Lian Li PC-C50B HTPC Chassis Review

Exterior
Taking a first look at the case once it’s unwrapped and ready to be tampered with shows a lovely black finish and sexy lines with some very subtle features that blend into the case extremely well.

The front though it looks very subtle, does include a lot of key features of the case. We would normally expect the optical drive bay to be postitioned to the right whereas Lian Li have opted for a left mounted drive bay which we can only assume will be to gain extra space inside. The optical drive bay also features a flap down panel to give a more stealthy look and feel to the case.

The top right features a silver embossed Lian Li logo which as it’s featured on a black case, really tends to stand out and add presence to the front of the chassis.

Front panel connectors and features are in full swing with the C50 and sees an eSATA port, 3 x USB 3.0 ports, and the usual 3.5mm jack plugs for headphones and microphone. A card reader is also included on the front of this case and has the ability to handle MS and SD cards. Just next to this is a reset button and power button which look to be of quite high quality.

Both sides of the case sport the same design with two sets of ventilation ports for mounting fans onto. The right side includes 2 x 120mm fans pre-installed why the left side gives you the option if need be. If you decide not to install any fans there, the ventilation ports will still support and assist the airflow and heat dissipation.

The top panel of the chassis also features an area of ventilation. It includes a ventilated mesh panel which sits quite comfortably above the CPU socket area to help in the expulsion of heat and warm air.

The rear of the case is nothing overly special and features a fairly simple layout for a case of this size and design.

There is space for a rear fan which would sit just above the rear I/O and aid in expelling warm air out of the rear of the case.

There is also a rubber grommet which could be confused for a watercooling pass-through hole, but it’s usages is more focussed for passing the USB 3.0 connectors through.

The case features space for 4 expansion cards in the typical position and all feature ventilated expansion brackets. Be warned that if using a fairly up to date graphics card, your expansion slots will soon be used up quite quickly so think ahead if buying this case as to what other components you have in mind.

The power supply area is located on the right hand side of the case and also has another ventilated expansion slot just above it if using a motherboard with a riser card or similar.

The bottom of the case has four feet which all follow a nice silver ringed design and also have padding for the assistance in keeping noise levels to a minimum and seeing that anti-vibration is maintained.