-oriented power connector, it absolutely won't work. I had to return one video card (luckily to a local Microcenter) because of this.
Also, the review suggests that the panel could be attached with screws instead of the clipping mechanism. The PC-V351 uses screws. It uses about 6 tiny flat-head machine screws per side. The case has a clean look, but it's a pain to disassemble vs. something with clips.
The form factor of this case is also a bit strange. It's not a small cube case (it's wider than most full-tower ATX cases that I've seen), but it is much shorter in height. I still think the case looks nice, but after living with it I realized that the extra width (3-4 inches vs. a mid tower) make it less convenient to put under or on a desk -- I think most people could spare an extra few inches in height, but might not have a few extra inches in width beside or on top of their desk for a computer case.
MichaelD - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Very nice review. I've owned a few LianLi cases and have always been impressed with them. One thing: In the Cooling area of the Specifications chart...I highly doubt this tiny case has 4x120mm fan mounts. Just sayin'.Aikouka - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I own a few older (about circa 2007), larger Lian-Li cases, and let me tell you. If an intruder comes into my home, I'm just going to take the side panel off my PC-V2000B+ and use it to ward off said intruder. It almost seems like a psychological thing, because the side panels are what we typically work with a lot on a PC, and if they seem flimsy and cheap... what about the rest of the case?My main desktop uses a Corsair Obsidian 800D, and the flimsiness of the side panels is rather bothersome. Although, I think Corsair did that because of the horridly poor design of their (much lauded) cable routing, and the flimsy side panels allows for some flex. The flex is almost necessary as the 24-pin ATX power connector is simply too thick to be routed behind the motherboard. Why don't case manufacturers give us more room in the back if they expect us to route our power cables?
int9 - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Try adhesive velcro strips for holding down the 24-pin ATX cable. Corsair's 600t case has zip-tie holes punched into the rear plate; I had almost 1-inch of clearance after tying down the power cable.Peroxyde - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Hi,I have noticed that the heavier the case, the quieter it is. If this case is too light, would it be subject to more vibration noises?
Can you please confirm? And more generally, what are the most important factors to have the quietest case?
Thanks for any advice.
Flagrant - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I have the v352 which is almost the same as this new version. The differences are cosmetic, there is a lot more ventilation with all the tiny holes on the v353. V353 have snap on side panels while mine has a lot of tiny screws. I prefer the tiny screws just for peace of mind and since I won’t be swapping out components, but I prefer the exterior look of the v353 over mine.It took me almost a week to put mine together. I spent an hour every evening to work on it and cable management took the longest time. The most painful part of the install is having to almost always remove the motherboard panel completely to get inside the case which also meant I had to unplug almost all the cables.
After the install however I have to say I am very happy with the look and size of the case. Now I can put it on my desk and it looks very nice. Actually would have loved to consider the Silverstone case mentioned in this article. But I had the impression Silverstone is too expensive and I had a budget with this build.
I think the reviewer would have given a much more favorable review if he was able to consider every component going into the tiny case and make it a complete new build with a decent graphics card. I had a lot of fun filling up this case even tho it took awhile.
etamin - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I think AT case reviews are too concentrated on ease of assembly and performance, not that it's a bad thing but I'd like to see more on practicality. Smaller cases should all scale down to a smaller, quieter PSU. Same with the HSF, a high performance low profile fan like the Scythe Shurikan should be standard to maximize clearance and airflow. I understand the reasoning behind using the same parts for generally all the tests, but I think using more ideal hardware gives a better ceiling of performance one can expect from the case. And one last thing I'm always fretting over: how easy is it to clean the case?? Perforated panels are the worst to clean, and how effective can we expect the filters to be where they are present? I know this is difficult to quantitatively assess, but any insight would be much appreciated.JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
The difficulty with doing "customized builds" is that we'd then have to custom build *every* case to come up with a "best-case scenario" (pun intended). And then what are we reviewing? Most people will use the case as it ships, so disabling fans, or changing orientation of the DVD, or adding fans, etc. is beyond the scope of what they would do. A system builder could do all those things, sure, but they're the ones who would most likely care about ease of assembly.Performance is a tricky thing to analyze; obviously we're only looking at temperatures and noise levels, but with the same core components we can at least say that a particular chassis runs hotter/louder or cooler/quieter than other cases. Any case with no fans can be "silent", but I'd rather have "nearly silent" with a very low RPM fan that can ramp up to audible levels if things are getting too toasty. This case would work fine for someone that wants small and quiet and is willing to give up some performance options. I can't really see that being worth $150+, especially when others are doing it for less.
dacollins - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I have a previous generation of this case and I absolutely love it. The side access optical drives are weird, but I used the space for hard drives anyways. Working sans CD/DVD was a little difficult at first but I wanted to force myself to make the shift.This is a beautiful case in a form factor that fits perfectly into my entertainment unit in the living room while being just large enough to support a good graphics card. I've been extremely happy with it.
pitashen - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
It is a shame that review like this can get published, but guess this happens a lot in the age of internet.The author failed to familiarize with the Lian-li brand and their entire product lines. Lian-li is known for their using entirely aluminum and being light. Their product are generally on the more expansive side than other brands that use mostly steels.
The author pulled an unfair comparison using Silverstone TJ08-E when they are not in the same form factor category despite both being m-ATX cases. Using Lian-Li PC-A04 would have been an apple to apple comparison to the Silverstone TJ08-E.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
The Silverstone is something we have reviewed, and Lian Li didn't send the A04 for review (yet?). The majority of the review isn't focused on the Silverstone but is instead a look at the PC-V353. As always, we compare in graphs to what we've reviewed, but we look at other elements as well.Just because we know who Lian Li is and what they're cases are like doesn't mean they are advertising the aluminum materials, and pretending that we aren't "familiar with the brand" when Dustin states that we've been trying to get their kit in house for a while is typical Internet chest-thumping. Most importantly, you appear to miss the point that this is a review of a specific case. Whether the PC-A04 is a good product is irrelevant to how the PC-V353 stacks up.
The fact is, this particular unit is one of compromise. If you want to use it with a passively cooled CPU and PSU, along with an SSD and no discrete GPU, you can create a silent system. You can do that with just about any case if you want to. Quirky aspects like the interior layout however are just that: quirky. Dustin has handled dozens of case reviews, and knows the market quite well. The bottom line is that this is a small and light case that costs an awful lot of money for what you get, and we feel it's overpriced.
It's a shame that a review like that can get published, because clearly this... what? Is the case expensive or not? Does it require more effort to assemble or not? Does it have limitations in what sorts of hardware it can reasonably support or not? I'm not sure what your real complaint is, other than not being happy that we didn't find a lot to like in the PC-V353. You know what they say about opinions...except we also have some facts to go along with the opinion that this case isn't particularly noteworthy. Higher temperatures, thin materials that can flex, and a difficult assembly are all facts of life with this chassis. You can disagree about whether those things are a deal-breaker if you'd like, but I can't see any of those items being net positives.
As Dustin mentions, we have a couple other Lian Li case reviews coming. Very likely they'll be better than this case, though with the Lian Li brand there's still a good chance they're in the "expensive" category.
xxjudgmentxx - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
This is the 4th iteration of this case design (V350,351,352...) and it's actually pretty awesome. I had a V351 and the side panel and internal design of the 353 SLAAAAAYS it. Yes it's different. If that's really your dealbreaker don't waste people's time reviewing and complaining about non-standard cases.JarredWalton - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
Being different is fine, if the difference is worthwhile. Here, we don't feel there's any advantage to the changes. Changing the internal design to something that requires more assembly time would be fine if there was a clearly superior end result. Allowing the user to switch the sides for the ports and optical drive, however, is a customization that many would be happy to do without. I'll wager that 95% of users go with the stock configuration, with the DVD/ports accessed on the right, because that's how the case ships. So for 5% of users--or even 10%--everyone gets extra cutouts that are covered by a plate, with other compromises as well. It might still be better than the PC-V351, but that doesn't make this perfect.ckryan - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I might not be in the market for this case, which is like the PC V351 peppered with buckshot, but I am a fan of their 'unique' designs. Unique is great if it works and ridiculous if it doesnt. I went for a Lian Li with no ventilation - one that I could wallpaper with acoustic foam. I traded cooling ability for quietness, but the 353 takes it a bridge too far.I loved the time I spent with the V351 though. It's such an excellent uATX case for the full spectrum. Its main flaw being the inability to use video cards with heat pipes, like MEL's cyclone cards or anything with top mounted PEGs. I loved the side optical bays with that case, cable management was... insufficient ...but it worked. Its nice to see a different take on those elements, but then Lian Li is the prince of weird-ass cases so its actually kinda staid. They either give you a plain aluminum box or a conch shell (no, its a nautilus?)tower...what's not to like?
The first system ever built was with the very first sonata revision. The day I walked into a friends house and saw three Sonatas was the day I decided I was going to use a different kind of case from then on. That's why I'm a fan of the extra-funky Lian Li's.
Dustin, please tell me you have one of those seashell uATX cases on the way...
sweetspot - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
WoW what a rip off, there are full size tower cases with tons more to offer, then this thing at that price point.Lian LI cases are always the worst cases as far as value for price in the market.
A mini case going at a price of a high end full tower model is ridiculous.
tommyj - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link
I don't entirely agree with Dustin's methodology (not that I really care about it) or the parts he uses (really using one of those Zalman circle loop coolers?) a lot of the time but I'm actually really glad that for the first time someone said something bad about Lian Li instead of singing praises every time.I've dealt with a lot of aluminum cases from Lian Li when I did work for a computer store and frankly every single one larger than mITX has been a huge disappointment. A lot of the design features in their spacesaver mATX cases range from somewhat understandable to downright stupid - building a few systems in the previous models, I know a few simple changes that could be made to make the case 100% better for quiet computing or high powered systems. Their ATX chassis haven't changed at all since the dawn of time and have long been surpassed by Corsair. The only quality about them is that they make shit about of the lightest materials possible.
Don't get me started on their ultra high end chassis, where their exterior paintjob is pretty much the only thing high quality about them. If you can't build a system well enough in aluminum, stick to steel. Yes its heavier but at least it dampens sound better and isn't flimsy - the Mac Pro chassis is pretty much the gold standard of aluminum cases still and if you can't get side panels as rigid as Apple, don't bother with the material.
aznofazns - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link
"Don't get me started on their ultra high end chassis, where their exterior paintjob is pretty much the only thing high quality about them."My V2120X's interior is superb. Everything about it is superb. Airflow, layout, ease of installation, features, build quality, style.
"the Mac Pro chassis is pretty much the gold standard of aluminum cases still and if you can't get side panels as rigid as Apple, don't bother with the material."
Again, try telling that to my V2120X. The side panel is so thick I cannot even bend it when I try.
Besides, why is it crucial to have side panels built like titanium plates? That ramps up the cost of materials. As long as they're sufficiently thick to not break under normal use, does it really matter?
"A lot of the design features in their spacesaver mATX cases range from somewhat understandable to downright stupid"
I absolutely agree with you on this point. A lot of the micro ATX and mini ITX cases have illogical layouts (especially for the PSU), but Lian Li has been improving on this, as seen in the V353.
cjs150 - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link
Lian li clearly thought about where a computer would be when putting this design together.It is, as a concept, perfectly suited for people who have a computer on their desk rather than under it. Having a side ways facing optical drive is a good design choice for those type of people.
But when it comes to the reality of the design there are lots of fail points here.
For starters, do people really need lots of HDs in a computer that is on top of desk and presumeably next to the keyboard? I am sure that many people will not agree with me but I would design it to hold a maximum of 2 HDs.
I am not convinced by the horizontal MB tray either.
I think on balance I would prefer a 200mm fan up front (with dust cover), one optical drive bay and 2 HD bays would be better airflow and still very quiet. Being a water cooling fan that would allow for a rig with decent airflow to cool everything bar GPU and CPU and a 200x2000 radiator to cool the GPU and CPU which would be very quiet
Death666Angel - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link
I'm half through the review, nice stuff. But I'm personally not a fan of cubes anymore. I got myself a Lian Li V352, the predecessor. It is a good case, but in my opinion fairly limited. It collects dust like crazy. Because of the cube shape you cannot put anything on the floor of the caes since the motherboard covers that.Overall, the Temjin TJ08-E sounds like a much better package for me and I'm going to be buying one next year and mod it a bit for some water cooling.
don_k - Friday, September 30, 2011 - link
I'm curious to see what other models you got from them. My A77 is a joy, immense build quality. And yeah, Lian Lis are all aluminum cases and they're not cheap.softdrinkviking - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
would have been nice to see you really try and stuff this case as full as you can.should have used a bigger board with a big video card and so forth.
sure, you may have run into problems, but that's really the point, isn't it?
Whatthetech - Saturday, July 21, 2012 - link
I'm sorry to say that I have to completely disagree with the review posted here. I'm not meaning to offend, but as a long time case-builder I have found that the PC-V353 case is rather nice, and that the reviewer here really didn't seem to put much effort into the build. For a real review, and pics of this case with a full build with EFFORT, head over to whatthetech.info - it's in the main navigation bar.n13L5 - Wednesday, December 9, 2015 - link
This may be a pretty old review now, but being something of a fan of Lian Li's aesthetics and quality, I can't help noticing just how many of their cases have serious flaws in details, layout and cooling concept.When they introduced that little computer case in the shape of a locomotive, I became convinced, that at least one of their case designers was an adorable dreamer - but without much care for really designing the cases for efficient placement of components or a truly optimized cooling concept. If they could at least firmly adopt the positive air pressure idea, it would alleviate a lot of issues. They do manufacture the NCASE M1, but that design was done by people who actually build systems with a clear intent to get the most fps from the smallest size box without it overheating or being noisy.
/pointless rant on an ancient 2011 review
Thanks for the review anyway, I will check out the V354, which you said you liked better :)