| Article Index |
|---|
| Lian Li PC-K8 Case Review |
| The Exterior |
| The Interior |
| Installation |
| The Tests |
| Performance Summary |
| Conclusion |
| All Pages |
The Front
The front of every case gives a face to the computer and perhaps some sort of personality. Every time you use your computer or turn it on, you will need to see its face and it will give you a greeting.
The front of the PC-K8 is very plain and straight, but made from aluminium and nicely curved around the edges to the side panels. Atop on the right hand side are the tiny Power and HDD LEDs which are barely noticeable until the case is powered on.
Neatly aligned in the centre are the 4 external 5.25” bay outlets covered with the hard aluminium slot protector, all of which fit smoothly with the front of the face. Below these is the single 3.5” external drive bay which is also hard covered, but indented slight.
On the low end of the case is the “grill” of the case which acts as the air intake for the 140mm fan. This grill is very nicely curved and cut out by metal working standards but when standing from a far, it does have a peculiar look to it, either something like jaws on your case or perhaps a set of prison bars to keep the fan restrained, but this could all just be my imagination getting the better of me. Behind the large bars is a perforated sheet of metal to cover the fan and to stop large objects entering the grill.
The Top
The top of the PC-K8 holds the smooth aluminium shine and it’s here you can see the power & reset buttons followed by a small flip hatch. Inside the hatch are the Input & Output ports.
The hatch is a nice little addition to the case and makes it seem neater when the ports are not needed, but if you had something it gets used all the time like headphones, then it would probably mean your little hatch would always be open and wouldn’t need to be closed ever. Still it’s a nice little thing to have on the case.
The Sides
The side of the case are very straight forward with nothing extraordinary. It was here where I used my hands to pick up the case and found that finger prints are attracted to the aluminium sides leaving smudge marks all over, but it was quick to wipe off with a cloth and spray.
Now one noticeably sad fact to the side panels is there are no additional air intakes on the sheets which is likely to reduce air flow. It’s unfortunate especially because Lian Li has created the PC-K8 for gamers and enthusiasts but it doesn’t seem to cover airflow correctly, and we will find out more about this shortly.
The Bottom
Now the bottom of the PC-K8 does have some interesting parts. Firstly there are the larger sound absorbing feet attached to this case and secondly on the left hand side are a large number of holes and a couple of screws. It’s here were you can change the direction your hard drives are mounted which I will demonstrate later on.
The Back
The back of the PC-K8 reveals what’s underneath the skin of aluminium, and it isn’t aluminium. It’s here the dull coloured SECC which is used for the vast majority of computer cases can be seen, but it shouldn’t matter, because this is the back after all.
You can see the 450W power supply that is already installed and that it is top mounted. Below that is the I/O area for the mother board which is purposely left open to accommodate various motherboard panels; I believe that is smart given the already issued panel on cases is usually removed. Beside that is the 120mm Black exhaust fan.
We can also see the 7 slots for motherboard expansions which are also punched with air flow holes to promote airflow through the back of the case. The side panels can be seen held on with thumb screws.
