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Lian Li PC39 Case


Date
: 09/18/02 – 09:06:32 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer: Lian Li
Price: N/A

Introduction

Over the years, many cases passed through the Overclockers Online testlab: normal cases, modded cases with several blow holes, design cases, aluminum cases, … We had our share of "cases" to say the least ;). One brand that always makes me act like a 10 year old when UPS delivers the case, is Lian Li. As you all know, Lian Li is one of the most popular manufacturers of aluminum design cases with an excellent finishing quality and new features every now and then. Many Lian Li cases were reviewed at O² in the past: the PC35, the PC626, the PC60, the PC20, … just browse through our case reviews archive and click away to see them! Today, I am going to take another Lian Li case apart and show you what's on the inside and how it may be used. It goes by the name "PC39" and comes with removable hdd racks. Interested? Read on and find out more about this bad boy!

Page 2 : Specifications

Specifications

As usual, let's start by listing all the specs according to the Lian Li website!

- Model: PC39
- Dimensions: 210x365x490mm (W,D and H)
- Color: Silver (hard anodize)
- Drive bays: 2×5.25", 1×3.5", 3×3.5" internal
- 2 removable IDE HDD racks
- Motherboard Type: ATX + P4 (Max size: 12"x9.6")
- 2 front USB ports (supporting USB2.0)
- Thumbscrews

Like all Lian Li cases, the case name starts with "PC" followed by a number, in this case "39". When I first received this case, I thought it was identical to the PC35 (reviewed here) but with the hdd racks mounted horizontally instead of vertically like on the PC35. If you have read the PC35, you have most likely noticed that those racks were hindering installation of big motherboards as the racks would often block memory slots. After unpacking the PC39, I had to let go of this presumption!
The PC39 is a tad wider and more important, several inches deeper! Therefore the motherboard is further away from the front of the case, making sure the hdd racks and cd-rom units will NOT block anything :D.

Like most Lian Li cases, the case is colored silver (while being hard anodized), offering you excellent bragging rights at LAN parties ;). The two removable hdd racks sitting in the front will definitely increase those "rights" because they look really sweet! Note that each rack has its own power and hdd activity LED! Why is this cool? Well, the cd-rom can occupy the normal activity LED while each hdd has its own LED as well … making it easier to spot activity and also increasing the good looks ;). Each rack also comes with a lock, which must be active because otherwise the hdd's will not be found … This prevents any accidental removal of the hdd while using it (which will most likely cause data corruption!). Note that these racks are 100% compatible with the ones used in the PC35!

Other expansion bays are around too: two 5.25" bays and one 3.5" bay. Should be enough to cover most people's needs. And since the case has two frontal USB2.0 compatible ports, you can always hook up more hardware through there.

As with most Lian Li cases, the PC39 comes with a removable motherboard tray and that handy connector I'm so fond off that let's you connect all LEDs, buttons, … before installing the board into the case (no more screwing around in tiny places with those thick fingers ;)).

With the PC39 being a pretty compact case, cooling is an important factor to maintain stability. Lian Li's engineers are aware of this, and made sure nothing is left to heat up because they installed an 80mm fan in the front as well as one in the top of the case to draw hot air out of the case. There are no fans installed at the back of the case since there is no room … The PSU sits vertically above your processor, so heat will be taken out of the case through the PSU fans.

Page 3 : Installation

Installation

The PC39 was asking to be used (no use of keeping it collecting dust huh?) and when my girlfriend came around and wanted a new rig, I knew this baby would get a good purpose in life ;). A brand new "girlfriend box" would be assembled and the PC39 had the honor to house it!

What components did I pick … ?

- IWill KK266 Motherboard
- 384MB PC133 SDRAM Crucial Memory
- AMD Athlon 1.4GHz Thunderbird CPU
- Gainward GeForce2 MX400 Video Card
- AOpen 52x CD-ROM
- Plextor 16/10/40A CD-REWRITER
- Western Digital 80GB SE (8MB cache) Hard Drive
- Windows XP Pro + All the latest drivers needed
- Lian Li PC39 Case

I figured this would make a nice box to upgrade her aging P3 850 / 256MB RAM / GeForce 256 system!!

First of all, I removed the motherboard tray and installed the motherboard along with the add-on cards onto the tray. The CPU and of course the memory quickly followed in. Last but not least, I hooked up all the lights, buttons, … and I was ready to slide the tray back into the case. I just needed to reconnect the LED/button cable and all was done :). The cd-rom's and hard drive were already installed, so after I mounted the PSU in place, this system was ready to have Windows XP installed.

No problems occurred during installation, and if you don't plan on uninstalling your CPU or memory every day, the placement of the PSU is no big deal … Otherwise, you'll find yourself removing the PSU in order to be able to reach the processor and the surrounding components. But since the PC39 is so small, I can't blame Lian Li for installing the PSU in this manner …

Page 4 : Conclusion

Conclusion

Good

- Looks great
- Thumbscrews
- Hdd racks
- Removable motherboard tray & that cable ;)
- Cooling capacity

Bad

- Placement of PSU (although understandable due to size of the case)
- No RPM switch to control the speed of the fans (most Lian Li cases do have this feature)

The PC39 showed to be an excellent case to build a LAN box, but also to be used as a workstation box. The case offers enough expansion room to house some hard drives, some cd-rom's and it also has those sweet removable hdd racks making it easy to swat hard drives (or leech data from a friend who also has a Lian Li hdd rack case). The quality is excellent with no sharp edges to be found, sweet thumbscrews to make life easier, that LED/button cable, the removable motherboard tray, … Need I say more? If you're in the market for a good case to build a LAN box, a second rig or a main rig for you wife (or yourself), don't hesitate and get the PC39, you won't regret it! Also note that Lian Li includes an aluminum face plate for your floppy drive so it fits in with the case (cd-rom face plates are available too).