Lian Li PC-800B
Next up, we have the PC-800 in black (thus the “B” at the end of the model name) from the well-known manufacturer, Lian Li. This HTPC has a rather different feel to it, as it’s much taller, but also quite a bit skinnier than the other cases in this roundup.
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The case’s perforated front also contributes to its unique look, and should do a lot to help keep the components cool without creating excess noise.
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Like other Lian Li cases, the PC-800B shows many signs of an attention to detail; in this close-up here, notice the scalloped edge of the lid. Besides simply looking nice, it also helps to make removing the lid and handling the case in general much easier.
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The bottom left of the front of the HTPC case is adorned with the port cluster, power and reset buttons, and HDD activity and power LEDs. Once again, the standard complaint of the ports being too close applies here, unfortunately. In this picture, the chrome finish of the feet can also be appreciated.
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At the bottom right is a company symbol made with great detail, just like the entire front perforated surface. Even the drive bay covers share the same carefully applied brushed finish.
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Finishing up our look at the PC-800B, we didn’t even bother showing more detailed pictures of the sides as they’re starkly void of anything characteristic, quite opposite to the the back. In examining it, we can begin to get an idea of how this case is arranged.
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The total width of the unit is pretty much only the height of a standard ATX motherboard, which is definitely a different approach to the dimensions of an HTPC. To bore this idea out, let’s go ahead and pop the hood. In typical Lian Li fashion, the cover removes exceptionally smoothly, after loosening a single thumbscrew that holds the latch along the left edge in place.
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Right away, the main difference becomes obvious: the vertically-mounted hard drives. The other substantial difference is the orientation of the power supply. Instead of the power cord coming out the side as in the Overture and Mstation, it comes out of the PSU facing the front, with the leads coming out of the back. This should make installation particularly simple.
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Tamale - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
The 'POS' power supply happens to deliver steadier voltages to the highest-end gear I've gotten my hands on (and no, the P4 test bed isn't the most powerful thing I've tested it in) than anything else that's passed through my hands, and that includes over a dozen power supplies by high-end manufacturers. I'm no reviewer of power supplies yet, as we're still working on that, but I guarantee you that this is a fine unit, especially for the area of case reviews, because in quiet mode it does a fantastic job of staying silent enough to hear the case fans and still provides rock-solid voltages to a stressed-out system. It also gets warm when in quiet mode in the cases that don't ventilate the power supply well enough, which is another good measure of a case. Perhaps most important however is the modular nature of the unit, and even though I've tried other modular units none were as quiet as the MadDog.Secondly, the thermaltake golden orb II at full voltage is quieter than any of zalman's coolers at full voltage. While I understand that the zalman will probably get lower temperatures, It is absolutely essential that the CPU cooler in my test bed make as little noise as possible, and the golden orb II does just that.
The recurring theme in your post seems to me to be that you want 'the perfect HTPC', but the whole idea of a case review is to isolate everything but the case as much as possible, and sometimes hotter components do a better job of illustrating the deficiencies of units than the latest and greatest.
Trust me on this one, if we used the absolute best gear available the comparisons would be much muddier.
As for the subjective comment, my scale of 1-10 can be thought of as a scale of tolerance.. with 5 basically being the threshold... anything higher than that really is 'too loud for the given application' and anything lower than 4 is 'acceptable'. It's not meant to be a numerically accurate scale of any sort. I felt very comfortable with the final subject ratings I gave these cases, because the Tenor and PC-800B just barely passed my personal threshold test, and I believe most users will agree.
tayhimself - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
I hope you realize other PSUs are likely quieter and more efficient than "Mad Dog". Sure the may be quiet to your ears, but thats too subjective to really mean anything. Sadly, you rate the modular nature as being an important issue when it is not. The PSU getting warm in quiet mode may be a sign of a PSU not getting enough airflow.And you say "its silent enough to hear case fans". While that can be true, the PSU and Tt golden orb noise signatures can drown out subtler differences between the cases in terms of noise of the case fans. This is almost obvious from your review as you dont perceive the difference of 9 dB to be significant. Its better to use quality quiet components so you can tell what the case is contributing to the noise spectrum. Since this is about making case buying decisions, the other factors are best isolated.
Avalon - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
Get crackin'.mrgq912 - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
to tired to read the article but first post.mrgq912 - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
okay now that I have that out of my system. How come you guys never review stuff from alienware or voodoopc. Those guys make HTPC's aswell. I never every heard of the players in this review making HTPC's untill today. Well nice to know i have options.Would buy one if i could, untill then i will live with my ati tv wonder elite.
ksherman - Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - link
uh, cuz Alienware and Voodoo are over priced peices of DooDoo... and because this site is more geared around people that build their own machines...