Mid-Tower Review - Lancool PC-K62

[Cloudbreaker]

First review I will try, so, comments would be great! Thanks for looking!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On this, my first OCF Review, I will take a closer look at the Lian Li Lancool Dragonlord PC-K62 Advanced Mid Tower Case. As We peel off the wrappings, I hope You will find Your ideas, imagination, and hope "advancing" as well.


A QUICK LOOK

Case Type: Advanced Mid-Tower
Dimensions: 214mm x 496mm x 498 mm (W, H, D)
Front bezel Material: Plastic
Color: Black – on – Black
Side Pannel: SECC Steel
Body Material: SECC Steel
Net Weight: 21.05 lbs
5.25” Drive Bay (External): 5
3.5” Drive Bay (External): n/a
3.5” Drive Bay (Internal): 4
Expansion Slot: 8
Motherboard: ATX, Micro-ATX
Chassis Fan (Front): 140mm Blue LED x1 (1,000 RPM)
Chasis Fan (Top): 140mm Blue LED x2 (1,000 RPM)
Chasis Fan (Rear): 120mm x1 (1,500 RPM)
I / O Ports: USB2.0 x 2 / HD+AC97 Audio


Dime Tour

If You have yet to see this case up close and personal and would have to sum up as much as possible in one sentence, how might it go?

"Mid-Tower, side panel, black interior, blue LED's everywhere..." ?

That's a Great Start! But, let's journey deeper, and see if this is a case for You.


What's In A Name?

Don't read over the title - it's important. For those of You who have been doing builds for awhile, the name Lian Li is not a subway terminal t-shirt vendor. Lian Li has been a well-loved chassis manufacturer for over 25 years, and for good reasons: solid construction, innovative advancements, and competitive willingness to listen. Launched to jostle for position with leading competitors Cooler Master and Antec, the SECC-built cases of the Lancool Branch (son of Lian Li) have brought us this case.

Taking a closer look at the pictures below, You will soon see two main themes cradled in this design: a tool-less design and airflow conception.


"Such a Tool"

As far as "Tool-less Design" is concerned, they all but hit the mark. 2 of the 5 5.25" Drive Bays are of a tool-less design, and the HDD Rack both shuns the phillips-head and allows HHD's to be mounted in two different configurations (allowing for better cable management). The PSU is mounted in place via a large retention rod and cable-management bracket, leaving the toolbox a little lonely. The PCI slots are not forgotten, as massive retention brackets replace the screws We love to hate. Even the stock fans are designed for a tool-less removal!


Speaking of Fans...

Cooling a Mid-Tower case can become more challenging as we stuff our pinatas to the brim with toys and treats. Thoughtful air-circulation is paramount in the battle against high ambient temps. Good effort was put forth by Lancool in this case design. Below, You see that the PSU Rack allows extra height above (what's this?) a filtered base cool air intake. The front of the chassis is one large mesh, allowing airflow, and capes the 140mm Blue LED Intake fan and filter. The hot air is shown out by two 140mm Blue LED top and one 120mm rear exhaust fans. In an effort to reduce vibration noise and possible damage, all of the fans (excluding the rear 120 non-LED exhaust fan) are held in place not by screws but by rubber stops. The only point of note - All the 140mm LED fans are only a weak 1,000RPM. Where the design of this case's airflow stands defiant against ambient air, the arguably "weak" fans in its armament holds it back - somewhat.


"What about my ATI 5999-9929Beta5.95x10^10 Graphics?!?"

Size is important when it come to GPUs, and We are looking at a Mid-Tower case, so this IS a valid question. From PCI Out to HHD Rack, You've got 11.6" of clearance (with properly-rotated HHDs and right-angled SATA cables). That's enough clearance for some of those monsters that tempt us to look in the vehicle and couch, just one more time, to cushion our spending limit.


"Who put pepper in their radiator?!"

I all but guarentee it was not an owner of this case. "That's Harsh!?" Yes, but, it is also true. Those looking for a chassis to support their custom water-cooled rigs may want a different pic. There are the grommets for Your piping, but no place to put a radiator! Of course, this will not stop the determined modder with a drem tool, but if a move-in ready home is the target, ... try down the block.


I/O Ports, RAID, and Cable Management

Quickly here, You may notice that there are no eSATA ports on the top of the case. For some, this may hold You back. For others, this setback may not even be a concern. Also, RAID may have a low ceiling with this case's 4 HHD limit, less of course 5.25" -3.5" adapters are purchased. Lastly, this case does encourage cable management, but this is NOT the Obsidian.


My Sum-Up

This isn't a horrible case. In my humble opinion, ... I kinda like it. The basic form is not the show-off diva that many cases have evolved into, so this will look sharp and refined in almost any setting. With simple fan replacement, an air-cooled system built around the PC-K62 has the potential of being a stable overclocking platform. 8 Expansion slots? Who wants to SLI?! Many of us don't spend what we do only to hide it behind a black curtian, so, the sleek side panel rewards hard work.

If the Scout or Haf are becoming a crowd at Your Lan, or if You want a slightly smaller footprint without loosing ground in quality, for a double digit price tag ($99), this is an excellent option.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[4GHZ_or_bust]

I have the K62 for my AMD X6 rig and it is a nice case. I had to pop out the rubber grommets because it didn't quite fit tubes that are 3/4" O.D. but the metal edge are not sharp at all so it is safe to remove the grommets.

If there's one nag, the audio cable is almost always too short from top front of any cases to audio header on most mobo that happens to be on bottom back corner. My MSI 890GXM has the audio header in that corner I ended up having to route the audio cable away from bundle clamp and across the entire backplate diagonally and it barely reaches that header. Woe if you have full size ATX with audio header on the bottom, the cable will be too short for sure.

LED are very tiny on top, and power LED is in a 3 pin plug. I haven't had any mobo that used 3 pins connector for power LED since AMD K6-2 day a decade ago. So a bit odd here for using older standard rather than 2 pins version most modern mobo uses now day. I never bothered with the plugs anyway since the LED fans would tell me if it's on or not

The tool less power supply mounting works well and held even a huge 1000w supply without a problem. I did have a bit of trouble getting the GTX 470 video card mounted because it's rather big and a bit crammed to maneuver the card inside to mount but once I got the card seated in PCIe slots, the tool less clamp held down just fine. It looks like the tool less clamps can be removed.

The case also came with Lian Li wire management fingers (for lack of better terms) that clips onto the bottom and onto the mobo tray to help hold and route cables. Most cases don't have this.