Noise and Thermal Testing

Since we weren't able to get our Zotac GeForce GTX 580's power leads connected, the Lian Li PC-V353 was tested using only the IGP on the Intel Core i3-530. This is where we'll see if Lian Li's fanless design really pays off, though I have reservations about how well a case with this much ventilation is going to be able to handle muffling the sound of our test system heatsink.

With basically no airflow, many of the parts are left to marinate in their own succulent juices. Thermals start very low since the case design seems to be able to keep the internal ambient temperature close to the external ambient temperature, but once you place a load on the system there's basically nothing inside it to move all that hot air. None of these temperatures are dangerous, but every other case we've tested has had the benefit of at least one good fan.

The SilverStone Temjin TJ08-E is able to cool effectively while being a mite quieter than the PC-V353, likely due to a more directed and enclosed design operating with a single silent fan. The only fan noise the PC-V353 has to worry about is the HSF unit on the processor, but the problem is there isn't anything really muffling that noise.

Testing Methodology Conclusion: Only if You Plan to Move It
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  • wordsworm - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    I can see that there is a lot more area for the motherboard, but you just used a very small one. Second, I see a 750 watt power supply is installed. Why exactly was 750 watts required? Are you installing SLI in there or something? I can't even see a video card.

    This review really looks half assed. Which is really lame, because I have a particular interest in small and light cases which can handle a full sized ATX board and maybe even a video card... 10kg and carry-on luggage sized are my requirements for a new machine.

    I just wish you'd made a better effort for this review.
  • TommyAU - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    Your kidding me right?
    6 different pages of information and that's not enough for you...
    How about you be greatfull someone went to the trouble to review it in the first place and at least say thanks
  • wordsworm - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    Does this configuration of a micro atx without a graphics card and a 750 watt power supply unit at all look like a realistic configuration? This article fails in so many ways. I really hope the author reconsiders this article and considers taking this review a bit more seriously. Maybe actually try to make a decent build for testing rather than this rather thoughtless configuration.

    ie., You could probably throw in an AMD E350 and complementary board, fill up the harddrive bays, and try some home server task related work at it, and then check out temperatures, etc. You know, configure it like it is meant to be configured rather than what was done. Just using the number of pages is not a useful metric to gage the quality of an article.
  • Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    I'll tell you what. If you want to ship me the hardware you feel would make for an ideal build for this case, I'll happily retest it.

    Until then, may I remind you that we standardize on this testbed for a reason. Because I'm trying to figure out what sort of difference in the end results using a smaller power supply would really have.
  • zerockslol - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link

    http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/1409/cardcle...
    What does this look like? GTFO before you flame someone who's spending their time writing reviews of hardware for us, dipshit.
  • lrawrl - Thursday, September 29, 2011 - link

    If he actually read the review he would understand why that exact PSU was used for the review (which is different than their usual reference configuration).

    Also, Dustin explains that there are no results for noise and cooling with a GPU in the case because the GPU from their standard test system uses the stock Nvidia reference design and the power connectors on this model do not line up with the cut-outs on Lian-Li's case.

    If wordsworm actually read the 6 PAGE review, instead of just staring at the pretty pictures and graphs he would understand this.
  • SquattingDog - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    If you read the testing methodology, you will see that this is one of the two standard configurations AT is using in their reviews. Agreed that the part selection seems a bit odd, but it is all to keep it as uniform as possible.
  • Etern205 - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    The case supports up to mATX so you can grab a Asus ROG Gene board and a pair
    of GTX 560Ti in SLI.
    I've mentioned the GTX 560Ti because they're short in length which is what these cases are made for.
  • Flagrant - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    Just an FYI the height of the vid card is also very important. any heatsink pipes that go even a little higher than rest of the card will screw you up with this case. The height given at the Lian Li website is not conservative. You need to allow for thickness of mobo.
  • Etern205 - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - link

    Just buy a card without the nonsense and you'll have no problems.
    Looking at one of the pics a standard GTX580 fits.

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