Lian Li v350 review *LOTS OF PICS*

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Ok then, Got back from taking my car in on Friday afternoon to find a note had been left on my doorstep 'citylink have been....'... oh noes thought i, but it turns out they delivered next door, so i instantly went over and grabbed my new toys...

This is what was waiting for me:

First thoughts again were 'oh noes!' as it's plastered with pics of the silver case, when, we all know black is made of win... Anyway, closer inspection saw that there were stickers all over the box saying that it was the black version, and alas, when i opened the box, it was!

So, first things first, pics of the closed case (i apologise in advance for all of the greasy finger marks all over the case.. what can i say, i'm dirty...)

Front (mmm!):

Right hand side:

Left hand side:

Rear:

Ever since my first Lian Li case just over a year ago, i have been in love with them ever since. They just look and feel... executive... Plain without being boring, it's almost as though Lian Li cases are... sophisticated, and the v350 is no exeption. Now for some close up on some of the detail:

As there are 2 120mm intake fans, and the only exhaust fans will be the psu and the 80mm fan on the rear, there is going to be rather a large pressure differentional, thus, Lian Li have added vents on each side panel, above the psu, and on the PCi blanking plates:

Here we have the 'front panel' albeit on the left side panel:

Close up of the power and reset switch:

A close up the detail stripe on the front:

And finally, the Lian Li logo:

 

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Ok, time for a look inside.

We'll start with removing 5 thumb screws and sliding this beast out:

Never had a removable motherboard tray before, i like... Also get a handy tool for tightening and loosening the standoffs, here she is in action:

A shot of the dual 120mm fans:

And 2 thumbscrews later:

I've also take both side panels off, ok, so there's 6 screws per side panel, but at least there's no rattling like there is in other Lian Li cases.

HDD racks, nice to be able to use 2 HDD's, could add more in the 5.25" bays (assuming you haven't filled them with something else...)

And here's the extras that come with the case as standard:

Installation

Ok, time to get some hardware inside, the specs are:

G33 mobo (have the ds2r and p5k-vm, haven't decided which one to go for yet...)
e2200 w/ zalman 8700 cooler (for now...)
2 or 4 gig of ram
8800 GT
250gig hitachi deskstar
Optical drive
Corsair HX520w

HDD mounting bolts and anti-vibration mounts installed:

Hdd installed:

Installed optical drive, note, the rail where the screws slide down has a slight notch in the end, so it holds the optical drive in place. Others are reporting that they have to use an extra screw to hold it in place, which is a pain, as you need to remove the PSU and/or the HDD's to do this:

And PSU installed... very easily actually. Also note there is enough room behind the psu to hide some cables if need be:

That is all for now, as i am still awaiting the cpu. But rest assured i'll get pics up of the rest of it going in.

 

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HARDWARE INSTALLATION

Righty guys, CPU arrives this morning (cheers cupra) and thus i now have everything needed to get this beast up and running.

Ok, have already got the psu, hdd and optical in (my mistake with the optical, i ordered an ide one, should have been sata...) And here's the rest of the stuff installed onto the motherboard tray, and, this was the EASIEST motherboard install i have ever done...

Note that the CPU cooler isn't installed, because it was a little too large and would have snagged on the edge of the case.

Weapon of choice:

It was easyenough to slide the tray back in, but installing the cooler was a little more problematic, mainly due to the crappy catch mechanism from zalman, but alas, it was sorted. Also turns out i could have installed it prior to putting the tray in, it only just catches, but will go through pretty easily. (a not to people getting this combination of mobo and cooler, the cpu heatsink touches the NB heatsink) Last thing to get done... the cabling... always a pain in the arse job, but needed even more so in a SFF case, and, approximately an hour later, i got this:

And i cunningly hid the cables in 1 of 3 places, under the motherboard tray(or down the sides of it)

here:

and here:

Careful when hiding cables in the front, there's no guards on the fans, and you dont want one of your fans to get wasted on cables (or vice-versa)

Now, to get windows up and running.


Lastly, Dingleberry88: There was a lot more room than i thought between the mobo and psu, i make it 128mm +/- 2mm, which is getting very VERY close, as ocuk state that the ac7pro is 126.5mm tall... good luck

 

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*reserved3*

 

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this should be enough

 

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need pics please

Ssh! (and there you go!)

 

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You can change which side the optical drives are on, but not the USB and headphone ports, meaning they're on the wrong side for me

Aye, this was going to be mentionned in my final roundup, although i suppose it can be argued both ways:

'It's not facing me, i have to reach round to plug stuff in'
or
'It's not facing me, which means i don't have to look at all the cables hanging out of the side of my PC'

Would have been nice to have a door and the option to put it on each side though.

You have to remove the PSU and hard drives to get to the screws for the optical drives, and its very annoying to only discover that after you've installed said PSU and hard drives

I didn't... they just slide in and click into place with the supplied screws...

The Lian-Li CD bezel doesn't fit, despite being listed as an accessory on Lian;Li's website

This is indeed an annoyance :\

Fitting a hard drive caddy (in my case the Scythe Hard Disk Stabiliser II) in one of the 5.25" bays is a lot of hassle thanks to how the blanking plates fit

Why would you need a HDD caddy? the HDD's already have anti-vibration rubber mounts?

Oh, and it picks up finger prints far too easily.

The Bane of all black lian li cases... got bless meths

Seems like a long list, but its still a very good case. Managed to fit everything I want in it (just, cpu cooler was a squeeze) and it fits in with me hi-fi a lot better than my antec did.

I'm going to try out the zalman 8700 in there, and, it fit's, but you'll h ave to fit it after the tray has been put back in, as it sticks out a bit and thus prevent the motherboard tray from being inserted... this'll be 'fun'

Might take a few pics for you all later

Go for it!

 

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*update*

Nice pics there dude, mines going to become more of a 2nd gaming rig, a pc that'll allow me to carry it without my back giving in (main PC is a v2k with dual loops, each with a litre of fluid in and PA120.3's... as you can imagine, it's a bit heavy!)

Massive Attack: Spec as above, and i shall indeed be posting temp/sound data when it's up and running (at a rough guess, sometime after next weekend)

 

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I'm thinking of getting one of these very soon, one question though, how stable is that PSU? Considering it has no shelf to rest on?

Supprisingly, it's very stable. Actually, it was very stable after i put only 1 screw in

Looks awesome

To those who aren't happy with the USB and audio ports - would a small 5.25" breakout bay of USB ports and the like fit?

Good idea, assuming you have a free 5.25" bay free, it would be quite easy to mod it into this new location. It would mean that there are saome rather random holes on one side of the case though...

 

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Nice review.

May I ask how quiet the fans are? Im looking to build a new silent HTPC and would like to use this case.

Not got the hardware in there yet dude, awaiting cpu... (i too only 'read' the pics )

Should have the cpu by the weekend, so i'll get the pics and reviews/conclusion up then. From my other lian li case fans though, they aren't too noisy, but could be quieter, i would have thought the 80mm fan would kick out a bit of noise, but you can replace the fans if need be, they are easily accessable, and it would only take a couple of mins to change them over.

 

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I'm about to fit the cpu which arrived today, i'll measure it for you then, but i#m 99% sure that an ac freezer 7 Pro will NOT fit there. You going to need a low profile cooler i'm afraid...

 

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*UPDATE*

Added the answer to your question in the lastest update Dingleberry88, and, completely off topic, who's the chick in (one of) your sigs?

 

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Muchos, muchos gracias! Looks like I'll be good to go with my build then.



That beautiful lady would be none other than the mesmerising Zooey Deschanel.



Edit: A question about the motherboard you're using; can you run the RAM unlinked?

Edit2: Nevermind, bought one anyway.

Thought it was the hhg2tg chick... damn straigh she is mesmerising...

there are only 3 devide option on the ram... x2.66 x3.33, x4.00 not so good....

It also looks as though th mobo goes into a continual reset loop if i try and change this...

Trying my hardest to get some benches up, but his board is just not behaving... man i hate giga***** asus ext...

 

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What are instructions?

But yeah, turns out i had to, it's held in place pretty well without the thumb screws, but the vibration is crazy when the drive is in full spin...