Benchmarks - Thermal
Describing the cooling equipment that comes with a case just doesn’t cut it for us. We need to see how it actually performs to see if it is as effective as what the manufacturer’s say. We have hand-picked a full system, which we believe is the current system setup for the average user.| PC Mid-Tower Test Bed | |
Chaintech VNF3-250 |
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The thermal readings for the key components and points on the motherboard during operation were as follows. The numbers in each square represent the average ambient air temperature of that particular square inch of the case in degrees Celsius:
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We noticed how effective the CPU air duct was at helping to cool the heat sink fan as well as the CPU under it. The area above and around the CPU heat sink fan is about 1-2 degrees cooler, on average, compared to that of the PC-6070, and we safely assume the same compared to the original PC-60 case.
The side mounted blower fan also helped cool the area around the video card by moving warm air out through the back of the case. The temperatures here were decreased about 1-2 degrees on average also.
The most important improvement to the cooling system was the change to a 120mm fan at the front as an intake as well as the additional 80mm fan at the top of the case as an exhaust. Overall, the PC-60 Plus has an exceptional cooling system and it performs as well as some of those cases with 5-6 case fans. As we zero in on each critical system component, we predict the PC-60 Plus’s cooling system will have a positive effect on them as it did for the case’s ambient air temperature.
Take a look at the temperature readings of each critical component in our test rig.
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Our predictions were right - the temperatures of each critical component were 2-3 degrees cooler on average compared to the temperatures in previous case reviews. The CPU, heat sink fan, and video card especially ran much cooler due to the added air duct and blow fan.
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cHodAXUK - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
Something that doesn't look like a Morphy Richards chrome toaster, sadly half of the Lian Li product line is afflicted with dreary looks. It looks like a silver box and looks no different than cases that have been sold for the last 20 years, infact it looks almost exactly like an old case that Brother used to use on their 386 line back in 1988 apart from the Aluminium finish. Plain can be good but Lian Li do plain almost to point of generic. Construction wise the case is first class, no complaints there at all.ProviaFan - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
So what's your idea of a non-ugly case, #10? Something that has a huge-ass window in the side, with spinning blinkenlichten in all of the fans, and some god-awful combination of colors in the huge other-worldly logo?danidentity - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
Will that CPU duct interfere with larger heatsinks like the Thermalright XP-120?cHodAXUK - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
F'ugly case, always has been and always will be.WW2Planes1 - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
Nice case definately. I actually prefer the older layout for the most part though. I would like to see the newer front connector though, and the screw in standoffs.Incedentally, I've got a PC-65B (Same layout as the PC-60, for the most part), and didn't the original PC-60s have dual 80mm fans? not 60mm?
ProviaFan - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
I have an older kind of PC-60 (from looking at pictures, it seems these things went through several revisions at least - mine has the front fan speed control switch actually sticking through, while from some pictures it seems that this switch was behind the bezel), which has two 80mm fans up front.Anyway, the review was good, and if I were doing it over today, I would get the new version instead. However, there's not much point in "upgrading," IMHO.
pbrain - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
While I don't know if at some point they used 60mm, the PC-60 I have uses 2x 80mm fans.Da3dalus - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
I'm buying a PC-6070 when they get back in stock here (next week hopefully). It's more ezpensive than this one, but it has sound-dampening (big reason for choosing it, my comp is a bit too noisy now) and looks nicer :)mattsaccount - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
The message is clear: Lian Li makes great cases :)Bonesdad - Saturday, February 26, 2005 - link
Nice features inside...a bit dull looking on the outside. MUCH better than those silly little boy cases reviewed in the past.