Lian Li PC-7 H Aluminum Case

Shifting our attention to the drive area everything looks pretty standard with the exception of the lower drive rack.  This rack is more of an open design and is held in place by two Phillips head screws.  Access to these screws is not hindered with drive(s) installed.  This is vastly inferior to the side accessible thumbscrew way of securing the drive rack we have seen in most other Lian Li cases.  Considering that most other case maker's do not even have removable hard drive racks this is seen overall as a plus.

  

Under power, the two LEDs we noted earlier illuminated the open area behind the lower bezel grill and the intake filter.  The worst thing about pictures of case lighting is that they never really capture the subtleties of how good something looks.  The glow was not overpowering or gaudy but rather more subtle and tasteful.  Pretty sharp for an $85 box.

  

Conclusion

Lian Li has shown us that being price conscious doesn't necessarily mean a product will be stripped of features.  The clean lines of the PC-7 don't have the panache of some other cases on the market right now but to many that is preferable.  Personally, I like crisp lines over fancy plastic molded features.  Only three things stood out that separated the PC-7 from its more full featured siblings.  The missing mainboard tray is something but as we said earlier, the price conscious shopper generally isn't going to be upgrading components on a regular basis that would otherwise necessitate a removable mainboard tray.  Two precut blow holes without included fans, can also be overlooked in Lian Li's effort to get the price of the unit down.  Lastly, the removable hard drive rack could be improved substantially by going with the design of other Lian Li cases.  Here again, while this seems like a con, we need to remember that many cases do not have removable drive racks at all.

We found that the window side panel equipped models of the PC-7 generally run about $30 more, bringing the price up to $115.  The PC-7 is such a fine case given its price, I actually think it may hurt the sales of the higher end Lian Li models.  Some of the niceties on those cases come at a price which can be as much as $50.  This really makes you think about what you need and what just looks cool to order.  All things considered, the Lian Li PC-7 is in the top two cases available now.  Anyone looking for a new box, don't be fooled and ignore the PC-7 because of the "economic" labeling.  Thanks again to Hampton-Technologies who are one of Lian Li's North American distributors for making this review possible.

Pros

• Clean and crisp design

• Removable hard drive rack

• Intake fans filtered

• Fan filter access quick and easy

• Outstanding bang for the buck

• Front mounted LED lighting tastefully done

Cons

• No mainboard tray

• Hard drive rack could be improved with thumbscrews

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