Lancool PC-K57
Nov 19th, 2011 | By SimonOne of the features I noticed throughout the review of the PC-K57 is the attention provided to minimizing noise created by the vibration of components. Even when it came to removing the side panel I noticed the thumbscrews had a plastic washer to minimize the metal on metal contact. It may not mean a lot now but if your computer is on 24/7 in your bedroom case vibration is now what you want to hear at 3AM!
With the sidepanel removed you can see the two plastic covers over the 120mm side panel fan locations.
In our first look at the empty PC-K57 you can see how the PC-K57 is able to hold extremely long video cards. They have sacrificed the option for another four 3.5″ drives or three 5.25″ drives by keeping the middle of the front empty. You can also see that by adding another 140mm fan at the front it would draw in cold air and directly cool your video card. Of the three 5.25″ drive bays only two have tool-less installation kits. You may also notice that Lancool is trying to keep the inside of your case clean by installing a cable tray between the drive cages on the right and the motherboard tray. The motherboard tray is not removable but there is sufficient space around it that you really don’t need one.
The first thing I installed was the power supply only because I was intrigued by the clasp that was provided. Following the pictorial instruction sheet, I positioned the power supply in place, hooked one end of the clasp to the motherboard tray, pushed the clasp down so it would hook onto the frame and locked it in place. It was very simple and much nicer than having to fiddle around for four screws.
Next up is the motherboard installation. I have a mATX board with the RAM, CPU and HSF already installed. Dropping the motherboard into place I used the provided thumbscrews to lock the motherboard in place. I find it innovative for Lancool to provide thumbscrews but it’s not always easy squeezing your hand into the corner of the case to screw in the thumbscrew. I personally don’t mind using regular Phillips screws for this job but that may just be me.
With the motherboard in place the next step was to install my optical drive. The drive slides in like every other burner on the market but where Lancool is different is that they use a hinge system to lock the drive in place. Once the drive is far enough back into the bay, which is known by waiting for the screw holes to come into line, you close the hinge like you would close a door and it will hold the drive in place. I was skeptical because the hinge doesn’t lock into any of the drive’s screw holes but after giving the drive a light tug it didn’t move so I was happy.
The last piece to install is my hard drive. Lancool has provided thumbscrews with rubber grommets. The grommets serve two purposes, the first is to minimize vibration noise and the second is to hold the drive in between the rails. Once the four screws are grommets are installed on your drive, you need to release the slider, push the drive into place and close the slider so everything stays in place.
Lancool claims that you can install the drive into the cage in either direction but I found that you can only install the drive in one way. If you have the SATA data and power connectors facing outwards their respective cables will stick out and you won’t be able to install the side panel back on.
If you have 2.5″ solid state drives, the PC-K57 has you covered. It will accept up to two 2.5″ drives off to the side.
It’s a minor detail but you want to keep that in mind when assembling your PC to avoid any re-work.
With the system completely assembled, let’s see how it looks. I certainly could spend a few minutes doing some cable management but I was eager to take the picture as to how the system looked before any tiding. If you bought the PC-K57W then you will definitely want to clean up any cable mess as it will all be visible. Lancool has included a cable tray to help with the organizing. It’s a very nice design and definitely should help keep the mess down. Poor cable management will obstruct air flow resulting in an increase in your system temperatures.
Speaking of temperatures, let’s see how the PC-K57 performs.