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Lian Li PC-63A


Date
: 11/5/02 – 10:50:15 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cases

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer: Lian-Li
Price : N/A

Introduction

About one month ago, we published a review of the Lian-Li PC39 computer case. If you're in the market for a good case to build a LAN box or a rig which doesn't require room for 5 hard drives, a dual CPU motherboard and a watercooling kit, then a small case like the Lian-Li PC39 will do just fine!

However, if you do want to install all the things I mentioned above and even more, a larger case is what you'll need. And that's when the Lian-Li PC-63A comes into play. Lian-Li designed it to fulfill the needs of every power user who respects beauty, quality and lot's of space inside a case!

Did I manage to get you interested? Well then I suggest you read on and find out more about this brand-new product from Lian-Li …

Page 2 : Specifications

Specifications

First, let's have a look at the PC63A specs taken right off the manufacturer's website :

Product Specification:

Model : PC-63A
Dimensions : 210 x 540 x 645mm (W,H,D)
Drive Bays : 2 x 5.25", 2 x 3.5", 8 x 3.5" internal
Fans : 5 x two ball bearing fans included
Motherboard Type : Dual CPU Motherboard (MAX SIZE: 12" x 13")
Front USB : 2 ports (support USB 2.0)

The Specs In Detail

Following the good old Lian-Li style, the name of today's item starts with "PC" followed by a model number, in this case "63". The PC-63A features some impressive and interesting specifications. Let's have a closer look now shall we?

When I took my first glance at this case, I immediately knew that the PC63A had to become the housing of my personal rig!

First, let's have a look at the outside of the case. Like most Lian-Li cases on the market today, the PC63A has a silver aluminum color which is pretty normal considering the fact that this case is 100% made out of aluminum ;) The use of aluminum not only makes the case look really sexy, but also results in a ultra-light case.

The front bezel features two 5.25" bays, two 3.5" bays, 2 USB ports (USB2.0 ready!) and to make your case look really slick, Lian-Li has replaced the green and orange LEDs by a sweet blue one and red one! Now I know the presence of only 4 drive bays doesn't sound like much, but considering the fact that the PC63A was designed to act like some sort of small server case, the 4 available drive bays should be more than enough. I also like to note that the front bezel of this case can be removed and placed back within 2 seconds. That's how easy it is!

Did I already mention that the PC-63A has four wheels at the bottom? It would be pretty stupid to mount some wheels at the top of case now wouldn't it? :D Now you can "drive" your rig from one room to another without having to lift it ;)

But the real power of the PC63A has to be found on the inside of the case! Measuring no less than 210 x 540 x 645mm, this alu housing can take just about any type of hardware with the utmost ease. And because were talking about a high-quality Lian-Li case, we couldn't find one single sharp edge you could hurt yourself on. I dig this a lot!

Like I said before, the really beauty of this case can be found on the inside. I'm talking about the presence of
no less than 8 internal 3.5" drive bays
! This means you can easily host 8 hard drives combined in 4 RAID0 configurations for a total of 800GB of ultra-fast free hard drive space ;) Is that sufficient to call the PC63A a small server case? I think so! Of course, this is just one example … other setups are also possible, but I think you get the idea. Just try putting 8 hard drives inside a normal case … you'll probably have to take out the motherboard to be able to pull this off ;)

Also note that there is no removable motherboard tray in this case. You could say Lian-Li scores a bad point here, but then again we see that the case is big enough to mount a motherboard with having the need to remove the tray. Because there is plenty of room on the inside of the case, you can adjust just about everything by just removing the sidepanels.

When we combine the 4 external drive bays with the 8 internal 3.5" bays, the PC63A allows you to install up to
12
devices at the same time! That's pretty impressive to say the least …

Cooling is another important factor because the quality of the airflow inside a case can make a difference between a hot and unstable rig or a cool and stable one. Lian-Li engineers didn't forget about this matter and they chose to equip their PC63A with 5 ball bearing fans, two 120mm ADDA fans and three 80mm fans (they all come with a pre-installed fan bracket).

The two 120mm fans act as outtake fans (this means they remove the hot air from the inside by pulling it out of the case) … one 120mm sits in the top of the case while the other one does its work on the backpanel.

As you can clearly see on the pictures, the three 80mm intake fans (intake fans pull cold outside air inside the case) are located in the front of the case just behind the front bezel. If we remove the front bezel, you can see the three fan grills of our 80mm fans. These fans have 2 functions : 1) they pull the cold air inside the case AND 2) they cool down the hard drives. That's right, the eight 3.5" internal bays are placed right behind the 3 smaller fans. Nice! This results in much lower hard drive temperatures which severely increases the life of a hard drive (and your precious data on that hard drive!) … Another smart move from the Lian-Li people ;)

To conclude the specs-talk, I just want to mention that the Lian-Li PC-63A package doesn't include a power supply unit. The main reason why they don't include such PSU is because everyone has different PSU needs. While you are satisfied with a 300W PSU, your neighbor will have the need for a 550W PSU and so on … That's why Lian-Li thinks it's best for everyone to buy their own PSU. Please note that you shouldn't just buy any cheap PSU! A cheap generic power supply often causes stability issues with overclocking or when there's too much hardware attached to it. Conclusion : Choose your PSU wisely!!

Page 3 : Installation & Testing

Installation

Because I needed a new case for my personal rig, I started looking all over the net to find the ultimate housing for my hardware. I needed a box with lots of space inside. The case had to be big but not huge if you know what I mean! It also had to be able to house at least 3 hard drives, a P4 board, some expansion cards and a complete custom made watercooling kit which consists out of a waterblock, a radiator, the tubing and a 5L reservoir!

And that's when I saw the Lian-Li PC-63A …

Test System Specs :

- Lian-Li PC-63A alu case
- iCute 420W alu PSU
- Intel P4 1.6A CPU overclocked to 2.8GHz (175MHz FSB) (watercooled)
- Custom made watercooling with OCH's Z4 waterblock, radiator & reservoir.
- ABIT IT7-MAX (i845E) mainboard
- 512MB Samsung PC2700 DDR RAM
- AOpen GF4 MX460 video card (watercooled)
- Level One 10Mbit NIC
- AOpen 24x10x40 CDRW drive
- 2 x Maxtor 60GB ATA133 7200rpm hard drive in a RAID0 config
- 1 x Western Digital 45GB hard drive
- WinXP Pro + latest drivers

First of all, I removed the sidepanel by simply turning the thumbscrews counter-clockwise. That's right, you don't need any tools when you work with the PC63A. Then I attached the necessary motherboard clips on the motherboard tray. These clips will hold the board on the tray. The placement of the clips can differ from motherboard to motherboard so you always have to be very careful about this. One clip in the wrong place and your motherboard can be screwed! Once the motherboard is in place, you can start adding other hardware like the add-on cards, the PSU, the hard drives, the CDROM / CDRW drives, the CPU, the RAM, etc.

If all that is in place, you just need to hook up the lights, buttons and the front USB2.0 ports. But wait, didn't I forget something here? … What about the cooling?

To cool down my P4 1.6A CPU and GF4 MX460 GPU, I decided to make my own watercooling kit. That's part of the reason why I needed such a big case for my rig. I used a Z4 CPU waterblock from OCH, a smaller copper waterblock for the GF4 GPU, a 120 x 120mm radiator and a 5L reservoir with a water/anti-freeze mixture.

Just take a look at the pictures and tell me how you like my home-made retention mechanisms on the P4 and GF4 waterblocks ;) Also have a look at how I managed to mount the radiator right behind 120mm ADDA fan …

Now you see that some people really NEED big cases like this to house their equipment! We didn't have any problems during the installation of the hardware. However, I wasn't able to operate the RESET BUTTON because the button on the front bezel is just too small :(

One last thing I want to mention before we finish with the conclusion is the noise level of the 5 stock fans. If you turn them all on at the same time, you will get an optimal airflow inside the case, but you'll get the feeling that your rig is going to lift off. That's why I've used a voltage regulator (something like a rheobus) to decrease the voltage that goes to the fans. This makes the case very silent without having to lose the good airflow.

Page 4 : Conclusion

Conclusion

Good

- Looks sexy
- High quality (no sharp edges)
- Thumbscrews
- 8 internal 3.5" bays
- Superb cooling
- Lots of space inside the case

Bad

- No RPM switch to control the speed of the fans (most Lian Li cases do have this feature)
- No removable motherboard tray
- Reset button is too tiny

The peeps from Lian-Li have done it again. There are many good computer case manufacturers, but Lian-Li sure is one of the best in the world. Their PC63A is another example of the quality this company delivers. The case offers enough expansion room to house at least 8 hard drives, a big dual CPU motherboard, a watercooling setup, … The PC63A can be used as a server case but also as a nice workstation box. Besides that, the case also comes with independent removable sidepanels, a removable front bezel, two pretty silent 120mm fans, three 80mm fans, frontal USB2.0 ports and a couple of red and blue LEDs. Do I need to say more? I can recommend this case to just about anyone we is looking for a sweet PC case with lots of room on the inside and a high-quality finish!