Lian-LI V300 Review

Nixeh

Nixeh

Nixeh

Associate
Joined
3 Jun 2005
Posts
874
Location
Bristol/Portsmouth, England
And here it is... My review of the Lian-Li V300.

**NOTE* This review doesnt include installation due to the lack of a dremel**

"The Package"

When i got this case out of the box, i was quite suprised.

First off, i wasnt sure if it was bigger then i had thought, as i didnt want something 'Too big'.

Second, ive always been a big fan of black cases, so i was a bit skeptical of getting a silver. But im glad, as the case looks brilliant.

What do you get for your money... i hear you say
1.jpg

Along with the case, you get 3 internal 80mm fans, and a load of hdd screws, spacers and a screwdriver(Spacer screwdriver not crosshead), which all comes in handy if you dont have all the tid bits around.

"The Quality"

I am really suprised with the build of this case. Lian-Li are known well for their high quality builds, but wasnt to sure if they would skip in certain places to get the price down to what it retails at.

Thankfully, when i got the case out i could see that i was sorely mistaken, as the case has a wonderful finish and looks beautiful.

2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg


The case is very sturdy and could probably withstand a lot of weight... though i didnt want to be proved wrong on that aswell.

7.jpg

Unlike some cheaper cases with dodgy side panels which can be very troublesome to remove or put back on, the side panels were nicely made. They are attached to the case with 6 crosshead screws, and this simplicity makes it easy for any modder to get their own custom made or modded side panel (like i plan to do when i remove the excess floppy and cd caddy).
 
On the right side panel, theres a thin 80mm extract fan. The fan seems to be a small 20mm thick fan, and from the looks of things you wont be able to squeeze a 25mm thick fan there instead.
8.jpg

Fear the old school ruler :)

Once you have stripped down the case to its main chassis, you will notice that its quite spacious. To me i think when everything is installed, it will be even more roomy then the q-micra... then add that it looks good and you got a winner.

9.jpg


The removable mother tray is nothing special.

22.jpg


Its a solidily built motherboard tray, with a nice finish. You also have to 2 40mm fan mounts at the back which would be great for getting a push pull airflow going in your case.

I did notice something though whilst putting it back in.

27.jpg


The motherboard backplate seems to be warped. Im not sure if this is just on mine as i had mine brought from the states, or if i was a bit to careless. Hopefully its not a manufacturing fault as it just meant the thumb screws sometimes got a bit funny.
 
From the back you will notice the grill just above where the psu will be housed.

10.jpg


Now i havent tested it but im guessing it will leave room up above the psu, let alone i dont think it will reduce temps much. But i thought that if they moved the psu up more, it would have given people extra room to get some beasty CPU coolers in there no problem.

12.jpg


The HDD caddy is also a nice touch. Easily accessible, albeit a bit different. Its not made out of some useless material either that will break quite easily, like other screwless HDD caddies.

Good thing about this design that even a monkey could work it out :D

13.jpg


I did notice something when i was exploring my case which is going to be just a bit annoying.

15.jpg


The fans seem to be screwed in from the grill side... but the grill covers the screw head. Lucky enough it looks like you can unscrew at the bottom of the side chassis which will release the panel mounting the fans, usb/audio dongle thingy, and also the reset switch, which could be handy for modders.
 
Also whilst here i decided to measure how much room there was at the front. I got this case purely cause i was almost positive i could rig a dual 120mm radiator and fans at the front, which made this case easily the better buy for me as i want to watercool in the coming months.

18.jpg


The 80mm fans on the front are your basic 80x80x25mm.

Next was seeing how much you are going to have to mod out to see if a 120mm fan would fit.
As most people with watercooling will have higher end cards, then the chances are they will have to mod the floppy caddy.. i just thought why not remove it seeing as hardly anyone uses it.

With the floppy caddy modded out there would be amples of room to fit the fan in. There is also easily enough width on this case aswell.

20.jpg


Only problem is you will have a slight fan obstruction in the centre due to the black 'bezel', though as the fan mount is sat back by about 1cm it means that it wont be too much of a hinderance.

My other problem with fitting watercooling would be if there would be enough free space between the fan mount and the removable motherboard tray?

30.jpg


Im lucky enough to say to you modders out there that it can house it perfectly. If you say you have 70mm to work with to get the rad and fans in there then youre laughing.

"Conclusion"

As you can see from the pictures the quality of the build is superb and you do really get value for your money, let alone its half the size of a normal ATX case. Its a sturdy case, with what i think are great looks, and a fantastic price.

I think Lian-Li have made a good product with the V300, but they overlooked things that could have put this as the peoples firm favourite SFF Case, which are:

Lack of 9" card support. This is a serious foul up by the design team. But with a tiny bit of modding its easily rectified.

Floppy Disk Drive. I think im with the majority of people here that make them near enough useless. If it wasnt there this case would be a modders dream.

Apart from those points i think this case is superb, and is better then the Q-Micra (though i havent actually owned one), but for value for money, build quality, and potential, it sure is close.


I know this review doesnt have the installation of components, but i will post a project log and link it on from here that will show what you can do with this case once that floppy caddy is out of the way.

Also just to give you a reference of what its like size-wise and style-wise compared to some other desktop components i thought id chuck this in.


37.jpg


Hope you liked the review :)
 
Its an ace case... though nothing is sat in it atm :( well sucks. Cant wait to get watercooling in this modified bady boy though.

Also 2 windows of course and maybe some red lighting on the inside and maybe in modified feet.
 
Well there isnt actuall 4 cd rom drives.

Its optional for either side. Either left or right.

So yeah you can fill up 2 bays.

Also i think there will be room behind the Cd Drives for a modified fan controll coming up the top... or maybe a HDD.
 
Good point about the 40mm fans. Someone did have an idea of fitting what i think was a Thermaltake cross flow fan which would fit in the ok, though not sure what it would be like clashing with the CPU cooler.

Yes both side panels are fixed with 6 screws each.

Cost.... well my mum was in the states at the time so i got it ordered from there. Cost me $94.99 ($105) with postage, which works out to be around £60 (£65 with postage) which i thought was a steal. Also i do believe im the first person in the UK to own this case :)

I wanted black, i always gone for black cases as they look the business. but with the black case, the inside is still silver so you can see silver through the front and it still looked ok but it would have bugged me to no end.

Also to all you worriers out there. It will indeed fit a dual radiator in the front. The Black Ice® GT Stealth 240 XFlow is 292mm wide, and the case is 300mm wide, So its a nice snug fit. Also the depth fits in well as its only 30mm thick which with the fans leaves you with 15mm space between the front and the motherboard tray.
If you mount the rad in front of the fans so its up the front then you shouldnt have the barbs clashing with any of the components.

Hope this helps you guys out :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom