LIAN LI Lancool PC-K7B Black Aluminum/ SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Aluminum, Cool, FILTERS on the intake Fans! (Nice), 3 Large Fans, Easy to cable manage.... nice holes so you can take your sata cables and power cables through the back... Lined up perfect with my motherboard sata slots.... Light, yet very well built... Abundance of hardward, WELL engineered. Clean, not overly flashy but classy......

Cons: Only thing I could live without (but is no big deal, is that the buttons are on the top and the built in USB/Firewire etc. connections.... For people like my girlfriend who must always stuff a computer into a cabinet and hide it.... can be more difficult to get to.... Personally I added a card reader/usb deal in the 3.5 slot so other then having to turn it on.... it's no inconvenience.

Other Thoughts: I used to own a PC shop and I've built HUNDREDS of computers..... This IS my favorite case ever..... Period...

Pros: Solid, light, cool, easy to clean.
Bought it when it was on sale for $59.
Good space for H60 corsairs. (also fit H70/80)
Hard drives rack fit up to 4 hdd.
Simple looking design (a plus for pc case)

Cons: Back-side panel of the case could need more space for wiring.
Should make full tower case.

Pros: -The exterior of the case is absolutely beautiful. It's got a dark brushed aluminum look with clean lines an a minimalistic front face.
-The cable management is sufficient and more than necessary since people won't see the interior often anyways.
-Fans are able to be controlled by my side mobo which was a nice surprise.
-Removable mobo tray is extremely nice for an external test and ensuring all cables are down

Cons: -The one that immediately comes to mind is that I'm constantly shocked by static electricity by the all metal exterior. Could just be the Oklahoma air.

Other Thoughts: I would recommend this to anyone looking for a beautiful case that doesn't care about showcasing their parts.

Pros: Clean, sleek design
Front 3.5" drive bay
Five internal hard drive mounts
Ample cooling options
Lightweight (if that matters to you)

Cons: Misaligned, pointless motherboard tray
Vibrations (the "metal bones" rattle)
Questionable hard drive mounts
Mushy power button
Exposed screws on front bezel
Noisy front audio

Other Thoughts: The PC-K7 has gotten more credit than it deserves. Two eggs might be a bit harsh, but as someone who has been building PCs for 15+ years, I am shocked by some of this case's glaring flaws.

Worst is the motherboard tray, which fails on two counts. First, it places the motherboard about 1/8" too far to the side, which prevents it from aligning with the rear I/O shield. This means you either have to ditch the I/O shield or leave the motherboard standoffs unscrewed by 1/8" to compensate (what I did). There is simply no excuse for such an obvious design flaw. NOTE: Only a few other reviewers have mentioned this, so it's possible that only a minority of cases suffer this problem. I tried finding longer motherboard standoffs but could not locate any with the proper thread pattern.

Second, the motherboard tray is separate from the expansion card slots, which means that you must first unscrew and remove all expansion cards before sliding out the motherboard. What's the point of a motherboard tray if it ONLY carries the motherboard itself? It saves no time during assembly or tweaking, and introduces another potential source of vibration.

And speaking of vibrations, this case rattles like a freight train, despite the fancy noise-isolating rubber hard drive mounts. It emitted a buzzing sound on a daily basis, usually from the vicinity of the power supply. I verified that every screw was tight and even tried to insulate the motherboard tray with some strategically-placed electrical tape, but no luck. Somewhere, somehow, this case just hums.

With regard to the hard drives, they simply drop into place on their rubber grommets with nothing holding them down except gravity. This might not be a problem except that the PC-K7 is made of lightweight aluminum to make it easy to transport to LAN parties, and the simple act of jostling the case could dislodge the hard drive. While the drives can be secured using a single metal-on-metal screw, this totally defeats the purpose of the rubber drive mounts! Whoever designed this case clearly wasn't thinking things through - it feels like the work of a novice engineer. I eventually used a twisty-tie to keep my hard drive locked down.

A few minor quibbles: the power button feels mushy. I like to feel and hear a pronounced "click" when I power-on my system. Also, there are exposed screws on each side of the front bezel, which mars its otherwise clean appearance. And the front audio jack makes a lot of noise when a USB device is attached. I could literally hear files being transferred to my USB thumb drive.

I tolerated the PC-K7 for about a year before switching to a much more well-designed Supermicro enclosure. My PC is now rattle-free and everything aligns as it should.

This review might not matter much now that Newegg no longer stocks this case, but if you've been thinking about purchasing it elsewhere, be warned: there are better alternatives.

Pros: Still a great case

Cons: Needed to modify a few things (I used a Dremel to cut out my own backplate access cutout in the motherboard tray, as well as a few more holes for routing additional header cables from behind the motherboard tray)
Definately shipped with ground loop-causing front panel

Other Thoughts: The designers of this case did the same thing Antec has done in a lot of their cases and connected the usb casing to the audio casing/ground. This causes an audible ground loop through the front audio connector. Buying PW-IN11AV65T0 (or possibly IN20AV65T0) as a new USB 3.0 front panel works to solve this, as it doesn't have those ports connected internally anymore. The kit came with all the ports, the cutout thing, and the only thing I had to recycle was the metal door flap needed transferred from the old to the new.

To install you'll need to unscrew the top of the Lian Li case to remove the front panel and will need a good pair of wire cutters to remove a bar on the reset button's metal support bracket of the case (old front panel had wires all at one point and new one has wires spread out, requiring a wider opening in that bracket). Did the replacement project today and now I have no more audio background noise and I have front panel USB 3.0 (not that I've got anything that actually needs that speed).

Pros: Well constructed, lightweight, near lian li quality at prices lower than typical lian li

Cons: Sharp internal edges, front panel has odd fiber optic "fingers" for activity lights (that can break off easily)

Other Thoughts: I've enjoyed my case for a while, but one thing that kept bothering me was the front panel audio noise. The HD Audio header works, but the front panel (mine had firewire, 2 USB 2.0s, headphone, mic) would give lots of CPU-activity activated background noise in the audio/headphone jack when the USB headers were plugged in. Some google research indicates that's a problem found when the audio ground is tied into the USB ground in some way (typically done via wires bridging the ports or via a board) and you get a ground loop.

Lian Li's website indicates that I can "upgrade" my front panel to USB 3.0 with PW-IN11AV65T0 or PW-IN20AV65T0 and I plan on doing so and double-checking for any ground connections between the USB and audio connectors before installing.

Pros: Solid, compatiable with everything. Price.

Cons: None !

Other Thoughts: Why is it that Newegg gets rid of the best products to force you into buying something else. As a rule, the newer cases dont match up to the quality. Ive been buying these cases for years, for a reason ! New is NOT always better.

Pros: Good cable management. Tight build quality. Simple, clean look. Sturdy. Removable mobo tray.

Cons: The rear panel cover plate for the input devices is a bit flimsy and didn't seat well, but it's minor and faces the back so not a huge issue.

Other Thoughts: I'm still waiting for a few more components to finish the build, but I am really happy with the case so far. This is my second Lian Li and it has a lot more features that my previous one. The bottom line is, I like the look of Lian Li boxes. I'm not a huge fan of clear side covers and crazy lines/shapes. I believe in a balance of form and function, which these cases provide.

Pros: Fantastic case. very high quality. hard anodised finish. easy build. very handsome case. Excellent filtered air flow through. Enough room for any large CPU cooler. plenty of screws and good directions.

Cons: not really a con, but confusing to some maybe. the coarse thread case screws in the stand-offs bag, are not for motherboard mounting. Must use the small roundish screws in the other bag.

Other Thoughts: I Not know a computer case was made this good, now days.

And I Not know I could afford such high quality. I will use LIAN LI for all my builds now.

a thin strip of low density foam tape in the bottom motherboard tray channel will solve mystery rattle.

Thank You LIAN LI and New-Egg and UPS for bringing me such a high quality case so quickly at such a reasonable price.

arrived in perfect condition at my front door, THANKS

Pros: Very nicely made. Mobo tray is a cool idea and made it easy to mount the CPU and RAM. Good cable management made the installation look great. Nice anti-vibration mounts for the HDD.

Cons: None yet. It's a big mother, so make sure you have room for it.