PC-V2000 - Exterior
Our particular PC-V2000 model came in black, and included a side panel window for a more enthusiast-oriented look. Much like the PC-V1000, the case resembles the Mac G5 case with the perforated front and uncluttered bottom half, but the V2000 offers seven externally accessible drive bays, one of which is primed for stealthy optical drive concealing, and another which is fitted with a 5.25" to 3.5" adapter and floppy drive cover.
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As cool as it is to expose the components of a PC, we really have to criticize Lian Li for limiting the view into the V2000 so much by only having the window extend half-way down the case. While certainly there will be some builds in this case where having the bottom hidden makes more sense, for the majority of users, showing off the hard drive array or the redundant power supplies would be some of the main high points of a windowed server case we think.
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Getting back to the front of the case, here one can see the large ventilation area for intake at the bottom, and the case's focus on a large number of 5.25" bays.
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There is no reset button on the PC-V2000, just a good-sized aluminum power button and blue and red LEDs underneath for power and HDD activity status.
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At the very bottom you'll find the port cluster and Lian Li's trademark above. The two USB ports aren't stacked on top of each other, so clearance issues shouldn't arise unless one has a really wide thumb drive. The Lian Li logo looks great, and fits in with the rest of the look of the case just fine.
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The wheels of the PC-V2000 are included and attached already, and unlike normal casters they're axle-based. The front set doesn't have anything special really, but the rear set does have a locking mechanism to prevent the case from rolling around. Optional rubber sleeves are included too to assist with traction on smooth surfaces.
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From the rear, the PC-V2000 resembles the PC-V1000 very closely yet again, with the only real difference being the additional height under the motherboard section, which allows a user to put in additional fans for cooling the hard drive section, or put a different plate altogether and house dual power supplies. Note the reversed orientation of the ATX motherboard - this design is to help keep the warmest parts of the case closer together and also helps with routing power cords from the low-placed power supply to the motherboard.
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One final shot of just the exterior of the case, and here we can see the typical Lian Li quality aluminum finish and edge work, along with the easy-to-use thumbscrew locking system this series of cases uses to hold the side panels in place.
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cgaspar - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - link
The V2100B is just the V2000B with a door, and no silly side window.Be careful with which power supply you buy for this case - the PC Power & Cooling 850W unit I got didn't fit, because it was too long.
Also be careful with which CPU coolers you use if your motherboard has a CPU on the bottom edge, as there is almost _no_ clearance between the motherboard and the case. I had to replace the Zalman CNPS7000B I was using. On the other hand, this is the first case where my Extended ATA montherboard didn't feel cramped (this thing is _huge_!)
Other than those minor issues, I've been extremely happy with the case. My 8 500G SATA drive array is running along quite nicely.
Missing Ghost - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
Who would use IDE for this.....And with a lot of 2 port expansion card?Also, the cables that you used are out of spec. (40 cm max I think)
This case is meant for SCSI.
JoshuaBuss - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
I used IDE 'cause it's all I have on hand. More importnatly though, it takes up significantly more space than SATA cables, making it apparant how well the case can handle that much cabling.ohnnyj - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
I love my PC-V2100, been a wonderful home to my AMD SLI system for over a year now. Build quality is excellent but I have but one gripe. The USB cables for the front panel are not nearly long enough to reach my motherboard. Perhaps they have fixed this in an updated model.JoshuaBuss - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
the front panel cords in the PC-201 are very long.. you'd have to route them all over the place for them not to reach pretty much anywhere on a motherboard.rowcroft - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
I liked the article, always fascinated with cases. One thing I would have liked to see was an E-ATX motherboard though- it would give a better idea of the case flexibility. I would think most people buying this case would be putting a workstation class mobo in it. I've been looking for a good box to build a dual opteron rig around and this looks like a contender. Thanks again!Xenoid - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
Would have been nice to see some temperatures on the cpu/video between the cases and other popular enthusiast cases. Overall, nice article and quite a nice case.JoshuaBuss - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
I'm hoping to follow this look up with a more in-depth comparison of performance once I have some real sever-style equipment.mkruer - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
I have this case. Never had an issue with it other then the rubber wheels not staying on when moving the system around. The only thing I would like to comment on, is that if you are building a “quite system” there are a few things you can do to improve that subjective score of 3.0/3.5 of 10 to 7.5 to 8.5. first remove the drive mounting (you can unscrew it) and suspend the drives is a harness. This will eliminate 99% of the reverb from the case while the drives are on. Next replace the 120mm fan. I don’t know why but the fans that are included with the case are not that grate for making a quite system.Finally at the front of the case where you would mount CD Rom drives. Place it some foam. It really doesn’t effect the air flow but it will deaden any sound that my be coming from the mother board.
I have very sensitive herring and if I can leave the system on full boar and still go to sleep then I know that its pretty dang quite.
Lifted - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - link
That reverb has been driving me nuts lately. I replaced a drive and moved a couple to different places, and it seems to have gotten a bit better, but still shows up now and then.