A Look Inside
Getting inside the PC-TU200 is very simple, just pull the level on the back of the case to release the side panel. Once you remove the side panel you can see how it works. There are 8 points on the backside of the side panel that go into holes on the case. These in turn lock the side panel in place until you use the level to release them. I really like this system and I haven’t really seen something like this on a case. It is much better than the 6 small screws on the side panel that we saw on the PC-V352.
Taking a look inside you can see things are a little cramped, but you have to expect that for such a small case. On thing to mention is that every edge inside the case has rounded edges, this means you are not going to cut yourself when you are installing your hardware. The front panel connections on the front give you internal USB 3.0 and eSATA connections which is a plus.
Looking towards the back of the case you can see that it is for the most part ventilated. This will help keep your motherboard and expansion cards cool. At the front there is the single 5.25-inch drive bay. Like all Lian Li cases you are not going to see a tool-less system here.
Moving down to the hard drive cage you can fit four 3.5-inch hard drives or two 2.5-inch hard drives. Taking a closer look you can see that this hard drive cage is equipped with hot-swap backplane. This means you can swap drives without having to change cables, which is very convenient. The drive cage can be removed from the case by removing 4 thumbscrews and sliding it out. Once removed we can see the blackplane, it takes 2 molex connections for power and of course has the 4 SATA data connectors.
With the hard drive cage removed you can get a real good look inside the case and you can see the large 140mm intake fan. Removing the second side panel you can get a look again at the hard drive backplane.
Also inside the case you will find the box of goodies which has your mounting hardware, hard drive rails, speaker and USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 internal connector.
is it better than this one? http://www.amazon.com/Dell-iO2320-111ELS-Desktop/dp/B005KP7O0Y?tag=emjay2d-20
I built a gaming computer in this case mid-December 2011.
Here’s what’s in the box…
Zotac Z68ITX-A-E mobo
Core i7 2600K
Mushkin Enhanced Redline (2x4GB) DDR3 2133
Cooler Master GX Series RS650
Pioneer Blu-ray BDR-206DBKS
EVGA GTX 560 Ti 448 Core FTW
OCZ Agility 3 240GB
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000
Themaltake Slim X2 CPU Cooler
I originally tried a Zalman CNPS 8000A CPU Cooler, based on someone’s blog post. While the cooler fit heightwise, it was too big left to right and could not be mounted without interfering with the video card. That’s why I settled on the Thermaltake.
After taking the hard drive cage in and out, in and out, over and over, I finally realized that it would be possible to mount my 3.5 rotating drive in the top of case holes used to mount the entire drive cage. Since my SSD mounted on the floor of the case in the 2.5 mounting spot provided., I was able to just leave the hard drive cage out. All that empty space, has made me consider putting in a liquid CPU cooler. ( A project for later this month).
My video card was not a full length card, but it was quite clear to me that a single full length card would not be a problem in this case. None the less, even with my shortened card, the video card slices the case into 2 cooling zones. 1 for the mobo, power supply and any hard drives not mounted on the floor of the case. The other zone is the video card and the SSD. The first zone (the 1 with the mobo) uses the case’s front mounted 140mm fan to blow air into the case. I have the PSU mounted so that it’s fan (which blows air out of the case) is just above the CPU cooler fan.
However, the second zone has only the video card fan(s) for air circulation. Holes in the bottom of the cage supply all the air for this second zone. Therefore if you place the case on carpeting you may find your video card over heating very quickly. A smooth hardish surface between the case and the carpet – say a piece of poster board eliminates the problem. (It only had to crash Skyrim once for me to learn this lesson)
The cable the case provided for the case power LED used a three pin connector that did not match my motherboard. A lot of cases know this can be a problem so they don’t group the 2 LED wires into a single multi-pin connector, instead they provide each LED wire with its own 1 pin connector. I wish Lian had done that for my case. As it was, I had to re-pin the connector using a safety pin to carefully remove the crimped on contacts from the plastic housing. Finally, re-inserting the contacts into a the same connector but in a configuration that allowed 1 of the 3 pins to hang over the edge of the mobo pins. FYI, the power light and disk light are very attractive and worth the trouble.
I got the black case. But fit and finish is not perfect. As a result, I think the aluminum finish might actually look better, since you would never notice a little sliver of silver showing in a gap between the case and removable panels. These tiny little imperfections shine out like a laser on the black finish case.
If you want to e-mail about my build experience with this case, write me at [email protected]
help,
I’ve purchased this case, using it for gaming i5 3570k and gtx 680. What cpu cooler would you recommend?