Originally posted by: LintMan
Originally posted by: VinDSL
The motherboard is mounted upside-down on a non-removable tray.
The non-removable tray is a bummer, I agree, but sadly an all-too-common complaint in the cases I see. The upside-down MB doesn't bother me, though - I think that's a better plan than Antec's, where they put the PS on the bottom, and you might need to get extender cables to reach that CPU power connector way up behind the CPU on a lot of MBs.
The front intake is mounted on the bottom, which is normal, but cools only the internal HD cages.
Yeah, and it looks like I'll need to keep it pretty high speed to push in adequate air for it. But a 120mm dedicated to HD cooling isn't necessarily bad.
The rear intake -- yes, you heard that right -- blows air through a useless CPU shroud contraption, which magically reverses course before getting to your optical drives and 5.25 drive bays in the front of the case, and evacuates heat (theoretically) out a blowhole on the side cover.
I don't think the optical/5.25 drive bays will get much cooling in this case, but I don't think many other cases do, either. The rear intake and side exhaust essentially gives you two 120mm fans dedicated to cooling the MB area, particularly the CPU and video card. This doesn't seem a bad idea. The side exhaust is near the top, so heat rising from wherever in the system should get vented out.
Overall, not a super-cooling case, but not awful, IMHO.
Hahahaha! Everything is back-asswards in this thing... Give me a break!!!
Dude, I'll admit I hate Lian Li cases, and usually I try to keep my trap shut (really) but I wouldn't touch this thing with a 10-foot pole, no matter how much 'the egg' dropped the price...
I'm not a Lian-Li groupie, just trying to find the right case for me.
So what do you recommend for a case that's reasonable quiet, good quality, with good cooling, will fit a 8800GTX without taking out drive bays, and doesn't look like a Transformer or Darth Vader. And costs less than $200. I'm open to suggestions!